The Out! Raleigh family friendly street festival will take place Saturday, May 4 on Fayetteville Street’s City Plaza in downtown Raleigh. WKNC DJs Jacob and Benny Mac preview the third annual event with two members of the Out! Raleigh festival leadership team: Kellie Burris, Executive Committee & Vendor Relations, and James Miller, LGBT Center of Raleigh Executive Director.

From the Facebook event page:

Out! Raleigh celebrates North Carolina’s LGBT community, families, friends and supporters in a family-friendly atmosphere. The day-long festival will feature a main stage performance area for regional and local musical groups as well as local dignitaries and speakers. A KidsZone will provide free activities and educational entertainment for young children. All of Fayetteville Street from the State Capitol to City Plaza will be closed for the event, allowing businesses and non-profit organizations to set up vendor spaces to interact with the visiting public. Businesses and restaurants in the surrounding downtown area will be encouraged to welcome and support the festival attendees.

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Tonight on the Local Beat we are back to another jam packed program with several local bands releasing new albums.

On Tuesday Durham band I Was Totally Destroying It released their sixth album, Vexations. The album has been streaming here all week in anticipation for their release party tomorrow evening at Motorco Music Hall in Durham and I must admit, I am quite smitten. We will be chatting with the members at 5pm today and while the group has been on the program almost a dozen times now and are always charming and fun, as is their music.

For the second hour we will have the pleasure of being joined in studio by the guys of American Aquarium. Front man BJ Barham has been on the Local Beat many times but this will mark the first that he will be joined by his band mates. American Aquarium has released 7 albums now, including one EP and one live full length, and their newest, Burn. Flicker. Die., is to be released tomorrow evening at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh.

For the last hour of the evening we will be joined for the first time, about half way through by Wilmington electronica group Dash. If you listen to the Local Lunch you will recognize the bands dancey electronic pop song “Into The Sounds” which has been quite a bit of airplay. You might also want to head to Kings Barcade after the interview to check the group out live.

As always, the fun starts at 5 p.m. and will last until 8 p.m.! Be sure to follow the Local Beat on Twitter or Facebook and download tons of free local music on our ReverbNation page!

It’s another flashback on “The Local Beat” Aug. 12 as we dive into the vault once again to uncover some great interviews from the past year. This week, however, we are not dropping too far back as we relive some interviews from the past couple of months.

The first hour will be our interview with Kelly Reid and Suzie Hook from Sound Situations, recorded in June. Sound Situations is a fantastic new local music based interview and performance TV program on the Raleigh Public Access Channel. So far the show has several new episodes under its belt. Kelly and Suzie joined me to talk about the new show and what plans they had in store for it.

At 6 p.m. we will rehash and interview with one of my favorite local bands: I Was Totally Destroying It. IWTDI came on “The Local Beat” back in April to discuss their newest album, Preludes, which was being released at the time. John and Rachel are always fantastic guests and I have yet to have a dull conversation with the duo.

The last hour was one of my all-time favorites in recent memory with The Small Ponds and Filthybird. Both bands played at Marsh Woodwinds on May 20, which turned out to be my favorite show from Spring 2011. Both groups have a lot of new material which the Small Ponds played live for us in studio.

As always “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

WKNC & TNN Present:  I Was Totally Destroying It and The Future Is Me. As always the show is FREE, 21 and up, and starts at 10 p.m.!! The cheeseburgers are cheap and so are the local brews on tap. Come get heavy with us! YAY

I Was Totally Destroying It is deliciously pop punk. If you haven’t heard them, check their website to listen to their songs. “My Favorite Haunt”  has always been a favorite of mine. I Was Totally Destroying It is also an old time friend of Tir Na nOg. They’ve even done special tribute nights at the pub doing U2 covers (I Was Totally Destroying U2).

The Future Is Me will be opening up for this awesome show!

The warm weather got you wanting to get out of the house? Spring Break plans fall through?
Let us provide you with some options.

Be the right caller and you could win!

