FEATURE SHOW
Thursday, October 31, 8 p.m.
WRIR presents Halloween featuring Built To Spill, Slam Dunk, Genders, The Warm Hair, After Party DJ set with Doug Martsch of Built To Spill @ Canal Club – $25/All Ages
There’s been some incredible shows come through Richmond in ’13, and this show is of course one of them. It’s even arguably the best.
FEATURE SHOW
Thursday, October 31, 8 p.m.
WRIR presents Halloween featuring Built To Spill, Slam Dunk, Genders, The Warm Hair, After Party DJ set with Doug Martsch of Built To Spill @ Canal Club – $25/All Ages
There’s been some incredible shows come through Richmond in ’13, and this show is of course one of them. It’s even arguably the best. Thanks to WRIR and the Trigger System, this Halloween will be a hellish great time. The seminal influential indie rock band Built To Spill out of Boise will be trick or treating in Shockoe Bottom tonight. All in Richmond must not only give these five gentlemen all their candy, but take in their bludgeoning of a quality rock sound. To me, Built To Spill is the quintessential indie rock band, as pure to that genre as a band can be. Real indie rock music is Built To Spill, no ifs, ands, or buts. Since ’92, this band has drawn some of the most loyal fans I’ve ever encountered, and have inspired several current musicians and bands. The 2013 Built To Spill lineup includes Doug Martsch, Brett Netson, and Jim Roth, along with new members Steve Gere and Jason Albertini. The one and only Built To Spill sound is still very much intact. Built To Spill will be performing songs from all eight of their studio albums. If you are not up to speed with Built To Spill, imagine their sound being a blend of Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Caustic Resin, Modest Mouse, and Neil Young. After Built To Spill’s set, vocalist and guitarist Doug Martsch will DJ some ghoulishly good tunes, so don’t forget to hang around.
Touring with Built To Spill is the outstanding experimental band Slam Dunk, so be sure to make a fast break down by the Kanawha Canal tonight early to catch this quartet. Also providing touring support is a band out of Portland, Oregon I’m very excited about–as should you be–is the band Genders. This band rocks faces off with their indie garage sounds intertwined with alternative fire power. The Warm Hair will warm up the sure-to-be-in-costume audience with their beautiful independent music. By the way, I’m going as suicide this Halloween, in case you were wondering. See you at the show!
Wednesday, October 30, 10 p.m.
Paint Fumes, Grooms, Guantanamo Baywatch, Nervous Ticks, Ar-Kaics @ Strange Matter – $8/18+
Hey look whose back? It’s Charlotte’s Paint Fumes. Now these guys always turn Richmond upside down. Huff Fest must have worked well, because Paint Fumes’ Elijah Von Cramon is back and better than ever. Now it’s time to drink, vomit, drink, vomit, and then rock like there’s no tomorrow–because there isn’t! Paint Fumes, with all their garage punk glory, just might be one of the best live shows you’ll ever see. Also be on the lookout for the out-of-hand surf garage rock of Guantanamo Baywatch. Great band name too–blonde girls with big boobs and falsely imprisoned Muslims. Grooms will be taking time away from weddings to besiege you with their take on the dirty garage rock like grandma and grandpa used to play.
Those wild kids of Nervous Ticks with their lo-fi garage sounds open, along with the straight ahead 1960’s muscle rock of the Ar-Kaics.
Friday, November 1, 10 p.m.
Bogart’s Halloweekend Party featuring Lightfields, Those Manic Seas, The Absent Center @ Bogart’s in the Fan – $5/21+
This is a wonderful local showcase of Richmond bands. If you haven’t seen any of these bands yet, you have serious issues. First off, you got Lightfields. These lads play psychedelic rock that will scare you straight. They are climbing up the Richmond charts folks, so partake in their spirit tonight if you can. Next is Those Manic Seas. These guys, along with a TV-addicted mannequin, will put you in a great mood with their post-rock sounds. Then you are in the center with Absent Center. The Absent Center is actually full on present, with experimental indie sounds perfect to get your weekend off to a banner beginning.
Saturday, November 2, 6 p.m.
Return of the Living Dead Bands – Part V @ Strange Matter – Free/All Ages
Well here it is again. My favorite Halloween tradition, Night of the Living Dead Bands, is back. Great musicians and bands never die, thanks to this phenomenal evening. This year’s tributes provided by various local great musicians and personalities include the Misfits, Manowar, Filth, Wesley Willis, Velvet Underground, Dead Boys, Minutemen, the Pixies, Twisted Sister, and Operation Ivy. Wow, what a potpourri of rock’s past! Dress up as anything, or anyone; just remember, tonight is free, and its time you have some serious fun. It’s going to be scary crazy this evening, so you are going!
Sunday, November 3, 5:30 p.m.
Tera Melos, Zorch, Dumb Waiter @ Strange Matter – $12/All Ages
Yet again, another awesome band out of Sacramento, the spastic Tera Melos, comes our way. This band is flat out fabulous as they combine rock, jazz, ambient electronics, and experimental music. This trio performs music characterized by quickly alternating rhythmic patterns, start-stop dynamics, improvisation, extended open-ended bridges, and the use of effect pedals and samplers. Tera Melos is currently touring in support of the X’ed Out LP. This is a musician’s band, and will fit in rather well with a Richmond audience. The experimental noise duo Zorch provide touring support, as the experimental indie math band Dumb Waiter from right here open this Jim Dandy to the rescue.
