In a successful attempt to make ourselves exhausted, short-tempered and ill we decided to play three shows in one day. That day was today, Friday. It started off like a scene from a zombie horror movie as we zig zagged our way across Red River at the ungodly hour of 12 midday in order to reach Lambert's for our second House Of Songs showcase.

Awaiting us was the unflappable Troy and Leroy, who set us up immediately while coffee was poured down Johan's neck on-stage. Warming up for Kashmir, we went about waking the rest of Austin's walking dead out of their stupor, met with the DJBFA and various familiar faces before making the most of our only break in the day with a gargantuan mountain of chicken salad at Jo's on 2nd Street - recommended.

Next up was another trip over the river. The usual taxi shenanigans played out until a cuddly, upbeat smirk-monger of a man named Sheikh picked us up and regaled us with sordid but highly unlikely tales of girls getting undressed in his cab and how the local ladies call him 'Sheikh and Bake'.

We were dropped off way up South 1st street at Freddie's Place for an outside show at Chase Frank's Hot Whisky Mixer. Off the beaten track, we perused the vintage stores, stole someones bike for a photoshoot, looked for a missing dog called Barley, got a smile and a wave from a jovial lady in a pink velour tracksuit outside Austin Mortuary Service and waited at least 15 minutes to cross a road before being fantastically welcomed into the fold by Chase and Alberto.

The friendly crowd at Freddie's, including Glynn (an old friend of Manoj's), made us feel very at home, to the point where we didn't want to leave. But we had to, fast...

We finished up at 5pm and immediately had to rush straight back downtown to The Music Gym for our Danish Dynamite
showcase, ably hosted by Christian from Slaraffenland. (Big thanks to Alberto for weaving in amongst the Austin traffic to get us there on time)

So after three shows in five hours, two of us collapsed in a heap back at the apartment and the rest of us headed on out to the Jail Guitar Doors SXSW finale at The Ghosthouse. It was epic. Billy Bragg, Chris Shiflett, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Boots Reilly, Mike Mills from REM and Lisa Kekaula from the Bell-Rays joined Tom Morello and Wayne Kramer on stage as they locked axes in a guitar battle which had to be seen to be believed, pumping out MC5 classics such as Looking At You and Kick Out The Jams.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lo and behold, as if that wasn't enough for one day, word got around about an afterparty (courtesy of Tom) around the corner. Involving less than the average amount of cat-n-mouse chicanery usually associated with such bombastic scenarios, we got in, and were rewarded with pizza galore, blue lagoons, purple haze, red lights and a chance meeting with uber-producer Dangermouse, who went home happier than anyone else with a TGTB CD in his jacket pocket.

On this fine Thursday, we tore ourselves away from the pizza fuelled downtown area and the 6th Street catwalk venturing instead to south Austin for our much anticipated House Of Songs showcase at Rocky Erickson's Ice Cream Social, so named because the legend Rocky Erickson (above) was headlining, and because there was free ice cream on tap. (Please take note any promoters out there who are looking to attract an excitable, female-biased audience to their gigs - this works)

Embroiled in a taxi crisis (and therefore a punctuality crisis), where the cab we booked hadn't show up and the one we hailed insisting it was quicker if we walked, we made our way on foot along Congress and over the picturesque Colorado River to Threadgill's, the scene of our first outdoor show in Austin. For the uninitiated, south of Congress is where the real music happens, where there's not a backing track in earshot or a deluded blogger in sight.

Greeting us on arrival was Leroy, Nathan and Troy from House Of Songs, an impressive initiative which pairs Danish and American artists together in Austin all year round. Troy had kindly booked TGTB for three shows this week, starting here.

Today's line up was nothing short of tantalising. It was nothing short at all in fact, with 13 acts on the bill over the whole day. The mouth-watering prospect of seeing J. Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr) with his new band Sweet Apple, fellow Danes (and friends of TGTB) The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, the stage-scaling exploits of The Riverboat Gamblers and Austin's legendary Rocky Erickson, all playing after our set, ensured we were going to stick around and get busy with the fritas (local slang for frozen margaritas) and of course, the freebie ice cream on tap.

We were received by a wonderful predominantly-Austinite crowd of all ages, who were there to be won over not just merely entertained. After our warm welcome and blisteringly sweltering performance we sat back and made new friends in Hilary form LA, Bryan from Australia, Michael from Austin and Julie from New York. Next up were our compatriots The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, then on came The Riverboat Gamblers whose front man ambitiously scaled the corrugated exterior of the stage and propelled himself roofwards for the finale of their set.

Next up was Sweet Apple with J. Mascis on guitar, and their front man John Petkovic revealing that this was their first official gig. Last but far from least, Rocky Erickson (accompanied by Okkervil River) came on to headline the stage to put a seal on an authentic, bona fide big day out in Austin, which ended with an evening at Vice enjoying yet more Danish friends, WhoMadeWho.