Worried Sick - The Hideout - 1992
from the cd "It Rained Fire Today"

Worried Sick were equal parts piss and vinegar. This is a pretty hard cd, but track it down if you can. It is full of the loudest raunchiest guitar sounds I've ever heard. It reminds me of The Small Faces or a grittier Badfinger. This song in particular reminds me of Uncle Tupelo on a good day.

Band Members:
Neal Dewan - Bass
Mike Kennedy - Drums
Michael Wilcox - Vocals
Peter May - Guitars, Vocals
Brian Sides - Guitars, Vocals

The Carneys - Bells -1990
from the unreleased album "1000 Nights and Counting"

from www.jeffreydeanfoster.com

Singer, guitarist and songwriter Jeffrey Dean Foster dates his musical career back in the mid-Eighties, when he co-founded The Right Profile. One of the first and best bands on North Carolina's fertile indie music scene, the Winston-Salem-based quartet played high-energy, rootsy rock and roll. Like many of Foster's musical undertakings over the past two decades, the Right Profile were ahead of their time. (Interesting footnote: Foster's foil in the Right Profile, pianist Stephen Dubner, went on to fame in the writing field as co-author of Freakonomics.)

Long before the Americana movement caught fire in this decade - before the genre even had a name - Foster also piloted an early-Nineties group called The Carneys which included Andy York (now with John Mellencamp), whose unreleased album is a veritable blueprint for Americana's synthesis of country, folk, roots and rock.

Band Members:
Jeff Foster - Vocals, Guitar
John Wurster - Drums
Tim Fleming - Bass
Andy York - Guitar

The Face Of Change - Sister Truth- 1992
from the American Helix cd "The Hour Of War"

When I played in Speck we played lots of shows with The Face Of Change. Mostly at places like the Wake Radio House. I have very fond memories of those days. We all had a lot of fun and I think there was a lot of creativity going on in those days. I always loved this band. Listen for yourself, I think you'll agree. Singer Michael Ramsey continues to make music with pearlmerchant.

Band Members:
Michael Ramsey - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Meredith Jones - Violin, Vocals, Bass
Charles Bonner - Drums
Forrest Maready - Electric Guitar, Piano, Bass, Vocals
Vera Ramsey - Vocals

Django Haskins - Ex-Best Friend - 2003
from the Alyosha Records release "OverEasySmokeMachine"

Described variously as "a cross between Elvis Costello and Tom Petty," "a pop stylist, with a quick lyrical wit and a card shark's finesse in delivering a hook" and "Norman Rockwell with a Telecaster," Chapel Hill, NC based songwriter Django Haskins makes mongrel American music. Django has recorded with producers Don Fleming (Sonic Youth, Pete Yorn) and John Plymale (Squirrel Nut Zippers), has had his music featured on MTV's 'Real World' and WB's 'Felicity', and received rave reviews in Billboard, CMJ, and many other publications, but it's in the live shows where the music really comes alive, thanks to good old-fashioned showmanship and grit. Django is now touring both solo and with his band, The Old Ceremony.

for more on Django Haskins visit his site or his myspace page.

Band Members:
Django Haskins - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion
Byron Isaacs - Bass, Backing Vocals
Neil Nunziato - Drums, Percussion

K.D. Rouse - Dirty Boys - 1999
from the cd K.D. Rouse and The Dirty Boys

In the fall of 1998 KD Rouse sprung onto the W-S music scene with a list of original songs that would have made the most seasoned songwriter blush. Recorded in live conditions that captured KD's honest and beautiful voice (as well as Sam Moss's blistering guitar work). "KD Rouse and the Dirty Boys" was released in the spring of 1999. Bad timing and unappreciative audiences caused K.D. to become disenchanted and she slowly fell out of sight. There the story may have ended but good news for us in 2005 KD was coaxed out of retirement to form The Sams.

Band Members:
KD Rouse - Vocals, Guitar
Sam Moss - Guitar, Background Vocals
Troy Pierce - Drums, Percussion
Randall Johnson - Acoustic Bass

Sons Of Adam - Everything Ain't Everything - 1994
from s/t cassette

What could only be considered a freakout of time and space. Sons of Adam appeared on the triad music scene and left a mark that will not soon be forgotten. They left behind this little 6-song cassette and a ton of memories for their fans. For more about Sons Of Adam check out The Dickens.

