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A chat with The Trongone Band on their new album ahead of double set at Rooster Walk this weekend

Amy David | May 26, 2017

Topics: Americana, BLUES & ROCK, country, rock, southern rock, The Trongone Band

Take some good ol’ fashioned rock and roll and mix it with a little country/Americana and you have RVA’s The Trongone Band. The group, which began as a family affair years ago, has been entertaining crowds ever since with their feel-good, no frills, energetic shows and next month, the band will drop their debut album.

On a recent afternoon, I sat at Mekong with Andrew Trongone (guitar/vocals) and his brother Johnny (drums/vocals) to hear about their beginnings, new album and forthcoming tour. All this after I was done secretly admiring/envying their luxurious hair of course. Actually, the whole band’s hair could be its own poetic post entirely. But I digress.

Keys To The House will be the first official release for the boys set to drop June 30 via Harmonized Records.

The Trongone Band has released a little teaser to the nine-track album with the song “Anne Marie,” a solid rock tune with a little country twang to it about the girl who got away.

“It’s the most countryish song on the album,” Johnny said.

And like any good song there’s a little truth behind the lyrics, for Andrew at least.

“That was one of the first songs I wrote a couple of years ago, {it} definitely morphed into that style,” Andrew said. “When I wrote it, it was on acoustic and halftime and more like a ballad-y song and then we were figuring out what we were going to do for the album and we decided to go with the in your face, upbeat kind of thing.”

But fans need not worry it’s not all country on Keys To The House, the brothers said they put a lot of work into the sound of the album.

“The album definitely pulls from a handful of different genres,” Andrew said. “Definitely rock and roll, some funk, some country, some Americana, the southern rock thing…”

The Trongone Band started working on the album back in October and sought out the help of Adrian Olsen and Alex Spalding of Montrose Studios in Richmond to record the album.

“Adrian and Alex are killer to work with,” Andrew said. “We did all the tracking for the songs all in the same room, we recorded rhythm guitar, the Wurlitzer, drums and bass all together in four days. We knocked it out pretty quick.”

Some of the songs they’ve played at their live shows, but there’s also some new tracks for avid fans and newcowers alike to look forward to.

“I really love how “Not Coming Home” came out, it’s one of our duo songs,” Andrew said. “Me and the keyboard player both sing lead and trade off verses, I just like how that one came out.”

The lineup has changed quite a bit over the years for the band, which was started by the brothers’ father John Sr.

“He played guitar for years and I’d always watch him growing up so that’s how I got into it,” Andrew said. “He had a band or two just for fun around the neighborhood, but he’d basically blast albums in his music room and play along.”

The jam-heavy trio played around town regularly before switching up to a guitar-driven six-piece about four years ago by adding keyboardist Ben “Wolfe” White, Mark Ingraham on trumpet and Matt Zavitz on saxophone.

“We started playing Cary St. Café every Thursday from 2012 to 2014 so it got us going in Richmond,” Andrew said.

About two years ago, they brought on Todd Herrington, replacing their father on bass, and solidifying their lineup as a four-piece.

“We were starting to tour a lot and he’s almost 60, it was just a mutual thing,” he said.

To spread the word on their debut release, The Trongone Band has already hit the road this month and will head up and down the east coast and they plan to continue to do that for a bit.

“We’ll keep adding dates, a perpetual tour supporting the album,” Johnny said. “A lot of stuff right now is in the south, Florida, Georgia and then some stuff in New York too.”

The album release party for Keys to The House is Friday June 23 at The Broadberry, but you can catch the band at Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival this Saturday and Sunday in Martinsville, Va.

Photo credit: Joey Wharton Photography

RVA Mag #28: Angelica Garcia’s sprawling journey from isolated discovery to vibrant expression

Doug Nunnally | May 10, 2017

Topics: angelica garcia, blues, BLUES & ROCK, roots, rva music, Warner Brothers

“It’s been a… a real crazy journey.”

