Earlier today Johnny Tunnell (of the Never) dropped by WKNC to chat about one of the newest music projects in the area: The Big Picture. Started up about two years ago between the Tunnell brothers (Johnny and Joah) The Big Picture remained completely unknown until recently. Adding some new members to the band, Heather Tunnell, Nick Radford (Annuals), Leah Gibson (Lost in the Trees), and Alec Ferrell the group is playing only their second gig ever tomorrow evening at the Nightlight in Chapel Hill.  The show starts at 9pm and the Physics of Meaning and Josh Mease are also playing.

Johnny and I chatted for awhile (this isn’t exactly a “Mini” exclusive, its almost 40 minutes long) but we did touch on the history of the band, the song writing, and an interesting way in which the band’s music will be released this summer.  I am not going to share all, you will just have to listen but included in this interview are three songs recorded by the Big Picture, as well as one Big Picture cover of a Future Kings of Nowhere song.  Take a listen:

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I remember about two years ago when Future Kings of Nowhere came out with their self titled debut album.  It struck a chord immediately with the WKNC staff who played it constantly for months and with the public who packed the shows at every turn.  However, it has probably been a long time since you have seen Future Kings of Nowhere in concert, notably due to the fact that Shayne O’Neill has recently moved to Brooklyn to continue his music career and carry on FKoN solo as the project originally began.  Unfortunately, that wait for the next show could be even longer:

Shayne has recently become diagnosed with Stage IV Lymphoma and is about to begin treatment.  With treatment of course comes medical bills, which as anyone in the world knows today, is not easy to overcome especially for a solo musician.  However, FKoN has just released a live solo album for only 84 cents, and all proceeds go to help Shayne’s medical expenses.  It features six songs all recorded live at the Dog Matrix Project.

1. On Very Nearly Turning Thirty
2. Let’s Be Pirates
3. The Doom Song
4. Like A Staring Contest
5. Charles Grodin, You’re My Hero
6. My Turn

The album can be downloaded off of Amie Street here.  Also, you can follow Shayne’s progress through the treatment by following his personal blog here.

Please help support one of the great local musicians from this area in recent memory and listen to some great music!

Edit: The album now costs $1.20 and each track is 20¢.

The Troika Music Festival is a three-day music festival in Durham, NC and features several local bands. Attending is a great way to support the local scene!

Local bands on this year’s line-up include The Love Language, Bowerbirds, Dexter Romweber Duo, Birds of Avalon, The Moaners, Red Collar, Future Islands, Hamer No More The Fingers, Lonnie Walker, Embarrassing Fruits, Max Indian, and many more. For a complete list, check out the schedule!

New this year is “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, on Saturday, November 7, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., which features a unique market of art and handmade wears from local artists and crafters.

Come out to support the local music and arts scene November 5,6, & 7.

Dry Heathens will start the night out with a friendly reminder that whiskey and rock and roll still go hand in hand. Then to end the night, Chapel Hill’s own Future Kings of Nowhere will excite you with there angst driven acousticore.

Thursday at 7 p.m. you can get a preview of what to expect on 88.1 FM. I will be playing some new Future Kings songs, and rockin’ faces with some Dry Heathens.

Hope to see you there!

It’s Shack-a-thon on the NCSU Brickyard, so be sure to stop by and visit WKNC’s radio shack. You’ll also want to keep an ear on 88.1 for these freebies.

Sometimes we get cool giveaways from Live Nation and sometimes we get REALLY cool giveaways. Consider The Mars Volta in the second category. It’s a win-it-before-you-can-buy-it deal to see the experimental/progressive band Oct. 23 at the Disco Rodeo. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. exclusively at LiveNation.com if you don’t happen to be one of our lucky winners.

Other cool giveaways on tap this week include:

• Holy Ghost Tent Revival with House of Fools Sept. 23 at The Pour House
• Mae Sept. 24 at Cat’s Cradle

And you don’t need tickets to see The Future Kings of Nowhere this Thursday for WKNC’s Local Beer Local Band night at Tir Na Nog or I Was Totally Destroying It and Luego as we kick off Fridays on the Lawn.

