THE PROCLIVITIES & FRIENDS
FRIDAY, MARCH 25
THE POUR HOUSE, RALEIGH
9 p.m., $12–$15
A Triangle mainstay a decade ago, Raleigh’s The Proclivities fizzled out as its members pursued new musical directions. The band’s personnel has since been spotted onstage with the likes of Jeanne Jolly, Freeman, Hiss Golden Messenger, Bon Iver, and the Mountain Goats, plus in the broad-minded jazz trio The Hot at Nights. This weekend, The Proclivities reunite for a one-off benefit for the Community Music School.
Matt Douglas, who helmed The Proclivities during that bygone heyday, coordinates programming at the Community Music School, part of a network allied with the Berklee College of Music. Douglas helps manage some of the Berklee-connected programming. The school offers low-income students music education they might not otherwise receive or be able to afford. All of that requires money. After seeing the school struggle to fill past benefits, Douglas stepped in to offer his help in booking this year’s edition, which will be at The Pour House instead of the larger Lincoln Theatre.
“They’ve had some good people on the bill, but not necessarily people that would put more folks into a bigger venue,” Douglas says. “It just wasn’t working.”
He offered up his own former bandChris Boerner, Matt McCaughan, and himself, with new bassist Zach Hickmanto perform. He knew The Proclivities could pull in a respectable crowd and that he could enlist a few friends to help. Jeanne Jolly, Hiss Golden Messenger’s Mike Taylor, Whiskeytown alumna and Tres Chicas singer Caitlin Cary, and the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle will join. By scaling down to a smaller room like The Pour House, Douglas says, the Community Music School actually stands to win. That’s due, in part, to some helpful area sponsors.
“Even if the goals are smaller,” he says, “I feel really confident that we’ll already make more money for the school than they have in the last few years with this particular concert.”
