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VA’s Can’t-See Shows This Week: March 18 – March 24

Marilyn Drew Necci | March 18, 2020

Topics: .gif From God, Andrew Alli & Josh Small, Antiphons, avail, Benjamin Shepherd, Bio Ritmo, black girls, Brewer's Cafe, Clair Morgan, Dave Watkins, Division Of Mind, Doll Baby, Dumb Waiter, Good Day RVA, Houdan The Mystic, Lamb Of God, Lobo Marino, McKinley Dixon and Friends, Navi, Nelly Kate, New Lions, Nickelus F, No BS! Brass Band, Ohbliv, Palm Palm, Rikki Shay, River City Roll, shows you must see, Spooky Cool, Sports Bar, The Broadberry, The Trillions, The Wimps, White Laces, Windhand, Wonderland

Hey there, folks, it’s that time of the week when we normally let you know all the best goings-on in the live music scene here in Richmond and around the state for the next week! As you may have realized, though, the current COVID-19 outbreak and the many social and legal restrictions placed on large gatherings have almost entirely shut down the live music scene here in Virginia. There may be a few things still going on, but we wouldn’t feel very responsible advocating for you to go see them. What’s a show-loving girl to do?

Well, for this week’s column, I decided to have compassion for those of you who have either joined me in the wonderful world of working at home (welcome to the club — isn’t it fun doing your job in your pajamas?) or, more unfortunately, found yourselves without any work while your place of business is temporarily shut down. I may not be able to send you to any clubs to see awesome bands light up your evening with their killer sounds… but I can offer you ten great performances by Richmond bands, all available for your viewing pleasure right here on the internet. You can space them out one (or two) per day as with the usual column, or binge them all tonight — the choice is yours! Crank the volume on your headphones for this one.

Lamb Of God at Hellfest Open Air, Clisson, France, June 23, 2019

We’ll start with what we all certainly hope is a preview of coming attractions — a full set by Lamb Of God, complete with multiple cameras and top-quality audio. Richmond’s veteran metal faves are planning as of now to release their latest LP, Lamb Of God, on May 8, and follow it up with a full US tour, featuring June dates at Jiffy Lube Live in NoVA and Veterans United Amphitheater in Virginia Beach. Will all that still happen in light of COVID-19? We can hope… and in the meantime, we can take comfort in this one-hour preview of what Lamb Of God’s latest lineup, now featuring former Prong drummer Art Cruz in place of retiring OG Chris Adler, has in store for us.

Division Of Mind at FYA Fest, Tampa, Florida, Jan 5, 2020

Taking things to a bit more of an underground level, here we have a room-destroying performance by Richmond hardcore ragers Division Of Mind, at Florida’s FYA Fest back at the beginning of this year. Guttural vocals, chugging guitars, brutal breakdowns, and an equally brutal mosh pit are what this video is all about. Better yet, despite the circumstances, it still features multiple camera angles and a great sound mix. Division Of Mind don’t have a social media presence (right on, I wish I didn’t), so I don’t know what’s up with them at this moment, but I’m sure they’d appreciate you grabbing a copy of their recent self-titled LP on Triple B Records if you haven’t already.

No BS! Brass Band at The Broadberry, April 17, 2014

Let’s take things in a more upbeat direction, shall we? This six-year-old live performance by No BS! Brass Band isn’t the most recent live footage online by this group, but there’s no substitute for seeing this Richmond favorite right here at home. And since at this moment, we have no way of knowing whether their gig planned for April 3 at The Broadberry is still going to happen or not, we may as well enjoy their music from home right now. Push the coffee table back and dance, y’all. And consider buying some merch from them, if you have the scratch — they will really appreciate the support. (Needless to say, that goes for all the bands on this list.)

