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VA Shows You Must See This Week: February 20 – February 26

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FEATURED SHOW
Friday, February 22, 6 PM
New Lions, Large Margin, Basmati, Grandma @ Hardywood – Free!
It snowed this morning. It’s supposed to be 60 degrees tomorrow. Who knows what the weather will be like this weekend. But while Richmond’s topsy-turvy weather spends the rest of winter (and probably longer than that) pulling itself together, we can at least be assured that, in this town full of outstanding music, it’ll always be pleasant inside.

That will definitely be true at Hardywood this Friday night, when this jam-packed lineup of top-tier local musicians hits the stage. Topping the bill is New Lions, and this sextet is what we get when Clair Morgan stops pussyfooting around about whether or not he’s a solo artist and just forms a band already. Not that that’s any big new thing — New Lions is basically the same ensemble Morgan was leading when he made his last record, 2016’s New Lions And The Not-Good Night (ah, see, you’re starting to get what’s happening here), and the group’s pleasing mix of indie melodies and intense, math-y emo remains intact. Plus, they’re almost done with their new EP, so you’ll probably hear at least a song or two from it aired out live.

Large Margin are the other big story of the night, and while this band may have been ultra low-key with their rollout, one listen to last year’s self-titled full-length was enough to blow your hair back for sure. This quartet of local post-hardcore luminaries is kicking up some serious dust with their Fugazi-inspired take on angry, energetic noise-core, and on a personal note, it’s pure catnip for me — I love it. This show marks the physical release of the aforementioned self-titled full-length, and you’d all be fools not to grab it on cassette while the getting’s good. You’d also be fools not to arrive on time and catch powerful sets from long-running indie-math vets Basmati and the looping pop genius of Grandma. This show doesn’t even cost anything to get in, so you officially have no excuse.

Wednesday, February 20, 7 PM
Doc Rotten, Love Roses, The Chuggernauts @ McCormack’s – $7
Punk never sleeps, at least not before the sun’s coming up. And punk doesn’t care what day of the week it is, or what sort of job you have to get to at some point tomorrow. Punk thinks you should probably just quit your job. What has it ever done for you? It’s an especially incisive critique when you consider all the great things punk bands like Doc Rotten have given you over the years: snotty singalong choruses, catchy melodic leads, angry yet upbeat riffs you can raise your fist and yell along to.

These are the really important things in life, right? And you might worry about how you’re going to pay rent if you don’t once again forgo sleep and stagger in to work at 8 AM tomorrow regardless of how late you were out tonight. But none of that matters tonight, when Jersey punk crew Doc Rotten will have you singing along with an upraised fist (possibly clutching a beer). Last summer’s Illusion To Choose LP is full of bouncy bass lines, crunchy guitars, and deathless anthems that speak to the struggles we all go through, and when they crank out those tunes in Shockoe Bottom, you’ll be feeling good for sure. Local ragers Love Roses and The Chuggernauts are along to keep you smiling all night. Don’t miss it — no matter what time your alarm is set for.

Thursday, February 21, 10 PM
Typesetter, Late Bloomer, Washers @ Bandito’s – Free!
The classic midwestern emo sound may have quite a bit of history behind it these days, but it is by no means dead. Two great bands are coming through town this Thursday night to prove it to you, and while both of them are from out of town, they do have Richmond connections in that both of them have released albums on our city’s own 6131 Records. The first is Typesetter, who keep the midwestern tradition alive from their hometown of Chicago. Their latest album, Nothing Blues, finds the group mixing gorgeously wistful vocal harmonies with driving riffage and a solid grasp of the dynamics that make for a perfect full-length listen. Their set at Bandito’s is sure to deliver on the album’s promise.

And then there’s Late Bloomer, who hail from one state south of here and, like Typesetter, released a full-length on 6131 last year. Waiting finds this band rocking a little bit harder than their labelmates, catching a bit of that post-Nirvana 90s alt-rock feel in their net along with a generous helping of pastoral emo resonances. If you dig one of these bands, you’re sure to dig ’em both. Local openers Washers should appeal to you as well. This driving melodic punk band lands somewhere between local luminaries Teen Death and Sports Bar, and considering they share members (and a label) with the latter group, there are a lot of local heads who should already be in their corner. If not, show up at Bandito’s and get familiar already, y’all.

Friday, February 22, 7:30 PM
Chris Corsano/Bill Nace, Crazy Doberman @ Shockoe Denim – $10
Let’s get experimental this Friday night, shall we? This bill of experimental music with equal footing in jazz, punk, and improvisation is the sort of thing we might have expected to show up at Black Iris a year or so ago, but this time it’s happening in a completely random spot — Shockoe Denim, where you’d normally expect to hear nothing stranger than the phrase “selvedge denim.” This Friday night, though, it’s getting downright unusual in the fancy jeans store, as New England noisemakers Chris Corsano and Bill Nace perform a collaborative set.

You may recognize guitarist Bill Nace’s name, at least if you’ve followed what the members of Sonic Youth have been up to since their band dissolved. Nace is part of a duo called Body/Head, in which he collaborates with Kim Gordon. He’s done a ton of other stuff in the experimental music world too, as has Chris Corsano, a drummer of no small repute who has worked with everyone from Jim O’Rourke to Jandek at one time or another. These two have joined together previously under the name Vampire Belt to create glorious volcanoes of wild free-jazz cacophony. How will this performance differ? All we can do is show up and see. One thing’s for sure — it’ll be a wild ride. Especially with Richmond’s own pack of wild improv-experimental noise dogs, Crazy Doberman, opening up. The jeans store just might get a little unruly.

