Category: Blog

Categories
Band/Artist Profile

Double Barrel Benefit 7 presents: Roman Candle

Back in 2006, Roman Candle’s release of The Wee Hours Revue impressed listeners everywhere with the excellent songwriting and catchy pop-rock present in the album. It was a personal favorite in high school and everyone who received the album from me became an immediate fan. Pitchfork gave it a 7.6 out of 10 and Paste Magazine a 4.5 out of 5. Since then, Roman Candle fans everywhere have anticipated the release of a new album to love. Enter Oh Tall Tree In The Ear, the long awaited 2009 LP.

This most recent album is everything that listeners have been craving, a “modern rock masterpiece” as told by Paste Magazine. “Oh Tall Tree In The Ear” is a breath of fresh air; it’s catchy, foot tappin’ music that’s good to its core. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the reviews the album has gotten. Pop Matters has given Roman Candle’s newest effort a 9 out of 10 and Daytrotter describes the music as “tearing us out of the present, despite such modern feels and scents,” and I tend to agree. Listening to “Oh Tall Tree In The Ear” is an experience, a period of time where the listener can get away from their hectic life and escape, escape to the world of Skip Matheny’s vocals and Roman Candle’s melodies.

We at WKNC are very excited about having Roman Candle back in the Triangle to play in the Double Barrel Benefit 7. You may recognize Roman Candle if you went to the N.C. State Pack Howl homecoming concert in September 2009.  The band will take the stage at The Pour House on Saturday, February 6 as the headliner of night two of the benefit. Bands The Tender Fruit, Midtown Dickens and Spider Bags will kick off the night.

For the complete Double Barrel schedule and ticket information, click here.

Categories
Local Music

WKNC debuts exclusive singles from Annuals, Gray Young

Tune in Thursday, January 28, to  WKNC 88.1 FM for the debut of a brand new Annuals’ single, “Loxtep.” The track comes from their up-coming EP, “Sweet Sister,” due for release March 30 on Banter Records. Also, WKNC will be debuting Gray Young’s up-coming single, “Meridian.”

Tune in for the Local Lunch at noon with Tommyboy on WKNC 88.1 or stream online at wknc.org/listen next Thursday to hear these exclusive tracks. Annuals and Gray Young are releasing these songs to promote their concert on February 19 at The Pour House Music Hall featuring both bands, along with Bright Young Things. Additionally, WKNC will be giving away two pairs of tickets to the show during the broadcast.  We are excited to have the opportunity to debut these tracks only to WKNC’s listeners during next Thursday’s Local Lunch.

Categories
Non-Music News

EOT16 New Year, New Chancellor 1/11/10

This week’s show was our first show back of the semester! We talked about everything, from what happened during break like the election of a new chancellor and the new smoking ban, to what lies ahead like a new football lineup and upcoming arts exhibitions.

NEWS
News anchor Evan Garris are back in action, with the latest headline news. He gave listeners a run-down of news on the newly-elected chancellor of N.C. State, as well as stories listeners may have missed over break such as the Senate version of the Health Care bill, the attempted bombing of a flight on Christmas Day to Detroit, rise in unemployment in the month of December, and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin joining the Fox News team, among others.

SPORTS
Correspondent Tyler Everett gave listeners a review and analysis of how the basketball team performed during winter break, the changes the football team will inevitably see next season, such as dealing with the loss of Toney Baker who made a decision to try out for NFL draft and not use his sixth year of eligibility, and more. Make sure to check it out if you missed it.

Purdue University’s Randy Woodson will take over the role of NCSU chancellor from James Woodward by May 1, 2010. Photo Courtesy The Exponent.

VIP
A couple of days after the Board of Governors announced Randy Woodson, former provost at Purdue University, as the 14th chancellor of N.C State, Correspondent Caitlin Cauley (who graciously took over the interview for me when I got sick…sorry you had to bear with my cold-ridden voice throughout the rest of the show), interviewed James Woodward, N.C. State chancellor on an interim basis, who served after the resignation of former chancellor James Oblinger. Woodward discussed what it was like taking over in the midst of the scandal surrounding the University, the work he has done while chancellor and the work that lays ahead for the new chancellor, who is scheduled to begin his new post no later than May 1.

