On Thursday, January 30, Strange Matter played host to day one of a three day mini-tour featuring three VA bands: The Snowy Owls, Left & Right, and Lil Huffy. The groups were joined at Strange Matter by fellow VA residents The Cales.
On Thursday, January 30, Strange Matter played host to day one of a three day mini-tour featuring three VA bands: The Snowy Owls, Left & Right, and Lil Huffy. The groups were joined at Strange Matter by fellow VA residents The Cales.
The Cales were the first band up, and they were sharply refreshing to hear. Clearly the genres they pulled influence from differed from what has been around lately by about twenty years; we’re talkin’ 70s rock influences like T Rex. The band is a four-piece, with both male and female vocalists. The male vocals are reminiscent of Frank Black. The sound of The Cales includes elements of garage and surf rock, so if you’re into Ty Segall or Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, you should check them out. Overall, this band touches on a wide range of sounds, which, to me, added to their appeal by way of nostalgia.
Lil Huffy is a four-piece from Harrisonburg. Their sound is based in rock n roll. At points Lil Huffy gets spacey, a lot like a Gainesville band that recently relocated to Brooklyn, Half Undressed. The vocals are passionate, and the buildups get insane. At one point, singer/guitarist Emigdio Turner started plucking individual strings, and doing a ripple effect that sounded almost like a slowed-down Glassjaw song. There’s also definitely a tinge of The Smiths in the vocals. Here’s what it’s like to dance to this band: at some points you can get real down to it, at others you sway back and forth, and in some instances you just kinda have to stand there because the guitar gets so intense you just want to gawk. They did a song about the Polar Vortex, which made me shiver at the thought of walking to my car.
Halfway through the show, there was an overall switch to a more modern sound–although the between-set music still consisted of Motorhead and Iggy Pop. The third band, Left & Right, sounded more like pop punk, or what is now being dubbed as “emo” music, even though to me, that term is usually allocated to bands like Dashboard Confessional. This band is a four-piece also, from Charlottesville. Some of their songs sounded more like Pavement [who were also from Charlottesville, sorta–ed], which is especially obvious listening to their Bandcamp. Left & Right did a song about Richmond, and commented it was nice not to be playing a house show, because they didn’t have to be “turned down.” It should be noted that, like most shows at Strange Matter, this show was incredibly loud.
The Snowy Owls played last. I had seen them once before; at the last show where I saw them, they had a great projection running over them that matched their music perfectly. Snowy Owls is one of those mainstay Richmond bands, or should be. They have a lo-fi sound that makes it easy to fall away into a daydream (or in most cases, probably a night dream). SHOEGAZE. The lyrics of this band are strikingly positive, with lines like “there’s someone out there” that really make you believe it. They did a Cure cover this time around, “Lovesong.” This band was slower in tempo than the other bands, and was a good sendoff into a dark winter night.
All in all, this tour was a great idea. The sounds of the bands were cohesive, but varied enough to make it interesting. Great night.