Saturday, February 23, 8 PM
Buzzherd, Musket Hawk, MSD, Cruelsifix @ Champion RVA – Free!
Local punk luminaries Tired and Pissed Records are bringing another devastating showcase to their hometown, this time over at Champion Brewing’s RVA location. And while those who pay attention to this sort of thing might have come to expect straight-up punk with a bit of a metal edge from the T&P crew, this time around finds them veering into the land of outright metal — which fits the environment, a brewer that those of us who don’t partake in the intoxicating stuff have come to associate with music that induces major headbangs.

This event finds two touring bands from north of our city heading into town; Buzzherd hail from Bethlehem, PA, a rust belt city mostly known for completely overdoing the whole Christmas thing. You can imagine what sort of angst this could induce in young metalheads, and you’ll hear all that angst and more when Buzzherd take the stage and wallop you with their chunky, violent take on metallic hardcore… or hardcore-damaged metal, as the case may be. Baltimore’s Musket Hawk take things in a more low-end direction, as they rumble and grind their way toward the perfect fusion of death metal and punk. Again, perfect music for their rather unstable home environs — and perfect music for you to spend your Saturday night headbanging to. Local powerhouses MSD and Cruelsifix only add to the reasons to wear your denim vest and get crazy at this one.

Sunday, February 24, 9:30 PM
Dropping Ugly, W I S H, Collider @ Bandito’s – Free!
We’re back at Bandito’s for the second time this week, for the fourth free show of the column this week, and if you don’t think this is a great time to be alive regardless of the weather, well, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe to spend the money you’re saving on a huge plate of nachos at one or both of these Bandito’s shows and find out how great life truly can be. Then, feeling stuffed and happy, you can wander into the music room, check out a few great bands for zero dollars, and have a further realization of how truly #blessed you are.

This show features a performance by Dropping Ugly, which is the sort of band name one might understandably associate with thuggish hardcore stomping. One would therefore be surprised to discover that this Richmond duo is much closer to shoegaze/dreampop-influenced indie sounds, with a strong emphasis on beauty and melody. They’re dropping ugly, all right — there’s nothing not-gorgeous about this group’s sound. Sunday night provides you with the perfect opportunity to discover that, and while you’re at it, to take in the heavier shoegaze-oriented approach of W I S H, who will give you serious gaze-heads flashbacks to the days of the Swirlies and the Lilys. It’s glorious. DC’s Collider round out the evening with some killer sounds that make me want to reference bands no one reading this has ever heard, like Monsterland and Drop Nineteens. That’s an endorsement, in case it’s not clear. Want to know more? Go to this show. Like many of the shows in this week’s column, it’s free — so don’t say I never gave you anything.

Monday, February 25, 10 PM
SMUG, THRE3, 7th Grade Girl Fight @ Cary Street Cafe – Free!
I’ve recently heard the word “smug” used to describe that wave of annoying, pretentious right-wing YouTube jerks we all hear way too much about these days. It’s fitting; it’s a word that makes you think of a smarmy jerk with a superior smile on his face after having said something he thinks is brilliant and you know is ridiculous. Thankfully, the band SMUG doesn’t seem to consist of guys like that. Instead, they’re a trio hailing from Buffalo, NY (home of the Goo Goo Dolls, who rule. Yeah, I said it) and dishing out some powerful melodic punk on their brand-new album, Gorgeous.

So yeah, it’ll be fun to see these guys rock out at Cary Street Cafe, as long as you don’t think too hard about the meaning of their name. They’ll be joined by a duo of Virginia-based melodic rock bands with numbers in their names. THRE3 is a band who must have been frustrated when they realized that both 3 and Three had been taken. They used that frustration to fuel their creativity, and produced some pretty killer punk-adjacent sounds with strong Ted Leo resonances on their 2018 album, Do Or Die. Meanwhile, 7th Grade Girl Fight bring us some fun indie sounds with obvious debts to the world of power-pop and garage rock. The whole evening’s gonna be pretty swell.

Tuesday, February 26, 9 PM
Red Sea, MRC, Shormey, Lobby Boy @ The Camel – $8 (order tickets HERE)
Here’s a show brought to you by Underground Orchard, a recent booking and promotion endeavor spinning off from the Citrus City Records empire here in Richmond. And considering how reliable the Citrus City name has become in terms of delivering quality 21st-century indie music, especially with an electro-pop flair, it’s no surprise to find Underground Orchard carrying on that legacy by bringing us a performance from Atlanta’s Red Sea.

