SXSW Day One: Chill Moody and Vita & the Woolf at the Amplify Philly showcase

Repping Philadelphia in a red throwback Julius Erving Sixers t-shirt, Chill Moody held the crowd rapt Tuesday night at The Main, a capacious club on Austin, Texas' Sixth Street strip on the opening night of the South by Southwest music festival.

"I want you to raise one hand in the air," the West Philadelphia rapper instructed the pretty much packed house just after rocking the room with "Concrete Jungle," his gritty 2015 single featuring Mack Wilds at the Amplify Philly party sponsored by music incubator RecPhilly and tech industry instigator StartupPHL.   

"And then with your other hand, I want you to take out your phone and... " He couldn't help cracking a smile, and laugh at himself - "...follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @chillmoody."

There you have the gist of this Lone Star State soiree that is the music industry's biggest annual gathering:  It's an oversized party that's all about self promotion, a sprawling mega-event held in scores of mostly mid-size and small venues that brings fans and music industry insiders from across the globe to see hundreds - nay, thousands - of acts even hungrier for attention than they are for Texas barbecue.   

For the last two years, the music conference - which was first held in 1987 and along the way has expanded to include a film festival (which runs until Saturday) and a technology Interactive conference (which wrapped up Tuesday and hosted President Obama last week) - has included a RecPhilly programmed official SXSW showcase of all-Philadelphia bands.

This year's was bigger than last, with an event taking place in The Main's adjoining rooms -  a double side space that old Austin heads and SXSW vets would recognize as the punk club Emo's -  headlined by old school hip-hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff that pulled in crowds with Elkins Park-raised comedic rapper Lil Dicky. It also included rising hip-hop talent such as West Philly rapper Joie Kathos, who released her ocular-inspired EP Floaters last year and indie-rock duo Vita & the Woolf, who opened the show with a stirring set in the venue's main room as a line formed outside.

Amplify Philly, which provided selfie ops with a replica of Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture, was by no means an all-encompassing Philadelphia-at-SXSW event. There are scads of other 215 bands in town, from buzzed about riff rock fivesome Sheer Mag to ribald rockers Low Cut Connie to North Philly rapper Lil Uzi Vert to Havertown-reared songwriter Alex G, among many others. Tonight Show band The Roots have also been added to the docket, hosting a jam session on Saturday night.

But along with trade show presentation booths at the nearby Austin Convention Center, the Amplify Philly event aimed to promote the connections between the city's tech and music scene and build bridges between music genres. "It's all about collaboration and diversity," said RecPhilly co-founder Will Toms, 24, shortly after an emcee wearing a gold crown shouted out to the event's corporate sponsors ("Independence Blue Cross, Comcast - where you at?")

RecPhilly works with "talented artists who don't have the business acumen they need," the Warminster native said. It aims to help to transform "small entrepreneurs into sustainable businesses," by hooking up songwriters, for instance, with videographers and publishers.        

While in Austin, Toms and his RecPhilly and StartupPHL cohorts, who worked with the support of the City of Philadelphia, took to the streets to promote the city as a millennial destination. Conversations about the perception of the 215 in the 512, usually began, he said with a laugh, with words to the effect of, "We know about your great cheese steaks."

The uphill battle showed progress in the number of attendees at the showcase: Last year's slate, on a busy Friday night, drew a total of 450 people through the evening. On Tuesday, Amplify Philly, which took place just as the music fest was getting going, with events at a mere three dozen venues, as opposed the closer to 100 that will host acts Wednesday through Sunday, had hit that number by shortly after 9, hours before DJ Jazzy Jeff was to hit the stage.   

"This is good, because there's not that much going on tonight," said Austinite and Cherry Hill native Rebecca Flores, 30, of an evening in which one highlight was a SXSW  opening party that featured Argentinean band Capsula playing David Bowie's The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in its entirety, plus a DJ set by Lauren Mayberry and Martin Doherty of Glaswegian indie-pop band CHVRCHES.  "Tomorrow it's all names in bright lights."

For bands like Vita & the Woolf, coming to SXSW is a key part of the growing process. The duo  of singer-keyboard player Jennifer Pague, 24, and drummer Adam Shumski, 22, also played the event last year, without an official showcase.

As SXSW has swelled to a massive event that pairs bands with the corporate brands that have stepped in as the music business has remade its business model this century - Samsung and McDonald's are two unavoidable in-your-face names this year -  the fest has become a round-the-clock affair, with bands playing as many day parties as possible, in addition to official showcases like Amplify Philly.   

So Vita & the Woolf, whose name was inspired by a friend of Pague's fandom of the literary friendship of British writers Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, are playing not one but six shows at SX, with three happening on Thursday afternoon. "Everything we did last year, we learned from," says Shumski. "So this year we want to make the most out of it."

The band sold EPs at the Amplify showcase, and with a new album completed they plan to release later this year, they're looking for label deals in both the U.S. and the U.K., where Pague, a fan of Radiohead and James Blake, would love to tour.   

Along with their manager Rachel Barrish, the marketing director for the New York music venue the Knitting Factory, the group played a series of shows on their way to Texas, crashing with friends along the way. they even earned between $100 and $150 a night, Pague reports. That's in stark contrast to the similar route they followed last year and made, the singer with the bold, arresting voice says, "basically, nothing."  

"They're proud to be from Philly, and this is an opportunity to get them on an official showcase," said Barrish, 25, a Bucks County native and Temple grad of the Amplify gig. "Right now, they're a band that just needs to get more people to hear their music."

Previously: Review: Lucinda Williams brings 'Ghosts' to World Cafe Live Follow In The Mix on Twitter