Ryan Davis + The Roadhouse Band
New Threats from the Soul is a masterclass in reducing the sublime to the prosaic, immensity to infinitesimally, and vice versa (the trick can only work both ways). Everything in our universe is essentially flotsam or jetsam, rubbish heaps of fragments and shards. We, especially, are jerry-rigs of bubblegum and driftwood, inconsistencies and incoherencies, dead dreams and necrophagous hopes. The record functions in parallel with Kafka’s winking dictum that there is an infinite amount of hope in the universe, just not for us. New Threats suggests that maybe, just maybe, something like redemption is possible, but only once we’re entirely emptied out and hawked in toto down at Walden Pawn. Next month, the Roadhouse Band will play a handful of dates in the Midwest and South, with a robust UK and EU tour to follow. Today’s newly announced dates will bring the band to additional cities in the South and Midwest, as well as cities on the West Coast. A full list of dates is available below. “New Threats from the Soul [is] a beautiful and wildly smart record about making do in an upside-down world.” — Amanda Petsurich, The New Yorker “If you don’t know it yet, it’s my privilege to tell you that Ryan Davis is one of the greatest songwriters of his generation.” — Nathan Salsberg Website | Instagram
Shelagh Bella, Owen and the Smokes, The Band Juniper
Shelagh Bella Owen & The SmokesThe Band Juniper
Chezile – Wish You Were Here Pt 2 Tour
Alejandro Sanchez, better known as Chezile, has had the kind of overnight success that would give anyone whiplash. After 2023 psych-pop single “Beanie” went viral on TikTok, giving Sanchez 1.6 million monthly listeners in under two months, he went from living out of his car in Los Angeles to getting calls from labels. A sensitive soul, the Albuquerque-born multi-instrumentalist and child of Mexican regional musicians is now based in San Diego, where he’s hard at work on a full-length debut. After 47 garnered an audience for a sentimentality melded with reverberated guitar, an austere indie rock caught somewhere between Tame Impala and Cigarettes After Sex, Chezile kept digging inward. Life now forever changed by his circumstance, he centered himself in childhood explorations skateboarding through the desert landscape of New Mexico in Alē. The EP’s self-referential nature sees Chezile’s nickname —pronounced like the skateboard trick— give an underlying warmth to the music, the kind of feeling one would get flipping through a scrapbook years later when, upon reflection, one is living a completely different moment. “[47] was a tough time of my life,” he says of his last EP. “I think this next project, in comparison, has a lot of elements from my childhood, and tackles trying to deal with the music industry while maintaining that inner child, that little Ale.” Compared to 47, Alē is a hug rather than an echo of melancholia. The title track and lead single, driven by a piano-run and Chezile’s voice, sees him reminiscing on childhood comforts and struggles, through memories of broken air conditioners and skating through patches of brown grass. “Kev’s House” sees him channel an old friendship, and “Hotel” makes a metaphor of the thousand eyes now on him. He leans into his sentimental strengths on tender love song “Wya”, with vocals that call to mind Frank Ocean’s “White Ferrari” begging you to come closer and really listen. How does one honor their original intentions while balancing what is at stake, especially while making art? How does an artist stay true in the age of viral trends and fleeting fancies? Chezile grapples with these questions through centering the biographical on Alē, the emotional vantage point that’s made his name focused on the kid from humble beginnings dealing with the trappings of fame while trying to stay grounded in the storm of his new reality. It remains in the world of 47, attempting to make sense of it while coming to terms with the present. “I’m nothing special,” Chezile reflects on the making of the new EP and his virality. “I overly manifested this since I was young. If I’m able to do it, I know for a fact that people can do the same thing I’m doing and whatever they want to do. I somehow want to convey that message through art and be a tool to help kids who were as fucked as I was, people who don’t have influences around them to just tell them that they’re fucking special.” Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | Spotify
The Runarounds – The Minivan Tour
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School of Rock Chapel Hill’s End of Season Showcase
Free Show / $10 Suggested Donation 12:00 – Doors Open12:30 SHOW12:30 – The Music of New Orleans!1:30 – Guardians of the Galaxy’s Awesome Mix!2:45 – Songwriting!3:45 – Pop Queens!4:45 – Senior Send-Off Ceremony5:00 – Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Californication”!6:00 – Punk! Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Event
The Jins
