We’re almost there: the 2013 Bonfire Sessions officially begin tomorrow with our first event of the year. The show kicks off at 8:30 pm with Team Spirit, followed by Skaters, Wavves, Japandroids, and a night capper by Divine Fits. Remember, you must be 21+ to attend, and you WILL NOT be admitted without an RSVP, so take two second and do it here. Don’t forget JanSport has a few other fun SXSW happenings: - Friday, March 15th is our day party with Sonicbids at [...] Read More >

Check out our limited addition 2013 SXSW Artist bag. For the 4th year, these will be gifted to performing artists upon check in at SX, so if you’re a registered performer make sure to drop by the convention center early when you arrive in town so you can lay claim to your bag. There IS another way to lay your hands on one of these highly coveted packs… Beginning on Wednesday of next week, just snap a picture of our artist pack on the [...] Read More >

JanSport will be back at SXSW for another year with two great events: On Tuesday, March 12th we will be kicking off the 2013 Bonfire Sessions series at Viceland with food trucks, free drinks, JanSport giveaways, and sets from Divine Fits, Japandroids, Wavves, Skaters, and Team Spirit. You can RSVP and find more info here. You MUST RSVP if you want to attend. Later on in the week on Friday, March 15th we’ll be hosting our annual Sonicbids Official Day Party at Maggie Mae’s [...] Read More >

It’s that time of year again… We’re kicking off the public voting portion of our 5th annual JanSport Battle of the Bands. Head over to our Facebook page and you can sort through the top 100 artists that submitted to the contest. Poke around, take a listen, and then vote for your favorite. We’ll announce the top 10 artists on February 13th based on the vote tally, and from there a panel of judges from Sonicbids and JanSport will select a winner. The winning [...] Read More >

To submit to the annual JanSport Battle of the Bands! Here’s the skinny: to register, you must have submitted to play this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX via the Sonicbids submission process. Assuming you’ve already done this, you can go back to Sonicbids and enter your band into the JanSport Battle. We’ll be curating all submissions down to 100 artists that will move on to a round of public voting beginning January 16th. JanSport and Sonicbids will then pick a winner from the [...] Read More >

All good things must come to and end, and SXSW is no exception. We begrudgingly departed Austin yesterday after an incredible week of live music, BBQ and plenty of Fireman’s 4 (ask for it next time you’re in Austin at your favorite local watering hole.) Before we left Austin, we couldn’t resist making one more poor dietary decision and stopping off at our favorite downtown BBQ joint and inhaling this monstrosity of meat…. Last week, we wrapped up the JanSport SXSW festivities on Friday [...] Read More >

Man, this week is going by fast. Despite near zero sleep and a perpetual headache, SXSW is still as awesome as awesome can get, and the awesomeness continues tomorrow with our annual SXSW party, partnered with Sonicbids. If you can remember back to February, we announced the winners of our Battle of the Bands. Well those winners, Hotfox, have made the trip to Austin on us, and they’ll be performing at our party tomorrow along with some other great up-and-comers from around the country. [...] Read More >

And boy is it a good one. On top of featuring our recent JanSport Battle of the Bands winners, Hotfox, the showcase will also feature Rubblebucket, Voltaire Twins, and ANR. You can RSVP and see the full lineup here. Read More >

A few more bands have been added to The Official Sonicbids SxSW Showcase, presented by JanSport and we’re pumped. NYC based Rubblebucket was announced yesterday and we can’t wait to see these guys live. They’ve built up quite a reputation as a live band and their debut full length, Omega La La, came out last year to much critical acclaim. The party is 3/16 at Maggie Mae’s on 6th Street in Austin, TX. You can RSVP here to make sure you’re one of the [...] Read More >

Is tomorrow! Check back because we’ll be announcing the winner of our 4th annual JanSport Battle of the Bands! The winner will get a free trip down to Austin, TX for this year’s SXSW music festival where they’ll perform at the official Sonicbids Showcase, presented by JanSport. Read More >