New Politics needs to come back to Austin

During the month of May, I will participate in Story of Day where I will, you guessed it, write a story a day. Some people will write short stories: fiction, non-fiction, maybe even poetry. I plan to write a journalism-type story a day.

I’m bummed I missed New Politics at Red 7 this past Thursday, but it was my last deadline day for Accent Newspaper, so I had to be in the newsroom. Not to mention, I was running on four hours of sleep. Even if we did get out early, all I wanted to do was go home so I could go back to sleep.

This band caught my attention during SXSW 2010. My best friend Marlee dragged me to The Dirty Dog to see Patrick Stump’s solo set. Of course, being the nerds that we are, we showed up early to get a good spot. New Politics was on stage playing the last songs of their set.

I was so impressed by them that when they came back to Austin months later, I stood in the front row. Yeah the tunes are catchy, but it’s really the breakdancing that won me over.



I chatted with lead singer/breakdancing extraordinaire David Boyd after his set at Emo’s last year and got some inside scoop about New Politics.

Turns out that the year I saw them at SXSW was the first time they played the festival, let alone in Austin.

“I think we were all pretty blown away, because we’ve been to festivals before and it has that festival atmosphere, but it’s just different because it’s on the streets. They block off the streets. Then there’s this music everywhere. It has almost a mix of everything just in one pot,” said Boyd.

The three guys that form New Politics, Boyd, guitarist Søren Hansen, and drummer Louis Vecchio, are from Denmark. But after they got signed to RCA records, they moved to the U.S. where they currently reside in New York. I’ll have to admit I haven’t heard their debut self-titled album, but the two singles “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and Dignity” do get heavy rotation from me.

But again, it’s really all about Boyd’s breakdancing.



While I can see some of the more snobby music fans dismiss New Politics because they aren’t testing the limits of music exploration, you got to admit this band is fun. The tunes are catchy. They make you want to dance. They bring a good time. And sometimes, at least for me, that’s all I need.

“I have to admit that we’re pretty laid back about it. Of course, we have dreams that regular bands have and we hope to get success,” said Boyd. ”If we can make some money off it, it would be good, but it’s just a hobby”