If you tuned in to this band three years ago, you surely heard a different sort of sound — one more guitar-based and indie-math driven. These days, though, they’ve moved into the realm of electronic synth-pop, and recent singles are simultaneously reminiscent of Duran Duran, Vampire Weekend, and early-90s techno-house. It’s not easy to pin down, and it’s certainly not predictable, but it’s a whole lot of fun, as you’ll find out when you’re shaking your booty on the dance floor at The Camel Tuesday night. Be sure to check out the Tidewater-based dance entertainments of True Body side project MRC and Citrus City’s own Shormey, as well as similarly-driven Harrisonbury project Lobby Boy. This one will keep your feet moving.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Saturday, February 23, 8 PM
Summer Heart, Brothertiger, Karacell @ Charlie’s American Cafe – $10 in advance/$13 day of show (order tickets HERE)
There’s a lot of great electronic pop music that comes out of Sweden — and no, I’m not (just) talking about Swedish House Mafia. All sorts of people with strong electro-pop bona fides hail from this Scandinavian country, from Robyn to Avicii to Max Martin. Therefore, can it be any surprise that there’s also a fertile electro-pop underground in the country? It’s that underground that has produced Summer Heart, the solo project of Swedish production genius David Alexander. And it’s Summer Heart who will be bringing the gorgeous sound of sunshine to Norfolk in the wintertime. Bless.

Summer Heart spent 2018 releasing a project called 12 Songs Of Summer, one song at a time. The songs, doled out once a month throughout the past year, are being released as a compilation for this tour, and you’d be wise to pick it up and finally be in a position to let the jams play for a while. They’ll bring a big smile to your face, whether you’re playing them at home or dancing to the tunes in person at Charlie’s American Cafe Saturday night. But to be clear, we definitely recommend the latter course of action. This has been a cold, gross winter, and it’s not over yet. We all need a little bit of summer in our hearts.

Monday, February 25, 8 PM
156/Silence (Photo by Ale Gibson-Photography), No Good Deed, Beyond The Grave, Yung Mutt, Lil Broken Heart @ Riffhouse Pub – $5
Y’all had to know this moment was coming — the moment in every column where I do my level best to convince every single one of you to get stoked about a metalcore band that’s coming to our area. You made it through the whole column, you thought you might get away without it this time — but it was not to be, as I will now fervently implore you to gas up your auto and head to Norfolk’s RiffHouse Pub this Monday night to see Pittsburgh, PA’s 156/Silence.

If I am to be totally forthright with you in my advocacy, I must admit that I have no idea what their seemingly random name means. However, it matters little; their 2018 LP on Innerstrength Records, Undercover Scumbag, contains all I need to understand about this band — a powerful collection of driving metallic sludge. filled with angst and fury, plus plenty of noisy guitar chaos, thundering drums, and intense throat-shredding screams. This band is sure to delight fans of everything from Sworn In to The Chariot to All Else Failed, and as I am all three of those fans, I am fair and squarely stoked. You will be too if you make it to RiffHouse Monday night; when have I ever steered you wrong?

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] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: August 8 – August 14

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Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, August 11, 6 PM
Piss Off 2018, feat. The Donalds, Vulcanite, Love Roses, No/Mas, Organ Trail, Genosha (pictured above), High Priest, Ruin By Design, Peacemaker @ Strange Matter – $7
Richmond’s incredibly eclectic music scene is a joy to experience. Everyone has their own idea of what this town excels at creating; some see it as a doom-thrash mecca, others think of it as a hip hop hotspot, a soul-jazz heaven, or even a screamo paradise. But no matter what impression you have of this city’s music scene, there are always untold new pockets of local music to fall into — and all of them are great. Which brings us to Tired & Pissed Records, a local label that’s been specializing for the past few years in fast, angry, metallic punk from Virginia and beyond.

This Saturday brings a Tired & Pissed showcase to Strange Matter, and offers locals who haven’t gotten on board with this hard-working label’s offerings a chance to catch up with pretty much all of it at once. This show celebrates the release of the label’s third compilation of bands from around the mid-Atlantic area who share their raison d’etre, and an unbelievable nine of those bands will take the Strange Matter stage between 6 PM and midnight on Saturday night.

Label standard-bearers The Donalds and Love Roses will bookend the show, presenting their complementing takes on raging old-school punk featuring varying levels of melody (Love Roses has more, The Donalds has less). These bands will provide a powerful inducement to both show up on time and stick around til the very end of the night. Inbetween, we’ll get sets from a whole bunch of great bands whose sounds run the gamut from gore-soaked death metal (PA’s Organ Trail) to frantic downtuned hardcore (VA’s Genosha), and from grimy, hyperspeed grindcore (DC’s No Mas) to an ambient noise project helmed by former Brutal Truth drummer Rich Hoak (PA’s Peacemaker). That’s not even all that’s on tap for this night, but I’m running out of space, so stop worrying about the details and start planning to show up at Strange Matter this Saturday and catch nine killer bands for only seven measly bucks. It’s a good deal no matter how you slice it.

Wednesday, August 8, 8 PM
Deakin, Highlife, Basmati, Grandma, DJ Elko Tract @ Strange Matter – $10 (order tickets HERE)
This one’s been a long time coming. Oh, you may not think so, since it’s just a local performance by a member of electro-psychedelic indie-pop group Animal Collective, currently touring as a solo act. But Deakin’s been building the hype for his solo material for nearly a decade now, starting with a fully-funded Kickstarter campaign launched back in 2009. That campaign took Deakin to the African country of Mali, to play a music festival in the desert outside Timbuktu and to create an album influenced by the music of that area of West Africa.

