The crowd queing up outside of the Camel on October 19th could have been because of their stellar cheese fries and beer selection, but no! It was because everyone was being treated to yet another night of free tunes and tom foolery courtesy of Radio Rubber Room Presents!
The crowd queing up outside of the Camel on October 19th could have been because of their stellar cheese fries and beer selection, but no! It was because everyone was being treated to yet another night of free tunes and tom foolery courtesy of Radio Rubber Room Presents!
The trio of bands performing for the night featured a fun blend of saucy Mississippi magic and cosmic exploration – not that those two things have anything in common, but diversity is key for a good crowd-pleaser.
First came Megan Burtt, a redhead from Colorado with the strawberry sweetness of a girl and the firm edge of a woman who has been around the block. Though she had a backing guitarist plucking alongside of her, the two were so in sync that they sounded more like a singular melody that you’ve somehow known about your entire life.
Megan’s songs had an organic compound that almost seemed to be coming from the wood under your feet. They were tunes that were being coaxed out of nature and heartbreak until they lulled you into a trance not unlike that of August Rush.
I firmly believe that if Taylor Swift ever found out about the fiery female, she would have to hire a hit man out of sheer jealousy. Burtt’s ability to impersonate the girl-next-door stereotype with her witty banter and charming remarks became almost suspicious – how could anyone be that personable? Does she actually have fourteen toes? Did she murder her ex-husband? Does she only have such a magical voice because she made a deal with the devil?
We may never know, but it says on her Facebook page that she did attend the Berklee School of Music and is currently on tour promoting her 3rd studio album “The Bargain”. Check out her tour dates to find out where she’s headed next.
Next up was Alice + The Reverie, a Richmond-based indie rock band with a classically safe band formula. After listening to their set, I solidly believe that they are a good group. There was nothing wrong with their sound, however there was something crucial lacking from their performance.
Though the songs were well-rehearsed with all the right chords in all the right places, the show was too generic to stick out as anything extraordinary. The individual musicians’ styles and tweeks (i.e. a fuzzy pink guitar strap and a bright red synthesizer that sadly disappeared amongst the guitar sound) suggested ambition for a more experimental direction, however it got lost in the perfection. I couldn’t help but be reminded of people who write “I like good food and good company and good music” in their social media bios – likable, but forgettable.
I’m also a little confused as to why their band is called Alice + The Reverie (kind of reminiscent of Florence Welch, don’t you think?) when the lead female singer is named Meriam Martin. Maybe it just sounds cool – either way, it’s a mystery to me.
However, if you’re a fan of other generic indie groups like Local Natives, The Shins, or She and Him, then give ‘em a shot.
Last in the lineup was Tweed: a three piece Philadelphia band born in Delaware that self identifies as ‘jamchronica’. The cosmonauts took the crowd on a journey through time and space with an electronic wave of beeps, boops, and bopping coming from a rack of synthesizers probably worth about six months rent on my apartment. Though the jams held a resemblance to Rush, the toe-tapping beats were mostly instrumental.
The psychedelic group was flavorful, sharp, and probably from Mars – a united clear-cut identity that told its listeners that they were taking no prisoners on their musical planetary mission.
EDM lovers take note – this is the super-evolved form of crappy club beats. Tweed is an exemplary collective of musicians that know how to make people have fun, and they do it with refined electronic tunes that pare well with being covered in glow paint and dancing.
You can give the group a listen on Spotify or you can check out their website and Facebook page. We hope that you get to catch their spooktacular holiday performance at the Electric Halloween festival in New Jersey October 28th-31st.
Though the scariest possible thing that could happen to you this Halloween weekend is to keep missing out on fantastic free shows in Richmond, have no fear – Radio Rubber Room Presents! will be back on November 2nd with another all ages show featuring Napster, Ben Butterworth, Georgie Isaacs, and Justin Khoury.
