Dozens of photos from seven of the eleven bands that performed at Vita.mn’s Are You Local day party at Beauty Bar including The 4onthefloor, Mayda, The Book of Right On, Idle Hands, Doomtree, Haley Bonar and Pink Mink.

Despite the fact that I had shot two of these bands already (Doomtree and Idle Hands) I wanted to cover Minnesota’s music presence at SXSW as much as possible. Vita.mn’s well-curated Are You Local party certianly delivered great bands, but some of the bands conflicted time-wise with a few acts that were on my “must-see” list, bands that won’t be likely to tour through Minneapolis any time soon. I’m sad that I missed Phantom Tails, Hastings 3000, Jeremy Messersmith and Caroline Smith but I was able to at least get photos of Jeremy at the Gimme Noise party the previous day.

The mix of bands at the Vita.mn party was pretty cool. Seeing several members of the Doomtree crew head-nodding on the sidelines while The Book of Right On played a killer set was pretty cool, and the range of experiences from Mayda’s excellent acoustic set to Pink Mink’s all-out Buzzcocks-style punk was pretty awesome. In some ways it was a great preview of what we’ve got to look forward to in this summer’s block parties in Minneapolis!

The 4onthefloor

Mayda (solo set)

The Book of Right On

Idle Hands

Doomtree

Haley Bonar (with band)

Pink Mink