***A FINALIST FOR THE 2025 SOUTHERN BOOK PRIZE*** THE FIRST BIOGRAPHY OF THE THRIVING AND INFLUENTIAL ROCK SCENE IN CHAPEL HILL, WHICH GAVE THE WORLD ARTISTS...
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I finished this two days ago and I tore right through it. I arrived in Chapel Hill in the summer of 96, so this era was fully in the latter stages, but familiarity with the location, the venues, some of the bands and even some of the people really kept me hooked. I am not sure a millennial will have the same experience reading it as I did. Retroactively I regret not being into the music scene then as I am now, when i had a chance to experience it and blew it. Going to high school in Raleigh a lot of these bands were on my radar as something that was out there, but didn't quite permeate the brain space. I would hear of things like the Veldt and Queen Sarah Saturday, but if the bands didn't make it to the Ritz I generally wouldn't have seen them and i don't think I was old enough to get in the Fallout Shelter. The Chapel Hill scene was just this thing that was just out of reach to a goodie two shoes kid who worked 36 hours a week at Harris Teeter in addition to school. When I finally got to Chapel Hill, the bands just were not part of my knowledge. It also doesn't help that the pressure of being the next Seattle was really breaking the scene apart. Many of the bands mentioned in the start of this book were giving up. People were succumbing to the addictions that fed on the lives of those that were touring musicians/ restaurant workers/ overall non-sleepers which describes nearly everyone in the book.
My biggest regret was neglecting to see three cradle shows that Ben Folds Five would have played at the peak of that band, despite fully knowing who they were. I mean at this point they had blown up thanks to Brick so I am sure some would argue that i was already too late, but after watching these videos last night:
I realize the tight machine I missed out on.
It was also fun looking at the lives of two people I have come to know through the Inside Carolina world. One would help form the BoB (and I don't mean Gern, this book starts as the Pressure Boys cease to be) and one I am sure will come forth here if he wishes. I want to tread the dox line carefully, but reading this book you get the sense how he was one of the most beloved men in Chapel Hill, so Kudos to you.
