DAILY FIX: Black Girls on Good Day RVA

Word has it that this is the premiere episode in a new ongoing video series out of our very own town of RVA, and if so, they’ve sure started off on the right foot.

Word has it that this is the premiere episode in a new ongoing video series out of our very own town of RVA, and if so, they’ve sure started off on the right foot. Their inaugural video features hard-working RVA indie buzz band Black Girls giving a memorable acoustic performance of their song “Club Bangin’,” released in electrified form on their most recent album Hell Dragon, from inside a beautiful mausoleum on the grounds of Hollywood Cemetery. Surrounded by stained glass and marble, with the warm afternoon sun streaming in through the balcony behind them, the members of Black Girls strum acoustic guitars and keep time on various percussion instruments. In fact, drummer Stephen Farris combines the two categories by keeping the song’s main backbeat by tapping on a guitar. As they play, Farris and singer Drew Gillihan trade lead vocal lines, with frequent vocal accompaniment from the rest of the band. Hearing the strumming and tapping sounds of the music echo from the mausoleum walls and combine with the multilayered vocals gives the song a somewhat spooky feel which is at its most pronounced during the part that, on the original album version, is a guitar solo. Instead of any one member playing the lead guitar part, though, all of them raise their combined voices and sing the solo, with bassist Jeff Knight hitting a deep bass undertone as the rest of the band’s voices grow higher and higher. The video itself only adds to the effect here, mixing in clips from old decayed 8mm reels that seem like they might have been shot in much the same area as this Black Girls performance was filmed, only decades before. The combined result is a unique and riveting video that will capture your imagination. Hopefully it’s just the first of many in a similar vein from Good Day RVA. Check it out.