Kelsy Karter & The Heroines

Kelsy Karter & The Heroines is a four-piece Australian/British rock & roll band whose debut album Missing Person was critically acclaimed and a thrilling introduction to a truly singular musical mind. Like all of the most electrifying acts, the band’s frontwoman Kelsy Karter is an unapologetic singer/songwriter who invites the audience into a beautifully strange world of her own making, a fantasia that’s equal parts rock-and-roll grit and wildly theatrical grandeur. Rolling Stone Magazine called Kelsy a beacon for female rockstars. Fueled by her mesmerizing vocal work accompanied by dirty electric guitars, Kelsy Karter & The Heroines display intricate storytelling and uncompromising outlooks on life, love, and self-liberation. Despite the defiant spirit that shines through nearly every song, the music is vulnerable and cuts deep for any listener. Kelsy Karter, an Australian theatre kid, fronts the band while drummer Sebastian Boyse, guitarist Matt Peach and bassist Tommy Gent all grew up together in Derby, England. The band has spent the past few years touring the world as headliners, support and festivals, most recently in 2023 supporting Billy Idol across the US and Palaye Royale in EU. They are currently working on their second album which has been described by the band as an electric and emotional adventure. Their guitar-drenched sound steeps in elements of glam rock, punk and Britpop giving way to a sonic aesthetic both undeniably timeless and entirely of-the-moment..Website | Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok

Sheer Mag

Sheer Mag’s dizzying rise initiated in 2014, when the Philadelphia band self-released the first of three 7-inches and started playing the Northeastern DIY circuit. Ironically, the music stood apart because it sounded so familiar. Indebted to ‘70s arena rock, power-pop, and proto-metal, Sheer Mag’s songs reminded a lot of us of the music we grew up with, but maybe couldn’t relate to because it was big, brash, and unapologetically macho. Sheer Mag reclaimed some of that energy without perpetuating the toxicity. On their debut album, Need to Feel Your Love (2017), the band surveyed their contemporary political landscape through the lens of history. Singer Tina Halladay transported herself back to the 1969 Stonewall Riots, denounced redlining practices that undermine the popular vote, and paid homage to White Rose activist Sophie Scholl. On paper, it’s a mouthful, but accompanied by guitarist/lyricist Matt Palmer, guitarist Kyle Seely, and bassist/producer Hart Seely, those songs became hook-laden rallying cries. Two years later, Sheer Mag have returned with their sophomore album A Distant Call. They’re still writing about surviving our current hellscape, but this time around, the politics get extra-personal. The album verges on being a concept piece, and the protagonist resembles Halladay herself. The songs document a particularly alienating time in her life when she was laid off from a job. Broke and newly single, her father (with whom she had a fraught relationship) passed away, leaving her with more wounds than felt possible to heal. “We’ve been waiting to write these songs since we started the band and we were able to take these experiences and build a story out of them,” Halladay says. Palmer adds: “We don’t want people to be bogged down by pretension or theory. You don’t need to have read Das Kapital to know that capitalism is terrible. A Distant Call makes an argument for socialism on an anecdotal level. We’re talking about how late capitalism alienates and commodifies whatever is in its path without using the term ‘late capitalism.’” Palmer and Halladay’s new approach to lyricism extended to the recording process, too. Once the Seely brothers had laid down the tracks, Halladay recorded vocals with producer Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Code Orange) as opposed to on an 8-track, which was the band’s preferred method on previous releases. A Distant Call opens with Halladay’s measured scream before “Steel Sharpens Steel” kicks in. It’s a prologue that foreshadows our protagonist’s journey from feeling down-and-out and destitute to self-actualization. “It’s a chain reaction/ When you turn the other cheek/ Remember if you’re looking for action/ And you’re feeling dull and weak,” Halladay snarls on the chorus, channeling Judas Priest over the boot-stomping rhythm section. The story really gets started on “Blood from a Stone,” when we learn that our protagonist’s SNAP application was declined, and she’s “living check-to-check.” It’s heavy power-pop so sleek it gleams. “We had some more soul and dance songs on the last record and we’ll probably return to that at some point,” Palmer says. “But on this record we wanted to focus on making straight-up rock music.” Website | Bandcamp

Abbey Road LIVE! – Family Matinee

“One of the world’s premier Beatles cover bands” -US News and World Report “unquestionably expert at what they do” -Indyweek You loved Beatles music when you were a kid. Now YOUR kids have a chance to experience the magic of the Beatles LIVE in concert! Abbey Road LIVE! is well known in the Southeast for their energetic concerts at clubs, theaters and festivals. This time, the focus will be on the kids. Expect fun classics such as “Octopus’ Garden”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. Does your child have a a favorite Beatles tune? Abbey Road LIVE! loves to take requests, and has often been known to invite kids on stage to sing along. This rare event will be big fun for the whole family! **Special FAMILY PACK ticket available – admits 4 people for just $35!** Website | Facebook | YouTube

