AUTRUCHE
***http://www.facebook.com/AutrucheBBQ/?fref=ts ***http://www.autruche.bandcamp.com/ Rock!
Happy Abandon
***http://www.happyabandonmusic.com Happy Abandon is an orchestral rock quartet from Chapel Hill, NC, consisting of Peter Vance (songwriter, guitar, vocals), Jake Waits (drums), Alex Thompson (keyboards and programming), and Justin Ellis (bass). Although the four members met as students at UNC Chapel Hill in 2010, Happy Abandon didn’t form until early 2015, well after the members’ separate bands and musical projects ran their course. This allowed the four friends to develop their own goals, talents, and experiences, learn from them individually, and pool them into a new collective identity. In their short time together, the band honed their powerful live sound by opening for such acts as Saintseneca, Rubblebucket, Mutual Benefit, Vacationer, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Widowspeak, Elephant Revival, Mother Mother, K. Flay, The Mystery Lights, and more. They soon recorded and released their debut EP, “Heavy Lines”. Helmed by Grammy-nominated producer John Custer, the five songs gained praise from several local and national press outlets for its smart combination of pop/folk construction and post-rock/shoegaze presentation, drawing comparisons to such bands as Local Natives, Sigur Ros, Mumford and Sons, Alt-J, and The Fray. Two release shows in Chapel Hill and Washington, DC in January 2016 drew capacity crowds, and were followed by an 18-date tour of the southeast and midwest, including six showcases at SXSW 2016. The band is currently hard at work writing and recording their first full-length record, applying to festivals, and booking tours of the Northeast and Canada for August 2016 and the West Coast in early 2017.
