TCB

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UNFAMILIAR CUSTOMS

For SXSW's ever-increasing roster of international bands, sometimes getting here is half the battle. "It's getting harder and harder," says Brooklyn-based publicist Fiona Bloom, who works with several overseas acts. To even qualify for a visa, she notes, "It doesn't matter if you've been a musician all your life, you have to have been in that group for 12 months or more." Moreover, adds Bloom, bands can run up huge tabs hiring attorneys to sort through all the red tape. It may not happen often ("Not that many that we're aware of," says SXSW Music Creative Director Brent Grulke), but it happens, sometimes to some of SXSW's biggest buzz bands: Scots the View and South Africans Wild Eyes this year, Iranians 127 in 2005. "The cash to acquire a visa is probably a greater issue than being denied one for most acts," Grulke notes. Some bands won't even know if their paperwork is in order until zero hour. "To be absolutely honest, we have no idea how difficult it will be," admits Mark Mulholland of Berlin alt.country quartet Two Dollar Bash, scheduled for 1am March 17 at Jovita's. "We'll find out next week when we try to cross the border." See our International Bands Supplement, starting with the UK, for more.