Monday, November 4, 8:30 p.m.
Fear Nuttin Band, The Upstream (pictured above), Dreadlock Robot @ Canal Club – $10/18+
The highly diverse and jaw dropping reggae rock band Fear Nuttin Band comes to Richmond tonight and is sure to set Shockoe Bottom ablaze. This band is scorching. Definitely a high rising group in this genre, Fear Nuttin has what it takes too encompass all musical tastes. Touring in support of their most recent release Vibes, Love, Revolution, Fear Nuttin Band continues to gain a loyal national following many bands would only dream of. Fronted by two vocalists, Fear Nuttin Band sets the vibe in a powerful, yet in a laid back groove procedure. Heads will not stop bouncing, let alone your body won’t stop moving during their set.
The Upstream, fronted by longtime Richmond songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Noel Haven, is as powerful as the sun. Noel Haven’s words and guitar take you in and push you back out into the dance floor. The Upsteam’s alternative rock layered with reggae is a delivery mechanism for the ultimate in eargasms. This band continues to flourish and their quality within their performance proves that in Richmond you don’t have to be noisy beyond comprehension; poignant rock and roll sails upstream.
Dreadlock Robot, featuring ex-members of the reggae band Crucial Elements, opens the show. Run, don’t walk, to this evening of irie sounds.
Monday, November 4, 9 p.m.
The Dickies, Chrome Daddy Disco, Creep-A-Zoids @ Bandito’s – Free/21+
There are not enough words in a thesaurus to describe the fact that the Dickies are going to be performing in the Devil’s Triangle tonight. If that isn’t fitting, I don’t know what is. Since 1977 the Dickies have been performing and releasing albums despite deaths, drug problems, and of course the usual band bullshit. Still, despite a band-life of setbacks, the Dickies continue to tour and shower their loyal fans with their flamboyant style of punk rock. Can punk rock be humorous? Yes, but only if the Dickies are doing it. Providing the theme music for the cult classic horror film Killer Klowns from Outer Space proves this point.
Currently, the Dickies are touring with two founding members, vocalist Leonard Graves Phillips and lead guitarist Stan Lee. The Dickies are the only original So-Cal punk band to still be recording and releasing new music. They truly are the clown princes of punk. The Dickies, to say the least, are inspired mostly by trashy movies and other pop culture. With all the insanity this decade has already offered, the Dickies will fit right in. Their cover songs are just as ridiculous as their originals, so be prepared.
The Richmond punk, rockabilly and psycho-billy band, Chrome Daddy Disco, which has been around multiple decades as well, fittingly opens the show. Also providing local support will be the Richmond horror-punk band Creep-A-Zoids.
This show is free. That means it’s mandatory.
Tuesday, November 5, 8 p.m.
Brain Tentacles, Bermuda Triangles @ The Camel – $5/All Ages
Brain Tentacles never leaves audiences bored. No, not even close. In fact people beg for more. This duo, representing Chicago and Richmond, is an improvisational and experimentation juggernaut of sound and ambiguous noise. Comprised of the talented Dave Witte on percussion and saxophonist Bruce Lamont, Brain Tentacles give their listeners the ultimate avant-garde experience, in which their minds are set loose into a journey nomads would even envy.
The perfect cousin to Brain Tentacles would have to be Richmond’s Bermuda Triangles. Well, here they are, full of tropical fevers blended with esoteric percussion and stingy keyboards. Bermuda Triangles have no genre; they invented their own to give themselves an original freedom ride through the estuaries of grandiose blessedness. After a Bermuda Triangles set, your ears will be more grateful than a pardoned Thanksgiving turkey.
This is an early show; you’ll be in bed by 11pm. So, there are no excuses, both these “BTs” are exactly what you need to shake your hippocampus.
Tuesday, November 5, 8 p.m.
Circle Takes the Square, B Dolan, The Blue Letter @ Gallery 5 – $8 Advance – https://circletakesthesquare.eventbrite.com / $12 Door /All Ages.
Coming off a very successful tour of Europe, Circle Takes the Square come to Jackson Ward tonight to empower us with their furry of hardcore punk meshed with experimental scream-grindcore. This is easily one of those bands you just have to see if you’re into these styles. Touring in North America for the first time since ’11, CTTS will no doubt be performing songs of their strongly received LP, Decompositions: Volume Number One–their first full length since ’04. Apocalyptic punk rock is this band in a nutshell, and word is that I, along with you, must catch this spirited band. I know I will.
Tour support comes from the great poet, emcee, activist and raconteur, B Dolan, who will be performing with a live band. Local support comes from a much underrated down tempo post metal screamo outfit, the Blue Letter. The Blue Letter is a band that continues to grow and soar. See them as soon as you can; their sound resonates with triumphant ear explosions.
By John Lewis Morgan (onewayrichmond.com)
