A Fiasco to have fun with

Front-woman Alysia Kraft recalls the name of her band, Patti Fiasco coming from a take on a nickname of sorts she got whenever she would get in trouble as a kid. "My mom's younger sister's name was Patti and when (mom) would yell at me for getting in trouble she would slip up and yell, 'Patti!'," Kraft said.

According to the band's website pattifiasco.net, Kraft and company got together after a 2008 open-mic night when they decided they wanted to write and play music full time.

One of their first gigs was played at Margaret Weber's first Saint Patrick's day celebration at the Bear Trap in 2009. "I wanted to have a party and took a chance on them," Weber said of her introduction to the band. Weber recalls that first show there were, "only a couple dozen people and about 75 percent of them were friends and family ... They've come a long way from then to now with people coming out of the woodwork for their headlining set at this last year's 2014 WhatFest," Weber said."

Kraft has spent the last year living in Austin, Texas soaking up the scene where Patti Fiasco will be playing in several showcases at the international South By Southwest (SXSW) music, film, and arts festival that has its home there.

"I definitely felt the distance and separation from my home here [in Wyoming]," Kraft said of her time in Austin, the music mecca of the Southwest.

Kraft says the band is working on their next album and although they set out to do more straight up rock and roll in this one, she feels it has been influenced by that feeling of distance and being spread out she felt during the last year in Austin.

Overall Kraft says this next album is more "cohesive" but "Sonically a little bit different" than their first full-length album "Small Town Lights" released in 2011 which has "gotten radio play throughout the Rockies and the Southwest," according to their website

This will be the third time that Patti Fiasco has had the opportunity to play at SXSW and Kraft says the band certainly appreciates the "opportunity to play your music for everyone from different regions."

Patti Fiasco will be playing a SXSW send off show at 8:30 p.m., March 14 at the Bear Trap in Riverside for the Bear Trap's "St. Practice Day" celebration where Weber will be serving up her Irish-themed fare (other than whiskey) of corned beef and cabbage, Shepherd's pie, and Guinness stew for their annual St. Patrick's Day celebration. Riverside's own Danny Drinkwine will open the show. Admission is free and open to all ages with any donations appreciated to help with expenses for the band's trek to SXSW.