That’s acclaimed singer-songwriter Angelica Garcia summarizing the events of the last several years of her life, a tumultuous yet rewarding time that included multiple cross-country moves, periods of isolation and discovery, and, ultimately, landing a coveted slot on Warner Brothers Records who released her debut record, Medicine For Birds, in September of 2016. “It seems like a lot when I list it all out, but that’s how life goes I guess,” she laughs.

This article was featured in RVAMag #28: Spring 2017. You can read all of issue #28 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now.

Garcia’s story begins in Los Angeles where she lived with her mother, a graphic designer, and father, a record executive. For the most part, her life ran smoothly until around middle school when her father made a decision that would change their lives: He was leaving the record industry and becoming an Episcopal priest. “He always said he was repenting,” Garcia remembers with a smile before detailing how her family packed up and moved to Connecticut so her father could attend seminary. After graduating, the family moved back to Los Angeles for a time while her father still pursued the priesthood. “That whole process takes a while,” she explains. “You have to go to seminary for a few years, then be a deacon for two years, and that’s when you start to get assessed to become ordained.”

On top of the location and career changes, Garcia’s family also had to cope with her father’s battle with cancer. “It was really difficult for the family,” she states. “It was actually really hard for him because as he was going through his treatment and recovery, he had to do time as a chaplain in a hospital.” She remembers one of his first hospital experiences was consoling the family of a man who had suffered a fatal heart attack. “He had to somehow learn how to console them and figure out the exact right thing to say, which was hard when he was going through his own serious fight with cancer,” she explains. “It was just difficult.”

Garcia also admits that the uncertain situation was hard on her and her mother. She remembers living in a big house when she was younger, something she never noticed until each house got progressively smaller as she grew up. “Our last place in LA, I could actually put my hands out and touch both walls,” she says while stretching for visual effect. But it was more than the living arrangements for Garcia. “It put weird pressure on the family because it’s the kind of job where the whole family gets involved. I would help out so he’s not doing it all by himself. Sometimes it’s making food, other times it’s getting things in order. Whatever it took, we did it.”

Around this time, Garcia was starting her senior year at an arts school in Los Angeles and getting her first taste of the music industry. Though she studied jazz and classical voice, she didn’t pursue music until her classmates approached her randomly with an opportunity. “They were competing in a Battle Of The Bands and needed a singer,” she remembers. “We had this indie pop sound, though we were all jazz kids so it had a different twist to it. People liked it a lot and we ended up winning.” One of the prizes was recording time in a studio — not a fancy one, Garcia states, but one good enough to impress a bunch of high schoolers. Eager to start, the band had one issue before entering the studio. “They were saying, ‘We can’t record other people’s songs. We have to record our own stuff,'” she remembers. “They basically looked at me and told me to write some songs. I had a bunch of poems, but I never did songwriting so that was my first real experience.”

One of those songs Garcia wrote ended up becoming popular around LA leading to the band playing a set at The Troubadour when she was only 17. “It was crazy — I’m on stage and people are actually singing my words back to me,” she says with a shocked expression. “That’s when I thought I could actually do this.” Realizing her potential wasn’t the only thing that happened that night. The band’s set also impressed an A&R executive who quickly expressed interest, even as the group’s future was uncertain. “He really believed in me even after the band disbanded since everyone was moving away,” she recalls. “He told me to just keep writing and to send him stuff. It was really a big moment. I was just a normal teenage girl with a lack of confidence so for him to tell me that, when I already wanted to write anyway… I got a lot of self-definition out of that.”

It was a seminal moment for Garcia, but unfortunately, there was little time to celebrate with graduation fast approaching and a big decision to make: She could either go to college or move with her family across the country (again) to the town of Accomac on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. “I studied music in school, but I really wanted to try my hand at writing,” she admits. “I had always loved it and I did get into a writer’s program in Vermont, though it was just the wrong time with the move and the second diagnosis.” Six months before her graduation, her father had already moved out to Virginia and by the time Garcia and her mother were ready to join him, they all had to prepare for her father’s second fight with cancer.

