While perusing the SXSW app on Saturday night and looking to fill a gap in my schedule, I came across Austinites The Rite Flyers, whose bio on SouthBy’s site compared them to such luminaries as Teenage Fanclub and Guided by Voices, not to mention The Who and a little band called The Beatles. Some lofty company for sure, but I figured with those reference points, they might be worth checking out.
I wasn’t wrong.
The show was taking place at The Velveeta Room, just steps away from the chaos of 6th Street on a Saturday night. Taking shelter from the masses gathering out on “Dirty 6th,” I opted to head inside and see what the quartet, made up of veterans of the Austin music scene, had to offer. But first a trip to the bar to order a Lone Star. Priorities.
Then, upon scanning the room, I noticed that this appeared to be largely a badgeless crowd, presumably mostly friends or fans of the acts playing that night, and not strictly speaking a SouthBy crowd. This looked more like a group of locals who were here to take in some local Austin music. And though I may not be a local, I guess that’s what I was there for too.
As the band launched into their opening number, it became clear that The Rite Flyers did indeed have the goods. With tracks like “Runway Lights”, “Help Yourself” and “Captain Sir Tom,” the band showed off their songwriting skills, living up to the hype of their bio and delivering a solid set of straight up power poppy goodness.
The Rite Flyers latest album Butterfly on a Bomb Range is out now on Flak Records.