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We Haven’t Had Quite Enough of Deau Eyes

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Capping off a difficult year that saw the release of their debut album, Deau Eyes followed up Let It Leave with surprise single “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,” a collaboration with DJ Harrison that takes a musical stand against the oppressive negativity of America in 2020.

Deau Eyes, better known as Ali Thibodeau, exudes energy of peace, love, and good vibes. It’s these attributes that made it possible for her to do everything she accomplished in the span of the hectic year that was 2020.

For reference, in 2020, Deau Eyes released her debut album, put out music videos for every single track on said album at her YouTube channel, compiled all of those videos into a video album — Let It Leave: An American Soirée — and joined up with Butcher Browns’ DJ Harrison to write and record an additional surprise single: “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough.”

All of that is remarkable in and of itself, but what is even more remarkable is that most of this was done during quarantine. “My brother Michael and I, during quarantine, have been putting together videos just on our iPhones,” Thibodeau said.

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Her debut album, Let it Leave, took years to make, during which Deau Eyes endured what she called “management situations” and “label hunting,” as well as the COVID-19 pandemic completely altering her plans. “Everybody had something that they were really looking forward to and it didn’t happen,” she said. “Ours was South by Southwest, touring throughout the rest of the year, and releasing our album.”

But that didn’t stop Deau Eyes. Thibodeau tried to make the best of the situation, deciding to release the album in May despite the quarantine. “It ended up being the best possible way to end this album journey of Let It Leave, and actually letting it leave,” she said. “All the stuff that I was talking about needing to be let go, and having that sealing moment with my brother of, ‘We’re going to create these songs, our way.’”

With the exception of first video “Some Do,” released prior to lockdown, Thibodeau and her brother, with the help of a local cinematographer, were able to make all of the videos for the album with just her iPhone. And it didn’t stop there, as immediately after the videos were complete, Deau Eyes began to work with DJ Harrison on their surprise single, which is entitled “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough.”

Thibodeau said a big reason for the surprise was in contrast with the years of public waiting and planning on her debut album. “I personally waited so long on the last album,” she said.

But Deau Eyes didn’t wait at all to start working on the new single. Thibodeau quickly got to work with DJ Harrison, a collaboration she was personally exuberant about. “I look up to him so much as a musician, as a person, and a friend,” she said. “[I thought he would] make something beyond my wildest dreams and sure enough, it’s exactly what he did.”

According to Thibodeau, DJ Harrison played every single instrument on “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,” as well as engineering every track except for her vocals. That wasn’t necessarily hard for DJ Harrison, but the remote aspect of creation, necessary due to the pandemic, is something he isn’t used to.

“I’m just used to working in the same room, and catching the vibe of the room,” Harrison said. “Having that organic energy in the room, it makes it easier for people to communicate.”

However, even working remotely, Harrison acknowledged that Thibodeau was an excellent communicator. “She did a great job of just vocalizing to me what she wanted,” he said.

But communication is more than vocalizing — it’s also listening. “The all-around importance for me is listening, being patient, and trying to understand the people that you’re working with. Whether it’s like on a personal level, musical level, or spiritual level,” said Harrison. “I can have my ideas all day, but ultimately she’s the songwriter, and I just want to make sure that I can honor her vision and be able to put my spin on it as well.”

The song that the two created, “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,” showcases both Deau Eyes and DJ Harrison’s vision, demanding change and a better world through its words and music.

The process of creation for the song began many months ago, when Thibodeau saw news coverage of the detention centers at the border and the separation of families. “It hit me in a really intense way and just had me feeling pretty helpless,” she said.

After that, she started crafting the song, adding verses to the song anytime she found news that gave her that same sort of feeling. “I wrote… probably like 20 different verses for this song,” she said. “Because there’s just so much that I’ve had enough of, and I know a lot of the people around me feel the same.”

After all of the wrongs that have been done over the past year, working with DJ Harrison to bring the song to fruition felt like the perfect way to encapsulate that feeling of being fed up many of us have felt for quite a while.

“I think this song, ‘Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,’ is focusing on the feeling that we all have, no matter who we are and what we believe in: ‘Enough is enough,’” said Thibodeau. “We all need to seek change together and know that we have each other’s backs, because we have a lot more in common than we do differences.”

Top Photo by Matt Shofner, via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Deau Eyes Is Here To Stay

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Today marks the long-awaited release of Deau Eyes’ first full-length album, Let It Leave, on Egghunt Records. We caught up with Ali Thibodeau to get the full story behind her all-encompassing debut release.