“That was the most stressful time because I had just finished graduating and my mom also broke her leg at the same time,” she says. “I ended up taking care of both parents and I also really thought about how hard it was to just make ends meet. I couldn’t justify spending $30,000 a year on college so I decided to take some time off and think, which ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Upon arriving in Virginia, Garcia began to acclimate to life in the town of Accomac, a community she described as “half-farmer, half-fisherman,” and while her father and mother had no problem fitting in, she quickly found problems with few people to relate to. “I was the only 17-year-old in the neighborhood so I knew I was going to be by myself… a lot,” Garcia reveals. “It’s okay though. I used that time to think about things and write. Really write.”

It’s not as though Garcia shunned herself from the community though; she helped run a food pantry with her family for migrant and seasonal farm workers, one that was the only Spanish-speaking pantry in the area despite it being the first language for many of the workers. “It was a great way to help supplement food because their income wouldn’t cover it,” she reasons, even though many at the church voiced their concern.

“A lot of people were upset, saying we were helping the illegals,” she recounts while shaking her head. “My dad would just say that they were helping their fellow human beings and if they couldn’t see that, then they shouldn’t go to this church because this is the real work of God.” Garcia expressed her pride in her father for standing up, even though it led to some people leaving the church. “He made it very clear that his church was not going to use religion and God to give an okay stamp on some people’s shitty beliefs and behaviors.”

Though the congregation eventually accepted her father’s decision, Garcia began to see similar sentiments pop up around the country. “Words kind of fail me here because I didn’t realize people held that much hate,” she admits softly. “It almost seems that people are so desperate for answers and clarity that they justify terrible things. I’m definitely Latina America and proud of it and nothing anyone can say is going to change that.”

Despite this pantry squabble, Garcia found her time in the Eastern Shore to be exactly what she needed, even if it meant retreating into an isolated bubble behind the church itself. “I just realized I had a lot more time on my hands,” she explains, “so I ended up going to this little parish house behind the church where they held dinners and AA meetings. It had an upright piano in there and I just spent a lot of time back there, writing and playing, and that’s really where my music came together.”

In between attending community college and helping out in the church, Garcia spent most of her free time in that modest building, writing lyrics and tinkering with melodies. It wasn’t long before she began to record these songs as sparse demos, utilizing whatever she had on hand, and just like he had asked in LA, Garcia began to send these demos to that encouraging A&R executive.

“I sent him what I had and he just kept asking for more,” she remembers. “Eventually, we got to a point where we thought we could record stuff and show it to the [Warner Brothers] to see what they thought.” Those demos, forged in that almost remote building, wound up landing Garcia with a lengthy record contract, one that led Garcia to a Nashville studio where she would record what would become the bluesy roots album Medicine For Birds, a record comprised solely of songs written in that parish bubble.

Working alongside famed producer Charlie Peacock, Garcia set out to build upon the songs she once demoed with crickets in the background late at night. “Most stayed true to the demos, but a lot ended up in places I never would have thought of,” she admits. “These simple songs that were made in this weird, awkward stage of my life — I’m so attached to them, but I loved hearing them grow and change with a cello or pedal steel.”

The collection of songs included some of the first ones Garcia ever wrote, like “Loretta Lynn,” as well as some newer ones that helped bookend the recording like “Twenty,” a song that was finished on the last day Garcia was 20 years old. Though the songs were written over the span of several years, Garcia concedes there is a theme to the record, even if it may have been unintentional. “I guess the theme is about leaving the nest,” she concedes. “‘Little Bird’ is about when you first go out on your own and ‘Twenty’ is about how that’s not always what you expect it to be so it’s a nice start and finish to the record.”

She even admits the indirect influence birds had on the record too. “When I was a kid, my mom used to call me baby bird,” she states. “Also, I have a lot of early memories in Virginia of birds just everywhere. Sometimes a flock of birds would just come land on a house. That may sound normal here, but not when you come from LA. I didn’t really sit in my room all the time obsessing with birds and leaving the nest, but you can definitely hear that message in the songs. Maybe I’m just more metaphorical than I thought.”

A much more conscious theme Garcia implemented in her songs was the color orange, something she relates to her first memories of moving to Accomac. “My first room there had this weird peach color,” she sneers. “It was a tough time. I had broken up with a boyfriend and left all my friends behind so I just had to do something I could identify with. I chopped off all my hair and painted my room this pumpkin orange color. Pretty weird, but the more time I spent in the room, the happier I felt about that color and how it represented my personal expression.” The color is referenced multiple times on Medicine For Birds, most notably on the breakout single “Orange Flower,” a boisterous and eccentric roots composition many point to as Garcia’s signature song.

Around this time, having finished community college, Garcia left the Eastern Shore and moved to Richmond, finding instant comfort within the city’s thriving art scene. “I love how much music brings people together here,” she remarks. “For a long time, I was just the priest’s weird daughter who likes rock music, but here, in this big city, I instantly fit in.”

Going to open mics around town and crashing on couches after late shows, Garcia eventually formed a circle of like-minded friends who definitely inspired her and influenced some of the direction of Medicine For Birds. She even dabbled in other projects too, forming Whatever, Honey with close friends and fellow musicians Hannah Goad and Ali Thibodeau. “I just love that Ali and Hannah and I were able to do that, even if just for a second,” she smiles. “You really don’t know how others can inform the music you make until you combine your little bubble with their own.”

Though she doesn’t know what the future holds for her in Richmond, she’s enjoying her time here and does admit it’s home to her now. “This city is a lot more to me than just passing through,” she says leaning in. “I don’t know that I’ll live here my whole life, but I have fallen in love with it and no matter where I end up, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the city and the amazing, inspiring people that make up the scene.”

Currently, Garcia is working on recording demos for what will make up her sophomore record, songs that she describes as being true to her Latina heritage — an intentional decision on her part. Returning home from a recent tour with alt-country star Lydia Loveless, she’s excited to immerse herself in the local scene again, playing alongside many bands looking at her trajectory for guidance… without even realizing it is Garcia herself striving to be more like them.

“There’s not one way to make it in music,” she explains. “Some bands would love to sign to a label and make a big record, but I look at these bands in town making great music and I often wonder how they do it and how I can do something similar. There’s so many different things in Richmond to be inspired by. That’s really why I love living here at this stage of my career.”

Photo credit: Joey Wharton

RVA’s bluesy/rock group Cold Beaches on new album, spring tour & move to Chicago

Greg Rosenberg | May 8, 2017

Topics: BLUES & ROCK, Cold Beaches

Sophia Nadia, aloft on a Reston, Virginia garage rooftop, was holding her acoustic guitar, working through new songs that would be the material for Richmond favorite, Cold Beaches’ https://www.facebook.com/coldbeachesmusic/ next release, when a security guard came walking by. “You can’t do that,” he said. Nadia reasoned with Officer Sourpuss. “Ya’ know what?” he yielded, “You can stick around actually, you look like a little rooftop honey up there.” And that’s how Cold Beaches named their most recent album.

And in the end, the interaction for which Rooftop Honey is named is sort of symbolic to how the album reads – not lowering yourself, not conceding to what others want out of you.

Rooftop Honey is Nadia’s second release under Cold Beaches, the moniker for her music which features a rotating cast of collaborators. After gracing the Richmond music scene for some time, Nadia brings the vibes of the field into the lab when recording Rooftop Honey.

“Aching was a very intimate and personal record I think,” Nadia says of Cold Beaches’ first album. “But I don’t think our shows reflect it.” “I think Rooftop Honey is more representative of the vibe that we actually have in our performances and as a band, so definitely this record is, I think, directly reflective upon that energy that we have at our shows.”

In terms of lyricism, indie rock is often the place for either vague, boundlessly applicable platitudes, or self-righteous, excessive convolution. Rooftop Honey has all the accessibility of the former while still giving a potential for engaging with the words under the surface.

One of my favorites, lyrically, on Rooftop Honey is “The Road”. Featuring washy rhythm guitar with a slide lead playing a beautiful melody that so slightly flirts with tension, Nadia sings in the chorus, “He’s got his money in his hand and his phone in the other/Sitting on the couch and hanging with his brothers.”