Avail at House Of Independents, Asbury Park, New Jersey, September 5, 2019

Did you miss all the Avail reunion sets last year? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. And if you’re not planning to head to Punk Rock Bowling or Furnace Fest later this year, you might especially appreciate this audience recording of their set in Asbury Park last summer. This is one of the few videos I’ve picked that doesn’t have pro audio, so the sound isn’t perfect, but what is perfect is that evocation of what it felt like to be crammed up against the stage (always my favorite spot), singing along and avoiding the moshers… and the sweat flying off Beau Beau’s head. We can’t be there now, but it’s a lovely reminder.

Nickelus F and Ohbliv at Brewer’s Cafe, November 27, 2019

Want to chill with some fine hip hop? Check this Brewer’s Cafe session from last fall, featuring two of Richmond hip hop’s leading lights of the 21st century. Nickelus F is on the mic, spitting some of the best rhymes you’ll find anywhere in the world, while Ohbliv keeps the beats flowing on the decks. They’re behind the Brewer’s counter, and they aren’t serving up any hot drinks, but Brewer’s Cafe is still open for carryout and delivery today, and both Sweet Petey and Ohbliv have plenty of great tunes available over on Bandcamp for your listening pleasure (links above). They’d all appreciate your business during this trying time, I can assure you.

Palm Palm at River City Roll, September 1, 2019

If you know how awesome J. Roddy Walston & The Business were as a live act, you really need to catch Palm Palm, Walston’s new band with members of The Trillions, The Southern Belles, and the Milkstains. These folks had the misfortune of having their spring tour fall apart while they were on it earlier this month; they had to skip the last half of their dates and head home because all the other shows were cancelled. Fortunately for us, their set from last summer at River City Roll is online in its entirety, featuring high-quality audio and a very active single camera capturing the event from all kinds of angles. If you dig this, hit up Palm Palm online to support them by buying a t-shirt. After losing quite a few tour dates, they sure could use the help.

Windhand at Elsewhere, Brooklyn, NY, November 2, 2018

Windhand is another Richmond band who had a tour fall apart on them this month; indeed, this very night, they were supposed to be in Harrisonburg playing The Golden Pony. Now that show, and the rest of their March tour dates, are cancelled, and the only place we can see them is on YouTube. Luckily for us, this incredible live performance was captured by Revolver Magazine in high-quality audio by multiple cameras back in 2018, and we can enjoy it to our heart’s content now. With their tour having been cancelled, Windhand have been selling leftover tour merch on their BigCartel page — go grab some records and t-shirts if you’ve got the scratch.

.gif From God at Wonderland, July 5, 2019

Here’s what will doubtless be the messiest live video you’ll see this week — .gif From God laying waste to Wonderland last summer, in their inimitable fashion. This video is washed out and chaotic, full of flying hair and overdriven guitar chugs, and if you don’t know these songs going in, you might at times struggle to make out what’s going on. But that’s what .gif From God are all about, and if you ask me, it’s part of their charm — a delightful wall of chaos. No word as yet on the status of .gif From God’s April tour, but if you don’t have a copy of their latest LP, approximation_of_a_human, now is absolutely the time to get one. And if you do, you should donate to their Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project fundraising team — a good cause is still a good cause, even during a quarantine.

Bio Ritmo at Rio Loco Festival, Toulouse, France, June 19, 2015

And now for something completely different — a high-energy salsa infusion from long-running local band/party machine Bio Ritmo. This was filmed several years ago and far from home, but don’t get it twisted — this impeccably-documented performance is still muy caliente and well worth your time. Bio Ritmo haven’t performed locally since back around Christmas and don’t have anything in particular coming up, so why not stock up on their impressive back catalog over at their Bandcamp? Guaranteed to heat up your living room even if your space heater’s broken.

