Archived North Carolina's News And
Observer Stories
1995-1999
Big Fun in "Heather"s (1989) - One-hit wonders whose cautionary "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" sparked the creepy soundtrack for this dark high-school comedy. Real-life members: Don Dixon and Mitch Easter.
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March 24, 1995
The News & Observer
N.C.'s musical big bang explained
By David Menconi; STAFF WRITER
This will be a typical week in Triangle rock clubs, which is to say that a lot of shows are scheduled that will draw mutually exclusive crowds. Start with tonight at the Brewery, where roots-rockers the Accelerators are regrouping for a reunion show. There should be some crossover between that crowd and the one Don Dixon draws to the Brewery on Thursday - but probably not for string-band stylists the Squirrel Nut Zippers at the Cat's Cradle on Saturday, or "math rock" bands Shiny Beast and Regraped at the Cradle on Wednesday; or between those bands and collegiate poppers Dillon Fence at the Brewery on Saturday.
Each style has its tribal following. Indie-rock and punk and metal and mainstream rock are fragmented into small spheres of influence, apparently disconnected from each other and their roots in the area's history.
Or so it seems.
Because, appearances to the contrary, the different factions and strata of the Triangle music scene are far more interconnected than you'd think. Just look at well, what we're calling the N.C. Musical Galaxy on the next page, which has all the bands named above and a whole lot more.
First, an explanation of what it means: Every arrow from one band to another means that a member of band one went on to play in band two on at least a semipermanent basis. So the arrow from Motocaster to Dish means that a member of Motocaster (in this case, guitarist Bo Taylor) has also played with Dish - a band that has also drawn members from the blackgirls, Angels of Epistomology and the Bettys/Henry Berryman, each of which branches out to still more bands. You can also trace band evolutio n with this, such as the Fabulous Knobs to the Woodpeckers to the Woods; the Sneakers to the H-Bombs to the dB's and Let's Active, and so on.
Two-way arrows, such as between the dB's and the Wygals, implies some movement back and forth between bands. And if a band's name is followed by an ellipsis ( ), that means it can also be found elsewhere on the chart.
Now let's cover what this chart isn't. It's not a hierarchy because a lot of important acts are missing - Polvo, Fetchin' Bones, Eugene Chadbourne, the X-Teens - for whom I couldn't find a membership connection to other bands here. This diagram should not be thought of as a genealogical chart.
Instead, think of it as a flattened map of constellations representing several decades of Triangle-centric North Carolina rock history. You'll notice that a number of names (such as the Accelerators and Sex Police) show up toward both the left and right edges. So imagine taking this diagram and rolling it into a three-dimensional sphere.
This is a view from one particular angle, namely mine (with comments from about 100 people). The detail is only medium range, but most of the major stars, moons and black holes show-up - fountainhead bands such as Arrogance, the dB's, Superchunk, Nantucket, the Pressure Boys.
You could easily triple the size of this chart by including the acts Don Dixon and Mitch Easter have produced. You could also add virtually every band in New Zealand, since Superchunk guitarist Mac MacCaughan played guitar on a mini-album by the Bats last year (every band in New Zealand is interconnected); and also the Byrds, Fairport Convention and half the British rockers from the '60s (through the Golden Palominos supergroup). But that way madness lies.
It's less interesting that a hard-rock band like Vanilla Trainwreck could fit into this map in a dozen places than the fact that it's part of a web of interconnected relationships that includes such totally dissimilar acts as cover-band superstars Mr. Potatohead or the Red Clay Ramblers string band. Or '70s classic-rockers Nantucket, current indie-rock stars Superchunk, country singer George Hamilton IV, protopunks the Cigaretz and Bad Checks, classy Raleigh rockers the Connells, blues band Skeeter Brandon and Hwy 61. Not to mention the acts from farther afield: Jason and the Scorchers, R.E.M., the Long Ryders, even Muddy Waters.
So what does it mean? As much or as little as you'd like. It certainly doesn't imply that the Triangle music scene is one big happy family. But I think this shows that it is, at the very least, one family.
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December 27, 1996
The News & Observer
But the coolest New Year's Eve show has to be the Brewery's tribute-band lineup of Peterbilt and Hell's Belles. The latter is an AC/DC tribute band with a revolving lineup of local luminaries. The former is a brilliantly excessive classic-rock cover band featuring the Motocaster axis of guitarist Bo Taylor and multi-instrumentalist Jon Heames. Making
Peterbilt go to 11 for this show is a pair of special guests: Cry of Love guitarist Audley Freed and Tar Heel rock legend Mitch Easter
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February 28, 1997
The News & Observer
Seems like old times: An album produced by Winston-Salem's Mitch Easter is being hailed as a masterpiece. It's not R.E.M., but the latest from the band Pavement, "Brighten the Corners." Another Easter-produced project is "Century," the first album by Chapel Hill's Bellbats. They mark the album's release with a show at the Lizard & Snake Cafe on March 14.
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August 28, 1998
The News & Observer
Longtime Winston-Salem fixture Sam Moss has had a run of bad luck lately, including huge medical bills after his wife died of cancer. So some of his peers - including Peter Holsapple, Don Dixon and Mitch Easter - are playing a benefit show for him Saturday at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem.
Saturday brings another Winston-Salem group to Raleigh, the Gathering, a rocking semi-acoustic trio. In a good match between band and producer, Easter produced the Gathering's new "As It Was" album (Accidental Records). Its songs benefit immensely from Easter's pop-wise production, which keeps even the extended jamming focused and concise.
Between Pavement and Helium, Tar Heel native son Mitch Easter had a big year as a producer in 1997. His first project of 1998 is the Minneapolis pop band the Hangups, which Easter is co-producing with Don Dixon - the first Easter/Dixon co-production since R.E.M.'s "Reckoning" in 1984. Another recent Easter credit is Vinyl Devotion, a Midwestern pop band featuring the deadpan vocals of Shalini Chatterjee. Vinyl Devotion plays Jan. 15 at Lizard & Snake.
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December 1, 1998
The News & Observer
### 'Friends' and neighbors: Attentive viewers of the television show "Friends" got a sort of '80s North Carolina pop flashback during the Nov. 12 episode. A party scene featured the Oregon band Smash Mouth (of "Walkin' on the Sun" fame) playing a cover of "Every Word Means No" - a song by Let's Active, the Winston-Salem group that was the toast of the college radio underground 15 years ago.
Smash Mouth's version of the song is also on the "Friends" soundtrack album, due next year on Reprise Records. That should be a nice payday for Mitch Easter, former Let's Active leader, who wrote the song. Easter said he has yet to hear from anyone about getting paid for the use of his song.
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Together again:
October 13, 1999
The News & Observer
It has been 15 years since Mitch Easter and Don Dixon co-produced an album. The first Dixon/Easter co-production since R.E.M.'s "Reckoning" is "Second Story" (Restless Records) by the Minneapolis band the Hang-Ups, which was recorded at Easter's Fidelitorium studio in Kernersville with all the requisite homey touches (such as a "woofs" cameo credited to a dog identified as "Revo Easter").
While it doesn't sound anything like "Murmur" or "Reckoning," "Second Story" does sound more or less like what you'd expect - hyper-tuneful, guitar-driven pop music, meticulously arranged. The album falls roughly halfway between the Easter/Dixon sound that captivated a generation of college radio listeners in the '80s and the more layered and ornate pop of contemporary bands such as the High Llamas.
The Hang-Ups play Thursday at Local 506, 506 W. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. Call 942-5506 for details.
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