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The Sweet Sounds of Deau Eyes

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Local film collective RVA Track continues to show us how much musical talent there is right here in our town with its monthly live music video series. From McKinley Dixon to Saw Black to Kenneka Cook, the crew over there does a great job of capturing different bands and musicians performing in intimate settings and sessions.

The group recently premiered “Autonomy,” from Richmond’s Deau Eyes, an indie rock group fronted by powerhouse singer/songwriter Ali Thibodeau. You may recognize her from WhateverHoney [Angelica Garica, Hannah Goad] and local cover band Trunk Show, but if she hasn’t been on your radar, she should be, because the girl has some serious pipes.

Deau Eyes is Thibodeau’s solo project and earlier this year, she launched a crowdfunding campaign to record her debut full-length album. Up until this point, we didn’t have much music from them, and Thibodeau’s been keeping busy recording and touring the country all And judging from her sultry vocals on this tune, fans will be in for a treat.

According to her crowdfunding site, Deau Eyes is slated to drop her debut album sometime in January 2019 and go back out to tour yet again sometime after that. Until we get to hear more from the singer, keep this in rotation, and make sure to catch Deau Eyes on Oct. 6 at Hardywood alongside The Head and Landon Elliot.

 

 

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

The Franz Ferdinand Interview

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Franz Ferdinand is ready to ‘take you out,’ as this award-winning British band makes their debut appearance in Richmond this Saturday. With a new album, “Always Ascending,” in tow, the indie rock band has hit the road once again, bringing their suave, bouncy dance music to the States.

Now nearly 16 years old, much has changed for these British boys based out of Glasgow, Scotland. Many of the members now have families, which was the motivation behind guitarist Nick McCarthy’s decision to step back from rocker life and into his role as a dad. After his departure, the band invited Julian Corrie to join, a 33-year-old keyboardist with a background in electronic music.

“Having a lineup change gave us the opportunity to push different things in the band than we have previously,” said bassist Bob Hardy. “When we sat down to write the record, we wanted to push that bounce to stress when we play live. We always had that bounce in our music, and absolutely having electronic sounds pushed more to the front. This album is maybe synth-heavier than previous albums, but we gave ourselves the time to play around with synths in the studio and we’re playing around with different instruments and different synthesizers.”

Corrie’s new band members are his seniors by nearly 20 years, but according to Hardy, they welcomed his fresh take. They found he meshed well with the other members of the band and could offer his electronic music background experience for their new album.

“It was something we just had to make the best out of and enjoy expanding the opportunity of having someone much younger in the band,” Hardy said. “It feels like the beginning of the band, or it feels sort of like a new band in many ways, which is nice, it gives a new energy.”

However, after two Brit Awards and several Grammy nominations, as well as 16 years of success, the benefits of their experience is not lost on Hardy.

“What we’re capable live and in the studio now is broader,” Hardy said. “It’s more enjoyable now, the more you’re capable and the more potential you have. As time goes on, I enjoy playing live shows more and more. At first, it’s overwhelming, but you get used to the touring life and you get focused on the energy of the show and putting a show together and playing.”

As Franz continues to experiment with new sounds, they make a point to include the bouncy, rock-pop dance music they set out to make in 2002, but are also excited to see the genre move with the times and the technology available to them. With Corrie’s participation, new tracks like those found on “Always Ascending,” which dropped earlier this year, bring more raw, disco or atmospheric sounds.

“That’s one of the exciting things about being a part of music, you don’t know what’s going to be happening in two or three or five years time,” Hardy said. “You just enjoy it in the moment. Often an album sounds like what we were enjoying on the previous tour and what we were enjoying musically at the time.”

Franz Ferdinand was also recently part of a project titled, “30 Days, 30 Songs,” self-described as “a playlist of songs written and recorded by musicians for a Trump-free America.” Franz’ contribution, “Demagogue,” slams Trump and all his antics. Hardy saw it as a way to release some of the anger and frustration at hearing Trump’s public sexist and xenophobic statements. However, when asked if the band might write similar music concerning the UK and Brexit, Hardy thought it unlikely.

“It’s far too depressing,” Hardy said. “[Brexit is] just a huge national folly. It’s just an act of self-sabotage.”

However, Hardy and his bandmates have been putting that out of their mind as they enjoy touring once more. He finds that playing music here versus playing back home carries almost no difference, as everyone enjoys dancing to their poppy tunes.

