This weekend, one of the Triangle music scene’s marquee events is turning double digits.
WKNC, N.C. State’s student radio station, is gearing up to host the 10th installment of its annual Double Barrel Benefit. The event, which acts as a fundraiser for the station, will feature eight local bands performing Friday and Saturday nights at The Pour House Music Hall in downtown Raleigh.
The bands will be split between the two nights, with Durham-based JKutchma & The Five Fifths headlining Friday’s show and Chapel Hill’s Spider Bags closing out the event Saturday night. All of the bands performing come from North Carolina.
Michael Jones, general manager of WKNC, said booking the local bands took some consideration.
“It’s like picking your favorite children — it’s kind of hard to do because you’re excited that people want to play this event for the station,” he said.
Jones said that in addition to the more well-known bands booked for the show, like Spider Bags, he had a desire to showcase some of the up-and-coming acts the state has to offer.
“You think about artists that you really love that are active in the Triangle and a mixture of bands that are relatively new and show a lot of promise and talent with bands that are really well-established or becoming well-established,” Jones said.
Adam Kincaid, host of The Local Beat, a local music talk show that airs Friday evenings on WKNC, said that with the Double Barrel Benefit, the station wanted to continue its mission of exposing little-known bands to larger local audiences.
“Instead of saying ‘Hey, here are the bands that are popular,’ it’s ‘Hey, here are the bands that are going to be popular, the bands that are going to make it,’” Kincaid said.
Oulipo, a young band that originally formed in Raleigh, will perform as part of the Saturday night lineup. Ryan Trauley, lead vocalist for the band, said he appreciates the publicity his band receives from WKNC.
“They’ve been great for us. We’ve been on The Local Beat a couple times, and it’s always been a lot of fun and I know they play us every once and a while,” Trauley said. “It’s a cool avenue for people to hear us that maybe wouldn’t any other way.”
Trauley said he expects performing at the Double Barrel Benefit to help Oulipo reach a broader audience.
“They’re really pushing the show hard, so I think it will sell out so it will just be a big crowd of people, a lot of whom have probably not seen us before,” he said.
As with last year’s event, this year’s Double Barrel Benefit will also feature a day party on Saturday. Featuring local artists, vendors and additional bands such as Organos, the day party will take place at both The Pour House and the adjacent Tir Na Nog Irish Pub.
“The day party last year was a huge success, so we decided to bring that back again this year,” Kincaid said.
Kincaid said he finds Double Barrel Benefit’s fundraising platform to be favorable for local music fans.
“Lots of public radio stations ask for money through fundraisers,” Kincaid said. “At KNC, we have a little different process. We think that instead of just begging for people’s money, we give them something in return.”
Jones said he ultimately feels that this year’s incarnation of the Double Barrel Benefit embodies WKNC’s commitment to local music.
“Whether it’s a smaller artist or a bigger artist, we hope to be a part in promoting great local music.”
Contact the desk editor at diversions@dailytarheel.com.
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