Alex Maas of Black Angels. Photo by Neff Conner, Creative Commons.
At 34, the Black Angels' Alex Maas is now an "old man" by Austin standards (the median age is 31). And with 12 years of living and playing in the city—he's one of the creator's of Austin's annual psych fest, Levitation —he's heard all the shitty arguments about why the city isn't "cool" any more. But in less than an hour, he'll set you straight. Austin, according to Maas, is still a city for the enterprising opportunist of any level. Here we talk to him about the quiet joys of living south of the river, and the best out-of-the-way watering hole for when the hip roar of the Eastside becomes too much.When did you come to Austin?
I was coming here in high school. Both of my sisters went to college at University of Texas, and I went to a couple of their parties. I was just like, "Wow, this place is just great." People had blue hair and nose piercings. Growing up in Houston, it's a fairly conservative place. People in Austin are really open and interesting and nice, and the food was always great. So, I came here in 2000, and I've been here since then. So there's that conversation among locals about seeing the change. What are the biggest changes you've seen?
I feel like the biggest change just happened, like, literally within several months. I can go on tour and come back and there will be a whole brand new apartment complex. They're building swanky complexes everywhere. Think about it: South Lamar, all those places, there's a new complex going up all the time. North Lamar is a lot of developments. These big box apartments just pop up on a fuckin' dime. I don't know how. I've tried to remodel a bathroom before, and it took me a year and a half, so I don't know how they're doing this shit. You're a big part of Levitation, but of the other festivals, is there one in particular you prefer in terms of audience, or just the general crowd?
South by Southwest is great because people come from all over the place, and it's a good meet-up. You can make these plans with people who are coming in from all over the world. The only other festival like that in Austin for me is Levitation, where I know that I'm gonna see people from France, or Sweden or Vancouver or South America. So I think SXSW is one of those where I get to reconvene with people that I've met across the world. I dunno man, South by. I still kinda like it. I know people hate on it and stuff, but there's a charm to it. It's our civic duty to make something happen during that time, that's what I think. All the people that complain about it, it's like: You've got 60 to 80 thousand people coming to Austin—sell them hand towels or something. Make money on it. I'm just such an opportunist. There's always room for the little guy to get in there and get a handout. What area of Austin do you like?
I live in south Austin, and it's a little bit slower. I kinda like it, man. I'm 34. I'm in between three decent grocery stores—Sprouts, H.E.B., and Central Market. I'm next to a bowling alley and a fucking movie theater. It's very my-speed right now. When you're stopping by the coffee shop or a bar down there, do you have a preference of where you like to go?
There's a really cool bar down here called Indian Roller. That new? Haven't heard of it. What is this place?
It's got this really hip vibe, but it's past Slaughter Lane on the right hand side, and they got great cocktails and all the beer and cider you want. And live music. It's this little fucking gem down there, man. For coffee, there's Starbucks literally half a mile from my house, but I always pass that up to go to this other place, Radio Coffee. They've got coffee that comes out of a tap there, and it's amazing. And they've got a badass African vegetarian trailer. It's so good. It seems like you've got a wide palate, so it's not a choice between brisket or taco for you, huh?
No, no, no. There's always that option, but living here for so long and traveling a lot, I can't just come back and eat BBQ the whole time. You come back and the first thing you do is get a fucking brisket taco and dip it in queso, you know? But you can only do that so many times when you come back from touring. You're just craving shitty Tex-Mex. I like to try all the different restaurants. There's some great Korean. And Vietnamese coming up.
The Vietnamese is poppin, isn't it? I'm from Seabrook, and there's a big Vietnamese culture there. So I've been eating Vietnamese food since I was in middle school. Where would you tell someone coming in for the first time to go?
Go over by Barton Springs or somewhere by South Congress. You can kind of get to everywhere and I feel like that's a good kind of first look for the city, because there's tons of really cool shops, and you got the street vendors that happen on Thursdays and on the weekend. And, obviously, you have old Austin, places like the Continental Club. They can go to Perla's if they want a nice dinner. Or, for something scrappy, they can have Home Slice if that's more their style. You are really pushing the south Austin thing. You're a south-of-the-river boy now.
