(Unsigned) — Hometown: Houston, TX

What other artists do you want to see?
Camera Obscura, Sounds Under Radio, and Valient Thorr

What's your favorite place in Austin?
The Jackelope, Spider house... and of course UO

What is your best memory of past music festivals?
Last year we went to an amazing party on top of a parking garage and drank free ginger and Johnny Walker all night! It was intoxicatingly awesome!

What are you most looking forward to?
We are looking forward to partying with all of our band friends... it is like spring break for Texas bands!

How will you get to Austin?
Van of course! It is a 1997 ford red Ford custom van... with sexy mood lights... sexy shaggy carpet...

(Unsigned) — Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

What other artists do you want to see?
Endless Boogie and Michael MacDonald

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Our driver/merch guy/road dog Emilio loves any bar that has girls wearing slouchy boho boots hanging out in it.

What are you most looking forward to?
Unleashing the majesty of true rock and roll upon a completely unsuspecting crowd.

How will you get to Austin?
We are driving. We will be travelling by Sherman Tank, 1941 model.

(Barsuk) — Hometown: Austin, TX

What other artists do you want to see?
Shearwater, Headlights, The Coast, Earlimart, 18th Dye, Grand Archives. ILYBICD, Eugene Mirman, Primal Scream, Say Hi, Drew Andrews, Gentleman Reg, Decemberists, Blacklist, Chikita Violenta

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Poodle Dog Lounge and The Longbranch.

What is your best memory of past festivals?
GvsB @ Emo's; Death Cab For Cutie @ Club Deville; Broken Social Scene at Stubbs; Holy Fuck at Momo's; Macha @ Emo's; Constantines at the Parish; Hidden Cameras all over the place in 2005; Neil Halstead at some theater on campus... I forget. There are a lot!!

How will you get to Austin?
We live here! No travel fun for us. This is the van... but March in Texas is bike weather!

(Unsigned) — Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

What's your favorite place in Austin?
First time going to Austin for all of us. We're all super excited to check it out.

What are you most looking forward to?
Hanging with our friends that are in other bands and seeing them and going nuts on a different turf. Not sure who's playing, we tried to look on the Internet for a list and didn't get too far. I'm sure we will see some amazing shit there.

How will we get to Austin?
In Rob's mother's Hyundai. It's an SUV that barely fits three comfortably so we'll be riding light. Hoping we will be able to get some love in Austin, especially Martin, who will have to borrow a drum kit for every show. But we will make it happen!

(Unsigned) — Hometown: London/Manchester

What's your favorite place in Austin?
We've never been to Austin, but we're open to suggestions...

What are you most looking forward to?
We looking forward to running round like kids, eating BBQ like pigs, drinking beer like teenagers and playing some music like We Have Band.

How will you get to Austin?
Planning on coming by plane via NYC—but is there room in your car?

(Jagjaguwar) — Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

What other artists do you want to see?
Blank Dogs

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Haven't been before.

What are you most looking forward to?
Seeing bands that we like.

How will you get to Austin?
In a pine green Astro van.

(PPM) — Hometown: Chino, CA

What other artists do you want to see at SXSW?
Wow. There are many. We have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of amazing and talented people these past couple of years, and it looks like a lot of them will be performing. Lovvers, Telepathe, Vivian Girls, Ponytail, Ear Pwr, Woods, Mi Ami, Aids Wolf, Fiasco, Beach House, Silk Flowers. We are playing with a lot of our amazing L.A. friends like Mika Miko, No Age, and Infinite Body. It is bound to be surreal. Third Eye Blind is playing a couple of shows, which I think says a lot about the massive scope of this conference. I really want to check out Echo and the Bunnymen, even though I'm not a big fan of reunions. Oh, and Katy Perry for sure.

What's your favorite place in Austin?
We have always played Emo's when coming to Austin and I think we have played all three stages, unless they have a few more hidden somewhere. The staff there is always cool. But, I always feel kind of tied down when I am there, so I haven't really delved into the bar scene of Austin. There is something telling me that most of it isn't my cup of tea. Let me know if I am missing out! I love that Whole Foods, and Waterloo Records seems pretty legit.

