#the proclivities

[wknc881]

Local Beat preview 2/12/10

Sorry for sending this blog in late, but some tests and Food Analysis and Statistical Quality Control labs have had me bogged down all week.  I do still pretend to be a student sometimes. Tonight on the Local Beat however I am tossing all of that to the side for a fantastic lineup which I know everyone of you will be interested to listen in on.

Last time Reid Johnson tried to come on the Local Beat he got stuck in traffic and we had to settle for a quick phone interview.  Hopefully that won't happen tonight as he and the rest of Schooner are coming on to chat about their most recent release, the Duck Kee Sessions EP, which will be sold only from CyTunes.org.  Schooner has been making the rounds of public radio in support for the album and I am more than happy to be one of the last stops on their radio tour before the release party next Friday, Feb 19th, at the Pinhook in Durham.  Veelee and the Erie Choir are playing as well and The Popular Kids will be doing standup.  Tune in at 5 p.m. to hear more about CyTunes, artwork at the show, and the album.

At 6 p.m. local favorites Wembley will be stopping in to play some live music off of their recent output, Keywords for Robots EP, which is  a fantastic record and gaining some support throughout the state.  If you havn't heard the new EP since it's release back in 2009, you are going to want to listen in and drag yourself out of your box to hear these great tunes. For the last hour of the show a whos-who of local musicians will be sitting in with me.  Mike Robinson and Adam Baker from Annuals and Dan Grinder and Chas from Gray Young, and maybe some members from Bright Young Things will be dropping by to chat about their show at the Pour House next Friday.  All of these bands are releasing or have released new material so far in 2010 so we will check in with them to see what lies in progress for the upcoming year. Finally, since I could not fit The Love Hangover onto the program in time, I will be sitting down with Caitlin Cary and Matt Douglas (of the Proclivities) for an informal pre-recorded Local Beat "Mini Exclusive" which will not be aired on WKNC but will be podcasted on the Blog instead.  We are going to try and get The Love Hangover creator, Richard Alwyn, to call in from NYC and chat about the show on Monday and hopefully coerce Caitlin and Matt to sing love songs to me.  With any luck this will be posted on the WKNC Blog sometime tomorrow.

[wknc881]

Local Beat recap 5/8/09 and Gray Young at Slim's

Well, what a pleasant surprise!  Corbie and Mike of Battle Rockets stopped by and for a band whose songs feature no lyrics, they had quite a bit to say (full disclosure: their joke, not mine).  They came in at the 5:00 hour and we talked about the show that night (with Gray Young and the Proclivities), their unique method of releasing demos and their brand new, homemade, $5 T-shirts.  As for that show, see below for more. The demo method is pretty cool, as you'll hear in the clips below.  The band records every practice and saves what sounds good.  Then they burn a few copies of the most recent versions of tracks, date them, and label them--or have guest labelers do it, like our very own DJ Gray Matter.  They then take their demos to shows and sell them for $1.  That's a deal you can't beat.

Gray Young called the studio during the latter part of the Battle Rockets conversation to let us konw that they'd been locked in the stairwell and unable to get in.  So we went and rescued them and brought them in for the second half of the interview.  They dispelled the self-contrived rumours that they're playing with U2 in October.  We discussed both bands' future plans, which include WE Fest.  Check out the interview with the entire cast of characters. Gray Young and Battle Rockets 5/8   Now, onto the show that night.   The lineup at Slim's Downtown was this: Battle Rockets The Proclivities Gray Young Battle Rockets were entertaining and have quite a bit of energy, and it's always fun to watch that level of energy coming from a two-piece.  The Proclivities were--and have been for a little while--sans drummer, so they had D.A.R.Y.L. fill in and rocked out as a two-piece (a very dapper two-piece, might I add).  Although the lack of a real drummer was sort of the elephant in the room (at the risk of using their song lyric), they were obviously having a good time, and so was I.  Matt Douglas was chatting the crowd up as well, as per usual.  Lastly, Gray Young took the stage around midnight.  I must say, I've seen Gray Young several times over the past year or so, and every time I've seen them they've been exponentially tighter (and on this night, louder).  It has been really fun to watch these guys as they play more shows together, and I can't wait to see them again at the May 22 Lemming Malloy CD Release/Neckbeard Records Debut show at Local 506.  That's all for now, be sure to tune in to the Local Beat this week, details to follow in another blog post soon...  

[wknc881]

Local Beat preview 5/8/09

On this wonderful afternoon, a few short hours after Love Language does their thing with Mz Kelly, The Local Beat (as usual, the abbreviated summer version ) will commence. This week, right at 5:00, we're having the Battle Rockets come in to talk about their show tonight at Slim's Downtown.  Shortly thereafter (~5:30), our good friends Gray Young will come hang out, because they're playing Slim's tonight too (along with the Proclivities). As you may recall, Gray Young graced us with their presence back on March 20th.  It was then that they proliferated the rumour that they'll be opening for U2 this fall, so we'll be giving them the polygraph test this evening. And we may just have a pair of tickets to give away for that show tonight... The Wolfpack will then be taking on Carolina in baseball at 6:30, which means we'll be getting the boot.