Hopscotch announces spring road shows in NC, VA

The Hopscotch Music Festival will announce the lineup for the big 2013 shindig on April 24 and they'll follow the announcement with six shows across North Carolina and Virginia.

The first shows will be right here in the Triangle on Thursday, April 25. There will be an early and a late show at the Nightlight in Chapel Hill. The early show will feature The Snails and The Art Department and the late show will feature Last Year's Men and The Dynamite Brothers. Tickets will be $5 at the door for each show (that goes for all of the Hopscotch road shows).

Check out the details for the rest of the road show below which includes shows in Winston-Salem, Wilmington, Asheville, Charlotte and Richmond.

The Love Language to ring in 2012 in Wilmington

Photo by Jessica Amaya

We may not have reached Thanksgiving yet, but it's certainly not too soon to start thinking about where you'll want to ring in the new year. One great option has already presented itself.

The Love Language will play a big bash in at The Soapbox in Wilmington on December 31 and they're bringing Triangle bands Last Year's Men and Gross Ghost along for the fun. Tickets are on sale now via Etix for $15 (there's an additional $5 charge for those under the age of 21).

The Love Language played a killer set at the Hopscotch Music Festival back in September. Check out photos and a review of the set HERE.

Hopscotch 2011 Day 1: Last Year's Men at Lincoln Theatre & Bustello at Deep South

All photos by Kevin Norris

The Hopscotch Music Festival kicked into high gear on Wednesday night, and many local bands were among those driving at the wheel.

The young local lads of Last Year's Men got things started at the Lincoln Theatre. The club got more and more crowded as the band roared through their infectious, fuzzed out rock and roll. Check out photos of the band below.

A little later in the night, over at Deep South the Bar, Durham trio Bustello cut loose and played some fierce rock and roll to a smaller, yet attentive crowd. I only caught a couple of songs, but they sounded really tight. See a few photos of their set below as well.

Hopscotch announces free April shows, new festival venues

To celebrate the announcement of the 2011 Hopscotch Music Festival lineup which will be announced on April 20, there will be three free shows across the Triangle on April 21, 22 and 23.

The big show will be at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh on Thursday, April 21 featuring The Rosebuds, Heads on Sticks, DJ SPCL GST and a fashion show hosted by Revolver Consignment. It starts at 10 p.m.

On Friday, April 22, Spider Bags, Last Year's Men and more will play The Cave in Chapel Hill. It starts at 9 p.m.

And finally, on Saturday, April 23, Schooner, The Loners and more will play The Pinhook in Durham. It starts at 9 p.m.

Death To False Hope Festival hosting 49 bands on 3 stages

We first mentioned the Death To False Hope Festival happening in Durham on January 21 and 22 back in October when pop punk band Less Than Jake was announced as a headliner. Now the full schedule of the festival has been released which will feature 49 bands on three stages at Motorco Music Hall and Fullsteam Brewery.

Bands slated to play include Hammer No More the Fingers, Off With Their Heads, Supervillians, Maple Stave, Jason Kutchma, I Was Totally Destroying It, Red Collar, Last Year's Men and Pink Flag. Check out the full stage schedule with times below.

Two-day tickets are available HERE for $25 plus a small fee. Also, Motorco is a membership club, so if you don't have a membership, you'll have to pay $3 to join.

Stuart McLamb offers up his favorite local songs of 2010

Stuart McLamb, the mastermind of The Love Language, has named his favorite songs from the Triangle music scene in 2010. Not only did he pick his favorites, he's made a mixtape available for everyone to download dubbed For Lokals or Street Hitz: Vol. 2.

The download is not individual songs, but the entire list as one 45-minute mp3. Among the songs is "Month of May," not the Arcade Fire song, but a song by Love Language bassist Justin Rodermond's project Beach Body.

There are also songs by The Dirty Little Heaters, Gross Ghost, Last Year's Men, Veelee, Shit Horse and more. Check out the full list of songs below along with the download link.

This Year's Up-and-Comers: Last Year's Men

Next month will mark the arrival of the Hopscotch Music Festival, a three-day musical buffet featuring artists ranging from Public Enemy to Animal Collective's Panda Bear. If you can't make some of the evening festivities, don't worry. There are already several promising Hopscotch-centric parties scheduled during the day.

Durham-based Churchkey Records will host Churchkey III in honor of their third birthday. It's a free event on Saturday, September 11, at Tir na nOg and will (naturally) feature some of the label's fantastic artists.

Included in this great line-up is Churchkey's newest addition, Last Year's Men. They're Churchkey's youngest band—drummer Ian Rose is only 17, and guitarists Ben Carr and Geoff Schilling are 18 and 21, respectively. Ben and Geoff recently took a break from their full-time work schedules to talk to Triangle Music about just a few of the many things they have going on right now.