Milwaukee at SXSW | Collections of Colonies of Bees at Team Clermont

Listen: With an operation as massive as SXSW, featuring as many bands as they do, variety is an unavoidable fact. Even within a showcase, there can be a huge swings in style and tone. Take Milwaukee-based experimental rock band Collections of Colonies of Bees as an example — I saw them take the Team Clermont stage after retro indie-pop act Jeremy Jay and before experimental-folk band Califone. In fact, later that day, they shared a showcase with human exclamation mark, Andrew WK! The perfect spot for broad taste and forward thinking music.

Before he had to jump on stage, I caught up with Chris Rosenau for a quick interview:

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Their performance was a blur of rigid melody, disarming builds, and that chugging Collections of Colonies of Bees sheen. Check out a track I recorded live:

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Does Collections of Colonies of Bees sound as good in Austin as they do in Milwaukee? I’d say so:

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And I’m sure you’ll have your chance to see them yourself back in Milwaukee sometime soon!