GIG OF THE WEEK

Photo courtesy of Tiny Engines

May 19

RED COLLAR (ALBUM RELEASE PARTY) w/ RESTORATIONS, MAPLE STAVE, SIGNALS MIDWEST @ MOTORCO, DURHAM

This week, which features two Charlotte gigs (opening for Less Than Jake last night, and a Treasure Fest set tomorrow) in addition to Saturday’s album release in Durham, is an unusual burst of activity for Red Collar. For a number of reasons, the band’s appearances are not the consistent Carolinas staple they once were. With guitarist Mike Jackson living the family life up in the mountains and the rest of the band still kicking it around Durham, opportunities to see North Carolina’s best barroom punk band — and one of its finest live acts of any stripe — are few and far between. Red Collar’s hard-fought survival is reflected in the sophomore LP Welcome Home, released with help from Columbia’s Tiny Engines. Roaring punk guitars collide with arena rock energy as Jason Kutchma pushes further to the distant poles of his songwriting, exploring shattered dreams and somehow drawing from them the vigor to fight on. “I’ve done nothing wrong,” he rumbles on the fiery ballad “This House,” his voice gathering slowly into a roar. “We’ve done nothing wrong. We’ve done nothing to them.” By the song’s end, he’s caught up in a swell of redemptive guitars, and he declares, “There’s coming a day/ It’s on the horizon.” By finding hope in defeat and providing the musical uplift to make its audience believe it too, Red Collar sits as one of today’s most genuinely uplifting bands. —Jordan Lawrence

CALENDAR

Festival

• May 18-19: Treasure Fest @ Plaza-Midwood, Charlotte

May 17

• Washed Out @ Music Farm, Charleston
• R. Ring @ Lexington Ave. Brewery, Asheville
• Rhett Miller @ ArtsCenter, Carrboro

May 18

• Confessor @ Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• Pierced Arrows w/ Don’t @ Lexington Ave. Brewery, Asheville
• Some Army w/ Brice Randall Bickford @ Casbah, Durham
• Washed Out @ Asheville Music Hall, Asheville

May 19

• Ty Segall w/ White Fence @ Kings, Raleigh
• Jack White w/ Alabama Shakes @ The Orange Peel, Asheville
• Pierced Arrows w/ Don’t @ The Cave, Chapel Hill
• Unknown Hinson @ Music Farm, Charleston
• Kenny Roby @ Double Door Inn, Charlotte
• Jeb Bishop/Tim Daisy Duo @ Conundrum, Columbia

May 21

• The Donkeys @ Kings, Raleigh
• Pierced Arrows w/ Don’t, Joint D≠ @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte
• Down w/ Black Tusk @ The Orange Peel, Asheville
• Gogol Bordello w/ Kopecky Family Band @ The Fillmore, Charlotte

May 22

• William Tyler w/ Hiss Golden Messenger @ The Pinhook, Durham
• Damien Jurado @ Kings, Raleigh
• Pierced Arrows @ Tin Roof, Charleston

May 23

• Strange Boys w/ William Tyler @ Lexington Ave. Brewery, Asheville
• St. Vincent w/ Shearwater @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• Black Dice w/ Prisms @ Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Jeb Bishop/Tim Daisy Duo w/ Regina Hexaphone @ Motorco, Durham
• Justin Townes Earle @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• The Brand New Life @ The Milestone, Charlotte