Good Day RVA Live Sessions Playlist, feat. Benjamin Shepherd, McKinley Dixon and Friends, Sports Bar, Doll Baby, The Wimps, Spooky Cool, Antiphons, Dumb Waiter, Clair Morgan aka New Lions, Dave Watkins, Lobo Marino, Navi, The Trillions, Andrew Alli & Josh Small, White Laces, Nelly Kate, Houdan The Mystic, Black Girls aka Rikki Shay

Who’s up for a lightning round? Good Day RVA have got the mother of all live sessions for you here with a mega-playlist featuring all of the sessions they’ve filmed over their entire career, which has been going on for… damn near 10 years now. Wow, time flies, huh? These videos feature a who’s who of Richmond’s best musicians, captured at various evocative sites around Richmond and ensuring that the city itself is just as much of their videos as the excellent bands involved. Maybe you’ve missed some of these over the years and need a reminder, or maybe you saw them all when they came out and would just enjoy a playlist full of great Richmond sights and sounds with which to warm your heart while you’re stuck in the house. Either way, this will go down smooth and warm your heart and soul. Guaranteed.

Must-See Shows will be back next week. Whether we return with actual live shows around town, or more video picks to get us through another week of quarantine, only time will tell… but I’m not getting my hopes up. See you then!

New Lions Set A Bold Path Forward

Conner Evans | September 19, 2019

Topics: christian monroe, Clair Morgan, end story, local music, music, New Lions, new lions and the not good night, no notes, richmond artist, shannon cleary, The Camel

Born out of Clair Morgan’s rotating cast of band members, New Lions evolves their sound and looks to the future on new EP End Story.

Clair Morgan was not meant to be a band. Richmond-native musician Clair Morgan started the musical project under his own name as a solo act, but couldn’t stop adding friends, until he had enough people on stage to get the side-eye from sound guys.

Eventually, Clair Morgan turned into a full band, with seven members at its peak. After the departure of two key members earlier this year, Clair Morgan (the band) and Clair Morgan (the lead singer and songwriter) decided that it was time to end the ambiguity the name caused, and define itself as New Lions — a proper band title.

The name comes from Clair Morgan’s second album, 2016’s New Lions & the Not-Good Night, a personal record about fatherhood, family, and bedtime stories. Morgan became known and loved by fans for his self-described “noodly guitar playing” and confessional lyrics. Clair Morgan combined math and indie rock with a folk sensibility and a broad musical palette on Not-Good Night.

Clair Morgan released his first album, No Notes, in 2012, with help from a Kickstarter campaign. The band also sought help from crowdsourcing for Not-Good Night, but by 2016, they received a larger response. USA Today’s FTW section included the album in its top 50 albums of the year.

The group set up a residency at The Camel in 2017, playing a show every first Friday of the month, with proceeds going to a different charity each month. Clair Morgan enjoyed these shows and the support from The Camel, but they also stayed in “hibernation mode,” bassist Shannon Cleary said.

New Lions in 2017. Photo by Joey Wharton

They didn’t write much new material in that time, Cleary said, and having more time off from shows in 2018 allowed them to get the creative juices flowing again, with a tweaked sound and new name. End Story, the first EP under the New Lions moniker released in May, showcases a heavier sound that’s reflective of the anxiety the group felt, particularly after the 2016 election.

Morgan doesn’t have the same relationship with the material released under his own name as he once did.

“I’m proud of the [Not-Good Night] record, and I like the songs,” he said. “But I don’t think that I would naturally listen to the record on my own if I wasn’t in the band.”

In the wake of the name change, the band aimed to capture their live sound more accurately on the new EP. The guitars and drumming are heavier and denser than on previous releases. The vocals sound more desperate and urgent, and while Morgan feels that the songs on End Story may not sound too different to someone who saw Clair Morgan live, some listeners have been surprised by the shift. End Story’s opening track “Difficult” was the hardest to figure out.

“‘Difficult’ comes on and people are like, ‘what band is this?’” Cleary said.

Their new drummer Christian Monroe agreed — for him, the difficulty was learning how to play it. “I spent probably three hours just going through, segment by segment, 15-30 seconds at a time,” Monroe said. “The timing is so complex. I didn’t know how hard that song was until I started to learn it.”

