SouthFM Reunion Show

SouthFM Reunion Show - 6.12.2010

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 June 2010 19:58 Written by Jemini Monday, 14 June 2010 22:45

Long ago there was a band called SouthFM. Not just any old band, a staple in the Texas indie music scene. After they took the stage for the final time at Curtain Club on Saturday, October 28, 2006, their music continued to be a powerful influence on local indie music. Even today, indie bands (some of which have now gone mainstream) perform covers of well known SouthFM songs such as “Surface”, “When the Lights Go Down”, and “Vesica Piscis”. Upon first hearing about SouthFM, the term “legendary” had been used to describe them and Paco Estrada (lead vocals) was referred to as a “Mexican Tracy Chapman”.

After hearing and seeing so much about this band from countless Texas indie bands, having conversations about them with Iceberg and other friends, and attending several One Love shows (Paco’s new project), curiosity lead to research and research lead to some insight about this band. Getting a little more of a grasp on the mark SouthFM left, nothing could prepare any SouthFM fan for the announcement that followed in early March 2010.

You see, for the first time in nearly four years, the band decided to relive their glory days with a one night only reunion show on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at Curtain Club in Dallas, Texas, the same place they left the stage for the final time in 2006.

It was a hot, humid summer night in Dallas. With temperatures reaching a steamy 96 degrees for the day, it was no wonder that those conditions crept into Curtain Club that evening. Inside was hot and sticky and adding a mob of 625 people to the scene and it was almost unbearable. The venue’s staff did the best they could to circulate air in the building with portable fans going at full blast in every place they could put them. Despite the conditions, fans were determined to stick it out to witness this piece of local music history.

The night began with an opening band from Shreveport, Louisiana called The American Tragedy. After putting on a solid performance, the band thanked everyone for listening and began clearing the stage. As they were clearing things off, the curtain closed and the crowd rushed to an open spot at the front of the stage for a good view of the main event.

Anticipation mounted and the air was thick with heated excitement as the crowd grew and the minutes ticked away towards show time. According to an internal review of the show posted on Facebook by GI Sanders (guitar; core member), the show was supposed to start at around 9:30pm. About ten minutes before the scheduled show time, Sanders was getting reports that there was still a healthy line out front that wrapped all the way around the building to the entrance of Liquid Lounge. Delaying as long as they could knowing that the people inside had already waited over thirty minutes in a hot crowded club Sanders gave the signal for the intro track to start. [For more on this inside account check out SouthFM’s Facebook page.]

The house lights dimmed and the crowd erupted in cheers as cameras and video recorders were turned on ready to capture the event. A spiced up version of the “Regret Intro” began to play that included John Sebastian’s tune “Welcome Back”, the theme song from the 1970’s TV sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter.” The curtain opened to an empty stage. Then Mauricio “Moe” Martinez, the drummer from Swallowing the Pill (2005) days, made his way behind the drum kit to go straight into the first song “Where Did You Go”. One by one, the rest of the band filed onto stage plugging in their instruments to huge applause. The crowd erupted when lead singer Paco Estrada walked on stage and took the microphone.

This two hour show was divided into four different sections. The first section started off with “Where Did You Go” and included Ryan Holley on background vocals during the song “Regret”, Paco singing a “Hallelujah” snippet that lead to the crowd favorite “Surface”, and Zuriel Bertch (violinist for One Love) joining the band for a violin solo during the bridge on “Vesica Piscis”.

Section One Set List
“Where Did You Go?” [from Swallowing the Pill]
“Seven” [from Drama Kids]
“My Sanity” [from Drama Kids]
“So That I Could Rescue You” [from Swallowing the Pill]
“Push Me Away” [from Swallowing the Pill]
“Regret” featuring Ryan Holley on vocals [from Swallowing the Pill]
“Surface” with a “Hallelujah” snippet [from Swallowing the Pill]
“Habit” [from Swallowing the Pill]
“Vesica Piscis” with Zuriel Bertch (One Love) [from Swallowing the Pill]

After the emotionally heavy “Vesica Piscis”, the curtain closed only to open again to an empty stage. Paco returned with his famous acoustic guitar. Settling behind the microphone, he strummed the opening cords to a track from Swallowing the Pill called “Before the World Will End”. Those that knew the lyrics sang along; those that didn’t closed their eyes and listened to the beautiful sounds that were coming from the stage. When the song was over, the crowd roared in applause. Paco dove into playing the ever popular tune “The Game”, a track from Swallowing the Pill. From what I could see around me, everyone was singing along to the top of their lungs.

Paco with an acoustic guitar and a microphone is extremely hard to beat.

Section Two Set List (Paco Acoustic)
“Before the World Will End” [from Swallowing the Pill]
“The Game” [from Swallowing the Pill]

Section three of the evenings set list was “a blast from the past” for Sanders as Doug McGrath (bass) and Spencer Estep (drums), previous band members from the days of Drama Kids (2003) joined the stage to nail the band’s famous song “Dear Claudia”. Then Beau Tyler (Rescue Signals) and Zuriel Bertch (One Love) appeared to play keyboard and violin for “Blue and Grey”. That was followed with a new/old song called “In The Room” from Circa 2006, the third installment of Letters That Were Never Sent.

Section Three Set List
“Dear Claudia” featuring Doug McGrath (bass) and Spencer Estep (drums) [from Drama Kids]
“Dancing Like This” [from Swallowing the Pill]
“Blue and Grey” featuring Beau Tyler (Rescue Signals) on keyboard and Zuriel Bertch (One Love) on violin [from Swallowing the Pill]
“In the Room” [from Circa 2006 on Letters That Were Never Sent]
“Thursday Night” [from Drama Kids]
“Killing Me” [from Swallowing the Pill]

Soon after playing “Killing Me”, the band files off the stage and cries of“SouthFM, SouthFM” filled the club and yes, an encore ensues. The final section consisted of two more songs, “Driving”, a song from Drama Kids, and the rare “I Will Never Let You Go” featuring Beau Tyler on keys and Zuriel Bertch on violin. “I Will Never Let You Go” was the same song the band ended with on the final show in 2006 and can be found on Circa 2006, a rare Paco solo album called Snapshots Version 1, and One Loves album The Anatomy of Letting Go.

Section Four Set List
“Driving” [from Drama Kids]
“I Will Never Let You Go” [from Circa 2006, Snapshots Version 1, and The Anatomy of Letting Go]

As “I Will Never Let You Go” ended, the crowd roared in applause. The band members gathered to the front of the stage, took a bow, and even shook a few hands of people in the front row. As the curtain closed and the band walked off stage, Paco turned his head toward the crowd and waved with a very emotional look on his face. The curtain closed and the show came to an end.

After witnessing this show, I completely understand why SouthFM is worthy of their legendary status. Whoever had the idea to do a reunion show – thank you. It was an honor and a privilege to have been among all 625 friends, family, and fans who witnessed such a show.

Let this article serve as another account of this history-making event from a new SouthFM fan. Hopefully it will inspire you enough to at least go check out the band and read GI Sander’s play by play review of the show on SouthFM’s official Facebook page.

This show review combined with Sander’s will give you a very good idea of the events that took place that evening. However, to truly understand the significance of this show, you to have either have been in attendance or at least know of SouthFM. If you have never heard of this band and are interested in wanting to know more, start with visiting the band’s official website, their MySpace page, and then their Official Facebook Page. When you are finished listening to their tunes and reading all of the information, go to www.southfm.com/pill/contents.html and read all about Swallowing the Pill. While you are at it, go check out Paco's new project, Paco Estrada and One Love on Facebook.

To find them, conduct a search for "Paco Estrada and One Love".