New Raleigh has beaten us to the punch announcing this month’s Local Beer Local Band, but we are just excited as everyone else.  This could possibly be the best month’s lineup yet, and features three extra dates not on Thursday!  Check it out:

Wednesday, September 2- The American Princes with Magic Mike (FREE)

Thursday, September 3- Max Indian & Mount Weather (FREE)

Saturday, September 5- Lonnie Walker with Americans in France & Anti-Bubble ($5 cover)

Thursday, September 10- The T’s & Embarrassing Fruits (FREE)

Saturday, September 12- Rollergirl after party featuring Red Collar, I Was Totally Destroying It, The Demon Beat, & Pink Flag ($5 cover)

Thursday, September 17- Sparkcon kick off featuring Bright Young Things, The Jackets, Aminal, & Starmount ($5 cover)

Thursday, September 24- Future Kings of Nowhere & Dry Heathens (FREE)

Every week WKNC interviews our Local Beer Local Band bands, so be sure to check back to the blog for dates and times of live, on-air, interviews.

Also, don’t forget that every week the Hear Here compilation will be on sale at Tir Na Nog!

Exciting stuff happening on both the Local Lunch and Local Beat today.

First, the Local Lunch: our good friend BJ Burton from Flying Tiger Sound Studios is coming by to DJ with Mikey for today’s Local Lunch.  He’s bringing with him exclusive local tracks “that no one’s ever heard before”:

Rosebuds

“Second Bird of Paradise” by The Rosebuds

Lonnie Walker, c/o http://www.terpsikhore.com/

“Seasons” by Lonnie Walker

I don’t know exactly what Mikey and BJ’s plans are, but those songs will be presented to the world for the first time during the Local Lunch today.

Hopeline Benefit at Tir Na Nog: Lonnie Walker, On Photon, Hammer No More the Fingers, I Was Totally Destroying It, The Future Kings of Nowhere

Then, looking ahead to the Local Beat, we’ll be chatting with Shayne from The Future Kings of Nowhere about playing the Hopeline Benefit show at Tir Na Nog tonight, about moving to New York, and about some of his memories from time spent in the Triangle.  He’ll be performing several new songs in studio, as well.

And, of course, we’ll be spotlighting some of the AWESOME new local music that’s been released locally.  Good stuff all around.

Want easy access to your favorite local bands? Do you want free downloads of your favorite songs? Did you know all this is in the palm of your hand?

ReverbNation is a new company based out of Durham is allowing you, the listener, easy access to information and tunes from your local favorites.

Tracks from bands frequently played on WKNC such as A Rooster for the Masses, Bombadil, Hammer No More the Fingers, The Future Kings of Nowhere, I Was Totally Destroying It, and others are available through ReverbNation.

If you like what you hear from these bands on ReverbNation, don’t forget to check out the Local Lunch, Monday through Friday from noon to 1 p.m., only on the Revolution.

While it was a beautiful day in Raleigh, NC  (and a perfect day for First Friday), the rain seemed to follow our baseball team all the way to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.  It’s been a rough year for the Pack, and the constant rain delays turned into double headers can’t have helped their focus or consistency.

NC State baseball, circa 2009 (c/o Norman Rockwell)

While it might have been frustrating for baseball fans, it did mean that the Local Beat received an impromptu extra hour–back to the 5-8 timeblock!  A little before the 6:00 hour, Brian Walsby, drummer of Double Negative and renowned comic artist, and Charles Cardello, co-founder of Bifocal Media, joined us in the studio.  We talked a little bit about the Manchild 4 comic and Melvins CD release party.  Walsby described Double Negative as a cross between Cat Stevens and Bread.

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A little later on, Scott Phillips of Goner, Scott Williams (also of Double Negative) and Chris Jones (of The Loners) stopped in.  We talked about party/show events as well as the growth of Raleigh as it relates to the cultural scene, and the unofficial pre-party dining location, The Remedy.  But mostly, we chewed the fat.

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From left: Scott Phillips, Scott Williams, Brian Walsby, Charles, Chris Jones

So once again, the party is at Tir Na Nog tonight (Saturday the 4th) and will feature the following lineup:

Des Ark

The Loners

Goner

Double Negative

With the $10 price of admission comes food, a copy of the 4th installment in Walsby’s Manchild comic series, and a previously unreleased Melvins CD entitled Pick Your Battles, which features live music from two shows: one in Berkeley, Ca, in 1989, and the other in Boston, Ma, in 2008.

After the crew left, we played “Automobiles,” a cut off of the new Hammer No More the Fingers album Looking for Bruce.  They are releasing the album tonight at the Duke Coffeehouse alongside the Dry Heathens, the Future Kings of Nowhere, Deleted Scenes, and The Beast.  This is all part of what they’re calling “Viking Storm.”

Hammer No More the Fingers album "Looking for Bruce"

So whether you’re in Raleigh or Durham tonight, you have a pretty epic event to attend.  Decisions, decisions.

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So after a short blogging hiatus, I have returned with my fourth installment to the Local Music Picture Blog. My hiatus does not mean that I didn’t attend any shows, I was just having an allergic reaction to my computer… or something like that…which seems to be carrying over to this post, as the posting of pictures just does not want to work for me . But don’t worry, you can see all my pictures clicking on my name and then clicking on Pics.

But anyways, last Thursday, I went to The Brewery to rock out with The Pneurotics, Pink Flag, River City Ransom, and The Dry Heathens, and rocking out is exactly what went down.

The Pneurotics are an alt rock based out of Chapel Hill. Their 2008 release, Forty, is relaxed alt. rock which features a few slight folk music nuances. Most of the show, however, was performances of material that will be released on the yet to be named album they intend to release in the fall of 2009. The new material is solid, driving, guitar heavy rock’n roll, and I for one can not wait til fall to get my hands on the cd. The Pneurotics next show is The Johnny Cash Bash at The Pinhook. They will be paying tribute to Johnny Cash with The Tender Fruit, Gambling The Muse, and Bull City.

Pink Flag… where to start? Pink Flag is a three piece, all girl, pop punk /grunge rock extravaganza that is based out of Durham. Now I have to be honest here, the first time I listened to  Introducing Pink Flag & The Homewrekers, I was ify about it. But having seen Pink Flag live, I do have a new appreciation for the album. And anyone that thinks they are the stereotypical, all girl bands are bad or ok at best, type of outfit; go see them live and they will destroy your brain with awesome. All the girls can play and sing great, as shown when they switched out their instruments and vocal roles. Their next show will be tonight at the Relay For Life Benefit at Local 506 with I Was Totally Destroying It and Lake Inferior. Pink Flag will also be featured at WKNC & Tir Na Nog‘s Local Beer, Local Band night on March 26th with Whatever Brains.

River City Ransom, third to take the stage, is a five man, pop group based in Raleigh. RCR’s performance was perhaps the most laid back of the night. The group’s Myspace claims the groups is Punk, but I think they are straight Indie Rock. We’ll have to wait and see what direction they choose to go in as the group as just recently added a few members. River City Ransom’s next showing will be at the Reservoir on March 23rd with The Dry Heathens and Dark Knights of Camelot.

The Dry Heathens were last on the night, and the Durham based, indie punk,  group showed up to kick ass as usual. This makes the third time I’ve seen them and I am pretty sure they get better each time. If you can not make it to their show on March 23rd, I suggest you make it to the second night of Viking Storm (the Hammer No More The Finger’s CD release celebration weekend) when they play with The Beast, Deleted Scenes, The Future Kings of Nowhere, and Hammer No More The Fingers. The show will be  freaking awesome  and worth every penny. And if you can’t make either of those shows I encourage you to listen to The Dry Heathens first releases, First Contact With Ground, because it is a truely great album.

Hopefully next week I will have pictures  in the picture blog, but in the mean time, don’t forget to check out The Rock Report and catch a great local show!

When I started Local Lunch in the beginning of 2008, I have to admit… I didn’t know jack about local music. I knew we had a show called The Local Beat and that our Double Barrel Benefit 5 was going to feature 8 local acts, but that was essentially it. So there I was, half way through January and still struggling to find something that made my show different from all of the other WKNC DJs, and all I knew was that my shift was set in the middle of lunch time, I was hungry, and I needed to plug some of the acts from DBB5. In a nutshell, that is basically how Local Lunch was born.

So now I had a locally themed show, but I still didn’t know anything about local music. I asked myself, “What is the best way to learn about the local scene?”; and knew that I had to get in to going to local venues and seeing local acts. Thankfully, DBB5 had 8 local bands who I had been spinning and enjoying for a month. Another long drawn out story later, I was having a great time watching a band called The Future Kings of Nowhere (FKON). And thus how I fell in love with local music and renewed my interest in music in general.

FKON went on to become one of my favorite bands in 2008, and that is why I encourage everyone to go out and explore the local music scene. If you are like how I was, and don’t know who to go see or where to go to catch great local bands at; I suggest you check out the WKNC Rock Report. Or find your favorite band for 2009 by attending WKNC’s Double Barrel Benefit 6 on Friday and Saturday, February 6th & 7th.

I was once told that “Some of the greatest experiences of life where to be had in places far from home”. I hope you will discover, like I did, that such a saying is untrue because of the experiences to be had at some place down the street, rockin’ out with bands from down the street.

The Future Kings of Nowhere

Popular local act, Future Kings of Nowhere has just announced their plans to go on hiatus for the first couple months of 2009.   According to the Future Kings of Nowhere’s myspace page, the band is taking time off due to the constant stress and workload that their touring required and to get their creative processes back in order.  Below is taken from their myspace blog:

After our last 4 shows in December, The Future Kings of Nowhere will be going on hiatus. We have played a ton of shows over the past few years and have had a ton of fun, but I’m frankly a bit worn out. I’m stunned when I look back at all of my life goals that I’ve already accomplished in this band; playing at CBGBs, getting reviewed in magazines, opening for one of my musical heroes (twice!), getting radio play all over the country, being able to use the band to help promote some good causes, going on some long tours. Not to mention the incredible thrill of connecting with an audience while you all sing along with our songs. On the flipside, we’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time and money pursuing this, and I’ve let that pursuit do some real damage to some important friendships. Somewhere in the last year or so, this whole thing turned from fun into serious work. Everything has become opportunity cost and promotion. I know that anything good takes effort, and I’m not scared of putting my back into my music, but I never wanted to be a businessman. I got into this because I loved playing music and when I sang these songs it felt like it was going to save my life. I feel like there is something that I’ve lost about what it means to really truly love what you’re doing, and I need to take a little while to figure out what I forgot.

We’ll still be around though. I’ll still be playing drums with Resist Not, Mike will be playing washboard with Midtown Dickens, and Jon will still be playing the coffee machine at 3 Cups. Thank you all…from the bottom of our hearts…for buying our albums and coming to our shows and singing along and telling your friends and giving us couches to sleep on and meals to eat while we were on the road. And hopefully, in a few months we’ll be rested and ready to go again.

xoxo,
Shayne, Mike and Jon

Hopfully, this break is only a temporary one, and FKoN comes back even stronger than before.  In the meantime, their last four shows for 2008 might be the last for awhile, so be sure to check them out:

• December 4th: Tir na Nog Irish Pub in Raleigh
  (LOCAL BEER LOCAL BAND NIGHT sponosored by WKNC & Big Boss Brewing Company.  FREE)
• December 5th: The Cave in Chapel Hill
• December 14: Nara Sushi in Richmond, Va
• December 15: Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro
  (Trekky X-Mas Special)