The Southern Belles have steadily built up a following here in RVA, with their psychedelic rock n roll/funk sound there’s a little somethi
The Southern Belles have steadily built up a following here in RVA, with their psychedelic rock n roll/funk sound there’s a little something for everyone with these guys.
Forming in 2010, the close-knit band has heavily toured the East Coast and put out their first album, Sharp As A Knife in 2012.
Since February, the band has been jamming in the studio and finally dropped their sophomore album Close to Sunrise. It was released online June 30 and officially released on Wednesday.
RVA Mag had a chance to sit down with Adrian Ciucci (guitar,vocals) Andrew Carper (bass/vocals), Raphael Katchinoff (drums/vocals) and Tommy Booker (keyboards/vocals) to discuss the new album, touring shenanigans and playing festivals before their album release party at The Camel tonight.
“We’ve written a lot of material and it took us years to line everyhing up and actually be in a position to go in the studio, spend money, spend the time so this has been the focus of our whole year,” said Ciucci.
Close to Sunrise, was recorded and produced by Bryan Walthall at the Legendary Sound of Music Studios here in Richmond.
The seven-track album mixes some upbeat tunes, with some heavy jammy songs, with a lot of good old fashioned rock and roll mixed in. The group released the first single ‘Getaway’ an upbeat, happy tune off the new album in May and recently released a video for the song.
The guys all agreed they put more effort into this album and that extra time grinding in the studio paid off.
“The songs are definitely a progression overall in terms of maturity and vibe at the time we did sharp of a knife we still have more of that honk- tonk feel to our songs,” Cuicci said. “This record feels way wetter; way more reverb, there’s way more layers and it feels better thought out the song writing is better.”
Booker added there’s more meat to this album than the last and its was more of a joint effort on all fronts.
“With the first album we had just joined together as a band and we were playing these songs we had written separate from each other before joining the band,” he said. “Their wasn’t as much compositional collaboration and with this album we’ve kinda been able to work together for a couple years and bounce ideas off each other to create these songs that are all of ours.”
Cuicci writes a lot of the material, but said the band a lot of the ideas for songs stem from his cousin Joey who wrote “Jungle” on the album and “Cadillac Desert” on Sharp as A Knife.
(From Sharp As a Knife album, with former bassist Zachary Hudgins)
As far as their favorite tracks, Cuicci said he likes “Big City” the best, but the rest of the guys concurred Booker’s song, “Won’t You Come Down” was their favorite.
Carper added he pushed super hard for the track “Wreck”, a song the band had been playing for a long time, but just added to this new album.
“It was my first favorite Belles tune before I was in the band,” he said. “It’s this crazy jangly-rockin’ tune and the lyrics are bad ass.”
The group said they plan to release a video for “Won’t You Come Down” sometime in September.
On June 25, The Southern Belles crammed into their van and kicked off their tour in Roanoke and will continue to travel up and down the East Coast to South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and festivals including Floyd Fest July 24 and Pasture Palooza July 30 in Berryville, Va.
The Southern Belles are also competing in Rockn to Lockn, a battle of the bands like competition for a chance to play at Lockn. The guys will compete at Capital Ale House July 31 alongside The Working Effective, Tin Can Fish and Imaginary Sons and they are hoping to get in this year.
“This year we’re playing this damn thing we’re going to do it,” said Carper. “To be able to share the stage with really big deal bands just feels cool.”
Touring has brought The Southern Belles more than their share of crazy adventures. A few years back, they had a near death experience when their trailer flipped.
They each recalled some of their own memorable moments.
“We’ve had some crazy times hung out on beaches in South Carolina eating mushrooms,” Katchinoff said. “A lot of late nights hanging out with friends and people that you meet in towns and become immediate friends.”
“Playing chicken with random Romanian women, my neck still hurts from having those legs on top of me” Booker added.
Carper recalled a time the band got a drunken Frisbee game going at a downtown mall in Knoxville while on tour.
“I think we were in between shows, but there’s a downtown mall area in Knoxville where there’s this venue {Preservation Pub so we went to see this band there and we got pretty drunk at Pres Pub and started throwing Frisbee around in the downtown mall,” Carper said. “Jumping off little platforms of statues to catch it and hitting store windows.”
The group chimed in that touring can have its down sides like eating crappy food, crashing on floors, sleeping in a cramped van and dealing with shitty club owners, but meeting new people is the best part about touring for them.
RVA will always be where their heart lies and that’s why they are stoked for their two-night album release party at The Camel tonight and tomorrow.
“Nothing like a hometown throwdown” Carper said.
The Southern Belles will throw the first album release party tonight at The Camel at 8 pm. Saturday’s album release party will be a collaboration with Mekong Express.
“It’s the third year with Mekong Express on Fourth of July we do a mash upset,” Katchinoff said. “This year were going a deep cut 70s funk thing tomorrow.”
“Bust out your Jheri Curls and your bell bottoms.”
Tickets for the Friday or Saturday show are $10 and a two-day pass is $15. Grab yours here.