What are you most looking forward to?
This is our first time to SXSW! We were supposed to come out last year, but our drummer had broken his wrist a week before. We kind of had to sit that one out. I feel like it is Burning Man for bands, and how can that not be exciting? I guess I really just look forward to hanging out with old friends, and making new ones.

How will you get to Austin?
An overpriced rental van. We shall see. Last time we rented a van, all they had left at the lot was this toyota 4 runner. We crammed in 6 people and equipment then hit the road!

(XL Recordings) — Hometown: Glen Rock, NJ

What other artists do you want to see?
Woods, Real Estate, Blank Dogs, So So Glos, Dinowalrus

How will you get to Austin?
Chevy 3500 Express Van Navy Blue

(Slumberland) — Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

What other artists do you want to see?
Blank Dogs

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Haven't been before.

What are you most looking forward to?
Seeing bands that we like.

How will you get to Austin?
In a pine green Astro van.

(In the Red) — Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

What other artists do you want to see?
So many! Blank Dogs and The Carrots are two that we're really excited about.

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Magnolia! Their Mag Mud is the most delicious snack of all time.

What is your best memory of festivals past?
Last year we played three shows in one night—they were at 8PM, 9PM, and 11PM. That was crazy. Seeing Yellow Fever at Ms. Bea's was great, they are so amazing. Also seeing Fucked Up play on the bridge and then going to Whattaburger and then swimming in this scummy hotel pool at five in the morning.

How will you get to Austin?
Plane and then renting a car.

(We Are Free) — Hometown: Baltimore, MD

What other artists do you want to see?
Dirty Projectors, New surprises

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Ms. Bea's and the Spider House

What is your best memory of festivals past?
Playing with Hanson was really insane, but I really enjoyed the Monitor Mansion pool party. People were swimming to our music! And playing at the Mmohawk was incredible, with all of our friends there and it felt very positive.

How will you get to Austin?
Automobile, not sure. We had a Subuaru Legacy in the past, maybe a minivan? A Dodge Town & Country? Who knows?

(Dead Oceans) — Hometown: Syracuse, NY

What other artists do you want to see?
Monotonix, Dent May &His Magnificent Ukulele, Champagne Champagne

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Anyplace that Leslie Cochran hangs out.

What are you most looking forward to?
Finding a real Texan cowboy, meeting people.

How will you get to Austin?
2002 Ford E-Series 15 passenger van.

(Unsigned) — Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

What other artists do you want to see?
Friends mostly.

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Whiskey with Drummond at the Driskill. Tacos across from Emo's. Gerald's (from Voxtrot) swimming pool.

What is your best memory of festivals past?
It's hard to remember much of anything from SXSW. That's kind of how it goes.

How will you get to Austin?
We're a big group. We draw straws for the limited plane tickets; the rest drive the van. Large equipment, jugglers, clowns and wild game get loaded into a boxcar. The exact van is TBD but if we get our wish, it'll have a Native American princess airbrushed across the side.

(Ubiquity Records) — Hometown: Michicago

What other artists do you want to see?
City Center, which is Fred Thomas' new band. A few of the new acts on Ghostly—School of Seven Bells and The Chap.

What's your favorite place in Austin?
So many favorite places. We love Homeslice pizza, Uncommon Objects, Kerbey Lane, KUT, etc. It's one of our favorite towns!

What is your best memory of past festivals?
We always have a good time at the FADER party, and the van ride down is always eventful. We usually marathon it, and end up having some strange encounters at truck stops in Arkansas.

How will you get to Austin?
This time will be no different. Maybe someday, we'll be able to afford a plane ticket, but for now... we will be one of the 12,000 Ford Econoline e 350s that make their way to Austin. On the road we like to play a game called Band, Church, or Family. When you are passing another 15 passenger van, you have to guess which category of people have decided to purchase such a large people mover. It's usually a church group, but at SXSW you can't believe how many other bands have the same van. Ours is silver. We manage to cram all eight of us in there. Plus three drum sets, amps, guitars, horns, and a few changes of clothes. It's like a mix between a clown car, Tetris and Russian nesting dolls.

(Suicide Squeeze Records) — Hometown: Montreal

What other artists do you want to see?
Friends.

