Blue Cup Riot

Forged in the chaos of pandemic lockdowns and virus variants, Blue Cup Riot brings classic and newer rock favorites to local venues throughout the Triangle. The band is an eclectic mix of seasoned east and west coast musicians, featuring vocalist Daryl Lubinsky, vocalist/keyboardist Peter Todd, guitarists Tim Rath and Joe Sanguedolce, drummer Adam Schoenfeld, and bassist Todd LoFrese. This arsenal of talented and passionate musicians incites a riotous combo of breathtaking harmonies and blistering guitar solos, as they deliver your favorite feel-good classics. Links: Website | Facebook

The Deer

The Deer have built a devoted audience for their uninhibited, cosmic indie folk the old fashioned way: playing their hearts out, night after night. The band formed in the college town of San Marcos, Texas; half an hour south of Austin, where the members attended Texas State University and where singer/co-songwriter Grace Rowland lived on a farm. They cultivated a fervent presence in Texas Hill Country, playing the likes of Kerrville Folk Festival and Old Settler’s Music Festival, and collaborating often with local staples like Bayonne’s Roger Sellers, players from Asleep at the Wheel, and fellow festival act Elephant Revival. The Deer expanded to the national stage with extensive headlining and support slots for Big Thief and The Head and The Heart. Their label debut Do No Harm, released in 2019, marked a set of career breakthroughs, topping the KUTX chart and earning a nomination for the Austin Music Awards’ Album of the Year. When live music took global pause, The Deer had momentum to sort. The five musicians took the energy historically reserved for tour into the studio, a pressure cooker not only for creativity, but newly, for existential contemplation. The result is two full albums, the first of which, The Beautiful Undead, will be released September 9, 2022 on tastemaking indie label Keeled Scales. It’s a rollicking collection reflecting upon what it means to lose your sense of purpose. The Deer, amidst turbulent assessment, transformed a paralyzing void into an empowering surrender of ego—an exuberant submission to the immense unpredictability of existing.Throughout the album, The Deer maintain the modern folk flutter and Mazzy Star melodiousness they’re known for, but infuse those delicate bones with emotional tension, and indulge a new sonic edge. Enlivened by multi-dimensional instrumentation—synths, fiddle, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitars, slide guitar, piano, upright bass, and even mellotron populate the record—The Deer’s full arrangements shift their sound to an impressive pocket between Fleetwood Mac and Big Thief. The Beautiful Undead is luminous, boisterous, and invigorating; a free-spirited album fueled by hard-earned revelation. On lead single “I Wouldn’t Recognize Me,” lyricist and frontwoman Grace Rowland writes to a younger self. She shares, “If I could go back and give my younger self some advice, she may not even realize it’s her. But I would tell her to care for herself like she does for the world, to take a stand for what she believes in, and to be ready for it all to change.” The song’s vibrantmelody and commanding lyrics (All in all is falling upon us) accept the endlessness of change and evoke an energized readiness for it. Says Rowland, “The self is a collective of different versions of the same person, and it will always be up to that little girl – and every person she decides to be at every time in her life – to set her future self up for success, and to be kind to and forgive her past self.”Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

The Glorious Sons

From their very start, The Glorious Sons have achieved the near impossible by sounding both familiar and unprecedented, offering a bold new idea of what it means to be a rock ‘n’ roll band in the modern era. Fronted by brothers Brett and Jay Emmons, the Kingston, ON-based quintet have resolutely manifested all of rock ‘n’ roll’s most positive principles – creativity and adventure, energy and expression, unbridled individuality and spirit of community. The past decade saw the band unleash three remarkable studio albums fueled by immense ambition and strikingly emotive songcraft, their stadium-sized hooks ringing out with an ardent, impassioned spirit that earned them two #1 Rock airplay smashes in the US and thirteen consecutive top 10 Rock radio hits in Canada.“I truly believe that, to use the old cliché, rock ‘n’ roll will never die,” says lead singer-songwriter Brett Emmons. “It’s not just a sound anymore. It’s more of an attitude, a freedom of expression that people will always believe in.”Founded in 2011, the Glorious Sons immediately caused a commotion with their indelible brand of 21st century rock ‘n’ roll, born of classic elements but made fresh through the band’s spirited musical slant and raw-boned songwriting. The band proved as imaginative as they were motivated, recording and touring near non-stop in an effort to drive their music ever further. 2014’s debut album, The Union, earned them breakthrough success as well their first Juno Award nomination for “Rock Album of the Year,” fueled in part by such singles as “Heavy,” “Lightning,” and “The Contender,” the latter of which proved the band’s first ever #1 at Canadian Rock radio.2017’s Young Beauties and Fools more than delivered on The Glorious Sons’ promise, this time taking home the Juno for “Rock Album of the Year” amidst worldwide airplay and increasing critical acclaim. The album includes the #1 singles, “Everything Is Alright” and “S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun),” the latter proving the band’s US breakthrough, reaching #1 on Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock” chart.Like any rock ‘n’ roll band worth its salt, The Glorious Sons spent most of their time on the road, lighting up sold out crowds on an ever-growing series of headline tours, support runs, and showstopping festival sets, even a pair of unforgettable stadium gigs supporting The Rolling Stones. The band has made sure to capture its robust live power for posterity by recording each and every performance, presented in an on-going series of in-concert archival releases that includes 2018’s Little Prison City: Live at Rogers K-Rock Centre and the following year’s An Unplugged Evening with the Glorious Sons: Live at Longboat Hall.Hailed at their most mature work to date, 2019’s acclaimed third studio album, A War On Everything, showcased The Glorious Sons at their ingeniously inspired best by instilling a contemporary gleam on their traditionally naturalistic sound. Marked by its striking sonic diversity and searing emotional depth, the album earned the band a second straight Juno Award for “Rock Album of the Year” and second consecutive US #1 “Mainstream Rock” hit in “Panic Attack.”Links: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

