Daniel Lupton didn’t mean for Sorry State Records to be a “local label.” The imprint has always maintained a broader-than-home focus, signing international acts such as the UK’s Love Triangle and Ireland’s #1s, Japan’s Louder and Sweden’s Instängd. Still, Sorry State has also become a linchpin for area punk bands, from short-lived outfits like Crossed […]
Bryan C. Reed
Bio: Bryan Reed lives in Raleigh, where he nerds out about punk rock and comic books. He's written about music for INDY Week since 2008.Twitter: http://twitter.com/BryanCReed
Posted inMusic
How Escher survived trials and near-tragedy to become Raleigh’s most exciting prog-metal upstarts
You can tell that James Broadhead needs to move on stage, but He doesn’t appear to have the power he WANTS. On a Wednesday night in January, Broadhead lurks near the front of the small stage in the Raleigh heavy metal bar The Maywood. Escher, his prog-metal quintet, moves behind him. They are the first […]
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Hopscotch announces 2015 dates, tickets on sale Feb. 3
The sixth annual Hopscotch Music Festival will take place Sept. 10–12, according to an announcement posted yesterday. Tickets go on sale Feb. 3, with details about pricing and options, as well as information about the Hopscotch Design Festival promised to come next week. This confirmation of the festival’s place on the calendar comes a week […]
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Etix founder Travis Janovich to buy Hopscotch Music Festival
Before the fifth annual Hopscotch Music Festival began last September, festival director Greg Lowenhagen told the INDY he’d been courting investors to help guarantee the event’s future. “I’m going to talk to some people I’ve already had conversations with about how serious their interest is in providing some more capital to the festival,” he said […]
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Skemäta’s Skemäta
If Raleigh hardcore has a sound, the first 10 seconds of Skemäta’s full-length debut summarize it. A rumbling bass-line frayed with distortion clears space for a stinging guitar chord and a scabrous pick-slide. The mass drops suddenly into the surging riff of “What Lies Ahead.” Plenty of hardcore bands have employed this kind of chaotic […]
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Record review: Torch Runner’s Endless Nothing
TORCH RUNNER Torch Runner wastes no time launching Endless Nothing, the Greensboro trio’s second album. Opener “Attrition” lunges into a seasick riff, backed by blastbeats and howls. The unease is immediate, carrying the band’s recurring themes of existential dread or, as they prefer to describe it, “the internal battle and desolation that we face after […]
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Tonight: Heavy metal handiwork at Holy Mountain Printing
The Raleigh-based company Holy Mountain Printing has earned a sturdy reputation in the world of heavy music. Their client list includes cult-hero metal acts like Pallbearer and Twilight, Leviathan and Young And In The Way. And tonight, they’ll be showcasing some of the artistry that goes into their print business. Holy Mountain will host an […]
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Corrosion of Conformity’s Reed Mullin talks Pepper Keenan, his new album with Dave Grohl and more
The veteran heavy-music shapeshifters in Corrosion of Conformity have spent the past three decades living up to the notion that change is the only constant. And as they look forward to 2015, another shift is imminent: Former frontman Pepper Keenan is set to rejoin the outfit for a ew album and some heavy touring, while […]
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With a mix of heavy metal and abstract painting, Raleigh’s Will Goodyear works to lift himself from “a pretty low place”
Grohg With SOON and Revolving Beast Saturday, Nov. 8, 10 p.m. $5–$8 The Pour House 224 S. Blount St., Raleigh 919-821-1120 thepourhousemusichall.com When the Raleigh quartet Grohg take the stage at The Pour House on Saturday night to celebrate the release of their second EP, the 14-minute powerhouse Darkness and the Freedom it Breathes, they’ll […]
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Whatever Brains’ SSR-63/SSR-64
It’s hard to call whatever Whatever Brains does a departure, to feign surprise when a band whose hallmark is restlessness changes direction againeven if they do it twice in one release, as they’ve done for the new double EP, SSR-63/SSR-64. True, the Raleigh group spent an uncharacteristically long time (a whole 18 months!) between its […]