This week at WKNC, we have the following giveaways:

3/1: Marnie Stern @ Kings

Marnie Stern, courtesy of mercurialn

3/2 Leon Russel @ Lincoln Theatre

Check out Leon Russell, 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of fame inductee, photo courtsey of Archman8

3/3 Future Islands @ Kings

3/4 Dance Music for Nerds @ The Pinhook

Superchunk @ Cat’s Cradle

Fintroll @ Volume 11

3/5 Redress Raleigh Benefit featuring I Was Totally Destroying It and Bright Young Things @ Kings

3/6 Justin Robinson @ The Pinhook

Ty Segall @ Kings

Yelawolf @ Cat’s Cradle

Remember, you have to listen win!

Oh, and while you’re winning free tickets to great show, remember to vote WKNC best in College Radio as according to MTVu. Vote often, vote much.

And… We’re Back!

On January 6, Tir Na nOg and WKNC bring you the first show of the New Year.  I Was Totally Destroying It and special guests that are TBA.  This week’s band is deliciously pop punk.  If you haven’t heard them, check their website listen to the songs.   “My Favorite Haunt”  has always been a favorite of mine.  I Was Totally Destroying It is also an old time friend of Tir Na nOg.  They’ve even done special tribute nights at the pub doing U2 covers (I Was Totally Destroying U2).

[The above has been corrected in another post. We extend our apologies for this miscommunication.]

The show is 21 and up, FREE, and music starts at 10 p.m.

As for other news… Between semesters Local Beer Local Band Night has been going through some changes.  Now the event is bound to be better than ever.  What to expect for the new year:

• Our new booker Mark Connor to bring you the best in local music,
• More emphasis on beer with samples and “learning stations” set up at the events by local breweries,
• Heavier involvement with the surrounding community.
• FUN!

Love you all!   See you this Thursday.  I’ve missed you!

For 3 days, from November 4-6, Durham comes alive with music and art. Troika Music Festival began in 2002 and is still going strong. Bands featured this year include Birds & Arrows, Veelee, Old Bricks, I Was Totally Destroying It, Red Collar, The Small Ponds, Americans in France, Phil Cook and His Feat, Chatham County Line, Mount Moriah, Gray Young, Spider Bags, and even more! They’ll be performing at venues around Durham and WKNC has 3-day festival passes to give away!

Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for it now through November 3, and you could win a pair of 3-day festival passes!

Courtesy troikamusicfestival.org

WKNC and Tir Na nOg Irish Pub team up to bring you Local Beer Local Band Night every Thursday.  These events are always FREE and 21 and up.  Local beers on special and local bands on stage.

Photographs of Local Beer Local Band night on August 5 by WKNC photographer Katie Hill

Museum Mouth

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The Beast

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I Was Totally Destroying It

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

This Thursday, August 12 features music from Aminal and Butterflies! Both are from Chapel Hill.

Aminal

You might remember Aminal from our concert series Friday’s on the Lawn. They played for a crowd of people, blankets, and picnic baskets. Hooray for indie pop! Come on Thursday to bob your head and tap your toes!

Butterflies

From Chapel Hill and signed under Trekky Records, Butterflies will be opening up at Tir Na nOg this Thursday.  “Butterflies reimagine indie pop in laid-back folk environs… contemplative (though hopeful) soul searching of… frontman Josh Kimbrough, who gets help from a revolving cast of friends… including pianist/ girlfriend Katie Zickefoose. She adds generous harmonies.”  -Spencer Griffith, Independent Weekly

Jenks Miller and Heather McEntire of Mount Moriah got stuck in heavy traffic on the way to the station, and, unfortunately, we only had around 12 minutes to chat about the band and their brand new limited edition 12″ called The Letting Go during the first hour of the evening. We discussed the history of the band and their future as far as releasing their upcoming album is concerned. We also promoted their sold out show at the Pinhook with Midtown Dickens and the Mountain Goats Saturday, July 31. Jenks and Heather run Holidays for Quince Records, and each is in several different bands, including Un Deux Trois and Horseback, and are two of the busiest people I know. It was interesting to talk about their other projects in relation to Mount Moriah. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I had to hold back many of the questions I had for them, but what we did talk about was certainly fascinating and worth a second listen:

