8
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
Weekend Excursion Primed for Big Time
By Ashley Atkinson
Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor
Its songs have been featured in two
episodes of the hit TV show “Dawson’s
Creek." The band has performed with
Edwin McCain, and for a crowd of thou
sands at an Atlanta Falcons game.
Weekend Excursion, long a favorite
on the Chapel Hill frat-party circuit, is
primed to hit the big time. Not bad for
a group which started out selling demo
CDs in a Greensboro dentist’s office.
“When we get to the top -and that’s
definitely our goal - we’ll realize how
much hard work it took to get there,”
said UNC senior Michael Ferry, the
band’s violinist.
Weekend Excursion formed in 1995
while its original members were in high
school together in Greensboro. The
band released its debut CD in 1997,
after the six headed to Appalachian
State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
The band hit a brief roadblock in
November when its vocalist, Aaron
Shepherd, left the group. “He went his
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(M&wHih. CAMPUS RECREATION UPDATE
"^ e Men's and Women's Tennis Clubs Sport Clubs
practice and compete both semesters. *
Entries close today for the SAND VOLLEYBALL TRIPLES Matches this year included foes such as UVA,
TOURNAMENT and the annual SPLASH & DASH TRIATHLON James Madison, Wake Forest, Duke, NC
State and Clemson. Both clubs have had
Sand Volleyball: play this Saturday, Apr. 29. 3 divisions: men, women and extremely successful seasons and have
co-rec. All entries will receive a Discover t-shirt rewarded with an invitation to compete
in the first annual USA Team Tennis Ej
Splash & Dash Triathlon: open to the first 96 to enter. $lO buys you a National Campus Championships
t-shirt, a water bottle and a great starter triathlon. Swim 500 sponsored by The National Recreational
mpiprenmUmiiuckiunc c . . Sports Association, The United States Tennis Association, and the
meters, run 3.1 m.les, bike 13.5 miles. Sunday, Apr. 30, 9am. Intercollegiate Tennis Association from April 27th-30th in Austin,
All 1999-2000 Campus Rec staff are encouraged to RSVP for T * ThiS f opp i ° |^ nity * or both teams wi " be invaluable in
iq..— ... , promoting UNC and in competing on a national level. We look
this year's Award Picnic. See Diane by some time tomorrow. foiward to intense competition and meeting students from
: other college campuses. We would also like to thank the UNC
Sport Clubs Program for their contribution to support our trip
and competition. For more information about club tennis please
contact Katie Neal at 370-5248 or kneal@email.unc.edu or Mike
Cl /\ [\/I PUS Iskandar at 914-4713 or miskanda@email.unc.edu.
Management of The Kerr Lake Recreation Area has been | JgSS
officially moved to the Carolina Adventures program. This < jMI
beautiful 320-acre lakefront property is just 90 minutes north of i
Chapel Hill. Anyone interested in renting a site, equipment, or i 1
hosting a group retreat is encouraged to contact the KLRA staff BITH.M.M
located at the Outdoor Ed Center at 962-4179.
ALWAYS COCA-COLA. ALWAYS CAROLINA!!
own way, and we were sort of caught
without a solution for a few weeks,”
Ferry said - until the band stumbled
across Sam Fisher performing in a
Boone coffee shop. “It was a shot in the
dark. We got lucky,” he said.
Fisher’s vocals are featured on
Radioactive, the band’s third release. The
album was Schoolkids Records’ No. 1
selling local record for two weeks.
Fisher has changed things for the bet
ter, Ferry said. “Our music has already
taken on slightly more of a funk aspect.
Our stage show's have improved.”
But Weekend Excursion’s five origi
nal members are all graduating this
spring, leaving the band’s future open.
The plan for the summer, Ferry said, is
to try to spread the band’s influence into
surrounding states.
In the fall, he said, the band members
will be moving to Raleigh together.
“Unfortunately, right now the band
can’t pay all our bills. But our goal is to
let the band be our career,” Ferry said.
Weekend Excursion doesn’t have a
recording contract - yet -but it’s mak
Arts & Entertainment
ing connections and taking definite steps
in the right direction.
The band got its songs featured on
“Dawson’s Creek” “through a friend
through a friend," Ferry said. The expo
sure has resulted in “mail orders from
Alaska and Ohio, places we’ve never set
foot before,” Ferry said. “People who
didn’t give us much attention before are
taking us more seriously now.”
And Weekend Excursion makes no
pretenses of being in it just for the music
- the band is aiming for success. “We’re
looking for a major label contract, radio
exposure across the country. We want to
tour full time,” Ferry said.
What separates Weekend Excursion
from the pop-rock bands that already
populate Top 40 radio, Ferry said, are its
live shows —and Ferry’s violin, a unique
choice of instruments. “We take pride in
the fact that everyone that leaves the
show is going to leave with a smile on
his or her face, will have been moved to
tears or danced around,” he said.
And although the band has acquired
a large fan base among N. C. college stu
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dents, it wants more.
“We’re definitely not content with
where we are now,” Ferry said. “There’s
so much more ahead of us that we’re
working diligendy to achieve.”
The 1999 acquisition of a manager,
booking agent and publicist was a major
move for Weekend Excursion, Ferry
said. “You can only go so far on your
own in this business before you’ve got to
have someone to help you out.”
The band’s manager formerly
worked with Hootie and the Blowfish.
“He knows exacdy how to take us there
and what we have to do to make our
dreams a reality,” Ferry said.
The band’s booking agent is also
opening doors - literally. “He’s booking
us in the places we couldn’t play before.
For example, we couldn’t get in the
Cat’s Cradle before,” Ferry said. “We
just didn’t have the credibility.” The
band will play a CD release party at the
Cradle on Thursday.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIKA GUFFEY
The North-Carolina based pop-rock band Weekend Excursion will
perform at a CD release party at Cat's Cradle on Thursday.
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