It took an interminable seven years to bear fruit, but Deakin finally released his solo album, Sleep Cycle, in 2016, and now he has reached Richmond to give us a live performance of this and other material, which indeed lives up to the promise of West African-infused Animal Collective-ish music that everyone waited so long for. Along on tour to offer his own spin on African pop music is Doug Shaw of New York’s White Magic, leading his side project Highlife and bringing us their American spin on the Ghana-originating sound of the highlife genre. RVA melodic-math weirdos Basmati will offer local support, along with Grandma, the solo project of Haybaby’s Leslie Hong. Plus, you’ll get an opening set from DJ Elko Tract, the alter ego of Blues Control’s Russ Waterhouse. At long last, there’s nothing more to ask for.

Thursday, August 9, 9 PM
Pass Away, Park Sparrows, Living Room, Thomas McDonald @ Bandito’s – Free!
Some pop-punk evokes the coming-of-age feels that assail teenagers as they leave high school and grapple with adulthood, but the kind of pop-punk played by Brooklyn’s Pass Away is of a different sort. Like Jawbreaker and The Replacements before them, Pass Away use their melodic take on fast, chunky punk tunes to lament the struggles that come to grown-ass people who still haven’t achieved all of their dreams. This band plays pop-punk for adults, and their fueled-by-cheap-beer sound, reminiscent of Dillinger Four and Latterman among many others, is the perfect singalong material for adults who have problems they’d like to forget, at least for tonight, by getting lost in tacos, beverages, and great songs.

Pass Away comes to us from members of I Am The Avalanche and Crime In Stereo, and therefore it’s fitting that they play with RVA’s own Park Sparrows this Thursday night at Bandito’s. Bringing together members of Strike Anywhere, Landmines, and Freeman (among many others), this group also makes melodic punk tunes for adults to sing along with and feel a little less alone. It’s OK, we’re all struggling — but Thursday nights with great music and great friends just makes the weekend come a little quicker, right? Pass Away will bring fellow Brooklynites Living Room along with them; this group offers a thicker, post-hardcore take on melodic emotional punk, but it’s sure to still appeal to anyone who knows what it’s like to seek answers to the big questions that remain on a person’s mind long after their 21st birthday. Virginia Beach resident Thomas McDonald, who normally leads The Record Collection, will kick off the night with a solo set. Get a plate of tacos and a pitcher, grab a table, and get stoked for this one.

Friday, August 10, 6 PM
Floral Print, Fat Spirit, Truth Club, Fullscreen @ Hardywood – Free!
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone who’s been reading this column for a while that I’m not one to fool with alcoholic beverages of any sort. That said, I still get stoked about Hardywood’s “Fresh Can Fridays” events when they bring killer music along with them, and this Friday is one such event. Therefore, despite my total apathy towards brews of any sort, I’m still enthusiastically recommend that you hit Hardywood this Friday night and catch Floral Print. This Atlanta band is a real treat for your ears; their string-bending propensities resemble those of long-gone NC angular-guitar heroes Polvo, but the melody and emotion Floral Print introduces to their music is an entirely new — and a welcome — texture.

2017 LP Mirror Stages is full of complexly structured songs with off-kilter melodies galore, all of which are sure to hook you in and not let you go. It’s no surprise that Citrus City Records, purveyor of top-quality local sounds in a similar vein, is bringing us a performance by this band, and while it may be an obvious choice, it’s a welcome one, especially since it also results in killer local support from indie-grunge rockers Fat Spirit. North Carolina’s Truth Club is also along for the ride, and they add a touch of 90s slacker style, a la Pavement, to the string-bending melodies and guitar crunch the rest of this bill has to offer. Brand new locals Fullscreen kick things off, and while I can’t tell you anything in particular about them, I can tell you that this show is free, which makes it worth your while no matter what you think about beer.

Saturday, August 11, 9 PM
Songs From The Road Band @ The Camel – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I’ve long maintained that I can find something to enjoy in any genre. However, there are a bunch of genres that have remained in the hypothetical whenever I’ve made such a bold statement, and in there alongside jam-band music is bluegrass, a sound I’ve never particularly minded when I heard it being played at county fairs as a kid, but has never excited me in the least either. However, I may finally have found some modern bluegrass I like; not only did a Trampled By Turtles single completely win me over a couple of weeks ago (that’s another story), I am really digging Songs From The Road Band, a bluegrass ensemble who’ll make the Camel their home for a night this Saturday.

The five members of Songs From The Road Band boast a number of formidable credits between them; members have played in Steep Canyon Rangers, Bill Evans’ Soulgrass project, and Larry Keel and Natural Bridge. They may have a somewhat unwieldy name, but that’s hard to hold against them when you hear excellent tunes like the title track to their 2015 album, Traveling Show, or any of the tunes on their brand-new fourth album, Road To Nowhere. And while these songs sound good in the studio, the real place to hear this five-piece is live — there’s a chemistry and an organic feel in the old-time sound this band creates that just isn’t the same without being in the same room to hear it. Whether you’re a bluegrass diehard or someone like me, with no real experience of enjoying the genre, you’d be well-advised to head to the Camel this Saturday night and give Songs From The Road Band a chance to win you over.

