It’s that time of the year again. The weather is beginning to cool at night, hurricanes are on our horizon, NC State football is starting up and what is it that I smell? Ah, the fresh scent of one of the greatest music festivals in the nation right here in our own back yard. Hopscotch Music Festival is next week, September 6-8, in downtown Raleigh and everyone around is excited and geared up for this third annual event.

This week on the Local Beat I am going to be joined once again by Grayson Currin and Greg Lowenhagen, Co-Director and Director of Hopscotch Music Fest, for the first hour of the Local Beat. Grayson and Greg have been hard at work for the past year and we are going to take a behind the scenes look at what they have been up to and talk about this massive festival that is about to hit our streets. Over 250 bands playing the official Hopscotch and unofficial day parties and tons of other exciting events all jam packed into 3 days. Tune in at 5pm to hear some great conversation with the minds behind the music and madness.

At 6pm I am introducing a new(ish) group to my listeners: The Toddlers. The Toddlers have actually been around for a couple of years, on and off, but did not solidify a lineup until about a year ago. With that momentum they have been playing shows around the state and are currently scheduled to play a show Saturday night in Winston-Salem at Krankies with Birds of Avalon, a Hopscotch day party next Friday at Deep South, and an official Hopscotch show at the Hive. Also, check out their Kickstarter campaign that is up and running to support their new album.

For the final hour of the program I am welcoming back a dear friend, James Phillips, drummer for Durham based band Bombadil. Aside from being a fantastic musician and lyricist and working with groups between here and Portland, James has taken the leap from folk music into electronica for a new solo album, 29 Days, under the alias Sumner James.  In support of the release that happened this past Tuesday Bombadil is playing a show Saturday evening at the Cats Cradle with Massachusetts band You Won’t.

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!

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!

For the entire month of July on “The Local Beat” we have been looking back at some of our favorite interviews from the past. So far we have entertained you with interviews from Bombadil, Mount Moriah, Mandolin Orange, Magnolia Collective, Kooley High, Kleptonaut, Birds and Arrows, The Gathering Church, and Phil Cook & His Feat. Friday, July 27 is the final episode in this “Best of the Local Beat” series and we are rounding off with some of the best interviews we have to offer. In fact, these three might be my favorite of all time. We are calling them the “Best of the Best of the Local Beat.”

Mike Roy came in on September 30, 2011 to chat about his album, “Mike and Eileen Chapter One.” What unfolded was a full hour of one of the most memorable and colorful conversations ever to happen on WKNC. Mike opened up and told us about how his faltering marriage inspired an incredible album and ended triumphantly with redemption in the end. Without giving away to much it might be my favorite interview ever on “The Local Beat.” This interview begins at 5 p.m.

For the 6 o’clock hour I am revisiting a band I have had recently on the program, GROHG, who joined me just a few months back to discuss the release of their new EP “Culture of Petty Thieves.” However, before the EP bandmates Will Goodyear and Mark Connor joined me on October 28 to discuss the conception of the band and promote their first show ever. What ended up happening instead was a complete schooling on the art of the broad genre known as “metal” which ended my ignorant take on the music. The conversation with Will and Mark was enlightening to say the least and I am proud to re-air this interview for you all.

The final interview of the evening, and the final Best of the Local Beat, is none other than old time friends the Kickin Grass Band who dropped by on January 13, 2011 to promote their 10 year anniversary and the show they were playing in support of their success. The KGB band is one of my favorites in the area and they shared some delightful and entertaining stories with us from the past 10 years and played some amazing live tunes in the studio. In addition, since the interview happened they were awarded by the Carolina Music Awards for the “Best Bluegrass and Americana.” Be on the lookout for their new album, “Walk With Me.”

I hope you enjoy these interviews tonight, they are some that I will always cherish. I also hope you have appreciated the last month of  “The Best of the Local Beat” series and will join me next week to begin live broadcast in studio once again to create some new memories.

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!

This week on “The Local Beat” we are continuing to look back into the past at some of our favorite interviews ever on the program for our “Best of the Local Beat” series that is happening throughout July. This is the third Friday of the month and the interviews we are re-airing are some of my favorites.

At 5 p.m. we will listen to an interview I had with the fellas in Durham band Bombadil last November in which they stopped by to talk about their first album in two years, All That The Rain Promises. It had been a year since they had come by “The Local Beat” so we had a lot to catch up on outside of the new record. We also spent a great deal of time chatting about the album and comparing it to the previous one.

