Earlier today the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) updated its list of showcasing artists for the 2012 music event. Included in that announcement are the first two Scottish bands who are expected to make the trip to Austin next March – Laki Mera and Three Blind Wolves. More below.

Regular readers will know that as in 2010 and 2011, a lot can change over the next few months as bands get accepted to play the festival and start the process to obtain funding from various sources, process visas from the US Embassy in London, and coax permission to attend from boyfriends and/or girlfriends.

Arguably, the 2009 Scottish Showcase remains the high point of Scotland’s recent contribution to SXSW. Featuring a Friday night line-up of Primal Scream, Glasvegas, Camera Obscura, The Proclaimers, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Dananananaykroyd, Scottish music demanded and received a massive audience that year.

However, in 2011, the presence of a BBC Scotland documentary crew and Withered Hand’s visa odyssey brought a renewed focus to the Scottish Invasion at SXSW. We also had fresh perspectives on the musical chaos with daily video diaries from Matthew Young, (Song, by Toad) and the Detour Scotland crew.

The 2012 music festival will take place in Austin from March 13th to March 18th and once again Dear Scotland will be there to report and reflect on the impact of the Scottish artists. There will also likely be a small gathering of any remaining Scots amid the recording of the annual margarita infused podcast at Dear Scotland HQ on the last Sunday of the festival.

As we stand, there are just two Scottish artists that have been officially announced for SXSW 2012. However, based on various rumours and some extrapolations from existing tour schedules, we have compiled the list below. At this time the only thing that can be guaranteed is that this list will change between now and March.

SXSW 2012 Showcasing Bands from Scotland

From official list announced December 6 2011

Laki Mera

Three Blind Wolves

Rumoured to be attending as of December 6 2011

French Wives (source: the band)

We Were Promised Jetpacks (rumour: regular attendees with a critically acclaimed new album)

Twin Atlantic (rumour: touring US early 2012, no Austin date)

The Twilight Sad (rumour: regular attendees with new album set for release in February 2012)

Simple Minds (rumour: touring UK and Europe until early March)

http://sxsw.com/music

Detour’s Big Walk // Sixth Street @ SXSW 2011

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzS2wVYiqbY

Photo Credit: Kid Canaveral at SXSW 2011 by Dear Scotland