First of all, in the context of the song, it’s clear Nadia has a sense of rhythmic sensibility to her lyricism – a faculty often forfeited for verbosity. The prose is brief and open-ended and so too feels the vocal melody.

In the last verse Nadia sings, “I don’t wanna get too close to you/Why do I feel like I have to?/I don’t like all the things you do/Why do I feel like I have to?” leading after one more chorus into an outro where the refrain, “why do I feel like I have to?” is repeated with more fervor.

This is one of those punctual lyrics that sends shivers with it’s honesty. What makes great “empowerment” music is its balance of pride to honesty.

When it comes down to it, empowerment songs often ignore the complexity of emotions. What Nadia’s lyrics depict is self-worth that is still validated in weakness or strength. That honesty is palpable in songs like “The Road”, while songs like the opening track, Boring, bear the other side of the coin. Boring is pop-rock, dance jam that’s a total snuff to the prospect of being the fulfillment of another’s self-interest, condemning “the man who thinks he’s exactly what I need,” or the man who only talks about himself – “you keep on talking but you’re being a bore.”

“Rooftop Honey is more ‘yeah everything is ya know alright,’” said Nadia. “It’s about me moving to Chicago and leaving Richmond and kind of the bittersweet feelings I get from that but at the same time I think it’s a good encouragement record for people to kinda do what you wanna do and follow your dreams, in that corny sense.”

Rooftop Honey is stylistically diverse, balancing the dreamy pop songs like “Try Me” with the ballad-esque sweetness of “Ten Thirty-One”.

The album was recorded in Nadia’s home studio in Richmond and Chicago with Theo Caen of Knowhere Presents and Barrett Guzaldo of Treehouse Records and was released on April 10.

Cold Beaches is currently on a national tour with Connor Wood, of 3 Legged Dog on drums (with a few Canadian dates thrown in). After the tour, Nadia settles down in her new home of Chicago but will without a doubt find her way back to a Richmond stage, basement, or living room to tear it up in the future.

Photo courtesy of Grizzly Ground

RVA singer/songwriter Sid Kingsley to drop debut album ‘Good Way Home’ May 12

Amy David | April 21, 2017

Topics: American Paradox Records, Americana, blues, BLUES & ROCK, Scott Lane, Sid Kingsley, The Congress

Americana at its finest with deep soulful roots, and a voice with such conviction and depth, RVA singer/songwriter Sid Kingsley is the next musician you need to check out.

The artist first made RVA Mag’s ears perk up when he released his single, “Good Way Home” a few months ago, which is the title of his debut album set to drop via American Paradox Records May 12.

The song’s lyrics are a little heavy and tug at the heart strings, but Kingsley’s voice and piano playing makes it this powerful, feel-good beautiful song.

While we’re just becoming hip to this guy, Kingsley is no newbie to the RVA music scene. He moved here about three years ago and has regularly co-hosted the open mic nights at Cary St. Cafe alongside local folk group Dalton Dash.

Kingsley said that “Good Way Home” was the first song he ever wrote, which was about three years ago.

He recorded the album back in July in Scott Lane’s (The Congress) home studio in Jackson Ward, whom he met on a trip out west.

“I met him about five years ago when I was hitchhiking through the west and ended up in Denver and we had a mutual friend, and then when The Congress moved back to Richmond from Denver last year, he came to an open mic that I host and heard me sing a song and was really interested and wanted to hear what songs I had written,” Kingsley said.

The album features 10 tracks, half of which Kingsley wrote himself. So far RVA Mag has only heard two tracks, but if the rest of the album is anything like the two singles, it will be one full of heart , soul and substance.

“They can expect bluesy, soul Americana,” Kingsley said of the album. “I only do songs that I can make believable with audiences, just honesty really.

The other half of the album, Kinsley chose to include covers of folk songs.

“Old Scottish tunes, that are at least 100 years old,” he said.