Sunday, August 12, 7 PM
(Sandy) Alex G, Daddy Issues, Lance Bangs @ The Broadberry – $16 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s hard to know how to describe Alex G; perhaps the best way would be to call him unusual. There are moments on his latest album, Rocket, which sound kind of Mac DeMarco-ish. At other times, though, he experiments with vocoder and spacey electronic sounds. Conversely, there are even moments that come across as downright country-ish. All of these tunes share one thing, though — a strong viewpoint, conveyed through lyrics and music in a manner that makes it clear just who Alex G is as a musician… even if his genre affiliation is impossible to pin down.

It’s appropriate for an artist like this to come to RVA in the company of Daddy Issues, the Nashville garage-grunge group on JEFF The Brotherhood’s Infinity Cat Records. Alex G may sound like a lot of things, but he’ll never sound like Daddy Issues, so this show is just that much more eclectic with their snarky take on being a twenty-something woman in the 21st century added to the mix. Plus, their 2017 album, Deep Dream, is a heavy rocker full of extremely memorable melodies. They’ll be joined by Lance Bangs, a trio with a slacker-grunge vibe that somehow lands directly between the other two artists on this bill. If you like guitar-slingers with unique viewpoints and melodies to burn, this is the show for you.

Monday, August 13, 7 PM
Jonah Matranga & Friends, The Pauses, New Lions @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
There’s nothing as guaranteed to make you feel old as a 20th anniversary tour for an album that came out when you were already out of college and living in the real world. Y’all will find out about this when you hit your 40s, but right now you are best advised to ignore my grousing and make plans to hit Capital Ale House this Monday night and see Jonah Matranga and Friends rock the hell out of Far’s incredible 1998 LP Water And Solutions. Matranga was Far’s frontman back then, and while the band reunited long enough to release a fifth album in 2010, this 20th anniversary tour does not see a return to an old lineup. Instead, Matranga, who mostly tours solo these days, is backed by Florida’s The Pauses in order to return Water And Solutions to its full rock n’ roll glory.

This album may date from the waning days of the post-Nirvana alt-rock craze, but it is by no means insignificant; instead, its thick, heavy, yet incredibly melodic post-hardcore sound seems to bridge the gap between Quicksand’s seminal post-hardcore classic Slip and The Deftones’ dark, moody masterpiece, White Pony. The brand new Pauses album, Unbuilding, shows a post-hardcore band with a strong melodic grasp working at the height of their powers; therefore, it’s easy to understand why Matranga picked them as his backing band for this tour. They’ll deliver an opening set of their own that’s sure to keep you smiling, and New Lions — the group formerly known by the name of their frontman, Clair Morgan — will kick off the show in fine fashion and ensure that you have a great time from start to finish.

Tuesday, August 14, 7 PM
Echo Courts, The Wimps, Righter @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Psych-heads, take note: North Carolina’s Echo Courts return to RVA this coming Tuesday to entrance us all once again. Having slimmed down to a quartet between their 2016 debut and their brand new follow-up, Room With A View, Echo Courts show themselves none the worse for wear by producing a tightly-focused set of melodic tunes that retain a subtler sense of the more overt psychedelia of their earlier work, while also expanding in numerous directions, from a country tinge to an occasional modern math-guitar vibe.

Echo Courts are sure to give everyone in attendance something to rock about when they hit the Gallery 5 stage Tuesday, and the local support they’ll receive from RVA rock n’ rollers The Wimps will be eminently appropriate accompaniment. While The Wimps are absent the psychedelic vibe that pervades Echo Courts’ music, they mine the early days of rock n’ roll for killer hooks with aplomb, showing off their versatile talent on 2017’s excellent full-length, Reel Whirl. Warming up the crowd for this duo of excellent groups will be Righter, a new full-band project from local singer-songwriter Hannah Goad, which takes the atmospheric folk sounds of her solo work in a fuller, more realized direction. Show up on time, catch this group before everyone’s talking about them.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Friday, August 10, 7 PM
Thunder Dreamer, Wild Pink, LA Dies, Ruth Good @ Charlie’s American Cafe – $7 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
A sound like the one Indiana’s Thunder Dreamer brings to Norfolk this weekend is always welcome, if you ask me. Their melodic bass tone, arpeggiated guitar leads, and catchy choruses stand just slightly on the “indie” side of the divide between indie-rock and emo, but no matter which side claims your allegiance, you’re sure to enjoy the killer tunes from 2017’s 6131 Records release, Capture, as well as any newer sounds this group has in store for us. Thunder Dreamer may at times remind you of the Beach Boys-filtered-through-Neil Young vibes of early My Morning Jacket, they share even more in common with the pastoral sounds of emo bands who hailed from their native midwest in earlier eras, from Cursive to American Football.

Thunder Dreamer aren’t the only reason to head out this Friday night, though; New York’s Wild Pink has quite a bit to offer on their own behalf, even if the twangy touches that show through on latest LP Yolk In The Fur are a surprising thing to hear from a band from the Northeast. Whenever a band evokes Son Volt and The Jayhawks in such a talented fashion, though, it’s always enjoyable, especially when such evocations sit side-by-side with moody new wave vibes reminiscent of early works by U2 and Simple Minds. Lynchburg’s LA Dies (I see what you did there, folks) are also on the bill, bringing a touch of postpunk to the evening, and RVA’s Ruth Good open up the evening with some of that classic Citrus City jangle. Sweet.