Night! Night! Record Release Show

Night! Night!Sleazy Post-Hardcore from Chapel Hill.Bandcamp | InstagramWeird Godbrothers making musicmarc allen – guitarethan allen – drums BandcampScrapeNorth Carolina-based scrape straddles the industrial minimalism of guitar based noise expressionism with avant-punk experimentalism. Finding solace in sludge, doom, and grunge, scrape craft a kaleidoscopic view of reality within a complex biosphere of metal genres.Bandcamp

WXYC Decades Dance – Pump Up the Jam: an 80s Glam Rock Dance Party

UNC Students $5 with One Card$8 for non students Website

Brendan Abernathy

Unafraid to write about the parts of his story that scare him most, Brendan Abernathy is known for his contemplative lyrics, memorable melodies, and a captivating live performance you will feel in your soul. Creating a fresh but familiar sound combining notes of Maggie Rogers with James Taylor, Lewis Capaldi, and Marcus Mumford, Brendan’s intimate words and powerful vocals speak straight to the listener’s soul.Since August 2019, Brendan has lived out of his car, touring the US selling out concerts across the country in Atlanta, Phoenix, Seattle, Portland, DC, Gainesville, and Boulder. In 2022, Brendan opened for Johnnyswim on their Southeastern tour, and played several festivals. He has generated over 1.5 million streams and played over 300 live shows, focusing on the individual and building a loyal following. “We all just want to be seen and loved, and I try to do that — see and love.”His first two projects deal with indecision, comparison, loneliness, and dreams, where Brendan brings hope to his darkest moments. His first LP – Single and in Love – was released in late 2022 to an enthusiastic response from fans across the country.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Unwound

Sub-Radio

Few independent bands have had a career as varied and unpredictable as the indie pop sextet Sub-Radio. Founded in Washington DC by a group of childhood friends, the band released a series of EPs between 2018 and 2020, blending the pop-punk they grew up on with the indie-pop stylings of WALK THE MOON and The 1975. Forced online by the COVID-19 pandemic, they found enormous viral success on Reddit and TikTok in 2021, streaming their high-energy live performances to more than 20 million viewers and driving a huge new audience to their single “Flashback”. The band signed with indie label Th3rd Brain in early 2022 and released their latest EP, Past Selves in February of 2023. In support of the new release, Sub-Radio announced The Past Selves Tour which kicks off in August of 2023.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok

Rock Against Glioblastoma – In Memory of Sara Romweber

Evening with Dexter Romweber, Snatches of Pink, The Bad Checks, What Peggy Wants, and The Popes. Proceeds will go to the Glioblastoma Foundation Glioblastomafoundation.org

Mike Mains & The Branches

We recollect memories like paintings on the hall of a childhood home. Certain colors and details stick out to us, while others lose their luster over time. Nevertheless, we appreciate what we do remember as it indelibly shaped our present and eventual future. As vocalist, songwriter, producer, and namesake of Mike Mains & The Branches, Mike Mains thinks aloud in his songs. He ponders events and experiences as well as their ensuing effects on his identity, telling intimate stories through artful pop rock. After generating millions of streams and consistently captivating audiences on tour, the band recognize, accept, and absorb these formative mementos on their 2023 fourth full-length offering, Memory Unfixed [Tooth & Nail Records]. “There are two ways of looking at it,” Mike notes. “I can be resentful, bitter, and angry about a lot of what happened to me growing up, or I could be grateful that I have a life filled with memories. Some of them are broken, and some of them are amazing. I’m fucking here, man. I’m breathing, I’m existing, and I get to make art and share it. On top of that, I have an incredible wife who loves and supports me. If we allow ourselves to become friends with our own unfixed memories, there are lessons we can learn and carry on. I went through a painful period and came out on the other side of it as a better person with a beautiful portrait of that season in the form of the album.” Mike Mains & The Branches have always bottled complex emotions and relatable stories within hummable homegrown anthems. They have organically progressed over the course of Home [2012], Calm Down, Everything Is Fine [2014], and When We Were In Love [2019]. Billboard hailed the “buoyant pop” of the latter, while Atwood Magazine praised its “upbeat, energetic, feelgood pop-rock.” Among many standouts, “Briggs” generated north of 5 million Spotify streams as “Breathing Underwater” and “Live Forever” each surpassed the 1 million-mark. After trading his native Michigan for Nashville, Mike underwent another era of transformation. Stuck at home mid-Pandemic, he retreated inward and began to understand his past and, ultimately, himself a bit more. “I’m just a husband, a wounded healer, and a grateful storyteller. If these songs make you feel less alone, I did my job.”Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube Steven Fiore’s career reads like a legendary round of two truths and a lie: co-writing with Art Garfunkel, a stint with Jeff Goldblum’s jazz band, more than 17 million Spotify streams. But it’s all true – every word of it. In a way, you could say it’s this unfiltered honesty that ultimately powers Fiore’s YOUNG MISTER to be more than just pretty melodies, but rather profoundly moving pieces of musical storytelling.Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

Genre: Concerts