Six o’clock brings on one of my favorite interviews ever when Mandolin Orange came by on September 23, 2011 to talk about their release of a double LP: Haste Make and Hard Hearted Stranger. Andrew and Emily are two of my favorite musicians in our state and both of them shared quite a bit of insight into their art and craft.

The final hour was with Magnolia Collective, a collection of some of our finest musicians in the area. We had a wonderful conversation about the history of the group and the song creation process that they administer for each of their songs. In the latter part of the interview we touched on the trends and themes of our music scenes from 2011 in what turned out to be one of my favorite bits ever on The Local Beat.” It is always interesting to compare our music scene from year to year. See if you can do the same yourself.

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!

This evening’s Local Beat was the shortest in awhile due to #13 ranked NC State playing Virginia Tech in baseball at 5:30pm. However, Jack the Radio joined us on the phone for a brief moment to chat about their brand new album, Low Country, and promote the album release party tomorrow afternoon at Big Boss Brewery.

Jack the Radio is a rising band in our state and their sophomore album does not disappoint with keeping true to their self-proclaimed “Southern Indie Rock” sound that touches on a wide variety of influences but leans closest to southern bar rock while teetering the line with indie masters Yo La Tengo or the Extraordinaires.  The show tomorrow is  free event and starts at 3pm with food trucks from Only Burger, Chicken Que, and Sarges. Music starts around 3:30pm and the band will be bringing on some mystery guest musicians to play along. However, I highly recommend dropping in at 2pm for the always popular brewery tour that happens the second Saturday of each month before sticking around for the other festivities.

Take a listen to the very short interview here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Tonight’s Local Beat will be starting at 5 p.m. while we showcase some brand new tunes by musicians from our state.

Bones for Tinder

At 6 p.m. the interviews will be starting up as we welcome Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes onto the program for the first time. Justin is a Local Beat alum (his old band the Carolina Chocolate Drops visited our studio before) so we will welcome him back with his new group to chat about the band and their new album, Bones for Tinder. Justin is a highly entertaining and knowledgeable interviewee so I greatly look forward to hearing his thoughts on a variety of topics.

At 7 p.m. we are bringing in local ambient group Oulipo to talk about the band. As many of you know, I have been following Oulipo for sometime now so I am thankful to finally have them on the program to chat about their music and work.

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!

Due to a baseball game there will be no Local Beat this evening. It’s the Wolfpack’s first game of the season and they will be taking on the Marshall Thundering Herd right here in Raleigh at Doak Field at 3 p.m. Last season NCSU went 35-27 overall and made it to the Columbia Regionals in the NCAA tournament before falling to Stetson on June 5, 2011. Since then, NCSU has accumulated a nice recruiting class and have many players back again to try and win the ACC Championship for the first time since 1992.

It is likely that the game will end before 8 p.m., when The Local Beat is scheduled to go off the air, but I will not be coming in and there are no guests for the evening.

In the meantime, tune in and listen to the baseball team hopefully start the season off right with a win!

Be sure to follow The Local Beat on Twitter or Facebook and download tons of free local music on our ReverbNation page!

Tonight on The Local Beat we are introducing two bands who have just recently arrived to our airwaves. At 5 p.m. we are greeting Jeff Shields, who has a wonderful electronica solo act called Kleptonaut. Kleptonaut released its newest album, The Golden Age of Space Travel, in November 2011, and it is full of beautifully synthesized instrumentals and wonderfully produced special effects. Jeff is also quite a character with a great sense of humor so there is no doubt he will be an entertaining guest.

At 6 p.m. we are bringing on some old Local Beat guests under a new guise: Alpha Cop. Perhaps you have heard this new psychedelic indie math rock group on our airwaves for the past couple of weeks but now is your chance to meet them. A group of veteran musicians from very diverse backgounds, Alpha Cop blends psychedelic rock with progressive math vibes to create a wholly unique and interesting sound. We will be chatting about the band and their new EP This One’s For Luck.

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!

We have a shortened program this Friday evening, Jan. 27, on The Local Beat as N.C. State Women’s Basketball is taking on ACC challenger Florida State at 6:30 p.m.