Sunday, August 12, 5 PM
Beggars Row, Heavens Die, (Sp)lit, Suffer Through, 3weekoldroses, Consumed With Hatred, Deep Rest @ 37th And Zen – $5
It’s only my second week covering the Hampton Roads area music scene and already I am noticing that things down there are downright brutal. Beggars Row, the Virginia Beach band at the top of this bill, have a downright thuggish sound that feels to me like it could have come out of the northeast in the early 90s and no one would have blinked. The riffs are heavy and chunky, the vocals are harsh and deep, and the breakdowns are custom-designed to get the pit moving — which is exactly what Beggars Row are hoping to see happening at 37th and Zen this weekend, since they’re shooting a video at this show. Limber up those calf muscles before the set, y’all; you don’t want to pull a tendon moshing.

Beggars Row are joined on this bill by a whole bunch of other bands, most prominently Winchester’s Heavens Die. This band has more of a metallic edge to their brutal low-end pound; they’ve definitely got a few early 90s death metal records in their collections. Lancaster, PA group (Sp)lit, who might be the first group to grab my attention through their creative use of typography, are on tour with Heavens Die, and are bringing a faster, chunkier brand of heavy hardcore to Norfolk with this set. Integrity fans should pay special attention to these guys. Maryland’s Suffer Through keep it heavy as well, while Philly band 3weekoldroses have some strong youth crew instincts mixed with a Judge-like tendency toward maximum toughness. The bill is rounded out by two Maryland bands: Consumed With Hatred, who impress me by mixing their heavy-as-fuck metallic hardcore with an overt, in-your-face political message; and Deep Rest, who bring the maximum chug. Lift weights and work out in preparation for this show — it’s just that heavy.

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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] [and yeah, in case you’re wondering, more awesomeness from my cracked and bleeding fingertips is available at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Manatree / Your Dream Coat / Butt / Grandma at Gallery 5

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Doors 7pm / Sounds 8pm // DOS $5

|||| Manatree (RVA)
||| Your Dream Coat (Brooklyn)
|| Butt (RVA)
| Grandma (RVA, Leslie Hong of Haybaby)

Manatree
“Manatree formed around 2009 when four longtime friends were entering high school. Drawing from early pop and rock influences like the Strokes and Wolf Parade, mathy bands like Maps and Atlases, and the exploratory qualities of Wilco and Broken Social Scene, Manatree wrote high energy, math-influenced pop songs with a simple lineup of two guitars, bass and drums. These efforts culminated in the band’s self-titled debut album, released on Egghunt Records.
After Manatree’s self-titled release, the band became gradually more interested in electronic music, everything from pop-oriented artists like Sylvan Esso and Frank Ocean, to the more experimental Actress and Oneohtrix Point Never. While keeping true to their guitars-bass-drums lineup and energetic live performances, the band is now beginning to incorporate elements of this music into their vocals, compositions and instrumentation. Manatree hopes to blend these influences for a unique and personal release later this year, which they have recorded and plan to release in July.”

Your Dream Coat
“Do you love me? This is music for soft hearts and long sighs. Find the best in darkness and darkness in the best. Walk fearlessly into that place where we can cry. Your Dream Coat does not shy away from sentiment. Your Dream Coat is drums, two guitars, and some voices. LIVE YOUR HEART NO REGRETS.”

Butt
“Several shitheads scream and somehow make music. ‘Butt is tight and loose at the same time, it’s perfect’ -Kuni”
https://touchedbyabutt.bandcamp.com/releases

Grandma
“Grandma is your mom’s mom and your dad’s dad. Grandma is lush swirling loopy closet pop. Grandma is the solo project of Leslie Hong of Haybaby. Grandma is so proud of you.”

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 4/4-4/10

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FEATURED SHOW
Thursday, April 5, 5 PM
Official United Blood Pre-Show, feat. Naysayer, The Flex, Arms Race, Primal Rite, Hangman @ Strange Matter – $12 (order tickets HERE)
The 12th annual edition of the United Blood hardcore fest is happening here in Richmond this weekend, and I did not make it our featured show. There’s a reason for that — I hate writing about shows that sell out before my readers can read about them, and with very few tickets for United Blood remaining for sale, I’m a little concerned that by the time this goes to press, you won’t be able to get them at all (though you’re certainly welcome to give it a shot — maybe you’ll get lucky). I’m feeling slightly more secure about the Thursday night pre-show, so that’s what I’m sending you to. After all, it’ll give you a good taste of what United Blood is all about, and at 15 percent of the ticket price! You can’t beat that.

Naysayer are our headliners. This Richmond hardcore band had fallen into that sort of twilight state of existence that seems to take over a lot of long-running local hardcore bands, where most of the time they’re completely inactive, but they come back and play a really big local show every now and then. Naysayer briefly awoke from this somnambulist state a couple of years ago, releasing Nation Of Greed, their first new material in five years. That was two years ago now, though, and whether they’ll slip back into inactivity in future is an open question. Fortunately for you, you’ll be able to see them Thursday night, and this dose of their hard-hitting crossover-style hardcore is not something you should miss if you know what’s good for you.