The Jins have been on a tear for the last decade, bringing their fusion of incredible riffs, bombastic drums, and driving basslines to fans first in Vancouver, and then across Canada and the US. Ben Larsen, (guitar vocals) Hudson Partridge, (Bass) and Jamie Warnock (drums/vocals) got the ball rolling in 2014 in the living room of a shared house. This music was not destined to remain in the living room however, and soon the Jins were playing stages both in Vancouver, and then across Canada, with a self-produced EP and Album along the way. The hard work paid off in 2019 when The Jins were noticed by Vancouver indie label 604 Records, and an EP was soon in the works with producer Dave Genn (Matthew Good Band, 54-40). The resulting EP featured the runaway hit “She Said” (14M+ streams on Spotify) and the eponymous “Death Wish.” In 2022, The Jins returned with a vengeance and once again hit the local scene with songs that they had kept in the vault. The indie rock smoothness of “Metro”, the air punching anthem of “Stay Please”, and the garage rock cool of “Effigy”, the pieces came together that would become 2023’s “It’s a Life” LP. While not afraid to show their influences, one can hear the weight of Sabbath, the harmony of the Beatles, the echoes of Smashing Pumpkins, all wrapped in their unique swagger and humour. When the three-piece hit the stage, you are in for one thing and one thing alone, and that’s a spectacular show. The songs take on new life and become barrelling avatars on the shoulders every rock band stands on. The crowd moves, sways, jumps, and screams to the beck and call of the instruments and vocals as a wall of sound crashes over you, just to recede and hit you once again. In between guitar changes and Larsen’s trademark banter, The Jins achieve one thing on every song they play and every time they take the stage- sheer passion, and the one goal of bringing everyone together for a good time. Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify | Bandcamp
Hege V, Secret Monkey Weekend, Michael Kelsh
HEGE VChapel Hill’s Original Rural Rockin’ / High Octane HillBilly Band, who Barnstormed their way to MTV w/ the “Burial Ground of The Broken Hearted” Music Video off their critically acclaimed “HOUSE OF TEARS”, Mitch Easter-produced album in 1987!!! That summer, they toured the USA in a 1965 Cadillac Hearse dubbed:”The Hearse of Tears Tour”. Hege (the Man aka George Hege Hamilton V) moved to NashVegas in 1988 to deal w/ their struggling record label and write more songs of “Pain & Misery” for SONY and CURB Music thru the 1990s & 2000s. He helped establish the “Americana Music” scene in Music City, while becoming a World-Travelin’ Troubadour — Releasing 9 albums to-date in Europe & Australasia and Pickin’ & Singin’ in 22 Countries on 5 Continents, so far. Website | Facebook MICHAEL KELSHMichael Kelsh cut his teeth in the Chapel Hill music scene while attending UNC, where he fronted “Jack and the Cadillacs” and performed with “Southern Culture on the Skids”. After releasing two solo albums, “Ghost Dance” and “Steel Blue Ballads”, Michael relocated to Nashville, where he has since collaborated with Music City Legends: Singer/Songwriter Rodney Crowell; “Poco” Co-Founder Rusty Young; John Cowan of “New Grass Revival”; Producer Bill Halverson (Cream, Neil Young, Texas Tornadoes…) and more, releasing his acclaimed album “Well of Mercy”. Along the way, Michael’s shared stages w/ Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Warren Zevon, Richard Thompson, Doc & Merle Watson, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Eric Anderson and NRBQ. *Michael Kelsh’s most recent Album on CD & Vinyl is “Harmony Sovereign”. Website SECRET MONKEY WEEKENDA family band like no other, Secret Monkey Weekend returns with sparkling sophomore album Lemon Drop Hammer on June 6. Comprising seasoned guitarist/vocalist Jefferson Hart and his stepdaughters Ella (bass/vocals) and Lila Brown-Hart (drums/vocals), the North Carolina trio’s harmony-heavy Beatles/Squeeze songwriting, charming lyricism, and familial chemistry is channeled into 10 tracks helmed by revered REM/Smithereens producer Don Dixon. “I wasn’t prepared for Jefferson’s tremendous talent as a writer, player and singer,” said Dixon. “These three individuals have combined to make something I love [and] grown, literally and figuratively, in front of my eyes.” Secret Monkey Weekend (a name derived from a vintage Tiger Beat magazine headline) began as purely organic family therapy, with no plans for anything more. Yet by 2016 they were playing casual shows and soon graduated to a busy calendar of club and festival dates. Debut album All The Time In The World, also produced by Dixon, followed in 2022. It’s a tale so remarkable that the trio is the subject of Emmy-winning 2023 PBS documentary, Secret Monkey Weekend. Website
Night Cap
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The Backseat Lovers
The Backseat Lovers are an indie rock band from Salt Lake City, Utah consisting of Joshua Harmon, Jonas Swanson, KJ Ward, & Juice Welch. Since their formation in 2018, the band has amassed over 800 million combined global streams and sold over 200,000 tickets. Their 2023 World Tour found them playing their largest venues to date across North America, the UK, EU and Australia. The band will be bringing new music to their electric live shows as well as fan favorites off of their sophomore album Waiting to Spill which is the follow-up to the group’s acclaimed 2019 full-length debut, When We Were Friends, featuring the top 20 Alternative hit “Kilby Girl.” Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
The Backseat Lovers
The Backseat Lovers are an indie rock band from Salt Lake City, Utah consisting of Joshua Harmon, Jonas Swanson, KJ Ward, & Juice Welch. Since their formation in 2018, the band has amassed over 800 million combined global streams and sold over 200,000 tickets. Their 2023 World Tour found them playing their largest venues to date across North America, the UK, EU and Australia. The band will be bringing new music to their electric live shows as well as fan favorites off of their sophomore album Waiting to Spill which is the follow-up to the group’s acclaimed 2019 full-length debut, When We Were Friends, featuring the top 20 Alternative hit “Kilby Girl.” Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
