Austin is known for its incredibly diverse and lively music scene, and students at UT remain essential to the local music economy. Because of the city’s fantastic music scene, many former students have gone on to lead successful musical careers. The tradition continues in 2024 with UT’s partnership with South By Southwest. This year, UT spotlights two student artists with the opportunity to perform at Antone’s Nightclub as part of UT at SXSW.

West 22nd, a band that has risen tremendously in popularity on and off campus, initially began as a hobby for friends to develop their musical interests. Two years later, they’ve booked gigs as far as Atlanta, Georgia, and have an upcoming tour that will extend to Colorado. The band said once they started taking music seriously, they realized they wanted to grow their audience in the Austin area.

“We started out as a fun thing as friends, but as we kept continuing as a band, we realized that we could take it further, we could take it to the next level,” said lead singer Logan Madsen. “A goal of ours was to definitely take it to South By.”

On performing, members of the band said that over time, they became a lot more confident about performing in front of a live audience compared to when they first started out. 

“(For the) first show you’re definitely nervous,” said lead guitarist Jeremy Ancheta. “Honestly, (for the) first five shows, we were pretty nervous. And now we’ve gotten accustomed to playing and releasing music.”

As West 22nd adds itself to the long legacy of Longhorn musical acts, the band encourages other artists to put themselves out there. 

“We walked around the UT campus as a freshman and put up flyers that said ‘Drummer wanted and bass wanted,’” Ancheta said. “We had no shame, and I feel like that’s pretty important to starting out is just saying, ‘This is what I want to do, and I’m going to do it. I don’t care what everyone thinks.’”

Ella Castaldo, known professionally as Luvella, also performed at the Hook ‘Em House on Friday. The neuroscience and music senior, also in the humanities program, is represented by the UTalent record label and performed eight songs at Antone’s.

Luvella said her inspiration for getting into music came from being surrounded by a very musical family, and that the reputation of Austin as the live music capital of the world was a big part of her career decisions.. 

“I moved down here for the live music scene,” Luvella said. “I don’t think I would have made the connections I’ve made or worked with the wonderful musicians I have, such as Evan, my guitarist, if I didn’t move here.”

On being able to perform at the festival, Luvella reflected on UT’s place in the Austin community. 

“I think it’s absolutely incredible. I’m so grateful to have this opportunity. UT is such a powerful force and director of the culture in Austin,” Luvella said. “It’s really true what they say, ‘What starts here changes the world,’ and I think that is resonant in the South By festival as well.”