Funny about going to places where you know you're not gonna run into anybody. There's something kinda charming about that, for me. Read the entire VICE Guide to Austin here.
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I was coming here in high school. Both of my sisters went to college at University of Texas, and I went to a couple of their parties. I was just like, "Wow, this place is just great." People had blue hair and nose piercings. Growing up in Houston, it's a fairly conservative place. People in Austin are really open and interesting and nice, and the food was always great. So, I came here in 2000, and I've been here since then. So there's that conversation among locals about seeing the change. What are the biggest changes you've seen?
I feel like the biggest change just happened, like, literally within several months. I can go on tour and come back and there will be a whole brand new apartment complex. They're building swanky complexes everywhere. Think about it: South Lamar, all those places, there's a new complex going up all the time. North Lamar is a lot of developments. These big box apartments just pop up on a fuckin' dime. I don't know how. I've tried to remodel a bathroom before, and it took me a year and a half, so I don't know how they're doing this shit. You're a big part of Levitation, but of the other festivals, is there one in particular you prefer in terms of audience, or just the general crowd?
South by Southwest is great because people come from all over the place, and it's a good meet-up. You can make these plans with people who are coming in from all over the world. The only other festival like that in Austin for me is Levitation, where I know that I'm gonna see people from France, or Sweden or Vancouver or South America. So I think SXSW is one of those where I get to reconvene with people that I've met across the world. I dunno man, South by. I still kinda like it. I know people hate on it and stuff, but there's a charm to it. It's our civic duty to make something happen during that time, that's what I think. All the people that complain about it, it's like: You've got 60 to 80 thousand people coming to Austin—sell them hand towels or something. Make money on it. I'm just such an opportunist. There's always room for the little guy to get in there and get a handout. What area of Austin do you like?
I live in south Austin, and it's a little bit slower. I kinda like it, man. I'm 34. I'm in between three decent grocery stores—Sprouts, H.E.B., and Central Market. I'm next to a bowling alley and a fucking movie theater. It's very my-speed right now. When you're stopping by the coffee shop or a bar down there, do you have a preference of where you like to go?
There's a really cool bar down here called Indian Roller. That new? Haven't heard of it. What is this place?
It's got this really hip vibe, but it's past Slaughter Lane on the right hand side, and they got great cocktails and all the beer and cider you want. And live music. It's this little fucking gem down there, man. For coffee, there's Starbucks literally half a mile from my house, but I always pass that up to go to this other place, Radio Coffee. They've got coffee that comes out of a tap there, and it's amazing. And they've got a badass African vegetarian trailer. It's so good. It seems like you've got a wide palate, so it's not a choice between brisket or taco for you, huh?
No, no, no. There's always that option, but living here for so long and traveling a lot, I can't just come back and eat BBQ the whole time. You come back and the first thing you do is get a fucking brisket taco and dip it in queso, you know? But you can only do that so many times when you come back from touring. You're just craving shitty Tex-Mex. I like to try all the different restaurants. There's some great Korean. And Vietnamese coming up.
The Vietnamese is poppin, isn't it? I'm from Seabrook, and there's a big Vietnamese culture there. So I've been eating Vietnamese food since I was in middle school. Where would you tell someone coming in for the first time to go?
Go over by Barton Springs or somewhere by South Congress. You can kind of get to everywhere and I feel like that's a good kind of first look for the city, because there's tons of really cool shops, and you got the street vendors that happen on Thursdays and on the weekend. And, obviously, you have old Austin, places like the Continental Club. They can go to Perla's if they want a nice dinner. Or, for something scrappy, they can have Home Slice if that's more their style. You are really pushing the south Austin thing. You're a south-of-the-river boy now.
Funny about going to places where you know you're not gonna run into anybody. There's something kinda charming about that, for me. Read the entire VICE Guide to Austin here.