Before Pipe plays the first, second, third or fourth night of Merge’s 20th birthday party (Merge isn’t announcing which bands play which night, an awkward strategy for a sold-out festival … that said, Merge, after 20 years, obviously knows what it’s doing), it will go underground. Pipe (MRG037, 054, 055, 123, for those of you keeping track at home) will play The Cave with Durham’s Tin Star. If you’re wondering how the two divergent bands fit together on this bill, Kevin Bacon would remind you that Ron Liberti is in Pipe and Bringerer. Tin Star drummer Barton Moyers is in Bringerer, too. Bam! The Friday, July 17, show starts at 10 p.m.
Fractured Discs will release Tin Star’s debut EP, Bettie Lane, in late July. The band will play an early CD release party Friday, July 3, at The Pinhook with Gray Young and Birds & Arrows. And, then, there’s the Pipe show…
