AUSTIN, Texas -- We drove all night after the band played a show in Dallas at a club that double booked the room with a geological society mixer, and after rebuffing a glass blower who offered the band a private bong showing if we wanted to drive a half-hour out of the way to his head shop in Plano.

A friend from Austin who happened to be out of town said we could stay at his place and after peeking into a few wrong windows at 5 a.m. we finally found his house and immediately crashed out on one of the filthiest hardwood floors we'd seen on the trip. Luckily, everyone was too exhausted to care.

After waking up just a few hours later and showering in a tub lined with a black film that seemed to reek of rotting fish we packed up and headed into the disaster that is downtown Austin during South By Southwest.

With absolutely nowhere to park I circled the block in the van while the band snagged its festival credentials. If you can imagine a Summerfest crowd being plopped into the middle of Downtown Milwaukee you start to get the feel for the flood of drunken madness that overtakes Austin for the week.

After scooping the freshly registered Jaill guys up we headed over to the Fader Magazine compound to experience another crucial part of SXSW, free stuff!

Hundreds of companies converge on Austin each year hoping to brand themselves as young and hip by sponsoring shows and trying to outfit bands in their products.

Jaill was more than willing to oblige Converse, which swept the band into its showroom and waited on them hand and foot as they heaped free shoes, sunglasses, watches and shirts upon them and had them pose for pictures.

With only a couple hours to spare before Jaill's first show of the festival, a Burger Records showcase stacked with some of the best new rock bands in America, the band headed to a local BBQ shack for some grub.

The sandwiches weren't half as sloppy as the evening that followed.

Located in a swampy record store called Trailer Space that became almost impossible to stay in for more than 10 minutes at a time by the end of the night, the Burger Records showcase started around 3 p.m. and featured about 20 bands.

The gig was conveniently located across the street from a liquor store and after Jaill played around 4:30 p.m. several trips were made to replenish the quickly vanishing cases of cheap beer the band kept stashed in the van.

With the club being so hot, and due to limited space, the crowd piled out into the parking lot. Someone joked that if a meteor were to have hit, the majority of the American garage rock scene would have vanished in an instant.

When the show finally wrapped around 2 a.m. we drove to another friend's house where we struggled to sleep as people partied into the morning on the front porch.

An unfortunately scheduled early morning local radio appearance resulted in a lot of groaning and muttering and at least one stream of projectile vomit. The band played three songs and we ate some breakfast tacos and slowly fought off hangovers.

With no shows scheduled that afternoon Jaill cruised over to the Asics party for some more free shoes.