Say what you will about Viet Cong, but the Calgary-based band’s drummer Mike Wallace is one of the best that we saw at SXSW. He might even be the best, considering the fact that he made it through the majority of their shows playing one-handed. Wallace injured his left hand before Viet Cong played a showcase at the Mohawk, and fortunately we were there to watch him single-handedly destroy the set (get it?). At one point during the week, Wallace was joined by Swans percussionist Thor Harris, who played the part of Wallace’s left arm on stage at Fader Fort. About an hour ago, Wallace uploaded a small photo essay to Viet Cong’s Facebook documenting SXSW. Check out photos and detailed captions below.

“Happy BDAY Monty”
3/15, Indianapolis at Joyful Noise is where the mayhem began; perhaps it was one too many birthday shots, or the power going out right as we embarked upon the last song of our set (“Death”). A short intermission and Jurassic Park was back online, I busted my distal 5th metacarpal in the last verse on the rim of the snare drum #gnarbounty #joyfulnoise #vietcong

“XRAY”
I’m a big fan of irony most of the time, but this dose is a bit much considering the term “Boxers Fracture”, and the cover our self-titled record! #boxersfracture #gnarbounty

“NO TRESPASSING”
Flegel breaks the rules too ! #vietcong
Photo by Ian Russell.

“Wallace & Thor”
I called in some back up, I had no idea Thor lives in Austin or the capacity of how amazing he really is as a musician and human being ! He was instantly super excited to help out and we tripled the arm ratio three hundred percent. We had a little tete-a-tete in the green room and worked out a few ideas slapping our knees and singing the melodies 15 mins before taking the stage.
I think Iggy would agree it was certainly Raw Power!!
#thor #vietcong #rawpower #gnarbounty #faderfort #sxsw

“The Christ”
This is Danny Christ in his usual habitat, rolling around in his own drool, sweat and blood #gnarbounty #vietcong #faderfort #sxsw

“Bloodshred”
After 6 one-handed shows in 3 days, Mike’s right hand was taking the heat
#bloodshred #vietcong #gnarbounty #sxsw #faderfort

“Ocean Of Despair”
Thor came to meet up with us after the show and gave us all individually a signed copy of a really beautiful book he made ! What a guy ! #oceanofdespair #vietcong

“Wallace & Thor”
I LOVE this man !!!!
#thor #vietcong #gnarbounty #sxsw
photo: Nick Helderman Photography