There’s a tradition in music of bands coming together to form “supergroups.” From Queen and Bowie to Them Crooked Vultures, there’s no shortage of musical collaborations that make your ears scream for more. And tomorrow, Richmond is going to have a chance to see its very own supergroup.
There’s a tradition in music of bands coming together to form “supergroups.” From Queen and Bowie to Them Crooked Vultures, there’s no shortage of musical collaborations that make your ears scream for more. And tomorrow, Richmond is going to have a chance to see its very own supergroup.
WRIR’s 10th Annual Party for the Rest of Us will see the first live performance of a collaboration between Dave Watkins, Navi, and Dumb Waiter, dubbed “Big Band.”
All three groups have been staples of the Richmond music scene for some time, and if you’ve lived here for more than a week, odds are you’ve seen them perform before. Whether at house shows or at Gallery 5, there’s no escaping what has come to be known as the some of the most defining sounds in Richmond.
“No one’s really in charge, it was pretty much everyone’s collective idea,” said Dave Watkins. “It just kind of came together. I guess WRIR’s Party for the Rest of Us acted like a catalyst in that way.”
According to Dumb Waiter guitarist Nicholas Crider, this isn’t the first collaboration between these musicians.
“We’ve recorded with Dave Watkins,” said Crider. “We’ll do a performance together maybe every three or four months, something like that.”
All of these musicians have been performing for a while and have had experiences with collaborations in the past. The dynamic of performing with multiple bands is obviously different, but maybe not as much as you’d expect.
“Usually we’ll transition from one band to another,” said Crider. “Dave will play and then we’ll step in and jam out for about ten minutes. But other than that this will be our first collaboration with three bands.”
“It’s not really a jam session, it’s almost like improv jazz without being jazz,” said Watkins. “It’s all about listening and reacting. This way it’s more of an adventure than just a bunch of noise.”
The third band they’ll be adding to their line-up this time around will be Navi, the psycho-conceptual duo best known for their wild house show performances.
“Navi and Dumb Waiter were talking about doing a split a while back, but it just hasn’t worked out yet,” said Crider. “Lindsey [Spurrier] from WRIR got wind of that and talked to Dave [Watkins] about getting us all together to do a big band show for the WRIR benefit.”
Next month Dumb Waiter will head back to the studio with Watkins to start recording again.
“It’s gonna give us more time to just bring in everybody and jam and maybe hit record,” said Crider. “There’s almost too much happening in each band, but every time we’ve practiced everyone seems to have a good sense of when to go full force and when to sort of back off and let somebody else take the lead.”
The bands have been practicing exercises, and one of the exercises they’ve been working on is breaking down their sound, finding a rhythm, and working from there up.
“It’s everybody, without paying attention to any notes or keys, just making noises and rhythms, and seeing where that takes us to,” said Crider. “We’ve been doing these process pieces over and over again, just trying to figure out what works best for us and what’s going to be in the collaboration.”
Interestingly enough, the musicians describe their mixed sound as not fully new or separated, but as both distinct and collaborative, a mesh of all three bands in one awesome wall of sound.
“One of my favorite things in music is dynamics,” said Watkins. “I don’t want it to be 150% volume, just chaos and noise the whole time. I want it to have peaks and valleys, where it gets so quiet that you can almost hear people whispering in the audience. Then get massively loud so you can feel it in your chest.”
Thankfully this probably won’t be the last time these artists work together, as they have at least one more project they’ve been discussing.
“Originally Navi and Dumb Waiter were talking about doing a split 7 inch vinyl, and that still may happen at some point, but I was going to be the one to record it,” said Watkins. “We were going to have Navi on one side and Dumb Waiter on one side, and in the center where the audio doesn’t sound quite as good was going to be a collaboration between the three of us.”
For a sneak peak at the Big Band’s performance and more in-depth interviews you can watch The Horn RVA’s video below. The video, shot by Craig Zirpolo, Mackenzie Werner, PJ Desutter, and edited by Zirpolo and Werner, features interviews with members from each group and an exclusive performance.
You can catch the Dave Watkins Navi Dumb Waiter Big Band tomorrow at WRIR’s Party for the Rest of Us at The Renaissance Ball Room. The party goes live at 7pm and runs until midnight.