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At 6 p.m., John Booker and Rachel Hirsh of I Was Totally Destroying It came in to promote their new 7″ The Get Big 7″, which is officially being released at Tir Na Nog this Thursday for Local Beer Local Band (alongside Museum Mouth, Jews & Catholics, and The Beast).  The new single is being released by their record label, Greyday Records and can be purchased at any local record store as well as online or at their shows. If you buy the vinyl, it comes with a digital download and bonus track! I also had to ask them about their band name and their answer might surprise you! Listen to our interview as we talked about the new release, IWTDI’s upcoming shows, and their penchant for wearing costumes on stage:

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Alex Iglehart and Wylie Pamplin of Calico Haunts came in at 7 p.m. for their first-ever radio interview to promote their first show in Raleigh since 2007, which was at the Berkely Cafe Saturday evening. We also debuted some brand new songs from their upcoming record that is scheduled to be released in October this year. Many of you might be familiar with Calico Haunts last release After All, which was one of The Independent Weekly‘s albums of the month last year. Unfortunately, the band dissolved shortly after the release and little promotion was done for the record. A short time later the band was pieced back together and they started recording a follow up album only to have their work stolen two weeks before it was scheduled to be finished. With all of these mishaps you might think the band would throw in the towel. Listen below for their side of the story and their reactions:

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This Thursday, August 5 will be a bit more intense than your typical Thursday Night at Tir Na nOg. The Tir Na nOg and WKNC team have outdone themselves this time to bring you FOUR mega-awesome bands:  I Was Totally Destroying It, The Beast, Jews and Catholics, and Museum Mouth. Furthermore, this is an 80′s Dress-up Dance Party and 7″ release celebration, which will also feature DJ Johnny B Spinning the best 80′s hits!!!  There will be even more local beer varieties to choose from! This show will start 9 p.m. on the dot! 21 and up, of course.

I Was Totally Destroying It

If you find yourself at Tir Na nOg on other nights rather than Thursday, then you might have caught their other musical project I Was Totally Destroying U2 where they cover all the hits of U2 while offering spot-on Bono impersonation. Well guess what… they have original tracks too! Which are way better than U2 in my opinion.

The Beast

You might remember The Beast because they were featured on the Hear Here music compilation. They’re a delicious hip-hop group that has entertained Raleigh listeners for a while now. Be sure to catch them live this Thursday!

Jews and Catholics

A review from Patrick Culliton describes this duo in brief: “How can two people make this much noise? Machines. Guitar, bass, sequencers, hands, throats. Machines. One wing beats rust, the other glisten. A Jew, a Catholic; a boy, a girl. Isn’t tension what our attention’s after? Do you like to dance, even a little, and sweat, even a lot? We’re all lost in the woods, thank God. Jews and Catholics can fly deeper in.”

Museum Mouth

This Thursday will be the first time I will see Museum Mouth live. I am incredibly excited, as I am listening to them now. Grungy, sort of angry about something, indie rock. Already I am drawn to the lead vocalist. Fast-paced music paired with this lady’s wonderful, almost lazy-like singing voice is working for me in so many ways.

See you there, friends!

Can you believe it is already August?! Seven months of the Local Beat come and gone already in 2010 and almost exactly a year since I took over as host of the program. However, this Friday’s show just might be one of the best ones yet.

At 5 p.m., we are starting off the show with Mount Moriah, a band I have been raving out for over a year since I first saw them at their second show ever back in May 2009. The group is releasing their first LP after debuting their first song “Lament” on the Holiday’s For Quince Compilation Vol. 1, which has been getting airplay on WKNC.  The album is entitled Letting Go and is officially being released at the sold out show this Saturday July 31 at the Pinhook with Midtown Dickens and The Mountain Goats.  The 12″ vinyl record will be released on the streets on August 3. We should have plenty to talk about and hopefully you will hear some new tunes!