Creativity and positivity mesh in a stylistic rainbow with power and purpose in Let It Leave, Deau Eyes’ first album. Deau Eyes is Ali Thibodeau, a Richmond-based songstress who’s stories of adventure are only outnumbered by the immense amount of tassels on her fringe denim jacket. To encapsulate some of these stories and make her biggest musical debut yet, Thibodeau is releasing her first ever full length album as Deau Eyes, the aforementioned Let It Leave, on May 8, and she couldn’t be more excited for you to hear it. Truly she couldn’t, she’s already released a number of songs off the album in anticipation.

“Full Proof,” “Some Do,” “Paper Stickers,” and “Parallel Time” have all been released to various media prior to the album itself, including videos for each song on YouTube. Each song and video is special in its own way, and each captures a slice of the vastly different energies created throughout the album. 

“The heart of this song is about finding what lights the fire inside of you and really pursuing that no matter what is happening elsewhere in your life,” Thibodeau said of “Some Do.” “Being able to escape from something that is bogging you down or making you feel less than what you have to bring to the world.” The “Some Do” video captures this idea through an energetic use of big wigs, long denim tassels, and colorful cowgirl boots. 

The music video for “Parallel Time” was shot entirely by Thibodeau at various points of her life; traveling, practicing, enjoying huge pillow fights, and singing over an unanswered FaceTime call. The personal touch this video extends helps convey the DIY lifestyle Thibodeau holds dear, and brings everything about Deau Eyes down to earth. 

All of the videos add up to a visual version of the album that adds new textures to and expands upon what Let It Leave is all about. That is, of course, intentional.

“I’ve always kinda wanted to do that, but I’ve always felt like an amateur when it comes to video. I have a real passion for it, and I’m excited to have an excuse to be like, ‘Yeah, I was in the house, but here’s my iPhone videos that I made on iMovie. I did something,’” said Thibodeau. “It’s an alternative way to experience the album, whether or not we get to have our release show.”

Approaching the album release date during a pandemic has introduced a number of challenges that Thibodeau has chosen to take on with grace. As this is her first album, she had been looking forward to many new experiences: the album release party, the first big supporting tour, shows upon shows packed with good people and friends from all over. 

But as she says, “If my parents and my family have taught me anything, it’s that you always make lemonade out of whatever lemons you got. These are some really weird lemons, but we’re figuring it out.”

“It’s a weird combination of mourning how things were going but also being really excited about what I’m going to get to create with all of this time. There’s no pressure at all for anybody to be cranking out anything. If anything, this is a time when we all need to check in with ourselves and our intentions, and look at each other as human beings in the same world, having the same experience, and slow down,” said Thibodeau. “My current situation is that I’m in a house alone, so I’m calling a lot of friends and family, and I’m also having a lot more dance parties by myself and painting my face with all the eyeshadow that I have from my Ipsy bag and getting really weird. I’m trying to document it.”

And document it she will. The videos she’s already released are just the beginning; Thibodeau has been working on a visual representation for the entire album in the form of music videos, as an exchange for the in-person album release show experience. Aside from the four already released, the album has five more equally thrilling and lovable songs to work with. 

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Thibodeau is no stranger to change and adaptation, so this new quarantine experience can be added to a list of incredible times she has worked through for her ultimate benefit. Having been a waitress, baker, busker, Zumba instructor, and so much more, she has proven there is almost nothing the world can hand you that you can’t find a good adventure in. 

“I have a friend that does set design, and he made this huge Polly Pocket display for a toy convention. He needed someone to drive it in the back of a U-Haul across the country, and he thought of me,” said Thibodeau. “So, I just took a U-Haul across the country by myself with all this Polly Pocket stuff in the back of the truck. When I got to L.A. there was a Holiday Inn with a hot tub in the room, and I was just like, ‘Oh I’ve made it, I’ve really made it.’”

From wacky cross-country excursions to professional experiences most people only dream of, Thibodeau really has done it all, even making the cast at Universal Studios’ Harry Potter World. 

“I was a wizard at Diagon Alley in Universal Studios. I was a puppeteer and the narrator of a show called ‘Tales of Beedle the Bard’,” she explained. “That was a whirlwind two-week crash course of puppeteering and monologuing over a track. We would rehearse in the middle of the night; we’d be at Universal Studios at like 3 a.m.. It was wild.”

All of these experiences have contributed to Thibodeau’s music in its purpose and voice. Her life has not been linear, and Let It Leave reflects that. From one song to the next, there is so much to be gained from her inspired lyrics, set to various tones and aesthetics. 