“I think humans beings have the same reactions to music and they go to live shows for the same reasons,” Hardy said. “There’s always a celebratory joy for seeing live music.”

Catch Franz Ferdinand this Saturday, Aug. 11 at The National. Show starts at 8 PM. Tickets are $24.50 and you can snag yours here. 

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Finding the Metapolitics With Hoax Hunters

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Dormant, the latest extended play release by Richmond band Hoax Hunters, addresses blurred lines between art and politics. The band’s previous release, 2017’s “SAD!” was a reaction to the virulent political discourse of the 2016 presidential election, but their latest work takes a more nuanced approach to the topic.

The new tracks are ostensibly about art and culture, and were originally written as a lighthearted counter to their aggressive 2015 record Clickbait, but its release was put on hold as the 2016 election progressed. Vocalist and guitarist PJ Sykes, who is also a political activist, said that the songs on the record didn’t match the urgency of the political moment.

Instead, the band released “SAD!”, a turgid, punk influenced number that purposefully steals part of the guitar line from Black Flag’s “Rise Above”, and samples the voice of Dave Brat, U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 7th congressional district. Sykes volunteered with Eileen Bedell’s campaign to unseat the incumbent Brat in 2016, although they were ultimately defeated by a large margin.

“That song was directed at [Brat], but also at Trump and the people he brought into power,” he said. “It’s straightforward, we just want to be part of the conversation.”

Shortly after the election, Sykes was forced to step away from his activism due to a cancer diagnosis. As of now he has beat the disease, but the time he spent in recovery allowed him to take a step back from his political work and see the bigger picture. This prompted him to revisit the songs on Dormant, and reassess the relevancy of art and culture in the current political climate.

“I still think it’s important to take a break and enjoy life,” he said. “What matters the most, after taking care of each other with shelter and food and that sort of thing, the only thing that matters to me is art and culture. It seems almost better to celebrate that right now.”

For Sykes, the end result of his activist work is to get back to creating. The lyrical topics on Dormant range from surrealist painting to connecting with people over art objects, and draws a line between his activism and art.

The band expertly mimics the sound of 80s and 90s noise rock and punk, sharing sonic similarities with indie bands like Sebadoh and Royal Trux, or more current bands like Estrogen Highs. The band uses lo-fi recording techniques to give the guitars a chainsaw-esque buzz that also brings the sound in line with early punk and hardcore acts. “Teenage Message”, the first song on the EP, features Ottawa, Ontario-based singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Catriona Sturton on harmonica. Sturton was formerly a member of Canadian power pop band Plumtree.

As DIY punk and indie subcultures sink further into media’s long tail, the tendency to create in a bubble has become commonplace; Hoax Hunter’s willingness to engage with political and cultural topics in a meaningful way while still retaining some artistic merit is atypical of Richmond’s DIY subcultures, and sets them apart from much of the local enclave.

Yet Dormant may be the bands final release. Sykes said that Hoax Hunters is going on an indefinite hiatus after they play several shows this summer in support of the release. He has several other music projects lined up that he will begin working on in the fall, but nothing concrete. His political activism has slowed recently, but he said that he has been able to continue his spat with Brat by volunteering with Abigail Spanberger’s current campaign for U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 7th congressional district.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Young Scum: Perfecting their Sound among the Meta-Chaos

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Richmond twee band Young Scum are preparing for the release of their debut self-titled LP on Citrus City Records and Spanish label Pretty Olivia Records in July after some hectic recording sessions earlier this year. Citrus City is releasing a cassette-only version of the album, while Pretty Olivia will be issuing the record on vinyl in Europe. The band has been writing and releasing music for almost five years and this release is their most complete recording to date.

“I don’t think production-wise we really did anything that different, we just got better at playing and writing together,” said bassist Brian Dove. “I think the style has changed slightly, but we’ve matured a little bit.”

Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chris Smith said that the new LP is a continuation of their previous EP, Zona, which was also released in 2015 on Citrus City and Pretty Olivia records.

“We didn’t do anything wacky,” Smith said about the new LP. “The songs are a little more fleshed out than Zona. They sound pretty similar, but they’re more lush.”

The band initially recorded their new material with Tim Falen at his studio in Northside over the course of one weekend last winter. Yet after listening to the takes they realized they rushed the recording and decided to redo the lead guitar parts with their friend Mitch Clem – who ended up mixing and mastering the record.

