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VA Shows You Must See This Week: December 11 – December 17

Marilyn Drew Necci | December 11, 2019

Topics: Ages, Alan Parker, Andrew Randazzo, Archbishop, Aster, Bar Stool Preachers, Chicho's Backstage, Deli Kings, Demons, Devonne Harris, EdHochuli, Films On Song, gallery 5, Gardener, Ghost Of Pop 2019, Hardywood, Incantation, Inter Arma, Isabella VanKesteren, Jackson Shurlds, Little River Creek Police, Manas, Marcus Tenney, Mojo's, Morbid Angel, Palm Palm, Poor Boys, Prabir Trio, R4nd4zzo & Co, Righter, Saw Black, Sean K. Preston & The Loaded Pistols, Shockoe Denim, shows you must see, Sid Kingsley, Silent Music Revival, Single Use Plastic, Strike Anywhere, Taphouse Grill, The Broadberry, The Camel, Watain, Yeni Nostalji

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, December 13, 7 PM
Ghost Of Pop 2019, feat. Palm Palm (Photo by Ashley Travis Photography), Deli Kings, Saw Black, Prabir Trio, Aster @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)

I don’t think it’s arguable that we’re right in the thick of the holiday season at this point, folks. Christmas is two weeks away, New Year’s Eve and an end to 2019 a week beyond that. Everyone’s cramming the big-box stores, shopping malls, and post offices to take care of last minute present-related needs, and then heading out to a whole passel of big year-ending shows once night falls. There are a ton of those big shows happening this week — more than I had room for in this column, by a good bit. However, in a week that also features the annual South Hill Snowdown, yet another two-night helping of Punks For Presents, and the annual No BS! Brass food drive at the Broadberry, it seemed most important to me to tell you about Ghost Of Pop at Gallery 5.

Ghost Of Pop is an annual throwdown that is the brainchild of Prabir Mehta, a guy who’s been making all sorts of musical, artistic, and scientific things happen around this town for well over a decade now. Every year, he brings together a solid collection of Richmond musicians to present their varying takes on what it means to play “pop music” in the 21st century. The bands are joined by a ton of holiday vendors and a proper holiday party, featuring drinks, photo booths, and a whole ton of holiday cheer to make the entire evening far more memorable than just another local-band showcase.

This year, Ghost Of Pop is headed up by Palm Palm, a band that, on the heels of J. Roddy Walston & The Business’s last show for the foreseeable future two weeks ago, becomes by default the main project J. Roddy is working on. Also featuring members of The Trillions, The Southern Belles, and The Milkstains, among many others, this band has a pedigree sufficient to guarantee a great rockin’ time for all when they’re onstage. We’ll also get a set from local singer-songwriter Saw Black; in light of the season and his recent release of a proper Christmas album, it seems likely that we’ll be getting a holiday-centric set from this fine fella, and that’s sure to be a lovely treat. Of course, Prabir’s current project, the Prabir Trio, will be on hand to present their anthems in praise of Bamboo Cafe and others, while appetite-driven rock n’ rollers Deli Kings and youthful bedroom-pop project Aster round out the bill in outstanding fashion. Head to Gallery 5 this Friday night and get in the spirit.

Wednesday, December 11, 8 PM
R4nd4zzo & Co, feat. Andrew Randazzo, Marcus Tenney, Jackson Shurlds, Alan Parker, Devonne Harris @ Poor Boys – $5

This time of year, the main place you’d expect to encounter bassist extraordinaire Andrew Randazzo is at the head of his R4ND4ZZO Bigband playing classic Vince Guaraldi compositions from the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Rest assured, he and his many compatriots are still doing that this year, and you can catch them at least once more between now and December 25 if you play your cards right. But this show is another matter entirely, and it’s a chance to see Andrew Randazzo do what he does best the other 11 months out of the year.

This evening finds Randazzo heading up a jazz quintet that will bring him together with a couple of his bandmates from Butcher Brown as well as several other Virginia jazz heavyweights of his generation. Expect things to be loose and unscripted, but not aimless or boring — all of these musicians are experienced with improvisation and are sure to bring some outstanding sounds to the back room at Poor Boys. If you want to know what’s going on with jazz here in Richmond, this is the place to be tonight. You know what to do.