Naysayer will be joined on this bill by a murderer’s row of heavy hitters, starting with a double-shot of UK hardcore in the form of The Flex and Arms Race. The Flex have that raw, blown-out sound that makes everything sound urgent as hell, while Arms Race are a bit darker in feel, but both deliver powerful shots of old-school velocity. Not to be outdone, San Francisco’s Primal Rite have a ripping, thrashing, metallic hardcore sound that’ll remind you of Power Trip if they were more focused on pure headcrushing breakdowns. The bill is rounded out by New Yorkers Hangman, who bring more of that metallic mosh you’re all craving. This show won’t last all weekend, but it certainly will pack plenty of power into its brief span. So whether you make it to the festival itself or not, you’d still be smart to head for Strange Matter the night before it starts.

Wednesday, April 4, 8 PM
Bettye LaVette @ The Tin Pan – $42.50 in advance/$47.50 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley may be gone, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any more classic soul singers in the world. Bettye LaVette is still kicking, and she’ll be bringing her excellent voice and unpredictable choice of material to the Tin Pan tonight. Having made her first record during the original soul music boom in the early 60s, LaVette has been working hard ever since. However, it wasn’t until the release of 2005’s I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise that the mainstream really started paying attention to the talent LaVette’s been offering the whole time. The album featured soulful re-interpretations of female artists and songwriters including Fiona Apple, Sinead O’Connor, and Aimee Mann, among others.

Since then, LaVette’s recorded an album with the Drive-By Truckers — 2007’s The Scene Of The Crime — and an album of songs originally by British rock bands — 2010’s Interpretations — among others. Now she’s turned her attention to the music of Bob Dylan with her brand new album, Things Have Changed. Her powerful soul sound helps transform Dylan songs both well-known (“It Ain’t Me Babe,” “The Times They Are A-Changin'”) and obscure (“Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight,” the title track), often revealing new sides of the material by rewriting the lyrics to focus on a female perspective. This sound, and this perspective, are among the things LaVette will bring to the stage of the Tin Pan tonight, and the results are sure to be unique, fascinating, and powerful. Don’t miss it.

Thursday, April 5, 11 PM
Slump(oids), Haircut, Benderheads @ En Su Boca – $5
Hey, here’s a venue we haven’t heard from in a while. En Su Boca, the little taco joint inside a former adult bookstore had been doing shows for a bit last year, but has been inactive in the live music scene for several months. Now they are back with an all-local gig intended to raise some money for a permanent PA system, so that they can become a more reliable spot for live music. Sounds good to me! And if this sounds like a good idea to you too, you can support it by coming out late this Thursday evening (after the UB pre-show) and catching some loud punk rock.

At the top of the bill is Slump (or maybe they’re called Slumpoids now, the facebook event page is somewhat confusing), who have been bringing this city a hazy, smoggy take on psychedelic punk for a couple of years now. Remember that brief period when The Men were interesting, before they turned into total dad rock? Slump brings that sound back to life every time they take the stage. Meanwhile, Haircut are much more straightforward, smacking you in the mouth with some fast, angry, no-frills hardcore punk that’s sure to wake you up if the late hour has you nodding off at the bar. Benderheads, who round out this bill, have apparently got a tape coming out on Vinyl Conflict soon. If you want to know more than that, you’ll have to show up to this show. So hey, do it. And grab a taco while you’re at it.

Friday, April 6, 8 PM
Withered, Wake, Vorator, Lore @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Things are getting heavy once again over at Strange Matter, and all of us are the beneficiaries. Friday night sees an incredible double bill of super-heavy bands (brought to us by the letter W) hitting the stage to level us all. Withered hail from the Southern locale of Atlanta, but their sound is straight out of the Delta swamps that birthed Eyehategod. On their 2016 album, Grief Relic, they manage to simultaneously summon the sludge terror of NOLA’s most depressive sons and the blackened rage channeled by fellow swamp-rats Thou. While doom is certainly a part of Withered’s sound, they spend just as much time going fast and ripping it up black metal style as they do trudging through this ugly world at the pace of a steamroller. Either way, you end up flattened by their sheer heavyosity. And that’s always a good time.

Canadians Wake take a totally different approach. Up North where they’re from, you have to play really fast sometimes just to keep warm, and Wake keeps the pedal to the metal on their brand new album, Misery Rites. They’re sure to do the same thing when they hit the Strange Matter stage, where they’ll infuse their all-out speed destruction with a darkened atmosphere that will evoke terror even at 1000 miles per hour. A dynamic duo of locals, in the form of thrashing-mad ragers Vorator and spooky black metallers Lore, gets things rolling in fiery fashion.

Saturday, April 7, 9 PM
Acid Dad, Camp Howard, Moonwalks, Winstons @ The Camel – $12 (order tickets HERE)
This one’s for all the kids out there who love to hear loud guitars spin perfect melodies out of fuzzy haze. Acid Dad hails from the now-completely-gentrified land of Williamsburg, Brooklyn — but don’t hold that against them. Their brand new self-titled LP sees the three-piece busting out some prime psychedelia, 90s alt-rock style. Tinges of The Stone Roses and Ride come through at times, while others see them evoking early Radiohead (back before they’d been eaten and spit back out by a computer) and even The Strokes — who, yes, are post-Y2k, but at this point who’s counting? The point is that these boys have some real energy behind their songwriting, and they’ll both keep you smiling with their glorious pop hooks and rock hard enough to ensure that you can’t stand still at any point during their set.

