Mac McCaughan
North Carolina-based Ralph Lee “Mac” McCaughan has been one of the most influential figures in independent music for over a quarter century. McCaughan started the legendary alternative rock band Superchunk in 1989, which produced alt anthems such as “Slack Motherfucker.” Since the late 1990s, McCaughan has also helmed Portastatic, originally a solo side project of Superchunk which has developed into a full-fledge indie band in its own right. McCaughan’s Merge Records, founded in 1989 with Superchunk bandmate Laura Ballance, has nurtured some of indie rock’s most important records, including Arcade Fire’s Funeral, Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. In May 2015, McCaughan released his first solo album, Non-Believers.