“It’s almost like a meditative obsession that started when I was a kid,” Thibodeau said of songwriting. “It was never really about how good my guitar skills were or if I was going to be able to sing in front of people. It was always just something that centered my mind and helped me be concise with my thoughts and what was really going on at the heart of every situation. All of these jobs that I’ve had have shown me that life is about so much more than this one straight shot through, and I write a lot about that, and how I navigate chaos.”

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Back at the beginning of the Deau Eyes journey, Thibodeau posted a YouTube video asking for Kickstarter donations. She promised supporters that she would write letters, send pre-releases and t-shirts, and more, in exchange for their support backing the creation of her debut album. The grand prize was that you’d get your own live show in your living room. That one’s still available to be claimed. “No one really took me up on the living room show,” said Thibodeau, “which I’m still down to do if anybody reads this article and is in… like, I’m so down.”

She was glad for the opportunity that fulfilling all those Kickstarter rewards gave her to reflect on how much support she did receive.

“I love writing letters to everybody and taking time to really think about the person that was helping me, no matter how small the gift was,” said Thibodeau. “It’s so important when you’re making music to realize that people believe in you, because then you start to believe in yourself, and that changes the game.”

Thibodeau said that without the outpouring of support she received from friends and strangers alike to push the album into existence, Let It Leave might still be far from complete. It helps that, as she’s traveled, the friends she’s made have come around seamlessly, contributing to her story with theirs.

“It was a lot of people from all walks of life, from all these jobs I’ve done, and just friends that I’ve made along the way in different cities,” she said of her Kickstarter backers. “Whenever I’m traveling, I love just walking into a bar and sticking up a conversation with somebody — just for the story. I do a lot of things for the story. Mostly just entering the world with an open heart and knowing that you have so much to learn from literally anybody that you talk to. I think that just opens up a whole world.”

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Thibodeau has a strong desire to encourage those around her, and her music has become a primary way for her to do so. Having learned that life can change and take on many different forms you never expected, she aims to remind us all that we can go with our gut, that we are never glued to one thing in life. Whether you’ve been at a job that doesn’t fulfill you or spent too much time with a friend who, let’s be honest, isn’t a friend at all, she knows where your heart’s at. 

“I have this song called ‘Autonomy’ and I always say that it’s about self-love and independence, but I think it’s also about giving yourself permission to cut the bullshit out of your life, and giving yourself permission to not feel obligated to things that aren’t necessarily serving you,” she said. “I know I don’t know everything and I am still figuring it all out, but I feel really grateful that I’ve had these influences in my life that said, ‘Hey, I know you were all gung-ho about this one dream, but if it doesn’t end up being your dream at the end of the day, that’s okay.’ You can have just as much of a fulfilling life following your intuition, because at the end of the day we are so much more than what we do. We are valuable beyond our careers and what is making us money.”

Deau Eyes’ electric, heart-warming, vibrant debut album Let It Leave is out on Friday, May 8 through Egghunt Records. You can find it through the Egghunt web store, and on Bandcamp.

Top Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Deau Eyes Gets Fancy

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With their video for “Some Do,” Richmond indie-rock group Deau Eyes presents a positive message of inclusion and acceptance — along with some excellent tuneage.

Ali Thibodeau is Deau Eyes, a Richmond-based singer-songwriter whose debut album, Let It Leave, will be out on Egghunt Records next month. However, a few singles from it have already been released, and the video for the latest, “Some Do,” sees Thibodeau collaborating with drag queen Camille Teaux to recreate the aesthetic on display in Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” video, but with a campy twist.

The “Some Do” video, which was released in February, stars Thibodeau, actor and drag performer Paul Major, aka Camille Teaux, and actress Abigayle Harris. Inspired by Reba McEntire’s music video for “Fancy” and the dark campiness of David Lynch films, it follows Thibodeau, Major, and Harris as they don bejeweled denim jackets and sky-high wigs, gleefully disrupting their 9-5 lives. The idea for the country glam music video originated with Thibodeau and video director Ted Day.

“The whole dream of being a country star, to me, feels like a fun thing to play on,” Thibodeau said. “We also really love wigs and [Day] loves to film with wigs, so it’s just a big playful collection of our favorite things to work with. We all made it tie into this theme of having your own little dream escape world, away from your day job.”

Shot in Charlottesville, Virginia, largely inside a friend’s barn, the video shows the three stars [Thibodeau, Major, and Harris] discontent with their daily life and the pressures to dilute oneself to fit in. Thibodeau casts herself as a waitress, proudly posing for her only slightly amused diner patrons — who were, by the way, actual restaurant-goers. Major shows up for his construction site job in full drag. Harris primps and prances in a high school hallway as slack-jawed classmates look on. The end of the video feels like a breath of relief, of total freedom in expression.

Major, a longtime friend of Thibodeau’s who previously performed with her when both were working at Dollywood, was delighted to collaborate with Thibodeau in actualizing this vision for “Some Do.”

“The song is talking about how people can be chameleons in their everyday life. But some people are really trying to fit in that box of whatever success looks like for them. And I love that the video celebrates that,” said Major. “You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing in order to be happy; you can be your true authentic self, and be able to express that in whatever it is that you do. Whatever your job is, whatever you’re going to be successful at, you can still have your passions and still be your true authentic self in those environments as well.”

The key to that freedom? A rhinestone-covered, fringed denim jacket that is truly a sight to behold. 

“When we were talking about what it would look like for the characters in the video, everyone needed to have a cohesive look and it’s challenging to costume everyone in the same look —  myself being 6ft.2in. and then having that same look for a teenager and for Ali. We were thinking what could be a simple nod to country, as well as reflective of the video and the fun of it,” Major said. “So we decided on the western jackets, French Western jackets. Ali and I came up with that concept of denim and diamonds. Then she and I created those jackets that we’re wearing in the video, and also designed and created the wig that all three of us wear. The hair and makeup and some of the costuming really helped add to the design and the concept for the video.”

Shot over the course of one day, the filming experience was “organized chaos,” as Thibodeau describes it.

“We all met up in Charlottesville at a friend’s barn out there,” Thibodeau said. “We had a great time. I brought bagels and we set up a whole little crafty section and a pickup truck and a bunch of donkeys came out of nowhere. It was just such a spontaneous thing, which is the way that I work best. It was awesome.”

Paul Major, aka Camille Teaux, in “Some Do”

Major agrees. “We were right outside of Charlottesville in November on a very, very cold morning. And in the barn, there was no heat. So we had some small space heaters. But for me, it was great, because having all of — you know, the padding in here and makeup and stuff — I was very warm,” he said. “It was interesting and fun to be running around Charlottesville in full drag, going to the school that we shot in, where there was still some staff around rehearsing for a musical. And in the restaurant that we shot, there were still patrons in there while we were shooting. So it was a really cool experience, to be able to share that with Ali.”

Collaboration and inclusion are important values to Thibodeau, and that is clear in both the music video and the filming process.

“I really wanted to, like everything I do, try to work with my friends and make fun stuff with my friends. I feel like that’s the whole point of choosing this career path, is having an excuse to do something exciting and make something new with the people that you love,” Thibodeau said. “It also pertains to the video and the song, because this song is all about how, no matter where you are in your life path, you have the option to change it up and to create whatever it is that you want to create. We made a point to make the video as all-encompassing and inclusive as possible, because the song reflects upon this Americana vibe, and it’s also reflecting upon the message of being able to be malleable and change. And that change being empowering and exciting and invigorating.”

Thibodeau was delighted to collaborate on this effort not only with longtime friend Major, but with director Ted Day and co-star Abigayle Harris as well.

“Ted is such a pro. He’s so, so talented, he’s one of the most generous artists out there. He’s just full of fun, zany ideas,” she said. “And then of course, Abigayle I hadn’t known, I met her the day of, and we just had the best time. She was so professional and just wonderful to be around.”

Major agreed that the entire experience was excellent. “It was great and the crew and Ted, the director,” he said. “Everyone was fantastic and making sure we had everything that we needed and felt comfortable doing what we were doing.”

Deau Eyes live. Photo by Jessie Jennison, via Deau Eyes/Facebook

A lifelong performer and trained triple-threat, Thibodeau has done it all, from choreographing musical theatre to singing at Dollywood and starring in numerous productions. Now, with Deau Eyes, she is stepping into her own, creating a unique indie-rock sound with music videos to match.

“I think the kind of music I make is very visceral,” Thibodeau said. “And it really varies from each situation. Sometimes it’s kind of a subdued and sweet songwriter-y, storytelling vibe, and sometimes it’s just ‘enough is enough’ rock music. It really depends on what emotion or what story I’m trying to get across.”

The concept behind Deau Eyes’ debut album came from a time of big changes in Thibodeau’s life.

“I felt like I had escaped my previous lifestyle, which was working as an actress and singer and dancer and auditioning every single day and just feeling like a cog in a machine going nowhere,” she said. “I did a lot of reflecting on my previous life, and the album is like my own version of a sly outlaw song of leaving behind a life, just torching it and moving into the exciting, wild unknown.”

The musical style found on Let It Leave was one Thibodeau began exploring during a gig that landed her in the midst of a new environment.

