Each year tens of thousands of people converge on the state’s capital city for the South by Southwest Musical Festival, which kicked off Tuesday.

Artist from all around the world travel to Texas to play in SXSW. Now in the festival’s 30th year, musicians perform at bars, churches, theaters—all sorts of venues across Austin, but some artists feel right at home.

“I was like ‘oh we got SXSW, cool,’ I’m still going to skateboard around the city with my friends,” said Gyasi Bonds.

At 15, Bonds is one of the youngest artists to perform at SXSW this year. He plays the drums behind his older sister, Jendayi Bonds. A singer/song writer, Jendayi just turned 18 this week, she is a senior at Anderson High School, where her brother is in his freshman year.

“I’m not going into SXSW  like ‘yea, this is it, we’re going to be famous because of SXSW…’ but I’m definitely super, super excited,” Jedayi said.

Born and raised in Austin, the brother-sister duo started the band four years ago—Charlie Belle—that’s their great grandmother’s name.

They practice inside the 15-year-old’s bedroom—the music and the talent radiates inside the four walls.The room is small, it’s tight squeeze but it’s all the space they need to prepare for the big stage. 

The two high school students split their time between homework and rehearsals, but their focus often falls on the latter.

“I just do it [homework] during lunch,” Gyasi said. His sister quickly said, “That’s not good though, you’re a freshman.”

The two bicker like any brother and sister would, which makes Alex Freeman, the 17-year-old bass player the buffer between the siblings.

“Sometimes, there is a little bit of fighting in here,” Freeman said. Also a high school senior, Freeman said  the two siblings keep things professional–they leave their baggage at the bedroom door, because the music always comes first.

Tuesday marks the first time the Charlie Belle will play an official SXSW show.

“So I’m definitely pretty nervous for SXSW,” Jendayi said, “but I don’t know about a big break.”

The festival is a land of opportunity for artists—a launch pad that could sky rocket musicians to fame and fortune.

“SXSW is its own animal, there’s really nothing else like it,” said Jonny Wolf.

He and his wife met at a music festival eight years ago, now they have their own family and their own band—The Ghost Wolves.

”We’re looking for medium breaks, mostly—small breaks,” said J. Wolf, “We’ve had a series of small breaks from SXSW.”

This summer, the Austin-based duo will jet around Europe to tour with a band who spotted them at a SXSW show last year.

“We spend all our time together we work on everything together, of course we fight but we get over it,” Carley Wolfe said. “We’re on the same team in every way.”  

In their fifth year at SXSW, the Ghost Wolves said one of the best parts of the festival is meeting all of the other performers. It’s an amazing experience to sing on stage during a SXSW show, but C. Wolfe said with so many artists in one place, it’s a great opportunity for musicians to come together to inspire and encourage one another.

“Whatever makes you happy, we’ll always encourage people but we haven’t necessarily always been encouraged,” C. Wolfe said.

Back at the Bonds house, the brother and sister said they are very excited to play at SXSW, but they’ll also be going there as fans—so watch some of their favorite bands. 

Charlie Belle is not sure if this week will be their “big break,” but they do know that the SXSW gig is their dream job. 

“I know that music is going to be a big part of my life,” Gyasi said, and that is something he and his sister can agree on.