A song called “These Are The Reasons” written by Russell Lacy of Virginia Moonwalker studio even makes it onto Good Way Home. It’s a song that gives you all the feels, something you could listen to on a rainy day with Kingsley’s voice providing the warmth you need.

Kingsley’s debut solo record is set to make for a diverse, well-rounded composition with fellow RVA music veterans Marcus Tenney (Foxygen, No BS Brass), Andrew Carper (Angelica Garcia), Kenneka Cook (Mikrowaves), and Lane featured on the album.

A native of Branchville, Virginia, Kingsley grew up on jazz and has played the saxophone for over 20 years.

“I started in like 5th grade, just listening to jazz albums and trying to emulate what they were doing,” he said. “Learning from some instructors, but there weren’t a lot where I lived so most of the stuff I learned on my own.”

He’s played the piano for the last five years, which he picked up while studying music at Radford University. It wasn’t until after he made his trip coast-to-coast trip during one summer while at college that he decided to try singing.

“I never considered myself a singer,” he said “When I started playing piano and writing the other songs I figured out I could sing.”

He left school to move with his girlfriend to New York, which is where he first played his music live and in 2014, Kingsley and his girlfriend moved to Richmond where the singer was immediately drawn to the city’s burgeoning music scene.

“The music scene was amazing and it was super inspiring,” he said.

After his releases his album next month, Kingsley will head out to Denver to play several shows before embarking on a mini tour at the end of May that will run through the end of summer.

Sid Kingsley will drop his debut album Good Way Home Friday, May 12 with a release party at Flora May 13. Sammi Lanzetta (formerly of Venus Guytrap) will also perform. Doors at 10 pm. Music at 11 pm. Free. 203 N. Lombardy St.

Photo credit: Joey Wharton

RVA’s costumed-rockers Imaginary Sons reflect on time as a band before final show at The Camel Saturday

Shannon Cleary | March 31, 2017

Topics: BLUES & ROCK, Imaginary Sons, Leach, Manatree, rock, The Camel

RVA’s costumed rockers Imaginary Sons will be concluding their epic saga this Saturday at The Camel. The band of misfits never relied on fitting into the conventions of rock music and really developed their own vernacular as far as how they operated as a band.

Developing short films, covering everyone from the Beach Boys to songs from the Rocky Horror Picture Show and releasing two beloved full-lengths, the Sons never disappointed any of their adoring fans. Their story is one that speaks to the attitudes of a new generation of musicians confronting any homogenized qualities of rock music and cementing their legacy as one of the integral Richmond bands of the last few years.

The origin of Imaginary Sons began with the trio of bassist Kyle Hermann, guitarist Mike Cruz and drummer Russell Redmond meeting guitarist Tommy Crisafulli. Cruz had invited Crisafulli in to replace a recently departed drummer. As Hermann would describe it, “Tommy came into to play drums and it wasn’t good and we both looked at Mike to figure out what he was thinking.”

Crisafulli suggested that he maybe play guitar instead and Redmond jumped behind the kit. As the story goes, The Imaginary Sons were born and they began to develop their sound through an exercise of learning a number of cover songs while developing original material on the side.

As they started to gel as a band, the first real break the band received was through playing the house show scene. An exercise that introduced them to a number of folks around Richmond that would prove to be some of the greatest supporters of the band. After releasing an EP and playing all around town, they started to land bigger gigs and would eventually record their first full-length Let It Beer after a brief hiatus.

The record, released in 2015, showcased the insane catchiness of the Sons’ material. It also worked towards allowing them to expand their sound by investing in more gear, developing personas that would be portrayed in their short films and continue to win over audiences in town and beyond. Making several appearances at regional festivals, the Sons were showing no signs of slowing down.

News would arrive that Cruz would be leaving the band and the group would be reduced to a trio. In true Sons fashion, the band killed off his character in the short films. They continued to experiment as a trio and this is what would work towards developing their next full-length, last year’s Don’t Impress Me. These were some of the favorite moments of being in the band for Hermann and Crisafulli. The two felt that the band truly began to expand their sound and experiment with how they could artistically articulate what direction they wanted the Sons to be heading.