New Lions tried to challenge themselves musically on End Story, and Morgan himself included lots of personal struggles in his lyrics. “Difficult” describes an intense conversation with a close friend: “You sat across from me and offered up a tale / I wish you never had to / Oh brother, under pendants barely lit / In a vacuum vast, we are here at last / Our courses all the same.”

It’s Morgan’s favorite guitar piece he’s ever written, and it focuses on a theme close to his heart: the lack of human connection in our age of distraction, with screens and endless content that satisfies us. One night’s sitdown with constant eye contact, sharing real stories, has become an event worth writing about.

Throughout End Story, Morgan sounds more fired-up than ever. On “Doldrums” he urges listeners to act, rather than just complain: “I challenge everyone standing in this room to not be so complacent / We aren’t going to let them get away with it.”

“After shows I’m getting a lot of this — like, ‘Are you okay?’” Morgan said.

But don’t get him wrong — Morgan is frustrated with his own complacency as well. He said there are days when he’ll spend hours on the couch watching The Office. On those days, he dislikes his own lack of effort.

Morgan also saw his dog of 17 years pass away in 2017. He sat on the porch with Simon, he said, and the song he wrote on his guitar next to him became the EP’s closer, “Goodbye.”

“It’s a connection that I have a hard time adjusting to the loss of,” he said. “I remember looking at my dog fall apart while playing and writing that song.”

The track ends with a lengthy post-rock instrumental passage that acts as a breather for a relentlessly punchy record. This section contains a melody that Morgan used to sing Simon to sleep with, and is the band’s effort to sonically capture the idea of everything floating off into nothingness as the Earth spirals out of control, Morgan said.

New Lions at Gallery 5’s 14th Anniversary Party in April. Photo by David Morton

New Lions as a unit feel like they can try anything now. All ideas are on the table, and the band doesn’t feel any pressure about how to go about their business, Morgan said. Band members have been listening to everything from old Tim Kinsella side projects to new punkers like Mannequin Pussy and Idles, and shades of these groups pop out in the big vocal hooks Morgan pulls out in songs like “Bear on the Rise,” or in the guitar interplay on “Small Steps.”

Monroe, who joined the band as a drummer in April, has helped spark a more prolific songwriting streak in the band. He had seen the band in concert as both Clair Morgan and New Lions before joining. Since he became part of the band, the sound has become heavier and more raw, which he thinks is possibly influenced by his admiration for bands like My Bloody Valentine. The first time he and Morgan got together, their first song “wrote itself,” in Monroe’s words.

New Lions already have a new batch of untitled songs in the works, and Morgan teased that the first of those could be released in the next month or so, once he records vocals. Cleary said the band would also love to do a split if the opportunity presents itself, whether with Richmond friends or bands from another city. He suggested that The Pauses, who are based in Orlando and featured at one of the band’s First Friday shows at The Camel, could be an option.

However, whatever form the next project takes, band members said that it would be another step into the world they started to build on End Story, out of the woods depicted on Not-Good Night.

New Lions’ next show is at Hardywood on Friday, September 20 starting at 6 PM; they’ll be performing with Sea Of Storms, Twin Drugs, and Age S. Admission is free.

Top Photo via New Lions

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 9/20-9/26

Marilyn Drew Necci | September 20, 2017

Topics: Bio Ritmo, Brainbuster, Bren Lukens, Candy Spots, Centerfolds, Champion RVA, Clair Morgan, Common Ground Fest, Daisyhead, Dazeases, Dryjacket, Eaves, El Malpais, Elisa Faires, gallery 5, Love Roses, Madeline Kenney, Majjin Boo, Matthew E. White, McCormack's, Meg Mulhearn, Minor Poet, Modern Baseball, Natalie Prass, Night Idea, Nine Line, Nominee, Paint Store, Polyphia, Rachel Lynch, Rikki Shay, rva live!, She's A Legend, shows you must see, Skumboyz, Sleave, Small Talks, Something More, strange matter, Telltale, The Broadberry, The Carpenter Theatre, The Donalds, tim barry, Vagabond, Womajich Dialysiez, Worse Curses

