The Sands are a band from Bloomington, Indiana, but they have deep roots in the RVA music scene. Jeff Grant, one of the band’s two frontmen/guitarists, previously led Richmond’s Pink Razors, who spent most of the last decade charming the city with their wry, catchy tales of living, learning, and growing up.
The Sands are a band from Bloomington, Indiana, but they have deep roots in the RVA music scene. Jeff Grant, one of the band’s two frontmen/guitarists, previously led Richmond’s Pink Razors, who spent most of the last decade charming the city with their wry, catchy tales of living, learning, and growing up. Grant relocated to Bloomington several years ago, but has previously returned to RVA with Fat Shadow, an alt-rock project he played drums for. The Sands is his latest endeavor, a collaboration with fellow songwriter Jason Groth, who spent several years backing the late Jason Molina in Magnolia Electric Co.
The group originally came together as a Wipers tribute act in late 2010, before beginning to write original songs soon afterward. After several delays caused by lineup shakeups and member relocations, The Sands have finally completed their first album, Hotel And Casino, which will be released by Houseplant Records tomorrow–coincidentally enough, on the same day the band’s current tour brings them to Richmond for a gig at Strange Matter. The material on Hotel And Casino has a spiritual kinship with the melodic punk delivered by Pink Razors, but the songwriting style of The Sands owes more to 60s garage and 70s first-wave punk than to the 90s pop-punk scene that inspired Pink Razors. Fans of The Exploding Hearts, Machine Gun Etiquette-era Damned, and early Cheap Trick will all find much to love on Hotel And Casino. In particular, album highlights like “Damn Heavy Heart” and “Think It’s All Right” have a lively sound that can’t fail to make the listener smile, even in spite of the melancholy overtones embedded within the lyrics. Brighten up your room on this cloudy afternoon by streaming the album in its entirety below:
The Sands will perform on Tuesday, February 4 at Strange Matter (929 W. Grace St.), along with fellow touring bands Courtesy Drop and Bloom, both from Nashville. Local support will be provided by Little Master. Doors open at 9 PM, admission is $6. For more info, click here.