At 5 p.m, though, we are welcoming a new band to the show, the Evil Tenors. While you might not have heard of the group before, it is likely you know some of the band members: Nathan White (Nathan Oliver), John Harrison (North Elementary), Mas Sato (The Sames), Stuart Cullinan (Tennis and the Mennonites), and Roy Elturk (Oblisk). Delving into psychedelic and surf rock, the band has a unique, interesting sound and will be releasing an EP this spring. This will be the first time you can hear the band over the radio, so it will not be a show you want to miss.

Our basketball team is 13-7 overall and 3-4 in conference games. FSU is 11-10 overall and is also 3-4 in ACC play. Let’s cheer on our Wolfpack women tonight after The Local Beat!

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!

This week on The Local Beat we only have one guest to welcome. At 6 p.m. Jeff Crawford of Arbor Ridge Studios is coming on to chat about a new project. In addition to being active in over five dozen bands (only a slight exaggeration) and heading popular local recording studio Arbor Ridge Studios, Jeff is also the music director at The Gathering Church in Durham. The Gathering Church has been meeting since 2009 at Creekside Elementary School and has become well known for its worship services with Jeff’s musical talents taking stage. In 2010 the church released Christmas Nights: Music From The Gathering Church to great fanfare. Now, just a little over a year later, a new album is being released: Hymns From The Gathering Church. The album features a plethora of well-known local artists performing their takes on traditional Christian hymns.  Phil Cook (Megafaun), Heather McEntire (Mount Moriah), Seth Kauffman (Floating Action), Mandolin Orange, Skylar Gudasz, Ryan Gustafson, Brett Harris, Nick Jaeger (The Tomahawks), Mark Simonsen (The Old Ceremony), and James Wallace all contributed to the record.

Join Jeff and I on The Local Beat as we take a listen and chat about this new album.

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!

Last Friday, Jan. 13, on The Local Beat we had two very special guests join us. At 5 p.m. the Kickin’ Grass Band popped in for the first time in about a year to promote their 10th Anniversary Show at the Carolina Theatre the following night. There were plenty of laughs and anecdotes as the band shared stories with us from the past 10 years. Take a listen below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

At 6 p.m. the quartet from Monoslang joined the program to discuss the group’s new self-titled EP. The band has only been together in this lineup for six weeks and in that time they booked a show at Kings Barcade, recorded a 3-song EP and released it. Quite a busy six weeks! Listen to the interview below to hear their story:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Local Beat is back this week with the first of many guests in 2012.

At 5 p.m. long-time regulars on the program, the Kickin’ Grass Band, will be back in studio. KGB has been hard at work for the past year travelling and touring across our great nation but are finally playing another show in our area tomorrow night. It is a special event as well; the band has officially been together for 10 years and this will be the “Ten Year Anniversary Show.” The concert is tomorrow night in Durham’s Carolina Theatre with the Apple Hill Cloggers and other special guests. Tickets are $15 and available at www.carolinatheatre.org  and www.pinecone.org,  by phone at (919) 560-3030 or toll free (888) 241-8162, or at the Carolina Theatre box office. The band will be playing live in studio as usual and I will be asking them to share some stories from the past 10 years.

At 6 p.m. we will be welcoming in a new band to The Local Beat, one that has been creating quite a bit of publicity recently. Monoslang, a new group from Raleigh, will be showing up to chat about their new self titled EP which is slated to be released tomorrow night at Kings Barcade in downtown Raleigh. Monoslang is made up of four area musicians who mic trip-hop, post-rock, and indie together to form a very unique sound. I will talk with the group about their history and sound and listen to some of the new tunes off of the EP.

Minor Stars and No Eyes are also playing the show which will cost $5 and start at 10 p.m.

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 that wonderful time of year again. The leaves are changing, the temperature is dropping, and FREE music is played on Harris Field. That’s right, Fridays on the Lawn has returned.  WKNC has again teamed up with our friends in the Union Activities Board and Student Government to bring some of the finest local bands to campus, totally free and complete with fringe benefits!

This year’s show, like the dozen or so before it, will be held on Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. featuring none other than Skylar Gudasz and the Ugly Girls as well as Lizzy Ross Band. You may know Lizzy from her recent interview on The Local Beat.  Skylar and those ugly girls may seem familiar after the Arbor Ridge Studios Hopscotch Day Party.  If you missed those two awesome chances to hear them, you definitely shouldn’t miss Fridays on the Lawn!

Design for the Trucker Hats (design by Julie Alvarez)

And how could we call it one of the best events on campus without FREE STUFF? Thanks to our super duper awesome sponsors at Chubby’s Tacos and Ultimate Entertainment, free tacos and trucker hats will be available for the reaping. Various other prizes like CDs, concert tickets, T-shirts, and more will also be up for grabs.