Thursday, December 12, 7:30 PM
Manas, Gardener @ Shockoe Denim – $10

Here’s an intriguing musical prospect brought to us by Little Dumbo, the experimental music aficionados who’ve been presenting delightfully unexpected evenings of unusual sounds around town for the past couple of years now. This time around, they’re bringing the North Carolina-based duo Manas to Shockoe Denim, and there’s no doubt that the expensive jeans will be threaded just a little differently when the evening is done.

Manas features Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji, who came to the United States as a teenager, cut his teeth on the wild, politically-driven hardcore of bands like His Hero Is Gone, then moved in an experimental direction. He collaborates in Manas with drummer Thom Nguyen, an experienced noise-rock veteran, and the two of them combine abstract free-jazz improvisations with raging noise explosions in a manner that generates a great deal of fantastic tension and will leave listeners on the edge of their seat to see what this group of talented musicians will do next. You won’t know unless you’re there, so plan your Thursday evening now, because you don’t want to miss this.

Friday, December 13, 6:30 PM
Little River Creek Police, Righter, Sid Kingsley @ Hardywood – Free!

December can be a bit rough sometimes; what money you don’t have tied up in keeping the lights on and the rent paid gets eaten up by Christmas shopping, and the next thing you know, you’re sitting home every night watching Christmas specials from the 80s on YouTube because you can’t afford to go out. Well, we certainly know your pain on this one, but this Friday night, you’re in luck, because there’s a free show happening at Hardywood that would be worth your time even if you had to pay for it.

Little River Creek Police are celebrating the release of their latest single, “Yuri,” at Hardywood this Friday night. Following up their debut EP, Quiet The Ruckus, this catchy new tune finds the trio moving in a more immediate direction that adds some rough-n-ready folk-punk appeal to their jangly pop sweetness. Their set at Hardywood is sure to keep your feet moving, and you’ll be lucky enough to get sets from local indie mainstays Righter and Sid Kingsley in the bargain. See? There are still things to go out and enjoy even if you did spend your last dollar to send your mom a Christmas card. Now go enjoy yourself.

Saturday, December 14, 9 PM
Edhochuli, Inter Arma, Archbishop @ Mojo’s – $10 suggested donation

I love it when hardcore bands stick around for over a decade. The main reason I say that is because it’s always intriguing to see the ways a group evolves in a genre where most bands don’t even make it to a second album before falling apart. Edhochuli, who take their name from the most muscular referee in the world of pro football, have been cranking out excellent chaotic hardcore from the land of Pittsburgh for a very long time now, always with excellent results — results which seem to get heavier and more epic in scope with each new release. Their most recent is 2015’s Dream Warriors LP, so at this point it’s high time for them to bring us something new, and we can certainly hope they’ve got a bunch of new songs in their quivers for this performance.

Meanwhile, Inter Arma has been blazing an epic metallic path of their own for over a decade themselves, remaining ambitious and creative on their fourth full-length, Sulphur English, released earlier this year. Their tendency toward long, slowly evolving songs that build toward head-crushing crescendos remains intact on their latest release, and the members’ incredible talent at their instruments remains one of the key reasons to see this band live. This show’s pairing of them with Edhochuli makes this an unbeatable evening of heavy music, and the addition of relative newcomers Archbishop — which features ragers from local groups like The Skin and Memory Loss — will only serve to sweeten the pot that much more.

Sunday, December 15, 7:30 PM
Silent/Music Revival, feat. Yeni Nostalji @
Gallery 5 – Donations appreciated
Silent/Music Revival is a storied institution in the world of live music around Richmond, and another installment of this long-running series is always a welcome treat. Coordinated by Jameson Price of Lobo Marino, Silent/Music Revival pairs a local musical project with a silent move they’ve never seen before, for which they improvise a soundtrack on the spot. This Sunday night’s film is The Wild Cat, a 1921 German silent film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The director was at the dawn of his career when he made this film, and went on to gain fame as a director of uniquely sophisticated comedies of manners in the early sound-film era.

The group paired with The Wild Cat on this occasion is Yeni Nostalji, a Richmond-based ensemble led by singer-songwriter Christina Marie Gleixner. Born in America, Gleixner nonetheless was so strongly influenced by Turkish pop of the 20th century that she decided to create music in that idiom, singing in Turkish and playing songs that have a decided Eastern European influence in Yeni Nostalji. That influence shows through in the lush continental pop of their self-titled 2018 LP, and it’s sure to appear in the soundtrack they create for The Wild Cat as well. The combination of the two will provide a warm and sweet experience for your Sunday night. And if you stick around afterwards, Gallery 5 will also present a holiday-themed installment of Strange Projections, the VHS-driven experimental video montage experience. There’s no better way to wrap up your weekend.

Monday, December 16, 8 PM
Morbid Angel, Watain, Incantation @ The Broadberry – $30 in advance/$35 day of show (order tickets HERE)

Mondays are for metal, just like every day that ends in Y, and this week brings us a particularly metallic Monday with the arrival of three titans of death and black metal to Richmond’s own Broadberry. At the top of the list are those Floridian pioneers of death metal, Morbid Angel, who’ve been raging hard and heavy since well over 30 years ago. Lead guitarist Trey Azagthoth is the only remaining original member at this point, but the group currently features Steve Tucker on bass and vocals once again. Tucker, who previously fronted the band in the late 90s and early 00s, returned for 2017’s Kingdom Disdained, the 11th album to continue Morbid Angel’s tradition of releasing LPs in alphabetical order.

Like the band’s three previous albums fronted by Tucker, Kingdom Disdained is a dark, complex slab of metallic heaviness that stands strong alongside classics like Blessed Are The Sick, Formulas Fatal To The Flesh, and the almighty Altars Of Madness. With the embarrassment of riches within their catalog, Morbid Angel are sure to craft a set of pure devastation from their headlining spot on this bill. However, not to be outdone, Swedish black metallers Watain come to Richmond fresh off 2018’s triumphant Trident Wolf Eclipse LP, and their notoriously bloody live performance is sure to be quite the spectacle as well. Legendary New York death metallers Incantation will round things out with their fiery, brutal take on the genre, and are sure to get the heads banging as soon as they hit the stage. This one’s gonna rip.

Tuesday, December 17, 7 PM
Ages, Films On Song, Isabella VanKesteren @ The Camel – $5 (order tickets HERE)

This Tuesday night of locally-based music is another bargain for all you deal-hunters out there, as it affordably provides you with the opportunity to check out Ages, the latest project from the fertile mind of Richmond musician Age Shurte. Previously of Magnus Lush and quite a few other groups, Shurte now joins with musicians from such leading lights of Richmond rock as Dumb Waiter, Piranha Rama, and New Lions to bring us another wonderful helping of entrancing, powerful rock.

Well, that’s really just my best guess — as far as I can tell, Ages don’t have any music online as yet, and they haven’t played many shows either. But in light of all the talented RVA music vets involved with this project, I’m more than willing to blindly recommend checking them out. With melodic Charlottesville postpunks Films On Song and hypnotic Richmond singer-songwriter Isabella VanKesteren on the bill as well, this evening is sure to be worth way more than the five measly bucks they’re charging you to get in.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday, December 13, 9 PM
Sean K. Preston & The Loaded Pistols @ Taphouse Grill (Norfolk) – $5 in advance/$8 day of show (order tickets HERE)

When you’ve named your band The Loaded Pistols, it’s hard for you to fade into the background as an artist, but one listen to Sean K. Preston’s 2018 LP, Forgive, lets you know that fading into the background is the last thing this Baltimore singer-songwriter wants to do. On tracks like “Last Call,” the opening “Barnburner,” and “Snakeskin Boots Boogie,” Preston and his Loaded Pistols draw from the most evocative aspects of mid-20th-century country music, pre-war blues, early rock n’ roll, and dark troubadours like Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. With all those influences in tow, they create a spooky, dramatic sound that mixes all those styles together and is sure to appeal both to fans of rock n’ roll wildmen like the Gun Club and Reverend Horton Heat and country outlaws like Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.

