“I have instant respect for people who use their talents and influence to help kids and communities in need,” Tumbleweed’s McKay Glasgow says of fellow musician Jason Andre of The Midatlantic. “I don’t know Jason well, but I’ve seen him out in the water and he’s a good surfer. I also see him supporting other musicians at shows and doing cool things in the community, like the pirate songs show for kids that he did at Palate.”
Glasgow and a couple of Tumbleweed cohorts are slated for Andre’s Outer Banks Disaster Relief Concert this Sunday, September 29 at Waterman’s Brewing Company. Completing the main stage lineup is The Midatlantic, Justin Lacy, Da Howlies and Billy Heathen. Side stage performers include Jared Michael Cline, Kyle Lindley, Sean Thomas Gerard, Mark Herbert and the Ron & Luis duo.
Andre grew up in Buxton, on Hatteras Island. He is all too familiar with post-hurricane cleanup, and has volunteered with Port City Proud to run chainsaws, climb trees and clean up people’s yards after Florence and Dorian.
“I am typically an action-oriented person,” Andre says. “So after some very minor cleanup of my local neighborhood this year, I was still looking to do something after all the destruction in the Bahamas and then the islands of Hatteras and Ocracoke.”
For $5 folks can enjoy this all-day music affair and pig pickin’ with Watermans’ chef serving up pulled pork and brisket, baked beans and collard greens—with 100% of food plate sales donated. Waterman’s full menu will be available, too. Kids can roll and tumble in bounce houses throughout the event. A small vendor village featuring local artists and crafters will be onsite with 10% of sales going to the cause—not to mention a growing list of silent-auction items to bid on. Plus, Mike Williams from Waves Design will donate 90% proceeds from the sales of event T-shirts.
“We’ve also had several other breweries donate beer for the event, of which 100% of the proceeds will go to the cause,” Andre adds. “Our local Nissan Dealer will be set up with a ‘Fill The Truck’ donation, which they will then deliver to the islands. So if anyone would like to bring goods to the event we will have that list updated on the Facebook event page as the event draws near.”
Andre says all donations collected between now and Sunday will be funneled through Hope from Helen with help from Tony Butler. The money will then evenly benefit The Ocracoke Foundation and The Cape Hatteras United Methodist Men, who provide care for the community and residents after disasters like hurricanes. They also provide long-term support, such as paying bills for folks who lost their businesses or jobs due to the storm.
Andre’s local points of contact, longtime friends April Trueblood and Brett Barley, have been invaluable in understanding the needs of the islands post-Dorian, too. Trueblood is a local Hatteras musician and runs The Swell Art Gallery in Frisco, NC. Barley, a local pro surfer and unofficial mayor of Hatteras Island, was born and raised in Buxton. “Before I moved down [to Wilmington] permanently, and prior to his Instagram fame, Brett was one of my little surfing buddies,” Andre remembers. “He has grown up to become one of my best friends and has become a great family man and leader in the community.”
Folks can visit the Outer Banks Disaster Relief Concert event page for band schedule and other updates. encore asked Andre and Tumbleweed’s McKay Glasgow to fill us in on the day’s music. (Read an extended interview at encorepub.com.)
encore (e): Why is supporting the Outer Banks important to you?
Jason Andre (JA): My family moved to Buxton, on Hatteras Island, when I was 8 years old. We ran a little motel there called the Cape Pines Motel for 20 years. So I grew up on the island and graduated from high school there. My parents and many of my childhood friends are still there.
McKay Glasgow (MG): We were all very grateful that we had no serious damage and that our families were safe. I was in the Outer Banks two weekends ago with a friend when the bridge from Nags Head to Rodanthe was still closed due to flooding and damage. It’s a special place and so are the people and the culture. They got hit hard, but they are a very resilient community and we just want to support them in some way that’s helpful.
e: Jason, what did you envision for this event and how did it all come together?
JA: So the idea came to me about a week after the storm and I started discussing it with my wife who helped brainstorm what it could look like. After talking to the guys at Watermans Brewing Co, we secured the venue, Greg Scott at Modern Staging and Sound agreed to help, and I put the idea (Save the Date) out there and immediately old friends from Hatteras, who live here now, reached out to volunteer. A couple of musicians reached out, some breweries and distilleries agreed to chip in and the snowball began rolling fast. I definitely have a list of local and regional bands who we (The Midatlantic) have worked with over the years and have great relationships with so I began sending out texts, making phone calls and messaging them.
I wanted a good variety and high energy, but all in all, anyone who is willing to donate their time and talent and had that date available made it into the lineup. The main obstacle for most everyone was making that date work, because we are throwing it together so fast. No culling needed. I wish we could’ve made it into a two-day festival and could’ve pulled in a few more well established local and regional bands. But I’m stoked with what we’ve got. It’s going to be a lot of fun!
e: What’s the latest news with your music and what will we hear in your sets at Waterman’s?
MG: Tumbleweed is about to release a number of singles on Spotify starting with a song Amanda King wrote called “Rocket Man” at the end of this month. We have a number of cool shows coming up as well. We will be playing Soup to Nuts on September 26, Palm Room on September 28 with Driskill, and we have a number of other fun ones in October.
You will hear a good mix of our material with a number of new and unrecorded songs. We will strip it down a bit because a couple members are out of town. It will be more intimate set and a bit less rocking as we are leaving the electric instruments at home for this one.
JA: The Midatlantic have been playing a lot of longer sets for private events lately. We’re still working on trying to tighten up our concert/festival set. We’re definitely stoked on the new songs we’ve been writing, and without turning completely into a punk-rock band, we are enjoying the high-energy tunes both old and new.
One of the things that I love about our community of musicians is how collaborative it is. So as soon as I started to have the lineup somewhat put together, a few side conversations started up regarding jumping on stage with each other. That’s awesome!
e: Anyone in particular you’re looking forward to seeing at the show?
MG: I’ve been going to Justin Lacey and Billy Heathen shows whenever they pop up on the Wilmington calendar. I saw The Midatlantic open for a show at BAC like four years ago when I first moved back to town and didn’t even know they were from Wilmington. So I’m looking forward to seeing them again. Da Howlies are fun to see live and the tracks I’ve heard off Kyle Lindley’s new album are great and we want to see him live. Seeing Sean Thomas Gerard by himself is always a revelation. He’s a great performer with great songs.
Shannon Rae Gentry 