Any and all are welcome to this Friday of fun — so grab your jacket, a quilt, and some friends and get your buttocks out to Friday on the Lawn!

This evening on the Local Beat we are having another jam-packed show with three hours of local music goodness.

One of my favorite bands in the area, Mandolin Orange, is starting off the program at 5 p.m. to chat about their new double album that is being released at Cat’s Cradle on Saturday, Sept. 24. The album is entitled Haste Make/Hard Hearted Stranger and was recorded at two different studios in the past year. According to their website,

“Haste Make was recorded with Jeff Crawford and James Wallace in winter 2010/2011 at Arbor Ridge Studios West in Franklin, NC and at Arbor Ridge Studios in Chapel Hill, and was produced by Jeff Crawford and Mandolin Orange. Hard-Hearted Stranger was recorded in summer 2011 at Rubber Room Studios in Chapel Hill and features Andrew and Emily alone, produced by Andrew Marlin.”

The Tenderfruit are opening for Mandolin Orange at 9 p.m. and tickets are only $10.

I will try to coerce Emily and Andrew to play some live tracks for us on the radio so you don’t want to miss out on that treat.

6 p.m. brings in ’80s Chapel Hill dream poppers, The Veldt, who are playing a show at the Southland Ballroom this evening at 9:30 p.m. You might remember these guys from their amazing 1994 release Afrodisiac or the follow up LP in 1998, Love at First Hate (or maybe you don’t). Regardless, they are local legends and it is going to be an absolute thrill and honor to have them on the Local Beat, especially since they rarely ever perform live. We will be talking about the history of the band, their scene, their connection to CBS’s hit show, Survivor, and all things in between. Doors at the Southland Ballroom are opening at 8 p.m. with music starting at 9:30. Brooklyn-based Your 33 Black Angels and Chapel Hill group 100 Yorktown are starting the show and tickets are only $10. In addition, the band is encouraging everyone to film the concert and email the footage to theveldtrocks@gmail.com for an upcoming DVD.

The last hour of the program will feature yet another local music festival, our fourth on the program in the last three weeks. Sara Waters, co-coordinator of Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival, is stopping by to chat about this fall’s festival, which will take place October 6-9 in the woods and fields of Pittsboro, N.C. Shakori Hills has long been a staple in central North Carolina, with two festivals each year. We are going to play music from bands and musicians featured at this fall’s event. Sara and I are also going to talk about the history of Shakori Hills, some fun things going on at the festival this year, and be giving away free tickets. You don’t want to miss this final hour.

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!

It seems as if September is the month of festivals in our area. Following Hopscotch last weekend is SPARKcon in downtown Raleigh this weekend, and the following weekend is the Carrboro Music Festival in Carrboro. With Hopscotch out of the way we now have time to cover these longtime favorites in our area.

At 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, I will be joined by Gerry Williams, the coordinator for the 14th annual Carrboro Music Festival. The CMF has a long tradition and was one of the first music festivals in our state, starting before Hopscotch, Troika, Artsplosure, and SPARKcon, when it was called The Fete De la Musique. In 2002 the festival changed its name to what it is today but the goal remains the same: feed music to the masses. The event is taking place on Sunday, Sept. 25, and will feature 180 different acts at 25 venues. Join Gerry and me as we look to the past and the future at this great event.

At 6 p.m. musicSPARK organizer Stephanie Brinson is stopping by to chat about the SPARKcon art festival in downtown Raleigh. SPARKcon began six years ago and musicSPARK has been one of the central SPARKs throughout its duration. It started Thursday night and will continue through Sunday evening. This year’s musicSPARK is free for the first time and is very different from previous SPARKs. Listen in with Stephanie and me as we chat about this year’s event.

Continuing on with the SPARKcon trend at 7 p.m., I will be joined by Nikhil Shah of Locus Recordings, a start-up record label from Raleigh. Nikhil is providing the music for “Wear What You Are,” one of the fashion shows of fashionSPARK  happening on Friday evening. This one will mainly exhibit Raleigh Denim, which will be featuring 17 new “looks” in City Plaza at 8 p.m. Nikhil is also providing the music mixtape for the afterparty at the Flanders Art Gallery, which will be following the fashion show. The afterparty is from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

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!