Double Barrel draws record turnout

WKNC, N.C. State’s student-run radio station, has won several awards in recent years, such as Independent Weekly’s “Best in the Triangle” and “Best College Radio Station.” To maintain these high rankings and to stay on the air, WKNC hosts its largest fundraiser, Double Barrel Benefit, which is an annual two-night concert event featuring North Carolina bands and artists.

WKNC has continued the fundraiser because of past success and the enjoyment it brings the fans.

“We just really want DBB to keep going,” said Michael D’Argenio, senior in electrical engineering and program director of WKNC. “It just brings great, local music to people consistently every year. It’s a great music festival and one that people look forward to. It’s really exciting to see the same people there every year as well as new people who just heard about us and want to support us.”

Despite all of the snow, the bands, the station listeners and the WKNC staff all made it out to DBB’s second performance Friday at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh. 

“I think DBB went phenomenally well,” said Zach Dorsett, senior in English and art studies and promotions director at WKNC. “We nearly sold out the show, garnering a massive crowd inside of Lincoln Theatre for these local bands to perform in front of. We surpassed our fundraising goal and did so by putting on an incredible concert for our supporters, everything I could have hoped for.”

The groups Love Language, HNMTF, T0W3RS and Ghostt Bllonde performed at the first concert in Chapel Hill at the Cat’s Cradle on Feb. 7. The artists Mount Moriah, Bombadil, Loamlands and Daniel Bachman performed during the second event Friday.

“This is my favorite lineup that WKNC has ever put together,” said Bri Aab, senior in English and general manager at WKNC. “All eight bands, from the first weekend of DBB to the second, played the best shows I have ever seen them perform. Each of these bands could make it big, and that’s why we asked them to come play.”

Since the opening of DBB in 2004, the festival has always been a two-day event located solely in Raleigh. This year, WKNC decided to take a risk, according to Aab, going from 250 capacity venues to 800. In addition, WKNC moved one night to Carrboro, N.C., taking sponsorships and paying the headlining bands.

“We wanted to branch out and move to some bigger venues to get more people excited about WKNC,” D’Argenio said. “[WKNC has] listenership all across the triangle and across North Carolina, so we’re also trying to reach out to some of those people who haven’t gotten the chance to come out before.”

According to D’Argenio, DBB normally counts for a sixth of the budget. D’Argenio and Dorsett said WKNC hosts DBB so it doesn’t pester its audience with something like a pledge drive or telethon to ask for money.

“WKNC is kind of different form all the other radio stations in that they are commercial and they have the top 40s,” D’Argenio said. “Here at WKNC, we consider ourselves as an educational radio station where we educate people about new music, so our motto has been ‘playing music that doesn’t suck.’ We want them to turn on the radio station, and hear songs they haven’t heard before. We don’t want people to hear the same stuff anywhere else because we want to be different. We want people to listen to us because of that.”

Not only is it a tradition for DBB to be a two-night event, it’s also routine for the event to have eight performances total between the two nights. Aab said she spends about a year organizing the event and choosing eight area bands the staff believes in and cares greatly about. 

“I think we have truly chosen some of the best and brightest local artists to perform this year” Dorsett said. “We’re incredibly grateful to them for playing and supporting our cause.”

John Kovalchik, junior in biological sciences and operations manager, explained how WKNC chooses the bands that perform each year at DBB.

“The formula for Double Barrel has always been taking the big bands that we really enjoy that a lot of people really enjoy and pairing them up with people we think are up-and-comers that have a lot less name recognition,” Kovalchik said. “Like Mount Moriah is obviously a huge band that has been around for a while and on Merge Records, but Daniel Bachman just moved here and plays a style of music that’s kind of inaccessible to a lot of people. By pairing these two people, the audience can see the bigger names while also giving the smaller bands an opportunity to play a large house to get a lot of promotion that they wouldn’t normally.” 

No matter the location, bands or cities, DBB doesn’t only benefit WKNC, it also brings something to the community and its listeners.

“We try really hard to make this a concert that benefits the station, not a benefit,” Aab said. “The difference here is that you’re getting something from the show. You’re not strictly giving back, although that is a big part of it for us. We want our listeners to gain something from Double Barrel beyond the average fundraiser. Our listeners know that Double Barrel is a festival put on by WKNC every year that will promote the absolute best in local music – the bands to keep an eye on as they grow here in North Carolina and venture away from it.”