If you weren’t at Burger Records’ Hangover Fest, you not only missed out — you fucked up.
The day-long festival brought us what was promised: a hungover, exhausted version of SXSW packed into just 12 hours. Female musicians dominated the festival and its main stage and gave San Antonio a taste of what it’s been so thirsty for.
Just in time to catch Gymshorts on Paper Tigers’s outdoor stage, I’d be lying if I said I’d heard the band before, Sarah Greenwell, the band’s frontwoman, quickly made me a fan. With eternal teenage angst-filled lyrics like “Hey mom / Hey dad / I just wanna be bad” Gymshorts lit the first spark.
Moving next door to the main stage, Hinds tallied their 17th set for the week. Hailing from Madrid, the all-girl outfit jumped around on stage, embraced the raspy voices the week blessed them with and cheered with tequila shots mid-set. The crowd was upbeat and, simply put, Hinds was a fun and energetic band that left people buzzing hours later.
Trailing after Hinds in the main room, La Luz delivered a tighter sounding performance, un-phased by the tiring week. An ounce of spontaneity, when drummer Marian Li Pino called out for a sub mid-song (a girl off to the side of the stage then finished the tune with a successful performance), showed that the all-girl band was just as happy to be there as San Antonio was to host them.
Making their way from LA, Bleached performed next as one of the festival’s headliners. Both sweet and spunky the band’s set was reminiscent of the twee pop sounds we heard from groups like Tiger Trap in the '90s. At times, the girls of Bleached seemed a bit eager to prove their rock’n’roll energy (tireless headbanging and a mid-set stage dive), but a familiar charisma to the band reminded me of the older sister I always wanted.
Drummer Kat of Gooch Palms, a duo from Australia, kept the crowd moving before the girls of LA Witch claimed the side stage around 10pm, all leading up to our favorite female of the night, Shannon Shaw, of Shannon and the Clams.
It wasn’t until late in the evening that I realized Burger Records exhibited so much more than an impressive lineup — they gave us a full day of badass women reminding us that music isn’t just for the boys, which isn’t always translated in the San Antonio music scene.
Was it the intention of the Burger Records guys, Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard, to stack a strong female lineup or are women musicians the ones making more noise right now?
Regardless, I’d like to thank Burger Records for the refreshing day.
