CONFLUENCE '24: Late Bloomer and Wilde Green

DOORS at 10:00pm

This multiday conference and showcase festival is a can’t-miss for anyone in the Southeast connected to the music industry, including fans.

Early Bird All-Access Passes are on sale now for only $99! All-Access Pass Holders will receive access to the three-day conference, two evenings of showcases, and an invitation to the official Confluence Kickoff Bash! Details to be announced. All-Access Pass does not include certain workshops.

Not interested in the conference? Purchase the Music Only Pass! This pass includes access to 7 venues over two nights Oct 10 and 11. Venues and many artists have been announced. To get a pass or the most up-to-date info, visit confluencecarolinas.com. CONFERENCE PASS (Still Available): Confluence Carolinas pass, starting at $45. More information and tickets.

Late Bloomer

Late Bloomer (Charlotte, NC) has long been known for meshing considered pop songwriting with “loud, confrontational force.” But on Another One Again, the band’s fourth record, the North Carolina band channels the frenetic energy of longtime influences like The Replacements and Guided By Voices into a more calculated direction.

The result is an enormous leap forward for the band, one which lands somewhere between the DIY punk rock they grew up on, the fuzzy alt-rock of Superdrag, Sugar, Dinosaur Jr, mixed with the subdued harmony of The Weakerthans – often in the same song.
The final record in a loose trilogy that began with 2014’s acclaimed Things Change and continued with Waiting (6131 Records — 2018), Another One Again sees the band tackling familiar themes like forgiveness, depression, and religion, and the dissolution of friendships, illustrated by earworms like the enormous opener “Self Control” and the power pop banger “Birthday.”

For their first full-length in several years, the Charlotte-based trio of Neil Mauney, Josh Robbins, and Scott Wishart took a different, more protracted approach to recording. The band tracked at Pershing Hill Studios in Raleigh with Greg Elkins (American Aquarium, Confessor), before sending it off to Waiting engineer Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, Speedy Ortiz) to produce from afar. The tracks were then mastered by Carl Saff (Cheekface, Fu Manchu, Protomartyr).

The album introduces longtime collaborator Jarad Rogers (Nerve Endings) on additional guitar and also features guests including pedal steel guitarist Wes Hamilton (Pullman Strike), acoustic guitar & dobro by Stephen Pierce (Kindling, Gold Dust) and vocalists Sarah Blumenthal (Alright, Faye), Elise Okusami (Oceanator) and Rob Pennington (By the Grace of God, Endpoint).

And there’s a new sense of urgency and dynamism on Another One Again. Whereas Mauney sang of existential indifference in 2018’s “Heaven,” songwriting partner Robbins asks in the haunting “Mother Mary”: “How do I get forgiveness if god doesn’t exist?” Mauney himself concedes on the massively catchy “Hope For Rain”: “The plates will shift and joints will ache / The waves are gonna crash every day.”

“While Things Change seemed to be asking for forgiveness and Waiting was dealing a lot with being forgiven and seeking help,” Robbins says, “This album is really looking past that and being like, ‘Yeah, I can do this.’”

“I think they call that going to therapy.”

Another One Again was released March 2024 via Dead Broke & Self Aware Records.

Wilde Green

Wilde Green led by songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Kevin Terrell, Charotte-based Wilde Green are an ambitious quartet whose resounding array of influences bring to mind a melding of melodic craftsmanship to the tune of British sound lore and the restless ambitions of those who took that inspiration to new heights. Their collectively sourced inspiration is a kindling of genres from the 60’s on through the 90’s. From The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who and The Rolling Stones, there in also emerges a notable pop and psychedelic sensibility that channels the 60’s garage bands of obscure fame likening to The Creation and The Smoke. With hints of 70’s glam of Bowie and Bolan and playful power pop of 70’s punk bands like Flamin’ Groovies, all nestled among the melancholic 80’s sounds of The Smiths’ (more Marr than Morrissey), the beat driven pop of The Stone Roses, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene and a touch of that shoegaze dreaminess of Ride and Spacemen 3, their sound is an entanglement of intrigue.

The group formed in 2024 through the inspirational songs and sounds heard on Kevin Terrell’s most recent solo album entitled “Idyll Mind.” Terrell wrote, performed, recorded and produced the album in just a few short weeks, and in August of 2022 it was released. After performing songs from “Idyll Mind” along with a steady stream of new material as a solo act, Terrell brought together a talented, like-minded and passionate group of musicians to bring to fruition the visionary essence of his songwriting. With Shawn Lynch on lead guitar, Adam Roth on bass and Pete Oram on drums, Wilde Green are an imaginatively influenced and influential presence whose distinctive sound and sonically driven style bring to life the lyrical and idyllic visions of Kevin Terrell.

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*If you are over 21 but do not have a legal ID, State law prohibits us from serving you adult alcoholic beverages. There is a $5 surcharge at the door if you are under 21.*