South by Southwest

South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual set of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987, and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. In 2011, the conference lasted for 10 days with SXSW Interactive lasting for 5 days, Music for 6 days, and Film running concurrently for 9 days.

South by Southwest is run by the company SXSW, Inc. which plans and executes conferences, trade shows, festivals, and other events. In addition to the three main South by Southwest festivals, the company runs three other conferences, two in Austin: SXSWedu, a conference on educational innovation, and SXSW Eco, an environmental conference; and one in Las Vegas: SXSW V2V, a conference focused on innovative startups.

Overview

SXSW Music

SXSW Music is the largest music festival of its kind in the world, with more than 2,000 acts as of 2014. SXSW Music offers artist-provided music and video samples of featured artists at each festival via their official YouTube channel.

Shinobi Ninja

Shinobi Ninja is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York. The band is known for high-energy performances and eclectic sound, blending music genres such as hip hop, punk, funk, metal, reggae, electronic, and rock. In 2015, the band's song "What If Times" won the award for Best Video at The MOVE Music Video Awards.

Band members

Former members

Band origins

Prior to joining the band, Edara Johnson was a professional dancer, performing for such artists as Rihanna, Santigold, Jason Derulo, Ricky Martin, Mylène Farmer, Cassie, P. Diddy, LL Cool J, Nelly, and Daddy Yankee. In 2006, she made an appearance in the video "Long Way To Go" by Cassie.

Meanwhile, Hrdina and both Machinists were in a band called Stalley & The Wax Machine, which broke up in early 2008. Shinobi Ninja formed shortly afterward. Several members of the band met at a rehearsal and recording studio called Progressive Music in the Film Center Building in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. D.A., Simone, and M. Machinist worked at the studio, and Johnson took vocal classes there. In 2010, their original bass player Simone left the band, and Alien Lex replaced him.