aldn

When an artist like Alden Robinson, aka aldn, emerges from the void, it’s imperative to follow their lead. While growing up in the urban jungle of Reston, Virginia, he was exposed to the work of The Smiths, Radiohead, Skrillex, and deadmau5 through his brother and father. At the age of 11, he taught himself how to use an Ableton launchpad and imitate lo-fi beats. From there, he began making lo-fi and rap beats for friends in high school, preferring to be in the background until his prepubescent vocals dropped. Ever since, he’s been writing, producing, and performing his own music, but never anticipated it turning into a full-time job.It was only in 2020 that aldn began releasing his songs to SoundCloud while quarantining with friends in Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University. As the whole world transitioned to a virtual existence, he turned to Discord for a sense of community which is where his breakout hit “glittr” gained massive traction — the remastered version now racks up over three million plays on Spotify. In 2021, he dropped the greenhouse EP which saw collaborations with glaive (“what was the last thing u said”), midwxst (“happy ever after”) and renforshort (“dog eat dog”). But for his major label debut, aldn switches gears in favor of being even more experimental in a lane of his own.On the forthcoming predictable EP, aldn captures the angst of being a young and stuck in messy situations while also confined in isolation. At the time, aldn often heard that he was a “predictable sadboy trope” and undeserving of all his success. Instead of letting all the anxiety get to him, aldn used the conflict as fuel to create and the title track “predictable” is a direct rebuttal that speaks for itself.As a tastemaker, aldn has a wide range of influences that he channels directly into his music from the filmmaker Gaspar Noé to shapeshifting artists like Crystal Castles, Yung Lean, and Bladee. Not wanting to be pigeonholed in the realm of hyperpop, fans will be hit with an arson of stimulating soundscapes that leave you in a dizzying state of shock, awe, and wonder. “I never go into making a song with the idea of a genre,” he says. “It’s whatever sounds cool to me and then it just comes out as something completely different.”The raw and abrasive energy on tracks like “forget u” and “m box” is intense, but the acoustic instrumentals of “glass words (outro)” keep you grounded. There are also heartfelt moments like “go away” which tells the story of a faded romance. Instead of building expectations for his career, aldn would rather maintain a cult following that is actively engaged with his every move and views him as a versatile solo artist. He’s always craving more and in his own words, “I don’t think I’ll feel successful until I’m successful off of my own success.”Links: Website | TikTok | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud

Drag Queens Are Coming

5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Hunty the ship has landed and the Queen herself is back and will be taking souls and your crusty matte lip for Season 3.5 of DRAG QUEENS ARE COMING!YAAAAAS your Host and Queen Naomi Dix and her Dolls and Dills are making their way back to the Cradle stage for a show stopping night in that back room boo. Watch out because her pods are filled with shooting stars from out of this world and landing on your turf. Here to join Naomi to explode your mind is Stormie Daie, Dustin Reams, and Tatianna Matthews and they are as extra as the sun is HAUTE in the Deep South chile. Don’t be scared to walk towards the light because that ain’t nothin but excellence coming at you and your vision shall be blessed and blinded with the technique and SLAY-mation of the only Drag artists that you should be feasting your eyes upon.See you babies there and please don’t be late to the invasion of the wig snatchers because a real Dix Doll is always on time, on time by Drag show standards at least, HAHAHAHAHAHA, BLOOP!