So if that sounds like something that’ll appeal to you, you certainly should make it your business to come to Norfolk’s Taphouse on Friday night and enjoy some high-energy sounds from Sean K. Preston & The Loaded Pistols. Sure, it’s the start of the weekend, there’s a lot more you could be doing, but really, can’t the Christmas shopping wait until Saturday morning? After seeing Preston and co. you’ll go all the way home with a smile still on your face. Can you really say the same thing about the holiday crowds at the mall? You know the answer as well as I do.

Sunday, December 15, 7:30 PM
Strike Anywhere, Bar Stool Preachers, Demons, Single-Use Plastic @ Chicho’s Backstage (Norfolk) – $17 in advance/$20 day of show (order tickets HERE)

Strike Anywhere is from Richmond, and what’s more, they are one of the best melodic hardcore bands this town has ever produced (Avail’s their only real competition… yeah, I said it). So if you want to see them in both your and their hometown, I certainly understand that. However, the Richmond date on this particular tour finds Strike Anywhere opening for the Bouncing Souls’ 30th anniversary tour at The Broadberry — and right now, as I write, that show is already sold out. If you didn’t grab those tickets, you’re going to need to make the drive down 64 East to catch Strike Anywhere this time around.

And let me tell you, it’s worth doing. While it has at this point been an entire decade since we last got some new studio material from these guys — 2009’s Iron Front — classic singalongs like “Sunset On 32nd,” “Blaze,” and “Chorus Of One” do not diminish with age. Raising your voice to scream along with Thomas Barnett — a dude who remains a tremendously energetic frontman — is not going to feel any less powerful now than it did in years past. And you know you want to feel those feelings one more time. So do it — get your tickets, gas up the car, and make the drive. You’ll never regret it for a second.

—-

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: October 30 – November 5

Marilyn Drew Necci | October 30, 2019

Topics: 3:33, Addy, Alexa Rose, All Your Sisters, Benderheads, Buzzherd, Caroline Says, Cary Street Cafe, Ceremony (VA), Chicho's Backstage, Comrades, Crippled Fox, Deau Eyes, Eaves, Echo Beds, Empty, Flamin' Groovies, Fujiwara, Fuzzy Cactus, gallery 5, Greet Death, Haybaby, Hovvdy, Kevin Krauter, Loud Night, My Epic, New Boss, Nosebleeds, Rad Taco, Russian Circles, shows you must see, Smallhands, The Broadberry, The Camel, The Canal Club, The Girls, The Gladstones, The Needles, The Nerve Scheme, The Southern Cafe, Trey Burnart Hall, True Body, Unmaker, Windhand, Wolves At The Gate, Wonderland

FEATURED SHOW
Thursday, October 31, 7 PM
Halloween at G5, feat. Nosebleed, Benderheads, Unmaker, Haybaby, Chicki Parm, Niche Brand, hosted by Michael Smith @ Gallery 5 – $8 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)

Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night… it’s Halloween once again, and in classic Richmond fashion, we’ll be doing it up right, regardless of what day of the week October 31 arrives on. The classic Richmond tradition of Halloween covers show got thrown off this year when the venue Return Of The Living Dead Bands was booked into closed down, but never fear — there’s still plenty of fun, costumery, and punk rock madness to go around on this All Hallow’s Eve!

The cynosure of the music-related celebration in RVA this Halloween night is at Gallery 5, where my old pal Rivanna and Raw Mom Presents are doing it up in proper fashion, with more than just music for your entertainment. There’ll also be drag performances featuring Chicki Parm and Niche Brand, a costume contest with prizes, and host Michael Smith keeping the action going throughout the night. So come dressed up, and have some fun!

But make sure you catch the music, because this night is full of local groups with a lot to offer! At the top of the bill is furious Richmond hardcore group Nosebleed, who are going to be releasing a new EP on venerable HC label Triple B Records later this year. They’re sure to blow you away, and metallic postpunk rockers Unmaker, punk rippers Benderheads, and indie rock balladeers Haybaby will do much the same. Liven up your Halloween this year at Gallery 5, and get a full helping of devilish fun before the sun rises and the saints come out.

