Asylum Street Spankers

Spank You Very Much, Austin!

Back in the day in the mad city of Austin, Texas, the Asylum Street Spankers were the real-deal-Holyfield, a band which you could always count on for a fun, energy-enthused show. You could bring your cool friends from the East Coast, or your weird cousins from the sticks, or your uptight parents and they would all have a great time. It didn't matter which venue the Spankers were playing, it would be packed with kids going nuts over their unique sound, an acoustic Americana-Eclectica created with a mass of random instruments like the stand-up bass, banjo, harmonica, washer-board and even a musical saw. The shows were lively and entertaining, and no one had a better time than the musicians themselves- except for perhaps my underage personage who routinely got cowboy-booted out of clubs that I had sneaked into to see the Spankers. So worth it! Some call The Asylum Street Spankers Hee-Haw for Hipsters, they call themselves "God's Favorite Band", I call them an original taste of the Austin music phenomenon. If you can't make it to the South By Southwest Music Festival down south this year, catch the Spankers in Seattle at the Triple Door this month. Toes will tap, the blues will swing, political statements will be made and jokes will be told. And there may even be a musical saw involved.