What is your best memory of festivals past?
Playing Mess With Texas at Waterloo Park in 2008, which was unaffiliated with SXSW and a breath of fresh air after having someone from SXSW physically come on stage and shut my amp off stage after we refused to stop playing the last minute of our last song at our showcase because some other bands played over their set limit. Good times, SXSW!

How will you get to Austin?
Getting to Austin in a van (hopefully one equipped with a DVD player so we can watch our favorite movie: Planes, Trains, & Automobiles). It'll be a rental, and it's undecided, but I'm hoping it'll be a juicy rental company that caters specifically to bands and has a lot of nice amenities. We haven't talked about this yet, and Jim refuses to get an ultrasound, so it's a complete mystery!

(No Quarter) — Hometown: New York, NY

What other artists do you want to see?
Hoping to avoid artists, looking forward to see some good bands though. Oh yeah, Roy Head!

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Hill Country: I hope my new fave will be Snow's, but right now it remains Taylor Cafe. Within the city limits: The Hofbrau.

What is your best memory of past festivals?
Smelling the presence of the Baron Corvo papers; meeting Becky Stark/Lavender Diamond; Circle; Roky Erickson

How will you get to Austin?
Tarotplane

(Kanine Records) — Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

What other artists do you want to see at SXSW?
Telepathe, Crystal Antlers, Violens, Boy Crisis, Dinowalrus

What's your favorite place in Austin?
We played Mohawk with Ariel Pink and it was awesome, and can't wait to see another show there.

What are you most looking forward to?
BBQ, because this will be first time in Texas as a meat eater.

How will you get to Austin?
Touring down with Yacht, not in one, but with them.

(IAMSOUND Records) — Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

What other artists do you want to see?
Rye Rye, Abe Vigoda, Tara Jane O'Neil, No Age, Nite Jewel, Chairlift

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Cuba Libre

What is your best memory of past festivals?
Last year, watching David Banner's set at the Fader fort. He did a back handspring!

How will you get to Austin?
Plane

(Ghostly Int'l) — Hometown: London/Berlin

What other artists do you want to see?
We hope we'll be too busy playing shows to see anyone else.

What are you most looking forward to?
Never been, have no idea what it will be like, so looking forward to discovering!

How will you get to Austin?
Car from New York via Chicago. It'll be a three-door Ford Explorer! With a U-Haul! Thanks to Jeff from Ghostly! Don't have a picture yet, but here's a picture of our first U.K. van to make up for it.

(Domino Records) — Hometown: London

What other artists do you want to see?
Dream lineup would be Jensen Sportag, Frank Zappa and Cosmic Dennis Greenidge.

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Never been to SXSW—can't wait to try it out!

What are you most looking forward to?
Breakfast burritos.

How will you get to Austin?
Plane.

(Ghostly Int'l) — Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

(True Panther) — Hometown: San Francisco, CA

What other artists do you want to see?
We're excited to see our friends, Glasser from LA, The Fresh & Onlys from San Francisco. Also looking forward to seeing Micachu and the Shapes and Telepathe. We are actually not sure who all is playing, so it will be a nice surprise!

What's your favorite place in Austin?
Hmmm... not sure. We don't really know too much about Austin. We hope that we find that special place, though.

What are you most looking forward to?
This will be Lemonade's first time to SXSW. We are looking forward to seeing friends and making new ones, and getting to play so many fun parties. That and going to Miami along the way.

How will you get to Austin?
In the van. Our van is a red Dodge Ram Van from the early 2000s. It was formerly an airport shuttle, giving it the appearance of a commercial vehicle, which makes us look less suspicious and we think it makes us less likely to be pulled over and get tickets, which we always forget to pay.

(N.E.E.T. Records) — Hometown: Baltimore, MD

What other artists do you want to see?
I wanna see Santogold because I haven't seen her in awhile, lol, and she's amazing... I don't really know who else is performing but I wish I could see Michael Jackson. Lol.

What is your best memory of Austin?
When I performed at the Hogg Auditorium with M.I.A., but it was a lot of college students I think. I remember jumping out of the bus and running to this one guy that I loved while M.I.A. was asking me to join in a pic with her. She said, "Whoa, you almost knocked me down for him!"

How will you get to Austin?
Flying like paper, getting high like planes.