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Get a Quick Pick-Me-Up From The Demos New Single, “If You Only Knew”

Madelyne Ashworth | July 16, 2018

Topics: 60s pop, indie pop, Joywave, The Broadberry, The Demos, XL102

The latest extended play from The Demos, “If You Only Knew,” gives you the dreary Monday morning pick-me-up you didn’t know you needed.

With a 60s-inspired musical bounce and aesthetic, their newest indie power pop piece by the same name feels nostalgic, but the type of nostalgic that a 20-something-year-old would feel–someone who didn’t actually live through the era but wished they did. The melody is cheerful and fun, heavy on poppy guitar arrangements, sunny harmonies, and light on the heart, but the lyrics deliver a subtle, tender soreness.

The five-person band is led by singer Jason “Jay” Milton and Callan “Cal” Saunders, who have been making music together since high school. Now nearly 15 years later, after experiencing some fame in Japan and four releases, they’re bringing their dreamy, indie pop to The Broadberry with fellow Rochester resident Dan Armbruster, founder of the band Joywave. Armbruster collaborated with The Demos for their four-song EP. Joywave focuses on alternative pop and adds a hip-hop essence to the release.

Collaborating with Joywave is nothing new, as Milton and Saunders have played music with the members of Joyway since high school, as well. Both groups come out of Rochester and hope to give groups from their hometown more recognition.

“We’ve been in bands with those guys and playing with those guys since we were teenagers,” Milton said in an interview with Campus Times. “They’re making an effort to take Rochester bands out with them on tour whenever they can, and they’re always talking up the city in general. It’s awesome to have a band from our town at a national level and talking about our little city and what’s going on it.”

You can see both bands at The Broadberry tomorrow, Tuesday, July 17 at 8 p.m.

Norfolk’s Super Doppler on name change and new album, ‘Moonlight Anthems’

Mallory Campbell | June 22, 2017

Topics: 60s pop, Major and the Monbacks, Super Doppler

From what started out as a local band of friends in Norfolk, Major and the Monbacks (now Super Doppler) blends the talents of six musicians striving to bring a twist of psychedelic rock-n-roll and 60s pop with the release of their new album, Moonlight Anthems.

Nine years strong, this six-man band has worked as a cohesive, democratic group of artists. The Friedman twins, Neal (guitarist/vocalist) and Cole (bassist) combined their passion for music with Michael Adkins (guitarist), Bryan Adkins (drums), Tyler West (percussion), and Harry Schloeder (guitarist).

“We’re a very democratic band, so we have six members and six different sets of influences,” Schloeder said of the band. “Everyone’s personal input ends up shining through.”

Moonlight Anthems will be a followup to the band’s 2015 self-titled debut, who have seen quite a few changes since they started jamming together in high school. The band first appeared on the Norfolk music scene as The Yolks for a short while before quickly changing to “Major and The Monbacks, what they have been known as up until recently.  

Just before the album drop, the band decided to make the change from their original moniker.

“The name change was sudden and we thought, ‘Man, we have this album coming out, we need to change our name,’” said Schloeder. “So we had this 3-day period where we were constantly on conference calls with each other brainstorming.”

“Major and the Monbacks” was meant to be a name evoking southern charm and a term of endearment. When it was brought to the band’s attention that the term “monback” could also be interpreted as a racial slur, the six friends came together and sought to change the name immediately.

After making an official statement concerning the name change on Facebook, Super Doppler apologized for the negative connotations “monback” evoked, and spoke of the love and acceptance their musical outfit has strived to represent for the past six  years they have traveled across the country:

“…To anyone who may have been offended by our band name, we are deeply sorry.

We are a band that believes in love and acceptance above all else. Through our recordings, and the hundreds of shows we’ve played for thousands of people over the past decade, our goal has been to make music that anyone can enjoy. Therefore, we can not in good conscience continue under the name “Major and the Monbacks…”

You can check out the band’s full statement here.

Despite the minor setback with the name change, the group are pushing forward with an upbeat album meant for long road trips and downtime with friends.  

Instead of tracks being pieced together in sections separate from other parts of the album, Schloeder stresses the connection each track on Moonlight Anthems has in succession. Like a production, the album acts in a cohesive whole, and works together like a story from beginning to end.

Recorded with Adrian Olsen of Montross Recording, Moonlight Anthems consolidates 12 tracks beginning with “There, There,” a funk and rock blend with subtle harmonies and a beat that drops you back in the ’60s. With new singles like “We Are Doing Fine,” and “The Clap,” Supper Doppler continues to express love for a country’s past times as they “love you wholly” with their upbeat, casual tunes.

“We wanted to have an album that flows like it was meant to be listened to from start to finish in one go and not just a collection of tracks like our first album was,” Schloeder said. “We wanted to do something a little more conceptual.”

Earlier this month, the band released a live music video for the title track “Moonlight Anthems” through local film collective RVATrack.

You can catch Super Doppler in Richmond in September when they stop in for The Shack Up at The Broadberry and listen to their album here. 

Photo by Super Doppler

The Wimps explore young love in new album, ‘Reel Whirl’, see them Friday at Smatter

Amy David | June 14, 2017

Topics: 60s pop, doo wops, strange matter, surf pop, surf rock, The Wimps, Trrrash Records

“Ketchup is not what’s in my veins/and it’s under a mountain of chocolate.” That’s how Brent McCormick, lead vocalist and songwriter for The Wimps describes his current romantic situation in the RVA surf rock/pop band’s latest single, “My Love is Real.”

We’ll get back to the ketchup explanation later. But the catchy, upbeat single is a new track off the band’s upcoming album, Reel Whirl, slated to drop July 8 via Trrrash Records.

The 12-track album focuses mostly on young love and the anxiety, excitement, doubt and other horrible/wonderful goodness that comes with it.

“All of the songs in some way deal with young love, and how beautiful and terrifying and stressful that is,” McCormick said.

The album stems from McCormick’s experiences in his latest relationship, which he’s been in the last year and a half.

And The Wimps have given us this delightful lyric video (top image) they made themselves of the single ahead of the album release and its chocked full of 50s and 60s clips of young lovers and it is glorious. Ah, simpler times.

“The clips are from the Prelinger Archives, which are a bunch of old advertisements, educational videos, and home movies from the 50s and 60s,” he said.

As for the name of the album, well that ties into the theme as well.

“We were trying to think of drive-in movies or makeout points, were there any names from drive-in movies and makeout points, but they were just either ‘The Point’, or ‘makeout point’,” said drummer Eric Godsey.

The band landed on Reel Whirl, because the words, in a way, describe how you feel when opening yourself up to something and someone new.

“[It’s] is just kind of nice, both of those words have to do with spinning and spiraling and a lot of the lyrics come from that place of feeling very out of control in a new relationship,” McCormick said.

The album will be the The Wimps’ sophomore release, a follow-up to the four-piece’s self-titled debut in April 2016, which is when RVA Mag first fell in love with their old school 60s pop sound with a modern twist.

Godsey said the band started toying with some of the riffs for Reel Whirl when their debut album came out. They sought out the expertise of Adrian Olsen over at Montrose Recording back in the winter to start recording the album.

“I’ve worked with him on a lot of other projects and every time he’s easy to work with and knows what he’s doing,” Godsey said.

The Wimps only spent three days in the studio, spread out over the course of a few months, piecing Reel Whirl together, before wrapping it up a little over a month ago.

Like the last album, both are very personal, but their debut record dealt a lot with McCormick’s high school break up. Despite the roller coaster ride that is two young people falling in love, McCormick assured RVA Mag listeners the songs will mostly be positive and happy.

“Surprisingly, there’s not as much heartbreak on this record,” he said. “There are upbeat songs, romantic songs, I think, what’s interesting to me, a lot of the songs deal more with the anxiety that comes with entering into anything new.”

Now back to the ‘ketchup is not what’s in my veins/ and it’s under a mountain of chocolate’ lyrics. The single delves into the struggle McCormick, like most people on this planet, have faced at some point in their lives: how to express love for someone in a non-cheesy way.

“It’s sort of me trying to say, ‘the blood inside of my veins is not fake blood, it is blood that is real, so it’s sort of an attempt to say, ‘my love is genuine’,” he said of the lyrics.

“When I was in this new relationship, I was very frustrated because I wanted to find ways to express my love for another person that didn’t feel cliché, but all I know, because I’m a human being that watches TV and reads magazines, are clichés.”

Here’s hoping McCormick’s expressions in Reel Whirl can help those of you out there looking to make your lover/flame/significant other swoon so you don’t have to resort to flowers, heart-shaped chocolate boxes and holding a boom box over your head outside their window. (Although, judge me if you want, I will go on record now and say I still think those are just as romantic.)

As far as a tour, the humble band has kept it local since they started performing, but it’s definitely on the books.

“We were an opener for so long, we’re not used to booking because people were always asking us to play,” Godsey said. “I think I wouldn’t call it a tour, but we’re going to start stepping out of town. We’ve got a few things lined up.”

The Wimps plan to release Reel Whirl at Hardywood on Sat. July 8 along with Camp Howard and Hannah Goad, but you can catch them at this Fri., June 16 at Strange Matter and June 17 at Cary St. Café opening for Angelica Garcia.

RVA’s The Wimps drop new self-titled 60s pop album

Amy David | April 18, 2016

Topics: 60s pop, pop punk, The Wimps, virginia moonwalker

The new album from RVA’s young band The Wimps takes you back to a simpler time with its vintagey pop feel and catchy lyrics.

The four-piece released the 10-track album April 8th at OUR House with fellow bands Wild Moon, Ashes, and Grave Hooker.

A memorable and very 60s-esque pop album with an alternative edge is how I would best describe The Wimps’ self-titled album which is what lead vocalist/guitarist Brent McCormick said the band was going for.

“That’s what we’re all really interested it,” he said. “Just keeping it really simple, good rock and roll, pop stuff. As far as the old school stuff goes, I think that’s where our heads are at generally, all of that music from the 60s. Some grittier, garage-60s stuff.”

The group took inspiration from The Beatles’ The Magical Mystery Tour, The Velvet Underground and The Stooges for this album which you can definitely hear a little bit of all of them immersed throughout the tracks.

“Poor Alexander” and “Dream Girl” are definitely a few of the tracks to check out.

McCormick said they recorded the album at Virginia Moonwalker in Mechanicsville with Russell Lacy. It was mixed and mastered by Adrian Olsen at Montrose Recording.

Fresh on the scene, The Wimps formed under a year ago and started work on their album about six months ago, but the sounds are that of a band who’s been playing for years.

Despite being new to the RVA music scene, The Wimps have been steadily trying to make a name for themselves in the city with one or two shows nearly every weekend at places like Hardywood, Gallery5 and The Camel.

The crew, which consists of Ralph Mason (bass), Eric Godsey (drummer), and Gilson Fearnow (keys), met through mutual friends at open mics in Richmond and set up a jam session to see how they meshed together as a band.

“We decided to get together one afternoon and see if it felt right,” McCormick said. “Eric kind of had the idea for us to get together to see if we could write stuff as a group, it felt good so we just picked up from there.”

McCormick did most of the songwriting on the album, but he said the whole process was a collaborative effort.

“Ralph and Eric and Gilson are all music majors so they have really good ideas how to make the song 10 billion times better,” he said. “We’ll work on it together and talk about what could make it interesting and get people’s attention. We were interested in capturing a live raw sound on the record, we didn’t really want to feel too polished.”

It’s a really good listen overall, and will have you wanting to play it on repeat so go check it out.

The Wimps are slated to play their next show at Hardywood for RVA Day in May.

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