Wednesday, October 30, 7 PM
Russian Circles, Windhand @ The Broadberry – $18 in advance/$20 day of show (order tickets HERE)

Sometimes genres tagged with a “post-” prefix can get a little limiting. For Russian Circles, who’ve debatably been standard-bearers for the “post-metal” subgenre for over a decade now, their brand of complex, slowly evolving riff epics could certainly have resulted in them painting themselves into a corner, especially on their seventh album. Thankfully, new LP Blood Year shows that this Chicago trio is far from running out of ideas.

They’re also smart enough not to let the ideas they do have run away with them, avoiding long metallic symphonies in favor of concisely expressed musical ideas that generally conclude well short of the ten-minute mark. If anything, there’s more Breadwinner and early Don Caballero in the mix on Blood Year than reliable post-metal touchstones like Isis and Pelican. Which is a wonderful thing. Tonight at the Broadberry, Russian Circles will be joined by Windhand, a band that has learned to make epic lengths work for them in the related but decidedly separate field of apocalyptic doom metal. It all adds up to filling three hours of your Wednesday night with several days’ worth of riffs, and what could be a better bargain than that?

Thursday, October 31, 7 PM
Citrus City Halloween Bash, feat. Hovvdy, Kevin Krauter, Caroline Says, Addy @ The Camel – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)

In the world of music, Halloween is often closely identified with punk rockers and spooky metal bands, but who says the indie kids don’t like to have fun too? Citrus City Records is proving that Richmond’s indie scene can embrace the Allhallows fun times as well as anyone with this shindig over at The Camel. Granted, things will be a bit more low-key over by the post office — as far as we know, no costume contests are planned (though we’re sure no one will mind if you show up in your trick-or-treating outfit). However, you will get an evening full of great indie sounds from local and touring artists, and there ain’t a damn thing wrong with that.

Hovvdy are at the top of this bill, and while I know this Austin, Texas duo wants me to look at that name and think “howdy,” I’m no good with these double-V-instead-of-single-W names, so I just think of them as “hov-dee.” However you feel like pronouncing their name, these guys exemplify their self-identified genre tag of “pillowcore” on just-released third LP Heavy Lifter, a collection that pairs bedroom indie sounds with hints of Americana and is the perfect soundtrack for a relaxing, low-key Halloween. Some other out-of-town indie pals are also on the bill — mellow indie-folk project Caroline Says also hails from Austin, while lo-fi singer-songwriter Kevin Krauter comes from Indiana. Local indie crew Addy will kick the evening off, and bring you a fine way to spend Halloween if you’re not feeling the whole stress of getting a costume together. (Believe me, I’ve been there.)

Friday, November 1, 6 PM
Wolves At The Gate, My Epic, Comrades, Empty, Eaves @ The Canal Club – $14 in advance/$16 day of show (order tickets HERE)

I have no idea what was in the water 20 or so years ago around certain religious institutions in the American midwest, but somehow or another, a certain subgenre evolved that seemed inextricable from Christianity. It was a mixture of hardcore, metal, and emo, and while it could go in more chaotic (The Chariot) or more melodramatic (mewithoutYou) directions, the general result was both heavy and driving while also being dramatic and emotional. And even for nonbelievers like myself, it was all but impossible to deny that a lot of it was really, really good.

Ohio’s Wolves At The Gate are solidly in that tradition, having evolved over their past decade of existence from the melodic metalcore of their early EPs to the epic, emotional metallic post-hardcore of their recently released fourth LP, Eclipse. Bringing in a decidedly epic atmosphere over the course of more recent work, they’ve attained a bit of a prog edge without losing their heaviness or the power of their dramatic musical crescendos. They’re sure to pair well with nomadic former Richmonders Comrades, who will join them on this Canal Club bill. Fredericksburg-based My Epic, who add a bit of grunge to their melodic alt-rock — entirely for the better — will also be part of this one, as well South Carolina’s Empty and Richmond’s own Eaves. Regardless of which faith you do or do not claim, rocking out at this one is a great way to spend your Friday night.

