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Parties And Cold Cuts: Getting In Step With The Deli Kings

Jimmy O'Keefe | July 5, 2019

Topics: Cold Cuts, Deli Kings, garage rock, My Sugar, pastrami sandwiches, rock n' roll

The front porch of the house Deli Kings practices in each week gives you a pretty good idea of what the band is all about. On any given Tuesday night, a passerby can witness the band hanging out amidst beer cans and an overflowing ashtray. Jokes are tossed around before practice commences. The singer, perched on a stool, devours a pastrami sandwich. 

Deli Kings is a band with an appreciation for parties and various meats. But they earn respect in Richmond’s music scene by serving up loud riffs that fall somewhere on the menu between glam rock and, as bassist James Manogue puts it, “garage rock with a pop twist.”

The five-piece had its start in early 2018. “I had a bunch of songs and I just wanted to get it together,” singer Nick Morrison said. Previously in a band called The Hoodoos along with drummer Nate Kidd, Morrison joked that he was playing a show when he “looked to the back of the crowd and saw James, saw Nicky.” Nicky Michon now plays guitar for Deli Kings alongside Manogue. Rhythm guitarist Gray Stephenson joined the band after the first couple of shows, solidifying the lineup. 

A band with as many members as Deli Kings obviously draws inspiration from a wide range of artists. The bands that they listen to change on a month-to-month basis, according to Kidd. Morrison cites everything from Ariel Pink to the Rolling Stones as having influenced the band’s sound.

That Deli Kings spend time listening to a multitude of different bands is evident in their sound. On their debut EP Cold Cuts, listeners are treated to the incessantly groovy “Bums ’n Clowns,” featuring a guitar lick that’s an absolute pleasure to have stuck in your head for days on end. This delightful tune gives way to “Runnin’ From the Dogs,” a hard-hitting rock song that has provided the soundtrack to countless mosh pits in basements throughout Richmond. 

“In a Room (Makin’ Love),” released last December, marks a musical shift for the band. Unlike their other music, a chirping synth line drives the melody of this laid-back single; Morrison said that he would like to continue using a synthesizer in the band’s future music. The song shows a side of Deli Kings that is more in tune with pop sensibilities.

On “My Sugar,” the band’s latest single — which RVA Magazine is premiering below — Deli Kings keep plenty of room for guitar riffs that could easily fit onto Cold Cuts. But like “In a Room,” they maintain their newfound pop sensibilities. “It’s setting the tone for our future pop sellout,” Michon joked.

With a lo-fi tinge to the recording, “My Sugar” offers a little bit of everything that has made Deli Kings a band worth listening to, while keeping things new and refreshing.

Outside of their recorded music, the band is perhaps best known around town for their high-energy live shows. “It’s a party,” Kidd said.

Morrison echoed the sentiment. “I don’t really think about wanting to play music for people to say, ‘Wow, that’s so interesting,’” he said. “At this point I kind of just want it to be fun.”

It seems like the band will stop at nothing to create intense, memorable experiences for their crowds. At their first house show, they performed wearing white aprons smeared in fake blood, giving the appearance that they had just gotten off their shifts at the local deli.

“We all put on an effort to look the part; wear little outfits, put on makeup, and make a visual impact,” Stephenson said. “You see a million bands with just regular people playing. You want to set yourself apart from them, visually and musically.”

Photo via Rebekah Rafferty and the Wakes/Facebook

Deli Kings is sure to keep up their impressive live performances as they are currently working towards releasing their first full album. “We have like nine songs,” Morrison said. “It’s going to be recorded way nicer, and I think the songwriting is better than the other stuff.”

Michon said the drum and bass parts of the new album were laid down at The Virginia Moonwalker, a studio in Mechanicsville that’s worked with local artists such as The Milkstains and Camp Howard. The album will include some new sounds for the band. “We are definitely trying to add some more instruments that we don’t even know how to play,” Morrison said, noting that horn parts will likely make it onto the tracks.

They’re also working on putting together a tour sometime in September. It won’t be their first time on the road, as they played a handful of shows along the East Coast last October. “It’s always good to be outside of your scene,” Kidd said. The band agreed that being able to perform out of town has been one of the most rewarding parts of making music.

Regardless of your taste for meat, Deli Kings dishes out loud tunes that everyone to enjoy. They will be performing on Wednesday, July 24 at Cary St. Cafe with The Mad Doctors (details here) and on Thursday, August 15 at Wonderland with Frankie & The Witch Fingers (details here). Check ’em out.

