Sparklefest

It's time for the annual Sparklefest shows, three nights of fine guitar pop/rock at Chapel Hill's Local 506. (Don't call it "power pop"!) Featuring NC rock legend Mitch Easter and apparently both The Nevers and The Never (web site not available), it should be a lot of fun.

There are more than twenty bands, most of whom I haven't heard (or heard of in many cases), but I'll troll through their websites and link up some samples. Here's the full schedule.

MP3: "Pearly Gates"
(from The Mockers, Living in the Holland Tunnel, One Eye Open 2001. Buy it here.)
MP3: "William Tell"
(from The Breaks, on Sparklefest 2003 comp.)
MP3: "Love"
(from The Rachel Nevadas, Love EP, Instant Haiku 2003. Buy it here.)
MP3: "Squeeze the Day"
(from The Shazam, Tomorrow the World, Not Lame 2003. Buy it here.)
MP3: "The Summer of Jocelynn May"
(from The Breakup Society, James at 35, Get Hip 200?. Buy it here.)
MP3: "The Passion of the Stars"
(from Michael Slawter, Solid State Affair, online release 2005. Buy it here.)

That's a pretty random sampling of the schedule -- no offense intended to bands that I haven't highlighted. If you like what you hear from these guys, spend some time checking out the rest of the lineup.