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, September 23, 8 PM
The Broadberry presents RVA Live! feat. Matthew E. White, Natalie Prass, Tim Barry, Bio Ritmo, Clair Morgan @ Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Arts Center – $10-80 (order tickets HERE)
OK yes I am usually on some more underground/DIY type stuff than anything that takes place at the Carpenter Theatre but sometimes something too big and important and cool to ignore comes along and you just gotta send people to the big bourgeois theatre in the center of town, right? Well, that’s my opinion anyway. This event is also being presented by The Broadberry, a relatively small venue with deep connections to the local independent music scene, so its DIY bona fides are pretty well beyond question.

Therefore, I must tell you that something amazing and very difficult to rationalize missing is happening downtown at the Carpenter Theatre this Saturday night, and tickets start at a very reasonable $10, so there’s really no excuse not to be in attendance. RVA Live! is an evening featuring several of the Richmond scene’s most noteworthy veteran artists–everyone from salsa stalwarts Bio Ritmo to punk-gone-country troubadour Tim Barry–performing in collaboration with the Richmond Symphony. With orchestration and arrangements being handled by Trey Pollard of Spacebomb Records, who has done string arrangements for artists ranging from Matthew E. White to Foxygen and The Waterboys; along with Bio Ritmo members Marlysse Simmons and Toby Whitaker; this is going to be a collaborative project on multiple levels, bringing the best of Richmond’s singer-songwriter community together with the leading lights of our local classical music scene–a scene that popular-music fanatics like myself, and probably yourself, tend to sleep on.

With Matthew E. White and Natalie Prass at the top of this bill, you know Spacebomb is going to be representing itself admirably at this performance. Bio Ritmo’s Latin swing and jazzy funk influences will get a whole new twist when recontextualized through the lens of the Richmond Symphony, and will add a multicultural strain to an evening that could get decidedly monochromatic without them. Plus, we’ll get the mathematical pop of Clair Morgan and the austere country blues punk of Tim Barry, embellished with the sorts of layers neither of their sounds generally contain. All of this will be fascinating for any music lover. And with so many hotshot performers on the bill, you’re sure to get caught up in the awesomeness of it all, even if seeing the symphony at the Carpenter Theatre generally isn’t your thing.

Wednesday, September 20, 8 PM
Polyphia, Night Idea, Paint Store @ The Broadberry – $15 (order tickets HERE)
The worlds of screamo, math-rock, prog-metal, and metalcore have some pretty surprising intersection points at times, and the whole prog-metalcore scene that’s built up around bands like Periphery is one of the strangest and most interesting ones. Polyphia are a metallic instrumental quartet of young post-metalcore dudes with swoop haircuts and skills for days, and they’re hitting Richmond tonight on a day off from their current tour opening for prog-metalcore pioneers Between The Buried And Me. If you want to dig into the shred-heavy instrumental end of this whole scene, this show is your perfect chance to do it at a relatively small venue for a reasonable ticket price.

Polyphia’s latest release, The Most Hated EP, sees them dipping into more electronic layers, including programmed beats and synthesized background swells. However, the guitar pyrotechnics remain on full display, with occasional licks copped from the dawn-of-the-90s micro-trend of blazing metal guitarists putting out instrumental solo albums. What I’m saying is, these guys have a definite Vai/Satriani tinge to their djent-inspired riff fests these days, and the intersection of these surprisingly congruent sounds is a lot of fun to explore. With local openers consisting of poppy math-rockers Night Idea (the only band this night to feature a vocalist) and fellow math-obsessed instrumental shredders Paint Store, this show is guaranteed to fill your quota for riffage, even if it does run slightly low on vocalizations. You definitely won’t get bored in their absence.