HEAR THIS
I talked to DJ Emcee Luck about the Jan. 8 concert at the Pour House, featuring Megafaun, Lonnie Walker and The Rosebuds. She gave us a review of the band’s performances and collaboration at the event. If you missed the sold out show or just want to hear clips from these bands, check out the podcast.

COMMUNITY CANVAS
Correspondent Jacob Downey (who also saved me this week!) talked to Zoe Starling, curator of education for the Gregg Museum, about the museum’s upcoming spring exhibitions with wood artist Dale Nish and weaver Lia Cook , student involvement in the museum and more. The museum will have an opening reception for both its shows Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. To hear more about the museum, check out this week’s Community Canvas.

WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK

Jacob also sat down with Jack Zapple and Addison Hardy, two students who along with another two students, form Harmonist, Inc., a company that “incorporates technology into every day life.” Zapple and Hardy talked to EOT about their apps and what they hope to develop.

SOUNDBYTES

To wrap up the episode, Correspondent Matt Moore spoke to customers and owners/managers at Cup A Joe on Hillsborough Street and Sammy’s Tap and Grill on Avent Ferry Road about the new smoking ban that took affect this week and how it has impacted business.

We have a lot of great things coming up for the second half of the year, so make sure to check back to the blog often, as well as of course wknc.org/eot, which will be receiving a pretty massive overhaul in the next couple of weeks. Make sure to keep nominating for Wolfpacker of the Week, and send us your thoughts and suggestions for the show to publicaffairs@wknc.org.

Listen to episode 16.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Jay Reatard R.I.P.

Memphis garage rocker Jay Reatard passed away in his sleep early Wednesday morning. Reatard, known to friends and family as Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., was the man behind such garage-pop classics as Blood Visions and this past year’s Watch Me Fall. Currently, there is no report on the cause of death. He was 29 years old.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Music blog posts My Morning Jacket covers archive

Music blog You Ain’t No Picasso recently posted an archive of more than 50 covers the band My Morning Jacket has performed live. They run the gamut from people you’d think My Morning Jacket would cover (The Band, The Rolling Stones) to hair metal (Motley Crue, Poison) to funk (Parliament, James Brown) and beyond.

Categories
Concert Preview

WKNC Announces Double Barrel Benefit 7 Lineup

WKNC 88.1 FM will hold its annual Double Barrel Benefit Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 6 at The Pour House Music Hall. The station’s seventh installment of the two-night concert will be feature Max Indian and Roman Candle.

The Light Pines open Friday’s show, followed by Veelee, Bellafea and Max Indian. Saturday’s line-up consists of The Tender Fruit, Midtown Dickens, Spider Bags and Roman Candle.

Both headliners performed on the North Carolina State University campus in the fall. Max Indian played with Double Barrel Benefit alumni Schooner at the station’s October Fridays on the Lawn concert series and Roman Candle played the Pack Howl concert and pep rally during November.

Tickets are on sale now through wknc.org and the-pour-house.com. Prices are $7 in advance and $9 at the door for each night and all proceeds benefit WKNC. Two-night passes are also available at Schoolkids in Raleigh. The event is 18+, with an additional surcharge for patrons under 21. Doors for each show open at 8 p.m. with music at 9 p.m.

Our amazing poster was designed by Kirsten Southwell of Bad Apple Design.

Categories
Concert Preview

Double Barrel Benefit VII dates set

Mark you calendars. WKNC’s seventh annual Double Barrel Benefit will be going down at The Pour House in downtown Raleigh on Friday February 5 and Saturday February 6. Stay tuned to 88.1 FM and this here blog for details on the line-up – which will be announced January 13 – and where and when you can purchase tickets

Categories
Music News and Interviews

IWTDI plans ambitious project for next album

In a blog post on their website entitled “2010: The Year We Make TOO Much Contact”, Chapel Hill band I Was Totally Destroying It outlined their ambitious plan to film every stage of the creative process behind composing their next album.

When asked about the blog post, singer/guitarist John Booker said, “It was almost sort of a new year’s resolution.” The blog post would give them the encouragement to actively film the creation of their next album. After previously attempting to film themselves on the road, forgetfulness got the best of them, and when Booker noticed a friend of the bands filming them during a live show he reminded himself of the idea of filming the band during the creation of a record. Booker explained that aside from the blog post to remind the band of constantly filming, he currently has a sign on his wall above his computer with the words “Film It,” and he plans to hang another sign like this in places where they will be working on their album.

The idea of filming the creation of their next album came out of a wide variety influences. “I felt if we kept writing songs like that [the band did in the past] it would sound the same.” Also, he said the project is an effort to bring more recognition to the band through utilizing many of the social networks that have developed in the past couple of years. The plans incorporate posting one video at the end of the month on Youtube to give fans an idea of how the process is going. And one of the goals of the project is to  film themselves for the entire year. Another goal for Booker was for the filming of the development of the next album to play out into a longer film.

When asked about how the constant filming could interrupt the creative process for the band, Booker responded, “I get worried about that in theory.” He followed up saying, “I think we’ll get use to it really fast.” When asked about who was going to be doing the work behind filming Booker responded, “We’re going to do a lot of the filming ourselves.” The band has also gotten support from friends of theirs to help them out in this project, including everything from filming to editing the footage. They have also gotten the thumbs up from their record label, Greyday.

Although the band plans on filming a lot of the creative process for their next album, they don’t plan on giving away all that is going to be on the next album. On their upcoming tour dates when they have new songs complete, Booker explained, that unlike previous live shows where people got to know the new songs before they were released on Horror Vacui, “We’re going to try playing one new song and relying on songs in the past. I want the next cd to be fresh and new.”

Although the next album is still in its early stages of development, the band has plans to be recording towards the end of the year, with the release of the album expected sometime within the first half of 2011.

Categories
DJ Highlights

Looking ahead to album releases in 2010

After looking back to the top 10 local albums of 2009 we have a whole new year and decade ahead of us.  Here is a quick blog of some local bands who are rumored to be coming out with an album in 2010:

  • Bellafea plans to begin the recording process in June after just signing to Tizona.

  • Billy Sugarfix will release his Sessions @ KNC album January 9.

  • The Carolina Chocolate Drops are releasing the much awaited “Genuine Negro Jig,” on Feb. 23 through Nonesuch.

  • Felix Obelix will finally put out the long awaited The Tick of
    the Clock, the Beat in the Chest     in late February.

  • Front Porch Sofa is working in the studio right now for a summer release.

  • Lost in the Trees has been rumored to release new material in the fall.

  • Mount Moriah is currently recording a new album set to be released by Tizona.

  • Organos has its debut album set to be released in early February.

  • Schooner is getting ready for a release in mid-February.

  • Veelee has plans on releasing another short EP (they just ran out of hard copies of their Three Sides EP)

  • The Whiskey Smugglers already have a new album in the works and plan to record in 2010.

Obviously this is not all of them, but as many as I could muster.  Got any more to add?  Comment below or shoot me an email: localmusic@wknc.org.

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Categories
Music News and Interviews

John Frusciante quits RHCP

On December 16, 2009 John Frusciante announced his departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

John Frusciante has been with the Red Hot Chili Peppers since 1990.  After a widely reported addiction to heroin, Frusciante left in 1992 and was briefly replaced by Dave Navarro.  Frusciante returned to the Peppers in 1998 and recorded “Californication,” “By The Way” and “Stadium Arcadium” with the band.

Aside from the RHCP, Frusciante has released a number of solo albums (my favorite being To Record Only Water for Ten Days, 2001) and put out his most recent album, The Empyrean, in January 2009.

The following  is a reprint of Frusciante’s words taken from his MySpace blog:

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

“When I quit the band, over a year ago, we were on an indefinite hiatus. There was no drama or anger involved, and the other guys were very understanding. They are supportive of my doing whatever makes me happy and that goes both ways.

To put it simply, my musical interests have led me in a different direction. Upon rejoining, and throughout my time in the band, I was very excited about exploring the musical possibilities inherent in a rock band, and doing so with those people in particular. A couple of years ago, I began to feel that same excitement again, but this time it was about making a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer.

I really love the band and what we did. I understand and value that my work with them means a lot to many people, but I have to follow my interests. For me, art has never been something done out of a sense of duty. It is something I do because it is really fun, exciting, and interesting. Over the last 12 years, I have changed, as a person and artist, to such a degree that to do further work along the lines I did with the band would be to go against my own nature.  There was no choice involved in this decision. I simply have to be what I am, and have to do what I must do.

Sending love and gratitude to you all.”