Watching a reunited Voxtrot play Stubbs at SXSW in 2023 brought a warm and fuzzy feeling to my heart.
It’s hard to imagine but the nostalgia of hearing tunes like “Raised By Wolves” and “The Start of Something” hit much differently than, say, the Britpop bands I’m mostly enthralled with.
For the uninitiated, Voxtrot is a band from Austin that released a series of “hits” in the mid ’00s. They released one album, several EPs and then disbanded just as quickly as they arrived.
I can’t actually tell how popular the band truly was because I only knew those songs were really big in my circle – music blogs and music diehards. However, in a way that’s why the nostalgia hits differently. They are a band that you would have discovered via blogs at the time and their songs – pure pop heaven with catchy lyrics and hooks – were the stuff that made you feel really good when you discovered it. Hearing their set brought me back to that period where music discovery was exciting, something I can’t quite seem to replicate today.
While I’m not sure if my sentiment is shared, what I can be sure of is that a large crowd showed up on Thursday night to see the group play Austin for the first time in over 13 years. Kicking off with the track “Raised By Wolves,” the group sounded like they never missed a beat, even adding a much punchier, more rocking sound to each track (perhaps adjusting for a festival crowd). The next 40 minutes reintroduced the crowd to their catalog of songs including “Soft and Warm” and “Wrecking Force”.
In a move that would delight any Voxtrot fan, the group debuted a new track during their set. Maybe their next show at SXSW won’t take another 14 years. That makes me happy.