“It was a completely collaborative, active songwriting process. Writing the songs as we were all playing them in the moment,” said Crisafulli. “It helped catch a lot of the spontaneity and improvisation in the finished song. Seeing everyone in the band grow as musicians and people was incredible.”

Right before the release of the record, Redmond would end up leaving the band to focus on school and the Sons were in need of a drummer. This is where drummer Drew Shamyer comes into the story. After having moved to Richmond with his wife in 2014, he quickly learned the material and impressed Hermann and Crisafulli.

Shaymer recalls the experience as “seeing that the Sons were looking for a drummer.” He listened to Let It Beer and knew he had to go for it.

“I sent them a quick crappy video of me playing on my electric kit to prove i wasn’t some troll on the internet and they sent me some songs to learn,” he said. “I tried out within a week of reaching out to them and it went pretty well. I think we had our first show like two weeks later and the rest is history.”

The band celebrated the release of Don’t Impress Me and would continue to celebrate through a number of shows throughout 2016. Some of those included a final appearance at the Pink Moon Festival and a coveted residency at The Camel.

As the story comes to an end, everyone is saying goodbye to the Sons with the kindest of hearts. It’s an experience that changed the lives of everyone involved and it made them stronger as artists. Crisafulli goes into a bit of detail about suffering from two brain aneurysms a year after joining the band. It led him to “focus on achieving his dreams of making music a full-time thing” for himself. Whatever it would take, nothing would deter him.


Photo credit: Joey Wharton

“I couldn’t imagine a greater period of my life sharing a stage with so many of my favorite people,” Hermann adds. Along with the final show on Saturday, the band hopes to release a final four-song EP that will celebrate the end of the band.

The Imaginary Sons will be missed for sure, but the memories will live on forever. In the short span of time that the band was around, they recall a number of epic house shows, release shows and out of town gigs that would take them to towns they never imagined getting to play when the band started. They became a coveted part of the circle of Our House musicians that include Toxic Moxie, Headlessmantis, Grave Hookers, Ashes and Venus Guytrap.

They never ceased to entertain through the variety of creative extensions they engaged with on a regular basis during their tenure. It will be sad to see them go, but everyone that has been a part of the Imaginary Sons experience should be beyond elated by the legacy that they will be leaving behind. As Crisafulli puts it, “if a brain damaged, college drop-out with aphasia can be in a cool rock band you can do whatever it is that you are dreaming of.”

Catch Imaginary Sons’ final performance this Sat., April 1, at The Camel joined by Manatree and Leach. Doors at 8 pm. Music at 9 pm. $5 in advance, $7 at the door. Tickets here.

Top image credit: Post-cognitive Photography

RVA’s power pop/grunge band Fat Spirit to drop new record ahead of spring tour, catch them 4/14 at Hardywood

Amy David | March 28, 2017

Topics: Bad Grrrl Records, BLUES & ROCK, Citrus City Records, Fat Spirit, grunge, Hardywood, Heavy Midgets, power pop, shoegaze

A splendid mix of dark power pop, shoegaze and grunge, Fat Spirit’s newest record is one you need to add into your rotation if you aren’t hip to them already.

The four-piece, which consists of Ian McQuary (guitar), Matty Seabass (bass), John Graham (vocals/guitar), and Robert Lindstedt (drums), will drop their new album Nihilist Blues April 16 via RVA label Citrus City Records and follow it up with a slew of Richmond shows and larger tour.

Fat Spirit recently released the teaser track “Cave” off the upcoming nine-track release. The teaser starts out very grungey, giving you all the 90s Nirvana feels, but as it progresses, it gets a little more upbeat and catchy. As for the album, Seabass said listeners can expect a few different sounds.

“There’s three very chill, ’60s, ’70s-inspired psych songs and then there’s some heavier ones, darker,” he said.

“Easter” gives listeners their post-punk fix and the track “Dagger” (probably one of my favorites on the album) stands out with its psychedelic intro and chill vibe. “Outside” is another ripper that is sure to get your blood pumping.

