Spaceman Jones, The Rat King, and The Officer.
If those names don’t resonate with you then you haven’t truly immersed yourself in the rich, diverse music scene Richmond has to offer.
Spaceman Jones, The Rat King, and The Officer.
If those names don’t resonate with you then you haven’t truly immersed yourself in the rich, diverse music scene Richmond has to offer.
Those names belong to the alter egos of local rock and roll group Imaginary Sons, who are back with a fresh new single “Taste the Waste”, which they so kindly let RVA Mag premiere first.
Drummer Russell Redmond, bassist Kyle Hermann, and guitarist/vocalist Tommy Crisafulli have been working on the new track with John Morand over at Sound of Music Studios over the last couple weeks.
For those that aren’t familar with the trio, Imaginary Sons bursted onto the scene in 2012. The rockers don costumes as they perform on stage and that’s what draws you in, because who doesn’t love a guy dressed up as Elvis, or donning an astronaut’s helmet? They have even squeezed into oneseies in the past, that’s how much they’re dedicated to pleasing fans.
And while their on stage personas might draw you to the show, the band’s energy and charisma live combined with their party rock keeps you there and wanting more.
RVA Mag last spoke with Imaginary Sons in the spring, and they were busy shooting short films with A Dodd Brothers, a local production company at The Camel to spotlight those stage characters.
Since then, the happy-go-lucky guys have just been playing shows and recording new music, most recently, this new catchy track, “Taste the Waste.”
The single, mastered by Toxic Moxie drummer Danny Crawford, starts out sort of punk-rocky, but then transitions into a more 90s moshing rock and roll jam. It’s fun and definitely gets you hyped for a good time.
Although it is a feel-good song, the inspiration behind it stemmed from a not so feel good moment in life for Crisafulli.
“Three and a half years ago I had two brian aneurysms and was in the ICU for like 10 or 11 days, it got pretty scary and heavy there for a minute,” he said. “A lot of bad shit happened after the injury and this song is sort of like a retrospect on those three years.”
He went on to add that the message of “Taste the Waste” is intended to help people take alook back on the bad things that have happened in life and to try and find the good in them and learn from those experiences.
“Don’t ever let the bad stuff pile up, just taste it, love it, it’s part of life, it’s supposed to happen,” he said.
“Taste the Waste!” the rest of the band chimed in cheerfully.
Prior to this single, Imaginary Sons’ most recent release was the Let It Beer album back in January, which had more of a Southern rock and roll feel to it.
“The music has definitely changed since we started,” said Hermann. “It’s much more of a collaborative effort now a days. We’ve also focused more on building better vocal harmonies.”
Previously, Crisafulli was writing the bulk of the material.
Hermann said the exposure to other Richmond bands has also influenced their music and willingness to experiment with new sounds.
“It opens your possibilites for music when you see so many different bands play,” he added.
Imaginary Sons is going into the studio in December, and an album is slated to come out early next year. And for those into the crazy antics and costumes the band brings to their performances, not to worry because they’re still clowning around, check out the short films below featuring the band members.
And its not something they’re looking to change up anytime soon, so be on the lookout for the same characters you known and love.
“We still do that, we have something planned {we’ll} do something different for the next album, but this album was these characters and the last album we put out was these characters and so we’ll be doing that until we have the new ones.”
The on stage characters will remain the same, but since we last chatted with Imaginary Sons, thy have switched up guitarists. Mike Cruz left for his hometown this past spring for personal reasons which Hermann said was a mutal split.
Hermann said once the album is out, the band is looking to put a tour together for the summer.
“We’re trying to focus on playing out of town more in the region…Charlottesville, DC and expanding out, getting more contacts,” he said. “We’e played alot of different cities around Virginia…and we’re trying to be able to play farther away and play Richmond less and out of town more.”
They have a show coming up this Saturday Nov. 14. at The Camel with Crowns and Convicts and The J.O.B. “Taste the Waste” will go live on their bandcamp the night of the show. Tickets are $10 in advance get yours here. Show starts at 9 pm.