Band Members:
Fran Sandifer - Vocals, Guitar
Steve Graham - Bass
John Pfiffner - Guitar, Vocals
Frank Pyrtle - Drums

Soda Can - HouseDrunk - 1990
from the Forefront Records album - Powertool

Soda Can may have been from New Jersey but as far we're concerned they were North Carolinians. Trip Costner (now living in DC), Fred Mann (still living in W-S - I think in the same house) and Tom Gerridge (current residence unknown) moved to Winston-Salem and became a favorite band of Wake Forest U. frat parties. They spent endless weekends traveling the southeast spreading the Soda Can gospel. I have never in my life seen a tighter band live. Anyone who saw them knows what I am talking about. After a few years Fred had to take a break from music for medical reasons. Trip continued on with what became Squatweiler (a post is coming...trust me!). Fred later joined Squatweiler for their last album "Horsepower".

Band Members:
Trip Costner - Vocals, Guitars
Fred Mann - Drums
Tom Gerridge - Bass

Blackgirls - Broken Leg - 1990
from the Mammoth Records cd "Frequency - A Mammoth Sampler of North Carolina Sounds"

Blackgirls, including Eugenia Lee (guitar/vocals), Dana Kletter (piano/vocals), and Hollis Brown (violin/vocals), are a folk-pop band from North Carolina. Their two albums, released on the independent North Carolina label Mammoth Records, were produced by Joe Boyd, the head of Hannibal Records and a noted producer of such folk-rock performers as Fairport Convention.

Band Members:
Eugenia Lee - Guitar, Vocals
Dana Kletter - Piano, Vocals
Hollis Brown - Violin, Vocals

The Veldt - It's Over - 1990
from the Mammoth Records cd "Frequency - A Sampler of North Carolina Sounds"

from CMJ.com

The Veldt fell just short of being an anathema in the Chapel Hill indie rock scene of the early '90s. Sounding and looking nothing like the striped shirt contingent of Superchunk, Polvo, or Archers of Loaf, the band was more at home with the likes of England's dream pop bands. They were predominantly Black, an unfortunate mark against them. What could be more natural than Black men playing rock & roll? Keep the atmosphere of the Cocteau Twins and AR Kane, add some aggression and more prominent guitars -- that was the Veldt. They were influenced by Echo and the Bunnymen just as much as Jimi Hendrix and Prince, adding discernible lyrics and upping the emotional power where most bands of their ilk shied from the microphone, burying their vocals in guitar wash.

Founded in 1986 by vocalist Daniel Chavis and his brother and guitarist Danny Chavis, they added drummer Martin Levi two years later. With Cocteaus and AR Kane associate Lincoln Fong producing, engineering, and providing bass, the Veldt recorded Marigolds, an EP released in 1992 on Stardog/Mammoth. Shortly after its recording, they recruited a full-time bassist in David Burris. Signed on the strength of the EP to Mercury, they released Afrodisiac, an excellent, muscular dream pop record. In keeping with the AR Kane ties, studio comrade Ray Shulman (Gentle Giant) produced, while the Cocteaus' Robin Guthrie provided some guitar. A number of the record's tracks had "alternative radio hit" written all over them, but unfortunately this didn't happen. Ejected from the major label world, they issued Universe Boat on the independent Yesha, an EP of demos. At some point prior to the recording of the quietly-released 1998 album Love at First Hate (on their own End of the World Technologies), tensions between the Chavis brothers led to Danny's dismissal; Burris also left. Daniel carried on with Sam Clowney and Des White, but the band didn't survive long after support dates for the record.

Somewhat fittingly, the band received their warmest response while touring in the U.K with the Cocteau Twins. The textured guitars went over well, and concert goers were more than happy to see a band who could sound layered and emote vocally at the same time. As the well-worn cliche goes, this didn't translate across the ocean.

Band Members:
Daniel Chavis - Vocals, Guitar
Danny Chavis - Guitars
Joe Boyle - Bass
Marvin Levi - Drums

I am passing this along because I was really moved by the whole project. It actually relates to the site in any number of reasons and I encourage everyone to buy a copy to support this great cause. Kudos to John Plymale for organizing this. I will be adding a proper link on the site shortly but I really wanted to get the word asap.

www.songsforsixtyfiveroses.com

thanks to Patrick Richardson for bringing it to my attention.

Cheers,
Michael