Top Photo by David Morton, via Facebook

Stress Kills: Weekend Playlist By Faux Ferocious

RVA Staff | April 19, 2019

Topics: Burger Records, faux ferocious, garage rock, music, Playlist, postpunk, rock n' roll, rva magazine weekend playlist, Weekend Playlist

Every Friday night, RVA Mag drops an absolutely amazing playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This time around we’re getting sounds from Faux Ferocious, a Nashville-based rock n’ roll group with a bit of that good ol’ postpunk tension thrown in there as well as plenty of rip-roaring yet catchy tunes. They just released their latest album, Pretty Groovy, on Burger Records, and will be hitting town next Thursday, the 25th, to rock Shockoe Bottom at Wonderland.

To tide you over til then, we’ve got an excellent playlist assembled just for you by the Faux Ferocious boys to launch you into your weekend! If you dig the endless groove, they’ve got plenty of that in store for you, as well as a killer live Miles Davis recording to kick things off, and a bonus tune from legendary “blue-collar golfer” John Daly. This one is gonna be a blast.

Press play, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Up and coming punk outfit Black Naked Wings talk new record ahead of Champion RVA show 8/17

Amy David | August 16, 2017

Topics: Black Naked Wings, Champion RVA, garage rock, punk, Trrrash Records

Deep in the woods down a long, long gravel driveway off a long winding road in Varina, sits “The Shed”, the studio and hangout spot for Black Naked Wings.

Now it may look a little rough around the edges, but once you step inside its filled to the brim with eclectic gadgets like a replica of the Star Trek captain’s chair replica, vintage guitars and other instruments, records and a compact practice space for the local young, aspiring three-piece garage/punk band.

Fresh off a mini-tour, Black Naked Wings are on the move in Richmond with a new album, White Wall, and have recently partnered up with Trrrash Records for their distribution.

The young trio’s sound is that of a band which has been playing together for many, many years. And well, that’s because all three got a jumpstart on their musical careers.

TJ Krivanec, guitarist and vocalist for the band, met drummer Graham Olsen in preschool and started cranking out tunes early on.

“We recorded our first song at eight years old under the name black naked wings,” said TJ.  “It was facilitated by his (Olsen’s) Dad and his dad played bass line, Graham chaotically slapped some drums, I did vocals and his little brother did some keyboards.”

Ben Mattoon, bassist and vocalist and Olsen met after their dads, both of whom are in bands, started working together when they were younger.

“Our dads started playing music together,” Mattoon said.

Krivanec and Olsen continued to hone their musical chops as they grew older, but started getting serious about the gig when they were around 12 years old.

 

“Throughout elementary school we continued to make these loose jams and songs with his dad, and about 12 years old I was playing the guitar very frequently, he’d gotten tighter on drums, we had about four or five songs,” Krivanec said.

As soon as they found out Mattoon owned a bass they decided to bring him into the fold and make a serious go of it.

“We were hanging out with Ben and we taught him the songs and played our first show in a month,” Krivanec said.

That very first song they did all those years ago, which was recorded in their practice space, Olsen’s dad’s shed, is also the last song on the album, the title track, “White Wall.”

The band recorded the 11-track album in December at National Carriage Studio in Fulton Hill with mixing done by Bill Walker.

The no bullshit, straight punk record is a followup to their 2016 EP, Demonstration and its raw, fast and loud with a few more mellow tracks thrown in here and there.  And while not overly polished or clean by any means, this lo-fi garage rock record is the mark of a band that’s been hard at work on their craft and really has fun with what they do.

“I feel like we’re going between these softer, lusher expansive jangly songs then harder heavier riff rock and roll, its mixing between the two. We’ve played so long with each other we know what we don’t like and what we do like and those things that we do like are always meshing together,” Krivanec said.

Most of the songs on the album the band has been playing for the last two years, but some are more recent. And as far as the writing process goes, Krivanec said it’s a collaborative effort.

“Ben and I both play a little bit of everything and we do little bedroom recordings, but when it comes to the band, I’ll write a song or he writes a song, and once we start fleshing it out in here loud, we’ll be giving our ideas to Graham, we call him the wild card sometimes because he comes up withhis own idea halfway through,” he said.

After finishing up the entire album over the course of just a few days in the studio, the band released White Wall in May.

“The whole album was recorded live…We finished playing in two sessions,” Mattoon said. “Then it took another few sessions to fine tune things and there were some things we needed to fix.”

“Time & Money” is a stand out for them as well as “Lost” and “Silver Tongue” (a bit of psychedelic/punk creeping in on this one, a personal favorite of mine on the album so be sure to give that a listen.)

Mattoon said getting more involved with the local punk scene has helped their creative process since they started playing as a trio.

“It’s changed a lot for us I think, and made us interested in different things; really trying to expand energy, and be able to let loose,” he said.

Black Naked Wings have recently been playing at venues like Strange Matter and En Su Boca to carve out a niche for themselves in the local music scene, and like any up and coming gritty punk bands, they’ve also played their fair amount of house shows, something Mattoon said he prefers.

“I think the shows that have always been the most fun for me are the more DIY shows,” he said. “We’re not afraid to play dirty house shows with bad sound.”