The Sandwich Shoppe Showcase

Hot Brains: Sneakers Award is a new band made up of members from Plow United, Almost People & Dogs Eyes. Our sights are set on late 70’s/early 80’s power pop, or at least our version of it. We’ve been a band since June 28th, 2017 https://www.facebook.com/hotbrainsnc Orphan Riot: Burlington NC’s Orphan Riot have been called “The World’s Youngest Old School Punk Band”. These teens are taking on the status quo by blending the spirit of the 90’s Bay Area sound and classic SoCal skate punk with the chaos of today’s world to form a noisy portrait of modern life. At a time when there are more teenage social media celebrities than garage bands, Orphan Riot is here to prove that Rock n Roll still matters. Orphan Riot formed in the summer of 2017 when guitarist / vocalist, Noel and bass player, Ian spent their break from school in a garage learning classic punk songs. In 2019 Orphan Riot played 53 shows in the southeast and were featured on several regional & national punk rock podcasts. They have received air play across the US, England, France and Australia. They released their first full length album American Endgame in March of 2020. During COVID, Orphan Riot appeared on the Your BYGMuisc Moment webcast hosted by Grammy award winning producer and engineer Krish Sharma and on the Cat’s Cradle webcast with Almost People. Orphan Riot signed with Canadian indie label Fixed Frequency Records and will release a new EP titled “37” on October 23 2020. Their next release will be a split album with Indonesian punk band, Menuju Utara that will be release in North America and Asia sometime this year. Summer 2021 will find them as far south as Georgia and as far north as Michigan as they set out on the R.H.T.S. (Raise Hell This Summer) tour. https://www.facebook.com/OrphanRiot/ Worthington’s Law: Worthington’s Law is a (Supposedly) Funny punk band from Durham,Nc. https://www.facebook.com/funnypunkband Pagent: BASS & VOCALS: Roxxi Dirt | DRUMS: Dylan Dynasty | LEAD GUITAR: Dezzy Foxx | High Point, NC https://linktr.ee/official.pageant

Adam Melchor

almost monday

After countless garage jams, D.I.Y. gigs in the back of a surf shop, and innumerable hours writing together, almost monday bottle California sunshine in their funky basslines, ecstatic choruses, and danceable grooves.  It turns out the world needed some Cali rays during the pandemic as the band managed to emerge in 2020 with an unprecedented 30 million overall streams, uplifting audiences everywhere in the process. The San Diego trio — Dawson Daugherty  (vocals),  Cole  Clisby  (guitar) and  Luke Fabry  (bass) — crafted their 2020 debut EP  don’t say you’re ordinary  in Brooklyn and Los Angeles with producers Mark Needham (The Killers, Fleetwood Mac) and Simon  Oscroft  (The Naked and Famous, DREAMERS). don’t say you’re ordinary ignited a string of buzzing anthems, beginning with “parking lot view” and “come on come on.” Meanwhile, the lead single “broken people,” and the Sofi Tukker remix, crystallized their sun-kissed signature style with a bold bass bounce and empowering refrain as it’s generated nearly 32 million combined audio and video streams so far and cracked the Top 20 at Alternative Radio. Along the way, they’ve attracted a growing fan base through a combination of danceable rhythms and uplifting hooks. In 2021, they set the stage for their second EP til the end of time with “live forever,” receiving praise from Earmilk, Flaunt, Ones To Watch, and more right out of the gate. Additionally, Alternative Press touted it and included them among  “40 New Artists You Need To Hear in February,”  and  GQ  Australia  predicted them to be one of ”21 Breakout Musicians to Know in 2021.” Upon its release in July, the EP received additional praise from Forbes. The band also made their festival debut at Lollapalooza that same month and will continue their festival run at Summerfest, Bonnaroo, BottleRock, and Firefly later this year. With the release of their new single “cool enough,” almost monday only accelerate their momentum and emerge as the consummate purveyors of future-facing California pop. Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok

Yep Roc 25

With Caitlin Cary, The Old Ceremony, Chris Stamey Group, Mayflies USA, Jennyanykind, Dawn Landes, & more for Cat’s Cradle’s main room and The Ruen Brothers and Jobi Riccio & more tba for the Back Room!Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

DB Edmunds Album Release Show

A founding member of late 90s guitar pop cult favorites, Gladhands, and lead singer/songwriter/guitarist for Chapel Hill- based The Stars Explode (2007-2017), DB Edmunds begins a new chapter in his musical journey, this time as a solo artist. Life’s Wild Ride, his debut EP, drops on 9/9/22!Links: Bandcamp | Facebook

Genre: Miscellaneous