I Was Totally Destroying It is coming in for the second hour. They are also playing Saturday evening at Cherry Bounce Festival in Raleigh but we will mostly be talking about their new 7″ single “Get Big,” which should be in the running for best album artwork of the year so far. We also have quite a bit to talk about, including their Sound Around app, their contribution to the Musical Chairs Compilation, and their U2 cover band. It should make for an entertaining hour!

For the final hour I am having in Wylie Pamplin and Alex Iglehart from Chapel Hill-based Calico Haunts who are making their radio interview debut. Calico Haunts put out one of 2010′s best records with their After All album in the fall of 2009. They have just finished a new record and are planning to leak a couple of new tracks on the show! In addition, we will chat about their first ever Raleigh show at the Berkley Cafe with the Dead String Brothers on July 31.

As always the Local Beat starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday on WKNC.  Feel free to follow us on Twitter (@WKNCLocalBeat), ReverbNation, and Facebook.

Below is a recap of last Friday’s Local Beat where we invited in the local Musical Chairs Compilation’s Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores, Jason Adamo, and Wesley Wolfe.

For the first hour of the show Erika Libero from Nightsound Studios came by with Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores to chat about the local Musical Chairs Compilation that is currently underway. Nightsound is about to begin recording for the compilation, which should take about three weeks before the songs are mastered and released in September. We talked about the behind-the-scenes process of creating the compilation as well as the bands who will be on it. The master list of the covers are below:

• Butterflies covering Erie Choir
• Erie Choir covering Luego
• Luego covering Birds and Arrows
• Birds and Arrows covering SWASO
• SWASO covering The Pneurotics
• The Pneurotics covering New Town Drunks
• New Town Drunks covering Soft Company
• Soft Company covering Lizzy Ross Band
• Lizzy Ross Band covering Pecosa
• Pecosa covering Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores
• Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores covering Puritan Rodeo
• Puritan Rodeo covering I Was Totally Destroying It
• I Was Totally Destroying It covering North Elementary
• North Elementary covering The Big Picture
• The Big Picture covering Butterflies

Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores played some live tracks for us off of their record that is coming out in August. Check those out in the playlist to the right and download them on the Local Beat ReverbNation page. Listen to the interview here:

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Jason Adamo and Doug Casteen came in for the second hour of the show to talk about Jason’s new album Transistor, which was released back in July. Jason has been playing live in the Triangle for almost a decade now and has set up a temporary residence at the Pour House on Monday evenings. Transistor is a new sound for him that is much more rock n’ roll and a little deeper than his past recordings. It was recorded in Pittsboro with John Briggs and cowritten with John, Doug, and Jason’s bother Chris. Jason and Doug played some live tracks for us in studio, which you can listen to in the widget above or download them on the Local Beat ReverbNation page. Also, be sure to watch Jason’s new music video below for “Raleigh Nights” that is going to be played by the Carolina Hurricanes this next season at every game.

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For the last hour of the evening, Wes Wolfe came in the studio to chat about his new record Storage, which was released from Odessa Records back in April. You might recognize Wes from defunct local group the Grasshoppers who split up back in 2006, though he is now recording and playing live solo. Wes played nearly every instrument on the new record and recorded it in his own home.  He was a soft spoken and humble interviewee, but we had a lot to talk about:

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In case the Cheerwine flavored Krispey Kreme donut didn’t quite do it for you, the next best product launch this week has to be iPhone app Sound Around, which hit the market today.  Sound Around is a brand new iPhone app aimed at local and national artists and made by co-founders and brothers Scott and Steven Klein of NC State cred right here in the Triangle.

Sound Around is an easy-to-use app creator for bands that lets musicians and groups create customizable apps which their fans can download for free.  Twitter updates, push notifications, concert calendars, music streaming, and more are right at everyone’s fingertips.  For more information, check out this short video below:

Sound Around – Launch from Sound Around on Vimeo.