A show last winter at En Su Boca helped Black Naked Wings get linked up with Tim Falen of local indie label Trrrash Records (Atta Girl/The Milkstains/ The Wimps), who is now handling all promotion for their album.

“He did sound for us,” Krivanec said. “…We kept seeing him around and he asked us to be on his label.”

With a new album in tow, the band headed out on a mini-tour at the beginning of this month which took them to Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Charlottesville. The three prepared for life on the road last year before going out and playing gigs.

“We did a road trip last summer just to see how we did for two weeks we went through New Orleans and Austin for awhile,” Krivanec said.

Black Naked Wings will wrap up their tour this Thursday on Aug. 17 at Champion RVA alongside The Milkstains and Twin Drugs where they will be playing their new tunes. 401 E. Grace St. 7-10 pm.

RVA garage rock group Sports Bar drops new self-titled 7″ record

Greg Rosenberg | March 23, 2017

Topics: Bryan Walthall, garage rock, music, Sports Bar, surf garage rock

Sports Bar’s new self-titled 7” dropped in February, and it’s time to realize what you’ve been missing.

The garage rock group, consisting of Kemper Blair (bass), Stuart Holt (drums), Mark Miller (guitar), and Brent Delventhal (guitar), have been gracing Richmond with their electrifying tunes for years. Blair and Miller, the prominent songwriters for the band, started Sports Bar back in 2009 with another guitarist who promptly moved out of the country, resulting in the addition of Holt and Delventhal, which has been the static lineup for the last five years.

In that time, they have had a few releases, but this album is a particular point of pride for the band. Holt said Sports Bar recorded eight to 10 songs roughly a year ago and three made the cut for the 7”.

“They just kind of made sense together,” he said.

The band tracked the songs themselves in their Richmond practice space and recruited local music magician Bryan Walthall,to mix the songs. Finally, Dan Millici of Engine Room, a New York-based studio took care of mastering.

It was upon hearing those final tracks when the band really got excited. “After Bryan mixed it, we were super pumped, we were like, ‘this is awesome,’” said Holt. “But when we heard the mastering, that was the first time we were like ‘holy crap.’”

They definitely have something to be proud of. Surf feels with garage drive have seldom coexisted so naturally.

The three-song release makes for a short listen, but boy is it a sweet one. Bright clean guitars with some grit and driven, fuzzy, bass – this album doesn’t lose momentum. Even in the theatrical few second pause in the first track, “Roll High, Lie Well (Kuriki)” you’re waiting on that dormant energy to be launched in your ears for a full on blitz of whatever part of the brain makes you need to dance.

I looked it up, it’s the cerebellum. These songs are gonna light that bad boy up.

“Roll High, Lie Well” is Sports Bar’s first time featuring a guest vocalist. Candace Kramer, who is in fact married to Holt, gifts the song with wonderfully animated vocals – the chemistry shows.

You can really hear why these three songs were chosen from the pool of ready material. “Free Drugs” is the second track and it’s the perfect buffer between “Roll High, Lie Well”, and “Cut the Cord”, the closing track. It slows things down in tempo but not in energy. A gradual build up through the song led by clever, sappy lyrics reminiscing a seemingly strained romance and taking drugs.

“Cut the Cord” brings it home perfectly. Arpeggiated chords with just enough grittiness layered with a dreamy descending guitar melody starts the song with a school dance-ballad vibe. Sweet and touching now, but you know it’s only gonna get saucier after. And boy does it, just to bring you right back to that familiar melody with a bit more intensity.

The album is now available on bandcamp, but if you have the means to spin it, you should absolutely consider picking it up on vinyl.

“We like having it on vinyl,” said Holt. “Having it physical so if you come to a show you can buy it, take it home, listen to it. You know, the digital thing’s great, super convenient, but I think having it on vinyl – that’s what we are the most pumped about.”

You can order the 7” on Bandcamp to ship anywhere in the US, pick it up at local record store, Vinyl Conflict.

photo via DJ Williford

From Black Keys To Arcs: Dan Auerbach reflects on musical dedication before tonight’s show at The National

Amy David | July 19, 2016

Topics: blues, Dan Auerbach, garage rock, rock, The Arcs, the black keys, The National

As far as musicians go, there are few out there more impressive than Dan Auerbach.
[Read more…] about From Black Keys To Arcs: Dan Auerbach reflects on musical dedication before tonight’s show at The National

RVA Indie sweethearts Camp Howard release self-titled debut album

Amy David | April 6, 2016

Topics: Bad Grrl Records, Camp Howard, Citrus City Records, Crystal Pistol Records, Gallery5, garage rock, indie

Camp Howard is probably a band you have seen before. And there’s a reason for that.

[Read more…] about RVA Indie sweethearts Camp Howard release self-titled debut album

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