“I was working on a cruise ship at the time, singing country music and playing with my partner,” she said. “I was really, really digging into the story-song format during that time. The format — that verse- hook- verse- hook- verse- hook, there wasn’t much of a bridge or a true repetitive chorus per se — it was just a different format than I was used to writing in.”

Thibodeau is still young, but her artistic life has encompassed a lot, from cruise ships and Dollywood to busking on the street. Let It Leave sums all of it up to give the listener a window into who Thibodeau is and what she’s been through so far.

“Everybody only has one debut record and you’ve got like your whole life to make it,” she said. “This album was the culmination of a lot of different life experiences and different times in my life encapsulated… [Let It Leave] deals with a lot of life transitions, a lot of pain, a lot of growth, and a lot of empowerment through loss and leaving what doesn’t serve me anymore.”

Working on yet another video. Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

The songs on it weren’t necessarily ever written to share with the world, though; for Thibodeau, musical composition began as a therapeutic outlet for difficult emotions. “I never was somebody who was writing music for the sake of it being heard. It was always just kind of silly, something that got me through whatever I was going through,” she said.

However, the material that made up the initial burst of songs written for Deau Eyes was different; it had a greater hold on her than she’d expected.

“It became apparent that I was needing to write so much that it took over my time and my heart,” Thibodeau said. “So I really committed to it, and committed to sharing stories with others through songwriting and storytelling. I found it to be really fulfilling and really nice to have a shared experience with others, and to not feel so alone in those moments.”

With the help of an incredibly supportive Kickstarter campaign, Thibodeau was able to record the album with friends and fellow Virginians Jacob Blizard and Collin Pastore at Trace Horse Studios in Nashville, TN. With only two days in the studio, Thibodeau describes the recording process as collaborative and exciting, as she heard her songs come to life. 

“This record is really a sonic journey — it takes you through a lot of different styles,” Thibodeau said. “I love that it’s not just one style; I think it’s cool and representative of what my path has been thus far. It’s all sung with my voice in the most true way that I know how to portray the different chapters of my journey, and I’m really excited to share my little corner of the world, my little slice of life with everybody.”

Along with “Some Do,” there are already two more videos for Let It Leave tracks. They include “Paper Kites,” the video for which captures a live performance, and “Parallel Time,” an intimate look at relationships, performance, and travel. Of the latter video, Thibodeau said, “It’s the first music video I’ve ever made by myself. I feel just so empowered by that, and vulnerable in a really great, exciting way.”

Releasing the album in the midst of a pandemic-related quarantine has been less than ideal for Thibodeau, a self-identified extrovert who can’t wait to share her work with as many people as possible. However, she hopes to use more video presentations to combat the isolation inherent in our current cultural moment.

“I’m currently making a visual album,” Thibodeau said. “I’m getting ready to go do some filming right now.” Her hope is to eventually create visuals to accompany Let It Leave in its entirety.

“It’s weird because we’re living in a time where people aren’t out and about and talking to each other,” she said. “I’m usually out at every show I can be at in Richmond, because everyone’s so good, and I love to be around people. And there’s such unity out in town, but our conversations aren’t as frequent. So I’m really wanting to get the word out that I’m doing this visual album, so that people can still consume the album in an exciting different way.”

Let It Leave comes out on May 8 from Egghunt Records. The album can be preordered on vinyl from Egghunt’s web store or in digital format via Bandcamp.

Top Photo by Joel Arbaje, courtesy Deau Eyes/Lucky Bird Media

I Was An Eagle: Weekend Playlist by Deau Eyes

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week, we’re featuring an encore presentation of a playlist made for us by Deau Eyes, the project of Richmond singer-songwriter Ali Thibodeau. After months of anticipation and buildup, Deau Eyes will be releasing their debut album, Let It Leave, on May 8th. In a preview letting us know what we can expect from the album, Thibodeau joined RVA Magazine’s musical livestream this past weekend to perform the album front to back, solo style. You can check that out here if you missed it.

You’ll be able to check out the final version of Let It Leave just a couple of weeks from now, and get the full experience of Deau Eyes’ charming combo of alternative power-pop and classic American rock.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

VA Shows You Must See This Week: January 22 – January 28

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FEATURED SHOW
Prsmcat Birthday Bash Minifest
Friday, January 24, 8 PM
Spooky Cool (Photo by Joey Wharton), Deau Eyes, Kate Bollinger, SHE
Saturday, January 25, 8 PM
Sleepwalkers, Majjin Boo, Castle OG, Hollywood Cemetery
@Poor Boys – $12 in advance/$15 at door/$20 two-day pass (order tickets HERE)
It’s my birthday today; I am 44 years old, which means I’d only be considered “young” if I was running for President. But Prsmcat Presents is definitely younger — the up-and-coming RVA show booking concern is less than a year old at this point. Therefore, the Prsmcat Birthday Bash Minifest happening this weekend at Poor Boys is not actually a celebration for the booking group’s birthday but that of Prsmcat leader and Majjin Boo guitarist Zavi Yueske, who is… (checks notes) 16 years younger than me. Wow.

