The more I sat with this album, the more the title started to hit different. Pigs can’t fly, and Northside kids aren’t supposed to either. That’s the lie they grow up hearing. It echoes in the way just surviving gets mistaken for success. Don’t aim too high. Don’t...
Everything is tight. As mottoes go, it’s not a bad one. However, while the RVA duo known as The Weak Days may lead with a sense of goofy positivity, it would be a bad idea to write them off as shallow. Guitarist Tommy McPhail and drummer/programmer Dustin Reinink (both of whom sing) deal with a variety of intense emotions and difficult situations...
Citrus City Records’ new shoegaze recruit Keep is beginning to make waves in the Richmond music scene. The duo released their first full-length album, For Your Joy back was released in June and with distortion, dissonant vocals, and industrial sounds, Wes Smithers (guitarist) and Nick Yetka (drummer/vocals) are becoming names to know if you...
Power, electricity, and love are the best way to describe the emotions being felt on the floor of The Broadberry Saturday night. It was electronic artist BUKU’s first time in Richmond since 2013, and I certainly hope it won’t be his last. This time he was accompanied by LUZCID; whose fanbase is just as large, as well as Richmond’s own The Rico...
Imagine all of the music you’ll never hear that’s being recorded as you’re reading this sentence. All of the poetry and art coming to life right now that you’ll never lay eyes on. That’s something Andrew Carter thinks about, which makes sense, given that he’s created oceans of material that will never see the light of day. “I’ve been trying to...
The Richmond Folk Festival has announced its second wave of performers for this year’s festival. On Wednesday, the city's most popular and biggest music festival, which drew more than 125,000 people last year, has released 13 more bands and musicians performing this year. Here are the newly announced acts that are set to perform at the Folk...
FEATURED SHOW Friday, August 25, 8 PM Sheer Mag, Haram, Birth (Defects), Christi @ Strange Matter - $12 (order tickets HERE) Sheer Mag's ascent over the past couple of years has been truly impressive. This Philadelphia garage-punk band burst onto the scene with their first EP three years ago, and managed to turn a whole lot of heads with only a...
As a hardcore kid that grew up going to shows in the mid-‘80s, having a fest like United Blood in my hometown makes this city very special to me and by the looks of it, it appears a good amount of people, both young and old, feel the same way. Now in its eleventh year, United Blood has become one of the most anticipated events of the year for...
This article was featured in RVAMag #29: Summer 2017. You can read all of issue #29 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now. If you missed Part 1 of our Record Reviews, which takes at look at local albums, you can find that here. NATIONAL Big Thief Capacity (Saddle Creek) The sophomore release by Saddle Creek's hottest new act,...
Deep in the woods down a long, long gravel driveway off a long winding road in Varina, sits “The Shed”, the studio and hangout spot for Black Naked Wings. Now it may look a little rough around the edges, but once you step inside its filled to the brim with eclectic gadgets like a replica of the Star Trek captain’s chair replica, vintage guitars...