There’s definitely a lot going on in this album, and it switches up every few songs with a different sound so I can’t wait to see what these guys bring to the table live. The album ends on a seriously shoegazey, gritty note which pulls it all together, but doesn’t pack it up in a nice little bow which makes it all the more appealing.

“{We’re} pulling from a lot of post punk, a lot of psychedelic, a little bit of kraut rock and shoegaze,” said McQuary of the forthcoming album.

The band has been cranking out tunes for the last seven years and Nihilist Blues will be the followup to their 2013 release Super King, released via Bad Grrrl Records.

The group has been rocking out as Fat Spirit for the duration, however you might recognize a few of the band members, (McQuary and Graham) who previously performed under the name Heavy Midgets.

Graham and McQuary were the founding members along with Charlanne McCarthy and a few lineup switchups over the years.

Under the name Heavy Midgets, the group released the split LP Sisters with Tungs in April 2012 (again via Bad Grrrl) and Something Terrible, their debut EP, in January 2012.

They decided to change their name around the time Super King was coming out to book more gigs.

“We tried to book a tour and people were like, ‘are there any little people in your band and we were like, ‘no, it’s not really about that’, but there was no justifying it so we were like, ‘fuck this name!,” said Graham. “It’s not worth having people question whether or not we’re good people or if they should book a show for us.”

Not to fret though, McQuary said the new material isn’t that much different from the band’s previous releases.

“We never really felt like we shifted bands, we just changed names,” he said. “The influences remain the same…”

Fat Spirit recorded the album at the end of the summer with James Seretis at Virginia Moonwalker in Mechanicsville.

“We recorded most of the music live… the drums, bass, guitar at once and then did overdubs later not at Virginia Moonwalker,” McQuary said.

Seabass, who came in as their new bassist a year before they recorded the album in 2015 said Nihilist Blues was mostly fleshed out during practice sessions.

“[A] majority of the songs on the album were written during our acoustic practices,” he said. “We played acoustically to really hear the different parts.”

Newest member Robert Lindstedt came on to play drums in the fall after McQuary saw him play one night at Gallery5.

“It was Sports Bra’s last show at Gallery5 because that’s when I met {him},” McQuary said. “Afterwards we were supposed to meet Rivanna {Youngpool, Gallery5 Booker}, for a drink at GWARBar, she didn’t show up and I was kinda tipsy talking to Robert and he was great in the show.”

At the time, Fat Spirit was looking for a new drummer and Lindstedt said he showed McQuary some material he happened to be working on and the rest is history.

The band is releasing the new record through Citrus City Records (Young Scum, Lance Bangs), but they aren’t signed to the local burgeoning indie label. They did, however, give props to co-founder Manny Lemus for being instrumental in helping to push their album.

“He just kind of stepped up and has become the new local label that’s helping smaller local bands get their stuff out there outside of Richmond,” said Seabass.

They were in the middle of recording their album when Lemus reached out to them about working together and the partnership has flourished from there.

“He hit me up on Facebook and was like, ‘I’m a fan of your music, when is the next album?” said Graham.

Citrus City Records is handling promotional materials for Fat Spirit and will put out all tapes for the band.

Music videos for “Easter” and “Dagger” will drop sometime before the album comes out on April 16 according to the band, so keep an eye on RVA Mag for details on those.

In addition to a new album, Fat Spirit will also embark on a mini-tour in May so be sure to check out those dates below. In the meantime, catch Fat Spirit in Richmond April 14 at Hardywood with Spooky Cool and Zula, April 16th at Gallery5 with You’re Jovian and Basmati, May 5 at Gallery5 with Slump, and May 6th at The Camel with Night Idea for their homecoming show.

Tour Dates: Follow the band on Facebook for additional details on tour info

DC May 12
Philly May 13
NYC May 14
Pittsburgh May 15
Columbus May 16
Cincinnati May 17
Louisville May 18
Nashville May 19
Atlanta May 20
Athens May 21
Charleston May 22
Raleigh May 23

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