There’s a lot of musical history in Richmond, and every once in a while generations meld together on one stage to offer a unique window into the city’s past, present and future.
There’s a lot of musical history in Richmond, and every once in a while generations meld together on one stage to offer a unique window into the city’s past, present and future.
Such is the case this Saturday when father (Tom) and son(Noma) Illmensee with both take the stage in their respective bands Boneachnor (Top image top, formerly Frog Legs) and Manatree (top image, lower half).
Younger folks might be for familiar with Manatree where Noma plays bass. They dropped their outstanding, self-titled album last year.
Check out their video for “Animal Quietlies” below:
And Boneanchor is the latest iteration of a number of weird and loud acts featuring Tom on guitar.
Check out the band killing it at Ally Ktaz back in 2005:
“From the style to the performance, every aspect of Frog Legs and Boneanchor is a work of art,” said Noma sitting across from me and his father at Lamplighter Coffee. “The way [the lead singer] controls his body to somehow safely jump in the air, rotate, fall and get back up again; it’s remarkable.”
Tom is noticeably humbled and flattered at his son’s kind words.
“Frog Legs was an avantgarde party band in the 90’s, and Boneanchor is very stripped down, lean, pyschobilly, punk rock, weird, electric hurricane,” said Tom. “That’s the difference. We’re mashing all that together for this show and we’re not sure what’s going to come out the other end.”
The two bands had a show together last week, but other than that, this is the first time the family will share a bill in about two years, the last time Tom was in town from work out of the country.
“We’d been itching to play together again,” Tom said. “Two years of energy has built up, I’m not sure what’s going to spray out.”
Noma continued to praise his father’s musical accomplishments but admitted his memories of performances were from a less hectic time for the band. The early Frog Legs years went down when he was still quite young and the shows, according to Tom, were not quite youth-oriented.
“[Lead singer Wrenn Mangum] has eaten more cigarette butts out of ashtrays than anyone should,” said Tom, detailing some of his band’s weirder tropes which also included geisha makeup and impromptu sex ed lessons.
According to Tom, the band’s antics made them a bit hard to book so their manager would often bend the truth in the hopes of landing them shows on the college circuit in the 90’s.
“He booked us into a place in Tuscaloosa, AL, one summer and when we finished our song, [Mangum] had the face paint on, and he was giving his own version of sex ed class to the bar… The bar owner comes up to me… and says ‘ya’ll gotta stop right now… this is parents weekend. I can’t have a reputation for having this kind of thing on my stage.’ And Wren is still on stage instructing everyone on the ergonomics of intercourse.”
Tom said they were still paid in full, but they were essentially paid to stop playing. As they were packing up, he asked the bar owner if he knew what they were getting when they booked Frog Legs for the gig and the bar manager said he was told they were an Ottis Redding cover band.
“That’s one of the reasons little Noma wasn’t allowed at these shows,” Tom said with a laugh.
Keep in mind, the 90’s music scene in Richmond was dominated by bands like GWAR who used out-of-this-world antics to make headlines and sell records, so eating a few cigarette butts was par for the course.
Tom promised Boneanchor hasn’t dialed back their performance at all, with a number of surprises planned for Saturday’s show. But it was Noma’s grasp of logistics which has really helped smooth over the process for the two bands gigging together again.
“The joy is in making music together, and We hope people come and that joy washes over the people who show up and they enjoy it too,” Tom said with a laugh. “My job was just to buy the plane ticket and show up on time… and practice. So between Wren and Noma… they made it easy.”
No matter which band you favor, the real treat this Saturday will be viewing about 25 years of RVA Music on one stage.
“I like to think Richmond has inspired me as a musician, Noma as a musician, and that’s what connects it all,” said Tom who rebuked the idea that their familial connection wasn’t any more relevant than the impact the local music scene itself had made on the two of them. “What we pull out of the energy and the community and what we put back into the world. It’s loud, what we put back into the world. Turn it up.”
While details are still being hammered out around how the show will flow, rest assured there are a number of surprises in store for fans and newcomers alike.
“We haven’t planned it out and that’s by design. A little danger, a little risk… it’s gonna be fun,” said Tom.
“There’s not gonna be another show like it,” Noma echoed.
You can pick up tickets to Saturday’s show early here, or head to the Broadberry for 8 PM doors.