Thursday, September 21, 6 PM
El Malpais, Candy Spots, Worse Curses @ Champion RVA – Free!
And we progress from one instrumental group to another as we go through this week’s picks, landing once again at Champion RVA on Thursday night to shed the night-before-payday blues with some excellent free sounds from both local and touring artists. The stars of this Thursday night’s show will be El Malpais (“the bad country,” if my rusty high-school Spanish hasn’t failed me), who come from Charlotte, NC with an original and fascinating instrumental sound pairing guitar and drum rhythms with flute to create the kind of unusual and engaging sound that “jazz flute” might have conjured up in your head if it weren’t for that phrase’s eternal association with Anchorman.

Regardless of whether you would ever expect a group based around flute melodies to be able to rock with aplomb, you should definitely be in the house when El Malpais takes the stage, because they’re guaranteed to erase all doubts. Their excellent self-titled LP from earlier this year is full of somewhat foreboding tunes accented by riveting melodies, which create the overall impression of tiptoeing through a forest late in the afternoon, on the hunt for forgotten old huts where strange creatures may or may not still live. OK, maybe I’ve read too many horror novels in my time, but still, this band rocks. They’ll be joined on this bill by local alt-garage rockers Candy Spots and catchy up-and-comers Worse Curses for an evening of jams that would be cheap at twice the price (because after all, zero dollars x2 is still zero dollars).

Friday, September 22, 7 PM
Madeline Kenney, Rikki Shay, Majjin Boo, Minor Poet @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
The Broadberry’s showing up all over town this week. This show, which is actually the night before that RVA Live! show up at the top of the column (my chronology’s a little weird, deal with it), sees the larger venue collaborating with generally awesome (and kinda cavernous itself) DIY art gallery space Gallery 5 to present an evening headlined by Oakland singer-songwriter Madeline Kenney. You may be unfamiliar with this artist, but Kenney’s brand new album, Night Night At The First Landing, gives all the reason you need to change that in a hurry. In a manner that is spiritually if not entirely sonically similar to alt-rock shredder Marnie Stern, Kenney takes that whole singer/guitarist/songwriter mold and smashes it over her knee on her new album, integrating dreamy guitar textures with an ambient overall sound and topping them all off with evocative vocal melodies and profound lyrics that cut to the heart of the emotional issues that plague so many young women in this world.

Expect her live performance to do just as much to both destroy and elevate your expectations from a “female singer-songwriter” (kill that cliche forever please). Kenney’s openers on this bill definitely reflect the Broadberry’s involvement in this evening, with recent Broadberry performers Rikki Shay and Minor Poet making a rare appearance at Gallery 5. That’s good, though, maybe it’ll bring some new people out to check out this excellent venue. Madeline Kenney is really all the inducement you, the super clued-in RVA show attendee, should need to add this show to your calendar, though. She’s worth the price of admission all by herself.

Saturday, September 23, 8 PM
Meg Mulhearn + Elisa Faires, Dazeases, Womajich Dialysiez, Rachel Lynch @ Vagabond – Free!
OK, this is two awesome free shows in the space of three days; you should definitely take advantage of this phenomenon, because it’s not something that occurs every week by any means. This evening over at up-and-coming new live music space Vagabond brings us a couple of heavy hitters in the ambient/experimental music world, on a collaborative tour linked to a still-in-production album-length collaboration that’s apparently on the way next year. You can get a preview of it this Saturday night at Vagabond though, and that’s certainly worth doing.

Meg Mulhearn is a violinist who has worked with US Christmas, Void Ensemble, and others, and releases solo recordings under the name Divine Circles. Elisa Faires is an experimental vocalist who has taken part in projects like Astral Magick Soundtrack and Xambuca. Both of these artists use electronic effects to loop, layer, and otherwise accent their instruments, and the two together bring to life a lush ambient soundscape that seems way bigger than anything two musicians can produce by themselves. Combined with the soulful vocal-driven ambience of Dazeases, the constantly-evolving improvisational experimental project Womajich Dialysiez, and experimental performance artist Rachel Lynch, this bill will explore all sorts of different musical and performative avenues, and should take the listener on a sonic journey that is not too frequently experienced, but all the richer for that fact.

