EVIL WIENER ROAST
MONDAY, JULY 4
THE KRAKEN, CHAPEL HILL
7:30 p.m., free
Twice a year, a combination of the calendar and cosmic forces motivates Chapel Hill’s long-running Evil Wiener to reconveneonce at Christmas, and now on the Fourth of July.
“Someone has to encourage Evil Wiener,” says Billy Sugarfix, who’s led the rollicking ensemble since the early nineties. “It doesn’t do anything on its own.”
Indeed, Independence Day festivities have been a motivating factor for Evil Wiener for the past several years. Monday marks the return of the band’s traditional Evil Wiener Roast, a spree of hot dogs, rock music, and jokes.
“It will probably be the best thing anyone has ever seen,” Sugarfix promises.
Because the band’s been around so long, it doesn’t really practice, though Sugarfix says it needs to. For Sugarfix, Evil Wiener has always been an outlet for blowing off steam and having fun within a music scene that he says can feel too serious. The band is equal parts music and jokes, with antics that have ranged, over the years, from pants-dropping to vomiting.
“We’ll do whatever it takes to entertain people,” he says. “It, at this point, would be impossible for us to look stupid in front of people.”
In addition to Evil Wiener’s anything-goes shenanigans, expect high energy from fellow longtime locals and openers Psycho Acoustics Research and Development, To tally: hot dogs, cheap beer, rowdy rock (and it doesn’t take much imagination to figure South of the Border-style pyrotechnics might factor in). This might not be the most family-friendly Fourth of July party, but you can count on it being one of the most fun.
