The Tristate will be well-represented at next week’s South by Southwest music festival in Austin. In addition to now Texas-based Heartless Bastards, Cincinnati will send Buffalo Killers, The Seedy Seeds, The Ridges, Why? and the Harlequins down to the Silicon Hills.

Two tour launch shows will take place here this week. Tonight, the Ridges and the Seedy Seeds will play an all-ages show, with support from Way Shape or Form, in the Southgate House Revival’s upstairs Revival Room. Doors are at 7 pm. Purchasers of $6 advance tickets will receive an individualized, hand-drawn postcard, mailed by the Seeds while they are out on the road.

“We wanted to produce a really cool keepsake for fans who can't tour along with us, which will help them share in our journey,” said the Seedy Seeds’ co-front Margaret Darling. “Postcards, unlike formal letters, inherently suggest travel and sometimes also adventure.”

Tickets for the Ridges / Seedy Seeds send-off show are available here, or in-person at Shake It Records or the Southgate House Revival’s lounge.

This Thursday at MOTR Pub, surf-psych trio the Harlequins will launch their own South by Southwest sojourn, with support from Chicago’s Stephen Paul Smoker. The 21-and-up show is free and will begin after 9 pm.

I will fortunate to be travelling to Austin with the Harlequins, on special assignment for CincyMusic.com. Keep checking this website next week, and follow WVQC’s “Salina Underground” show on Twitter (@salinaundergrnd), for tales of Harlequins’ hijinks and hilarity on the road.