Let me stop worrying about how old I’m getting and move on by saying: Happy birthday, Zavi! His birthday gift is for the entire city’s music scene, as he’ll celebrate with this two-night, eight-band extravaganza of talented musicians from around Richmond and the central Virginia region. On Friday night, we get the double-dose of Richmond indie melodicism that is Spooky Cool and Deau Eyes. Both of these groups have exercised a “less-is-more” philosophy where recordings are concerned, which means you’ll surely hear some unrecorded tunes during both sets, and that’s a lovely thing from two world-class talents like these. Friday night will also feature Charlottesville singer-songwriter Kate Bollinger, whose laid-back, tuneful approach should pair well with the others on the bill.

Then Saturday night, Zavi gets to strut his stuff with Majjin Boo — who, in case I haven’t made it clear in this column before now, released the Richmond records I loved the most last year, the “Tension Rod”/”One Wing” single and Egghunt Records full-length Go Between. These guys are essential listening and will surely remain so going forward in 2020. They share Saturday night’s bill with fellow Richmond mainstays Sleepwalkers, who you should all know and love by now, as well as smooth-sounding indie mainstays Castle OG and difficult-to-google newcomers Hollywood Cemetery. Celebrate the wonderfulness Zavi Yueske brings into the world while enjoying that very wonderfulness all weekend at Poor Boys!

Wednesday, January 22, 7 PM
The Adicts, No-Heads, Talk Me Off @ The Broadberry – $25 (order tickets HERE)
If you’ve paid attention to UK punk anytime in the last four decades, you’re sure to have heard of the Adicts. This catchy melodic punk band styled themselves after the droogs of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, and have been cutting a memorable figure in the world of punk since they broke out with 1981 debut LP Songs Of Praise. Their singalong choruses are infectious enough that they’ve had chart hits in the UK with tunes like “Viva La Revolution” and “Bad Boy” — songs you’re sure to remember if you’ve heard them even once.

The Adicts’ heyday was in the 80s, but they’ve never really stopped recording and touring; they’ll be coming through RVA in support of their 11th album, And It Was So!, released by Nuclear Blast in 2017. The group’s core members have stayed the same throughout the past four decades, and their entertaining costumed live performances are still a fun, active spectacle. If you’ve never caught the Adicts live before, this is the perfect time to do it, and wear your best Malcolm McDowell eye makeup while you’re at it.

Thursday, January 23, 8 PM
Kai Orion, Kill The Druid @ Garden Grove Brewing – Free!
Every musician is creative, but it’s rare to find a musician out there who dismantles every assumption about musical orthodoxy with each new song they create. However, that is exactly how Kai Orion creates. The DC-based songwriter plays over a dozen instruments on his latest album, Start To End, some of which can only be described as “instruments” (vacuum cleaner, lawnmower, wine glasses, etc). He often works by himself, creating thickly layered compositions through use of a microphone, a loop creator, and a menagerie of voices, instruments, and random objects he has at hand.

The result is a collection of catchy and enjoyable tunes on his records, and a fascinating spectacle to behold in a live environment. At Garden Grove Brewing this Thursday night, you’re sure to see Orion create songs out of all sorts of random sounds, and you’re sure to be impressed how beautiful the end result is — especially with his Peter Gabriel-ish vocal chords unleashed overtop. Richmond post-rockers Kill The Druid will open this one up with an instrument-switching set that’s sure to both set the stage for Orion and remain much closer to a conventional rock show. The whole evening is sure to be a blast.

Friday, January 24, 9 PM
Fat Spirit, You’re Jovian, Alison Blue @ Fuzzy Cactus – $5
Fat Spirit have settled into a solid role as utility players in the Richmond alt-rock scene. They haven’t released any new material since 2017’s Nihilist Blues, but they continue bringing their raucous, exuberant performances to local venues on a regular basis, keeping the spirit of the slacker-rock 90s alive and evoking the spirits of Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. with their loud, guitar-driven tunes. You know what you’re getting with Fat Spirit these days, but that’s certainly not a strike against a band who always delivers a rockin’ good time.

They’re joined on this occasion by Hampton Roads residents You’re Jovian, who have a solid dose of the 90s embedded in their sound as well. On 2019’s Singles, this group shows themselves as occupying a similar territory to that of Fat Spirit, though Elliott Malvas’s more ethereal vocals definitely push the needle away from grunge and toward shoegaze — in the original Ride/Swervedriver/JAMC sense, rather than the MBV-plus-postrock context its taken on in the past decade. Putting these two groups together on a single bill makes for a great evening, especially if you’re the sort of guitar lover who can’t get enough of that sweet, sweet fuzz. Youthful VA Beach shoegazing fuzz-lovers Alison Blue will kick the whole thing off with a further dose of what you’ve been looking for, so don’t miss a minute of this one.

Saturday, January 25, 9 PM
DJ Williams’ Shots Fired @ Fuzzy Cactus – $15 (order tickets HERE)
Saturday night, and it’s right back to Fuzzy Cactus, this time for a homecoming show by one of Richmond’s favorite sons, DJ Williams. Around town, he’s known for his time fronting the DJ Williams Projekt, but this talented, blues-inclined guitarist has achieved more widespread fame beyond these shores in recent years with his work in Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. He’s also put together an all-star cast of sidemen for a new group called DJ Williams’ Shots Fired, who released a mostly-live LP called Live From Over Where back in 2018.

The funky, bluesy, Southern-tinged rock n’ roll that group shows off on their debut LP is exactly what they’ll bring to Brookland Park Boulevard when they show up at Fuzzy Cactus this Saturday night. I can’t tell you for sure who will be firing the shots behind Williams during this performance, but the group has included Williams’ fellow Tiny Universe members, as well as musicians from Dave Matthews Band, Slightly Stoopid, and Lenny Kravitz and Dr. John’s respective backing bands. Rest assured, no matter who DJ Williams brings with him on this jaunt, they’ll be talents equal to the kind of firepower he lays down. And as anyone who’s been paying attention around here for a while knows, that’s some serious six-string pyrotechnics.

Sunday, January 26, 6 PM
RVA Rap Elite Season 3 Premiere, feat. BASIC, Easalio, Tr3demark, Bravo vs. Chance Fischer, Team 804 Cypher (Vintage A, Henny LO, Habeeb, Tone Redd, Yung Sums) vs. Team 757 Cypher (BASIC, Will Jung, Amir Driver, Illien Rosewell, Eastcoast Mikey), Music by Hip Hop Henry & Melodic, plus Open Cypher @ The Dark Room – $10
Hip hop shows take research, y’all. For one thing, there are always a ton of people on the show (indeed, the Open Cypher on this bill will feature another 20-plus rappers I decided not to even attempt to list). For another, there are never any website links listed for any of them. And sometimes, you have to do some digging just to even get a list of who’s on the show. But I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining; the fact is, it’s all worth it when you encounter a show like this, full of a murderer’s row of talented MCs battling it out for lyrical supremacy.

There’s been a renaissance of battle rap on the Richmond scene over the past year or two, and RVA Rap Elite has been right at the heart of it, so it’s no surprise to see what a stacked lineup they’re bringing for the premiere edition of their third season. Personally, I’m most excited for the throwdown between world-class lyricists Chance Fischer and Bravo, but the Team 804 vs. Team 757 cypher battle promises some serious fireworks as well. And really, the overall atmosphere is the best part of all this; when RVA Rap Elite is happening, everyone wants to bring their A game, and the results are sure to delight any true hip hop head. So end your weekend at the place The Cheats Movement says is “making its claim to be the [hip hop] venue of choice” — The Dark Room at the Hofheimer.

Monday, January 27, 9 PM
Dark Thoughts, Sensual World, Ugly Muscle @ Fuzzy Cactus – $8
Dark Thoughts is the sort of band name that might lead you to expect a sound resembling that of Christian Death, or TSOL — punk, but a decidedly gothic take on punk. However, as the band’s fans well know, Philadelphia’s Dark Thoughts are made of much catchier stuff than those classic LA death-rockers. Their new LP, Must Be Nice, came out last month on Stupid Bag Records and is loaded with tracks that split the difference between snotty Dead Boys-style rockers and the Ramones at their most clumsily lovelorn.

Dark Thoughts play classic punk for classic punks, and since it’s the middle of a freezing January here in Richmond, you officially have no excuse for not breaking out your leather jacket for this shindig. You’ll get a bonus as well, in the form of two great local punk bands filling out this bill with their own excellent sounds. Sensual World brings a sort of forlorn jangle to their downbeat rumble, almost Gun Club-ish in execution; Ugly Muscle strip down their sound into a pounding, minimalist attack fueled by atonal synths and screaming. The whole thing is sure to delight any among you who appreciate the articulate aggression that punk rock is all about.