Saturday, November 2, 9 PM
All Your Sisters, Echo Beds, True Body @ Wonderland – $10

If you’re a longtime music nerd like I am, there’s a pretty clear picture that forms in your mind when someone starts talking about gothic industrial — and let’s be real, it’s a picture of Andrew Eldritch from Sisters Of Mercy on the cover of Floodland. That late-80s Sisters Of Mercy sound has made a fundamental imprint of 30 years of goth-industrial groups since that LP’s release in 1987 — that’s a fact. But it is still possible for bands to bring a new and more interesting approach to the genre without just walking in the Sisters’ footsteps, and Los Angeles project All Your Sisters is proving it.

Their latest LP, Trust Ruins, provides a blueprint for a way forward that should be just as interesting to dirty punks and angry metalheads as it is for traditional rivethead types. On it, All Your Sisters pair pounding drum machine beats that are straight off a late-80s Nitzer Ebb single with noisy, blown-out guitars that call to mind first-LP Jesus And Mary Chain. Plus, of course, that gloomy goth croon that we all know and love, which is a bit more Trent Reznor than Andrew Eldritch in the way this crew wields it. The result is equally enjoyable, though, and will certainly make for a great soundtrack to the stomping of polished black 20-hole Docs, even as it gives the less goth among us a sound we haven’t heard a million times before. Also on the bill, Denver’s Echo Beds will take things in an even harsher direction, while Virginia’s own True Body will cast a spell of delicious postpunk gloom over the entire affair. Hit the black eyeliner aisle and head to Shockoe Bottom for this one.

Sunday, November 3, 8 PM
Alexa Rose, Trey Burnart Hall, Deau Eyes @ Fuzzy Cactus – $8

The Sunday night at the end of the weekend after Halloween is a definite mood, y’all. Between a jam-packed Halloweek and a post-Hallows weekend that some people will just roll into a second straight weekend of celebrations, it can be hard to find your peace at the end of it all and get emotionally (and physically) prepared to get back to work on Monday. If that’s an issue you can relate to, I urge you to finish your weekend with this chill-as-hell Sunday night show at Fuzzy Cactus.

Alexa Rose is coming to town, and while this folk/Americana troubadour is currently based in Asheville, she originally hails from Clifton Forge, right here in Virginia. If you arrived in Richmond after a childhood spent in the vast rural west of Virginia (and a lot of us did), you’ll probably relate to Rose’s songs. With their tales of down-to-earth living and the day-to-day struggles we’re all contending with, they’ll sneak up on your with their resonant beauty. So why not meet ’em head on and let them bring you an easy smile of recognition? The warm glow Alexa Rose will offer you at Fuzzy Cactus this Sunday night is exactly the thing you’ll need to get you through the beginning of another ordinary work week. Let it shine on you.

Monday, November 4, 9 PM
Crippled Fox, Buzzherd, Loud Night, 3:33 @ Cary Street Cafe – $10

This rager will start your week off right with some awesome thrash punk sounds coming all the way from Hungary. Crippled Fox have been tearing it up in Central Europe for a solid decade now, and their hyperspeed rage evokes both the classic mid-80s era of crossover thrash — DRI, Heresy, Larm, all that stuff — but also the turn-of-the-millennium bandana thrash revival of legends like What Happens Next?, Life’s Halt, and Crucial Unit.

Basically, if your favorite Municipal Waste era is the early DIY EPs before they got a good recording budget, Crippled Fox is the band for you. Recent EP 10 Years Of Thrashing jams 5 songs onto one side of a 7 inch EP, and other than one midtempo singalong banger, they all flash by in 30 to 60 seconds. What’s not to love? These guys are sure to get a circle pit full of bandanas and backwards baseball caps going as soon as they hit the Cary Street Cafe stage, and it’d be a shame if you weren’t part of it. Pennsylvania death-grinders Buzzherd are also going to be part of this ripping thrash evening, and Richmond metallic punkers Loud Night and 3:33 will kick this one off right. Don’t get caught napping.

Tuesday, November 5, 9 PM
Greet Death, Ceremony (East Coast), Smallhands @ Wonderland – $10

This is a treat — with their new album, New Hell, on the horizon (it’ll be out within days of this show), Michigan’s Greet Death are coming to Richmond to grace us all with a set of gorgeous grunge-damaged indie rock. Their name may come from an old Explosions In The Sky song, but this trio are much closer soundwise to sadly-departed Philadelphians Creepoid, or maybe even 80s heartland noise-rockers like Antietam or Eleventh Dream Day. Greet Death definitely mix pastoral psychedelia, hazy slowcore, and sunbaked desert doom into their sound as well, creating a complicated, original music that has a ton of reference points but is mainly just its own thing.

