The Action Design is band I met and discovered in 2008 after they did their first real tour. I remember they played an outside show at Red 7 with Under The Gun. The first thing I noticed was that the singer was front woman "Agent M" from Tsunami Bomb. The guitar player was also from Tsumani Bomb. While The Action Design is pretty good, I was bummed to see Tsunami Bomb was no more.
The Action Design still have punk elements to their music, but they went a more indie-electro route with their sound. It's not the indie-electro stuff you'd see all over the indie mags or blogs, but more Alt Press style if that makes sense. The group is currently on tour supporting their album "Never Say". Check out the video for their single "Landmines" here:
Also on the bill are one of my favorite local bands, the dance punk rockers Zlam Dunk. La Snacks is the headliner. Get to Mohawk at 10:00pm to catch the whole show and get your responsible drink on. To learn more about The Action Design, check out my interview with the band from SXSW 2009.
The Action Design may be semi new to the scene or unfamiliar by name, but they should be familiar faces. No strangers to the scene, the members of The Action Design have come from previously successful bands: Tsunami Bomb, Pipedown and The Rum Diary. As sad as I was to see those groups break up, I couldn’t be happier about the formation of The Action Design. Emily Whitehurst (formerly “Agent M”) is one of the best vocalists to grace the mircophone ever. After the break up of Tsunami Bomb, I was sure I’d see her doing something again soon. She teamed up with former Tsunami Bomb bassist, Matt Mckenzie. They later recruited Jaycen McKissick and Jake Krohn to join them. Their electro, punk snyth style is sure to turn heads and get the kids (old and young) dancing.
I first saw The Action Design play at Red 7 last year with Killola and local punk rock favorite’s of mine, Under The Gun. This year, The Action Design played SXSW for the first time. None of the members had ever done the whole South By thing before (according to Emily), not even with Tsunami Bomb. I also saw them in January at Emo’s. As you can see, Austin is a favorite of The Action Design. Fans in Austin can probably spot them eating fish tacos when in town. I caught up with them recently to talk about touring, getting past previous band associations, influences and loving Britney Spears.
Ian is a graduate of Round Rock High School and attended St Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. In 2008 he joined the team at Double Stereo (formerly CD Fuse) as their Blog editor where he reviewed concerts, albums, and did interviews for the popular music site.In January 2009, he became the Editor in Chief for Austin Vida. In 2010, with the help of some of his most talented friends, he launched Red River Noise. "Ian's Music Blog" is also one of the few blogs selected to be a Do512 All-Star.
On any given night of the week he can be found in downtown Austin on 6th Street and the Red River live music district.