Tuesday, January 28, 6 PM
Shadow Of Intent, Signs Of The Swarm, Inferi, Brand of Sacrifice, Seraph @ The Canal Club – $15 (order tickets HERE)
It’s been 50 years since Black Sabbath’s debut album acted as the starting gun for the metal genre. Bands have progressed in all sorts of far-flung directions from that initial ground zero in the intervening half-century, and it’s difficult to find any band still playing a pure form of metal that would have been recognizable to Ozzy Osbourne in 1970. Nonetheless, there are a lot of outstanding musicians at work in the genre, producing milestones that may very well appear equally seminal once they’re 50 years in the rearview.

Shadow Of Intent’s 2019 LP Melancholy may or may not be one of those (though MetalSucks certainly likes it), but no matter how you slice it, the New England quartet definitely gave us a memorable slab of truly redoubtable heaviness when they released their third album last year. It’s both the deepest, darkest death metal and a particularly impressive display of musical omnivorousness, integrating orchestral melodies and gothic lyrical themes into their always-brutal sound in a manner that allows room to breathe while still pummelling listeners with a wonderfully aggressive efficiency. Seeing all of this brought to life on the Canal Club stage is sure to inspire a veritable forest of banging heads. Join the raging sea this Tuesday night, and celebrate the ongoing bounty that is the music of metal.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Thursday, January 23, 6:30 PM
Blackalicious, Black Liquid, Waasi, Grayling Skyy, DJ Almighty @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $25 (order tickets HERE)
Hip hop has always been a genre that focuses on skills, but there are some hip hop artists that stand out even in a crowded sea of fantastic MCs and DJs. Blackalicious, the duo consisting of rapper Gift Of Gab and producer Chief Xcel, is one of those, and has been for the past two decades. They haven’t exactly been prolific in that time; they’ve only released three LPs since 1999 debut Nia. However, regardless of how long they take to bring out new material, it’s impossible to deny that Blackalicious continues to make some of the most challenging, intricate, and talent-loaded music in the hip hop world.

The current Blackalicious tour is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Nia‘s release, so you can certainly expect a set list that leans heavily on that initial statement of purpose. Nia dropped right in the midst of the bling area and showed an entirely different worldview in the way Chief Xcel’s beats created mellow, soulful landscapes for Gift Of Gab’s witty lyrics about life and love. Blackalicious has remained on their own wavelength ever since, and if you’ve kept up with their less-than-prolific release schedule, you know that anything they want to bring us is more than worth the wait. That said, who knows when they might be back to VA after this? Get to their gig at The Southern this weekend while the getting’s good.

Saturday, January 25, 7 PM
Black Mass//Un-Baptism, feat. Xeukatre, Serpentshrine, Athame @ Pourhouse of Norfolk – Free!
Black metal is a notoriously intense genre, and while keeping it real did go wrong for a while in the mid-90s when the scene’s leading lights were killing each other and destroying thousand-year-old architecture, you have to admire the people who make this music’s commitment to the evocation of evil. That’s why I can’t help but be impressed to see three black metal bands from the MD/VA area teaming up with Satanic Norfolk this Saturday night for an honest-to-Lucifer black mass at Pourhouse of Norfolk.

Norfolk’s Serpentshrine, who occupy the middle slot on this bill, are musical advocates for Satan themselves, and the trio cranks out some old-style gritty riffage on latest EP Occultum Exordium. You Bathory fans out there will get a big kick out of these guys. Meanwhile, Baltimore’s Xeukatre kick out some guttural lo-fi roars and classic tremolo-picked riffs on their split with Hagerstown’s Athame, who round out both that split and this triple bill with the fastest and filthiest take on black metal of these three bands, Transilvanian Hunger-style. But of course the big event is the black mass; how intense is that gonna be? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to show up. Bring your own blood.

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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

I Was An Eagle: Weekend Playlist by Deau Eyes

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week, we’ve got a set of great tunes from Deau Eyes, the musical project of Richmond-based singer-songwriter Ali Thibodeau. Straddling the line between 90s-style indie/alternative rock and a more classic Americana-influenced rock sound, Deau Eyes has been making quite a stir on the regional music scene for the past couple of years now — and that’s with only one single having been released thus far!

If you listen to this entire playlist, you’ll get a chance to hear that single, “Paper Stickers,” at the very end, but before you get there you’ll get an amazing assortment of powerful songs in all sorts of different genres — folk, soul, indie, psych, and many more. All of it’s sure to keep your chilly December weekend warmed up, though — and isn’t that what’s most important?

Raise your hand, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.