Sunday, September 24, 6 PM
Common Ground Fest South, feat. Bren Lukens, Daisyhead, Centerfolds, Something More, Small Talks, Telltale, Nominee, She’s A Legend @ Strange Matter – $14 (order tickets HERE)
OK yes there’s always gonna be some emo coming to you in my column, and I guess this is where it arrives, because seriously–how could I neglect this excellent event? Common Ground Fest, a one-day mini-festival of emo/pop-punk bands put on by Common Ground Records and taking place in three different cities across the US over the course of this month, brings its southernmost incarnation to Richmond VA, and we are in for a treat. After all, not long after Modern Baseball co-founder Jake Ewald hit the Strange Matter stage with his Slaughter Beach Dog project, we get the other Modern Baseball co-founder, Bren Lukens, coming through with a solo acoustic performance. How sweet is that?

But that’s just the beginning. If you ask me, one of the biggest thrills on this whole lineup shows up down towards the bottom of the bill in the form of excellent up-and-coming emotionally-driven pop-punk band Nominee, whose January EP Drag Me Out has been a big one for me so far this year. Hearing songs like “Stay” and “White Water” live might just be enough to get me to pay the full ticket price all by itself. But even with both Bren Lukens and Nominee on this bill, so many other awesome groups are showing up that it’s hard to even attempt a full encapsulation. That said, Nashville’s Daisyhead, who released a killer LP In Case You Missed It on No Sleep earlier this year; and Baltimore’s Something More, who impressed all comers with their 2015 EP compilation Physical Copy, are just some of the additional reasons to make sure you’re right up front for this entire gig. I could say more, but this should be enough. Be there.

Monday, September 25, 8 PM
Love Roses, Brainbuster, The Donalds, Skumboyz @ McCormack’s Irish Pub – $5
I was introduced to Love Roses’ fun, speedy take on punk rock earlier this year when my admittedly pretty screamo band played a house show with them. It wasn’t exactly a predictable pairing, but we ended up meshing pretty well, and I really dug this band’s energetic rage. Since then, Love Roses have been busy, releasing a brand new split on local label Tired & Pissed with Fredericksburg punks Brainbuster, who by no coincidence at all are also on this bill. Love Roses and Brainbuster are just finishing up a tour together, and this is a much more predictable pairing of VA punk bands than anything involving my band would have been.

Brainbuster have a Dead Kennedys-ish sarcastic approach to their lyrics and an early-80s LA punk approach to their music, showing influence from bands like the Adolescents and Bad Religion as well as a snottier edge that gives the whole thing a harsh bite. That split is gonna be a real ripper when it hits, that’s one thing I know for sure. Local punks The Donalds and Skumboyz round out a lineup full of Tired & Pissed artists who are sure to please the circle-pitting punk fanatics of this town–of whom there are more than you think–as well as anyone who gets a kick out of speedy riffs that are both angry and fun.

Tuesday, September 26, 8 PM
Dryjacket, Eaves, Sleave, Nine Line @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
And here we have some more emo, because it’s awesome. New Jersey’s Dryjacket really impressed many listeners, myself among them, with their debut full-length For Posterity. That album, released earlier this year, shows an introspective, multi-layered approach to the sort of emo-revival template that the best bands from that slowly-fading era are still building and improving upon. Dryjacket definitely demonstrates their own qualification for that top tier of still-extant emo bands with a sound incorporating the complex guitar arpeggios that led people to throw the term “twinkle” around a few years ago and some incredible pop choruses that seem to draw as much influence from The Beatles as from Dads–always a welcome phenomenon.

And how about the RVA bands on this bill? Well, Eaves has certainly shown their own bona fides in the whole introspective, multi-layered emo genre over the past little while, and their contribution to this show is therefore sure to be both apropos and entirely welcome. Sleave has a gruffer approach that draws a great deal from that whole vibe of bands like Hot Water Music or Latterman, but with a chunkier guitar sound that shows a bit more hardcore influence than you might expect. Newcomers Nine Line hark back to the 90s days of the more emotionally-driven Fat Wreck bands like Lagwagon or Good Riddance, which is a refreshing change. There’s definitely some daylight between these four bands, but all share a similar feel, one that’s sure to move you.

