Courtesy photo

Mike Schwandt isn't trying to fool himself.

He’s aware that White Light Riot's upcoming showcase at South by Southwest — the band is playing several dates over the course of the five-day music festival — provides the quartet an opportunity to break out of obscurity and into the mainstream.

He is also aware that several hundred other bands performing at SXSW are being provided the exact same opportunity.

Schwandt, along with his three bandmates, are looking to gain a little exposure for Minneapolis-based White Light Riot during SXSW, which runs March 12-16 in Austin. Before White Light Riot made its way down south, Schwandt — the band's lead singer — talked to 210SA about playing alongside his brother Mark, Radiohead giving away its music online and the Minneapolis music scene.

210: What does South by Southwest provide for a band like yours looking for a big break?

MS: Everyone just has a lot of hope, but at the same time, South by Southwest is just another outlet for bands that are trying to get out there. Whether that happens because of South by Southwest, it's just a case of luck, like any other break, I think. Basically, a band coming along at the right time at the right place has just as much of a chance at breaking as a band who came along at South by Southwest.

210: How do you attempt to stand out, considering there will be hundreds of up-and-coming bands looking to do the same thing?

MS: Just play as hard and as tightly as we possibly can. Being on the road the last few months has helped us tighten the show up. A lot of people come to enjoy us after a live show, rather than after listening to the CD . . . The live show speaks more than any other.

210: Most bands look to avoid comparisons with mainstream acts, but your bio has direct references to Franz Ferdinand and The Killers. You don't seem to mind the comparisons.

MS: We originally didn't mind them when we first started out because it was a basis for how we could look at music . . . I don't want people saying we sound like this or that, but in terms of the bio, we were told that more people would be into listening to something if they had some familiarity with it. We wouldn't have put that in there ourselves, but we didn't mind doing it because it was for a good reason.

210: Having two brothers in the band, do things ever get more heated than they otherwise might?

MS: It seems like because Mark is my brother and we're in a band together, it's allowed us to open up about everything. No one holds back, and everyone has done that now. We're all pretty much brothers, and we act that way towards each other and always will from now on. It creates a cool dynamic because we're so open about out opinions. Even if we get into it in the creative process, we usually come back together because it's what we've always done.

210: What is the music scene like in Minneapolis?

MS: Minneapolis is one of the greatest melting pots for music in America right now. You can find anything you want and everything is good in that scene. Not one type of music has a bad scene.

210: As a band that draws inspiration from Radiohead, what did you think of the band letting people pay whatever they wanted online for its new album?

MS: I think that the CD is almost dead at this point. No one can stop the sharing of music, and (what Radiohead did) was a huge leap forward in regards to getting music out there. I know people who have the record who didn't pay anything, and that may have hurt Radiohead's income on the album. At the same time, they knew that and knew it would be shared anyway. For us as a smaller band, we just want our music out there . . .

Radiohead set a precedent. You don't need to do it the old-fashioned way if you don't want. It was a big f.u. to the record label, and it was a way to change the business model.

CLINT HALE | 210SA