Local artists River City Ransom, I Was Totally Destroying It, Valient Thorr, Rome Is Dead, and American Aquarium have been doing test trials on the app for a couple of months now, and The Separate are set to release it’s Sound Around app this evening.  Ben Pritchett of RCR had this to say about their experience so far:

“The Sound Around app is an exceptional service. After talking with the Sound Around creators, I could tell they were all about getting the maximum amount of content to their customers. And they’ve done a great job of providing my band the tools to put as much content out to our fans as we want. Content is available instantaneously after uploading, giving Sound Around an “organic” feeling. The Sound Around app is extremely intuitive to use, so it only took minutes before a good amount of our band’s content was available. And even with being this intuitive, it still manages to create a level of customization so I feel my band’s app is different from any other band’s app that will be found on the App Store.”

Scott and Steve are both coming on the Local Beat this Friday, July 2 at 6pm to chat about the new application.  Be on the listen and you could win a free three-month trial!  Screenshots below:

Unfortunately there is currently not an Android version of the app but that is planned for a release in a couple months.

If 2009 was the year of Hear Here, then 2010 could very well be the year of Musical Chairs.  Carrboro based recording studio Nightsound Studios is releasing a compilation album in a similar vein that Flying Tiger Sound pulled off at this same time last year.  The project is to be titled The Musical Chairs Compilation.  The kicker is that the bands are covering other local bands and have to choose the band they are covering at random.  The compilation is being released for free with all donations going to the production of the free CDs and a local concert, and all concert proceeds will benefit a charity. You can read more about it here.

Bands on the project include:
Birds and Arrows
Butterflies
Erie Choir
I Was Totally Destroying It
Lizzy Ross Band
Luego
New Town Drunks
North Elementary
Pneurotics
Puritan Rodeo
Soft Company
Swaso
Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores and Pecosa

IWTDI has already announced that they are covering a North Elementary track while Puritan Rodeo is covering one of their’s.  I will post more information as I know it.

The Independent Weekly announced the line-up for its first Hopscotch Music Festival today.  The festival will take place in downtown Raleigh on September 9, 10 and 11 2010. Headlining the festival are Public Enemy, Panda Bear and Broken Social Scene. A plethora of local favorites will be playing as well.

Here’s a list of the bands scheduled to play the festival, with more to be released April 12:

9th Wonder & Friends, Active Child, All Tiny Creatures, American Aquarium, Americans in France, Atlas Sound, Balmorhea, Bear in Heaven, Best Coast, Birds of Avalon, Black Congo NC, DJ George Brazil, Broken Social Scene, Brutal Knights, Richard Buckner, Burning Star Core, Cannabis Corpse, Caitlin Cary’s Small Ponds with Tres Chicas, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Cults, Greg Davis, Double Dagger, Double Negative, The Dynamite Brothers, EAR PWR, ExMonkeys, First Rate People, Followed by Static, Ben Frost, Fucked Up, Future Islands, Golden Boys, The Golden Filter, Goner, Gray Young, Ryan Gustafson, Hammer No More the Fingers, Harlem, Harvey Milk, Horseback, John Howie Jr. & The Rosewood Bluff, I Was Totally Destroying It, Javelin, Jeb Bishop Trio, Juan Huevos, Kill the Noise, The Kingsbury Manx, Kooley High, Kylesa, The Light Pines, Lonnie Walker, The Love Language, Lucero, Luego, Max Indian, Erin McKeown, Megafaun, Midtown Dickens, The Moaners, The Monologue Bombs, Motor Skills, Mountains, Jon Mueller, Marissa Nadler, No Age, Ocean, Old Bricks, Panda Bear, Pattern Is Movement, Pictureplane, Plague, Pontiak, Public Enemy, The Rosebuds, Schooner, Sightings, spcl gst, Spider Bags, Thien, Tigercity, Tortoise, Treasure Fingers, US Christmas, Sharon Van Etten, Veelee, Vincent Black Shadow, War on Drugs, Washed Out, Weedeater, Whatever Brains, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Yip-Yip.

Tickets go on sale April 1. For more information, check out this article from the Independent Weekly.