—-

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] [the rvamag address isn’t working for some reason, I haven’t had time to look into it! Bear with me]

Matthew E. White, Natalie Prass, Bio Ritmo & more to perform at Dominion Arts Center 9/23

Amy David | August 7, 2017

Topics: Bio Ritmo, Carpenter Theatre, Clair Morgan, Dominion Arts Center, Matthew E. White, Natalie Prass, richmond symphony, rva music, RVA musicians, The Broadberry, tim barry

Some of Richmond’s finest musicians will bring their acts together for the first time on stage at Dominion Arts Center next month.

Matthew E. White,  Natalie Prass Tim Barry, Bio Ritmo, and Clair Morgan will headline RVA Live! a showcase put on by The Broadberry and Richmond Symphony designed to incorporate the musical arts of all genres and styles that represent our city’s diverse range of talent.

Orchestrations and arrangements by Trey Pollard (Spacebomb) and Marlysse Simmons and Toby Whitaker of Bio Ritmo.

To give you a little taste of what you’ll be getting, check out some info and music from the musicians below ahead of the event.

If you haven’t already, pick up indie rock group Clair Morgan’s New Lions And The Not-Good Night, which came out in May.

Beloved Richmond salsa group Bio Ritmo has entertaining us for over 20 years and they don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. There’s a little something for everyone with this band.

Musician and Spacebomb Records founder Matthew E. White last big release was Fresh Blood in 2015, but the local indie label has been steadily churning out solid hits and building its roster with the likes of Natalie Prass, ReSound, Georgie and Beodouine.

Songbird Natalie Prass flew her way into our hearts with her sweet sing “Birds of Prey”, a song off her self-titled debut album which dropped in 2014 via Spacebomb Records. We’ve been hooked ever since.

Many Richmonders know him as the former frontman for Avail, but Tim Barry has been churning out folk tunes solo for years now. RVA Mag last gave you the scoop on the singer/guitarist when he was releasing Lost and Rootless back in 2014, but Barry has a new record called High on 95 that will drop in September so check out the sneak peek below.

RVA Live! will be held at the Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Arts Center on Sat. Sept. 23 at 8 pm. Tickets range from $10 to $80 and can be purchased here.  

The Broadberry Presents RVA Live!

R. Anthony Harris | July 21, 2017

Topics: Bio Ritmo, Clair Morgan, Matthew E White, Natalie Prass, RVA, rva live!, tim barry

The Broadberry Presents
RVA Live! feat
Matthew E. White (RVA)
Natalie Prass (RVA)
Tim Barry (RVA)
Bio Ritmo (RVA)
Clair Morgan (RVA)

RVA Live! is a showcase designed to incorporate the musical arts of all genres and styles that represent Richmond’s top talent; and for the first time, bringing these acts together on one stage. From classical orchestra to rock and roll, “RVA Live!” will demonstrate and highlight the beauty of Richmond’s historical and ever-rising music scene proving RVA to be a top music destination.

Orchestrations and arrangements by Trey Pollard (Spacebomb) and Marlysse Simmons and Toby Whitaker of Bio Ritmo.

General admission tickets go on sale August 1.
Artist promo code presales will begin on July 10.

RVA’s Clair Morgan and Lucy Dacus make USA Today’s ’50 Best Albums of 2016′ list

Amy David | December 7, 2016

Topics: Clair Morgan, Lucy Dacus, rva music, USA Today

It always warms my heart when a band or musician from our city gets some recognition or high praise for their talents. Richmond’s music scene is rich, diverse and overflowing with wonderful acts and recently, two hardworking, successful acts received great praise from USA Today.
[Read more…] about RVA’s Clair Morgan and Lucy Dacus make USA Today’s ’50 Best Albums of 2016′ list

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