And listen — it’s a pretty great thing. Expect Greet Death to prove this to you in loud and proud fashion on Tuesday night down at Wonderland, and you can also expect yourself to have a thoroughly great time while they do so. They’ll be joined by Fredericksburg’s Ceremony, aka Ceremony East Coast, aka not the formerly-hardcore band from California but a noisy, drum-machine-backed duo who’ve been around for about 15 years and are currently enjoying somewhat of a career renaissance. They’ve just released their sixth album, Candy, and it continues their legacy of ear-damaging noise-guitar roar that’s sure to please fans of first LP Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine circa “You Made Me Realise.” If you haven’t picked up on this group yet, this is the perfect time to get on board. Fellow Fredericksburgians Smallhands are coming down as well, to lay out some guitar noise of their own. It’s gonna be grand.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Thursday, October 31, 6 PM
Flamin’ Groovies, New Boss, The Gladstones @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $18 (order tickets HERE)

I know the name Flamin’ Groovies doesn’t quite ring out today the same way it did two or three decades ago, but if you young whippersnappers don’t yet know about this pioneering garage rock/power-pop combo from California, you need a crash course in their truly unequalled excellence — and you’ll get it at Charlottesville’s Southern Cafe on Halloween night. Cyril Jordan has been leading the band since 1965, and in that time, they’ve innovated in the fields of psychedelic garage, proto-punk, and power-pop. They’ve got an overstuffed catalog full of timeless classics, and they’ll be bringing them all to the Southern, so you’ll want to be there to rapturously receive them!

These days, Cyril Jordan is the only original member left in the group, but though longtime co-leader Chris Wilson retired last year, Jordan has a rock-solid backing group to this day, and the four-piece will bring us highlights of their classic garage rock and power-pop eras, emphasizing both the classic 1971 rock n’ roll LP Teenage Head and the more Beatles/Byrds-influenced sound of 1976’s immortal Shake Some Action. It’s gonna be a killer show full of amazing tunes, and if you don’t already have Halloween plans, skip the costume in favor of some Beatle boots and a Nehru jacket, and head over to The Southern for some truly classic rock n’ roll sounds from the Flamin’ Groovies. You won’t regret it.

Saturday, November 2, 9 PM
The Needles, The Girls, The Nerve Scheme, Fujiwara, Rad Taco @ Chicho’s Backstage (Norfolk) – Free!

This free Saturday night show down in Norfolk is gonna keep the rock n’ roll sounds flowing and get everyone dancing and having a great time. This bill is topped by a double-shot of raw and wild garage punk straight out of Wilmington NC. The Needles have been around for damn near 20 years now, and there sound is a throwback to a trashy era of punk rock that was really just rock n’ roll played with a rude, snotty, don’t-give-a-fuck appeal that just can’t be denied. If you loved The Candy Snatchers and The Dead Boys, these guys will bring them back to life in your heart and put a big smile on your face with their rollicking tunes.

Fellow Wilmingtonians The Girls might take the prize for most un-Google-able band name of all time, but once some helpful person directed me to their Bandcamp, I found that their high-energy jams were worth the search. As you might have guessed given band-naming trends over the past 15 years or so, they’re not actually girls at all, but these three rock n’ roll boys all have a somewhat androgynous appeal, and wore dresses on the cover of their latest single, “Our Generation,” so if they’re willing to be that committed to the bit, I ain’t mad at them. Dishing out punky rockin’ tunes that land somewhere between The Donnas and The Ramones, they bring some pretty great sounds to the table as well. Outer Banks punk rockers Fujiwara bring a third NC punk rock combo with a slightly more melodic approach to this bill, and Tidewater hometowners Nerve Scheme and Rad Taco make for a deliciously overstuffed bill of all the rockin’ punk awesomeness you can eat. Belly up to the bar.

—-

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

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