July Charlotte Local Music Picks

By Jonny Golian

July 5, 2022

A look at several Charlotte-area bands and acts playing our wonderful local music venues each month. Get familiar and support your local music scene.

Wine Pride

July 1 at Snug Harbor
Tickets: $10.00

After a temporary hiatus, Wine Pride returns to Snug Harbor to kick off July. Led by frontman Aaron Felger (vocals/bass), the dream-pop band evokes calm in their shoegaze stylings. With each track’s set of vocals echoing in an audible distance, it leaves listeners with a unique sense of soothing isolation. Backed by brothers Ty and Jack Kozlowski (guitar) and Dylan Robbins (drums), their latest release “Sleep” shows the quartet’s mastery in giving listeners an audible escape. They are set to release their debut album later this year.

Petrov

Wednesdays in July at Snug Harbor
Tickets: $10.00

Petrov will be holding down Wednesdays at Snug Harbor for their July residency, playing alongside familiar faces like Wild Trees and Zeta. The indie rock group arrived on the scene in 2018, helmed by Mary Grace McKusick and backed by Garrett Herzfeld (drums), Matt McComony (Bass), and dual guitarists Syd Little and Mike Backlund. The unit brings a youthful vulnerability to the studio and stage, combined with a seasoned cast of local and regional rockers who know how to connect on message and sound. Petrov’s latest album, 2020’s Flower Bed, capitalizes on the buzz made from their debut EP, Sleep Year. 

True Lilith

July 7 at The Milestone
Tickets: $5.00

Hailing from Belmont, True Lilith is coming to familiar stomping grounds at The Milestone. An up-and-coming female-led group who’s harnessed their brand of post-punk rock, the band is led by founding member Chloe James (guitar/vocals) and backed by Abby Stewart (synth/vocals), Adrian Allman (bass), and Devyn Dayton (drums). The band released their latest track, “The Tower,” which matches their indie rock “dark psychedelia” brand, following their 2019 debut EP, Wilt.

XOXOK

July 8 at The Evening Muse
Tickets: $10 plus

Carrboro’s XOXOK will be performing alongside R&B act Saint Floyd at the Evening Muse. XOXOK, the stage name of Keenan Jenkins, found a love for his unique R&B stylings during his Ph.D. studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. With carefully curated drums and keystrokes, XOXOK’s soulful vocals echo sweetly in any given room. XOXOK’s latest single “All In” sees the artist share the space with Durham’s Kaze4Letters in a slowed-down love track.

Junior Astronomers

July 9 at Neighborhood Theatre
Tickets: $15 plus 

In the band’s first appearance since 2021, Junior Astronomers takes the stage at Neighborhood Theatre alongside fellow Charlotte acts Donnie Doolittle and Acne. A beloved presence in Charlotte for over a decade, the band, fronted by Terrence Richard, crafts their music to be as human as the quartet playing it. Upbeat, melancholic, and always fun, Junior Astronomers live like the songs they perform: out loud with the type of passion that reminds audiences a little disorder in the mix is how to truly feel alive. Their latest album, 2017’s Body Language, is a tight collection of fierce indie pop-rock jams.

Solis

July 15 at Petra’s
Tickets: $7 plus 

Solis is an experimental electronic pop project produced by the minds of husband-and-wife duo Leonardo and Kellie Solis. Where Kellie embraces the soundscape and floods it with her haunting vocals, Leonardo takes total control over production, lacing guitar strokes into the instrumentals, alongside occasional collaborator Jeremy Smith of Thousand Dollar Movie. The end result is music that is harmonic in its echoes, giving listeners a product that sends the mind and imagination skyward even while standing in the exact same space.

Leone 

July 15 at The Evening Muse
Tickets: $10 plus

Orangeburg, South Carolina native, Leone will play Charlotte’s Evening Muse, coming off the release of his latest EP, Private Life. Launching his music career in 2016 with his debut release, “Cut U Loose,” produced by Charlotte’s Jason Jet, Leone dropped the EP, Angst, in 2019– a spacey blend of R&B and funk. Leone’s new project finds the singer-songwriter experimenting with more synths and poppier sounds of the ’80s.

Mercury Carter

July 30 at Snug Harbor
Tickets: $10 plus 

It is hard to put multiple genres of music under one umbrella, but Charlotte native Mercury Carter seems to do that with elegant ease. Releasing his debut EP in 2017, Carter has shown the ability to capture songs both classic and modern, injecting each with his own brand of spacious soul. His latest project, 2019’s Mercury Sings, takes on classic and modern covers like Queen’s power ballad “Who Wants To Live Forever” and Beyonce’s sultry R&B hit “Speechless.” Currently, Carter is taking on Icelandic artist Bjork for audiences to rediscover through his unique filter.

Julian Calendar

July 30 at Petra’s
Tickets: $7 plus

Sporadic, out of focus, and completely engulfing: the project known as Julian Calendar is all of the above. Led by Jeremy Fisher and Jeff Jackson, the experimental rock group puts to use every talent each member can offer, musically and otherwise, when it comes to getting across the right sound and messages. What started from humble beginnings of Fisher writing the music evolved with Jackson and Amy Bagwell contributing both ideas and lyrics, utilizing their backgrounds in writing novels and poetry. Add in Hannah Hundley (vocals), Scott Thompson (multi-instrumentalist), Lee Herrera (drums), and Nelly Anderson (synth), and what comes out is as artistically extraordinary as it is unexpected, giving audiences something new to chew on with each performance.

Todd Johnson

July 30 at The Evening Muse
Tickets: $10 plus 

An Americana troubadour by his often upbeat love-laced lyrics with a side of country, Johnson aims to entertain through never performing the exact same set, occasionally bringing in the backing band, “The Revolvers,” a rotating group of surprise performers from Charlotte’s music scene. His latest EP, Use Some Company, was recorded and released during the pandemic and, just as the title suggests, Johnson brings a wholesome vibe to this collection of songs as a way to reach listeners during a very stressful period.

Check out more local events happening this week on our CLTure Events Calendar.

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