It’s appropriate that Acid Dad is joined on this bill by local pop fiends Camp Howard, who utilize much the same formula for success — great melodies, vaguely psych-damaged guitars, and an ever-present sense of youthful energy. The local diehards who show up to catch yet another set from Nic, Wes, and the boys will surely be pleased by what Acid Dad has to offer, and vice versa. This show will also feature some bonus performances by two other touring acts. The Moonwalks are coming to us from Detroit with the most overt psychedelic sound of this entire bill, cranking the loud guitars and getting somewhat of a Brian Jonestown Massacre vibe going. The Winstons originate in New York and go straight for the old-school garage-punk sound, bashing and thrashing with a side of rhythm and blues just like the early Stones. This is an absolute can’t-miss evening — you know what to do.

Sunday, April 8, 7 PM
Manatree, Your Dream Coat, Butt, Grandma @ Gallery 5 – $5
For those of us who keep up pretty obsessively with the local music scene, this one has some interesting things to offer. A live set from the latest incarnation of Manatree is first and foremost on that list. It’s admittedly been a few months since I caught them live, and the latest word from their facebook page is that these days, they’re down to a two-piece and getting more and more interested in the possibilities of electronic music. I would never have predicted this when I first heard Manatree, but then, that’s over five years ago when they were still in high school. Clearly a lot has changed since then, and how this latest round of changes will make themselves known in live performance remains to be seen. So let’s see it at Gallery 5 Sunday night, shall we?

Another intriguing offering on this bill comes from Your Dream Coat, a Brooklyn band who appear to have recently erased all evidence of their music from the internet. So if you ever wondered what things were like back in the 90s when you just had to show up to the show first, and find out if you liked the band second, this is a great opportunity for you to take it back to the old school in this fashion. I don’t really miss it, but hey, we can all handle it every once in a while, right? Local up-and-comers Butt have an intriguing name and a really primitive demo, but to really know what’s up with this band’s weirdo rock n’ roll, you’re gonna have to show up and see them too. Finally, Grandma is a new project from Haybaby’s Leslie Hong, perhaps initiated because Haybaby’s members live in multiple towns. You’re guess is as good as mine, but all will become clear at Gallery 5 this Sunday night, so you know what to do.

Monday, April 9, 7:30 PM
GRID, Ryan Easter @ Black Iris – $6-10 (sliding scale)
I’ve been noticing more and more happenings in the local jazz scene lately, and I guess this show counts as jazz too, since GRID are a trio featuring sax, bass, and drums. However, this one will prove challenging for both newcomers to jazz and dyed-in-the-wool fans. Therefore, since challenges are always a good thing, I’m encouraging you to head over to Black Iris Monday night and catch GRID. This trio features bassist Tim Dahl of the confrontational noise-rock band Child Abuse and drummer Nick Podgurski of math-proggers Extra Life backing saxophonist Matt Nelson (who has played with Tune-Yards and Battle Trance) as he goes completely nuts.

The maniacal sounds Nelson creates by running his sax through distortion and other, weirder effects might make you think of Tom Morello’s weirdest solos for Rage Against The Machine at times, but at others they are more likely to evoke the experimental jazz soundscapes saxophonist Colin Stetson created for his New History Warfare LPs. Regardless of where things stand at any particular moment in the set, the sum total of what these three New Yorkers are creating is sure to knock you off your feet, especially if you show up looking for just another jazz combo. But you shouldn’t be looking for that anyway. Special bonus opening set from Ryan Easter, a local trumpeter and producer who has played with Boston-based live hip hop group Tiger Speak and made records with locally-celebrated rapper Chance Fischer. What he will bring to the table is anyone’s guess, but it won’t bore you.

Tuesday, April 10, 7 PM
Sea Of Storms, Canadian Rifle, Naked Pictures @ Gallery 5 – $6
This Tuesday night promises to be an excellent night of melodic, emotionally-driven punk rock with heart and soul. That is, assuming you do the right thing and head over to Gallery 5 for this show. Sea Of Storms aren’t exactly the fastest-moving band, but then, they aren’t as young as they once were either. Since their first LP in 2015, the group has grown from a trio to a quartet with the addition of former Landmines guitarist Nick Bergheimer, and word has it they’ve been working on a second LP. That’s been the word for a while, honestly, but one thing you can be sure of is that they’ll be playing new material at Gallery 5. Show up so you don’t have to wait for them to finish the album to hear the new jams.

Chicago’s Canadian Rifle are another crew of seasoned veterans who aren’t moving quite as quickly as they once did. Their brand new album, Peaceful Death, is their first since 2013, and judging from first impressions, it was totally worth the wait. For a melodic punk band, they’ve got a harsh and powerful approach, adding the sort of grit and rough edges that keep bands like this interesting and fun as the years go on. The new record shows that their command of melodic choruses that make you feel some feels has in no way diminshed, but it also might be their heaviest record yet, and I have no idea why that’d be anything other than a good thing. So let’s all get stoked to see these two excellent bands once again, especially since we’ll also get an opening set from rockin’ local shredders Naked Pictures to kick the whole thing off. What could be better?

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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] [and yeah, in case you’re wondering, more awesomeness from my cracked and bleeding fingertips is available at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Top Photo by Ken Penn

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond