If you would have told us a month ago that we were going to host a concert with four of Chapel Hill's best student-run indie/alternative bands and sell 250+ tickets, we wouldn't have believed you.
For a brief intro as to who the heck we are, we're The PITCH: a creative hub and venue designed to bring people together to create, collaborate, and celebrate through events, various creative projects, and even new business ventures. Yes, we're more than just an event space and coffee shop (although our coffee is undeniably the best in town). By the way, I'm Maddi, the VP of Business and Marketing for The PITCH. Basically, I convince people to work with us and take an obscene amount of pictures and videos for our social media. So... welcome!
One way we're expanding our reach into the Chapel Hill community is through local student bands. What we've learned is that there seems to be a lack of creative spaces and studios around here for musicians to utilize, so that's where we come in. We not only provide a concert venue for them to perform in, but we also provide a studio for them to practice and record in! Originally, we designed our studio to be focused more on content creation and podcasting, but as soon as these bands came to us with this pain point, we pivoted immediately and made this one of our main goals.
Our Indie Night headliner call themselves "Restless Legs", presumably because they (as well as the crowd) can't sit still when they're performing. It all started in 2021 when five UNC sophomores who loved indie, funk and pop music decided to form an alternative band together. Since then, they've taken over the local frat scene and have even played at popular venues such as Cat's Cradle, Top of The Hill and Pantana Bob's, which has garnered them a loyal and local fanbase. Their mix of covers and originals keeps their audience on their toes and wanting more.
One of the band members, Kai Mercado, told us that they tried hosting an Indie Night last year at someone's house, and its success was subjective. On one hand, they enticed hundreds of students to come out and show their support to get their name out there. On the other hand, the cops had to pull the plug and make everyone leave. Regardless of the outcome, it was clear that Indie Night had the potential to become a legitimate event, so when they came to us and asked if we could help host it at The PITCH, we were all hands on deck to make it happen.
The day of the show was surreal: bands lugging in their equipment, instruments being sound-checked, band mates cutting up and playing pool downstairs. It was amazing being in that kind of atmosphere with so many talented artists knowing that we helped bring it to life. That night, everyone's performance was absolutely electric, and all 250 people that came out had a great time. We all felt so inspired by this event that we've decided to host monthly music events to highlight other local student musicians outside of the indie genre and establish ourselves as a new haven for these up-and-coming artists to reach new heights.
To stay in the know about the music scene through The PITCH and in Chapel Hill as a whole, come back every Sunday night for weekly updates! Also, if you're a musician yourself and want to connect, DM us on Instagram @thepitchchapelhill :)