The style that Young Scum have been mining over the last half-decade is rooted in 80’s jangle pop like Television Personalities, The Wedding Present, and Teenage Fanclub, but Smith’s songwriting makes the band more than just a retrospective. He writes songs with straightforward and honest lyrics that are relatable to twenty-somethings who are trying to find a balanced lifestyle amidst the meta-chaos of the today’s cultural climate.

Smith said that he likes to write about the mundane struggles of life, like having bad jobs or bad life experiences. And while many lyricists tend to obscure what they are saying, either mumbling their lyrics or burying them beneath reverb, Smith’s vocals are high in the mix, a candid approach to writing and recording lyrics that is reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian or The Smiths.

“It’s hard to open up, but that’s one of the joys of being a performer,” he said.

Smith and the rest of the band said that aside from the lyrical content, their primary focus is writing catchy pop songs. The first song on the new record, “Wasting Time,” doesn’t disappoint. Lead guitarist Ben Medcalf opens the song with a Byrds-esque lead before the rest of the band falls in, and Smith’s bittersweet lyrics undercut the energetic bounce of the dueling guitars.

“We didn’t want to do anything super ambitious,” said Smith. “We just wanted to make good pop songs.”

Young Scum plans to tour on the new record later this year, and although the record is being pressed in Europe, they don’t have any immediate plans to tour there yet. You can catch them live at their record release show on Friday, July 6 at Hardywood Brewery.

Cover Photo from Young Scum Facebook. 

Texas rock outfit Spoon Takes the Stage at The National Tonight

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Like the North American sleuth of music, Spoon has once again emerged from the snow-laden hollows of their respective keeps. The Texas-based rock outfit takes the stage tonight at The National. In a competitive arena where many look to join the reunion circuit for relevance, Spoon shoots this notion in the foot, emerging from their hibernation for their next quadrennial masterpiece.

Members Britt Daniel (vocals, guitar) and Jim Eno (drums, keyboard) Rob Pope (bass), Alex Fischel (guitar) come together for Hot Thoughts, Spoon’s ninth album, another stellar mark to the band in full stride despite their 19-year reign over the rock world, this time combining the influences of funky electronics and new wave antics, ditching the guitar for keyboard galore and a tempo that Martha Reeves could appreciate.

Inspirations drawn over the years, Daniel’s songwriting are transparent in this album, as the inimitable musician shows a certain mastery in the funky feels he only skimmed across in their previous yet equally incredible 2014 LP, They Want My Soul. This album especially has a strange duality between bittersweet self-awareness and haunting yet empathetic carnage. To put it simply, the title alone says it all.    

Consistent enough in each album to be iconic, yet branch out enough in versatility between albums to show listeners they have changed since their initial breakout success of 2001’s Girls Can Tell. From there, I would say each album was consistent yet progressive to sculpt their own aura, a band most have no reason not to listen to, no album not worth a purchase. Between their radio-friendly 2007 album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga crowding the O.C., and the introspective response in 2010’s Transference, Spoon has retained a spot of excellence, seizing the days prior to the indie rock insurgence of 2011.

With a voice too raspy for Lennon and too sober for Lou Reed, Daniel’s minimalistic prose flows with the electronic riffs in “WhisperI’lllistentohearut”, a song that almost masters in four minutes and 20 seconds what LCD Soundsystem took an entire album to explore in their 2017 American Dream, and that was nominated for a Grammy. Their latter track “Do I Have to talk You Into It” plays out like a beautiful mess of Big Pink electronics and a flow reminiscent of Queens of The Stone Age in their prime.

With any review or noteworthy narrative on the band, writers tend to overlap on the same fixation: how Spoon balances being consistent with not being boring, and how they are great for doing so. Boom.I think the wildest thing any of them have done is Jim Eno (drums, keyboard) shotgunned beers with Drew Barrymore. The rest- all hooplah. I mean the guy doesn’t even allow his bandmates to sport a beard. As Daniel has repeated in numerous interviews, he is a musician, not a rock star, so expect a show that provides what you come for in the first place.

Spoon hits The National tonight at 8 PM. Tickets are $28.50 which you can grab here. 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

 

VA Beach’s Feral Conservative’s drop new LP, ‘Better Lives’

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Egghunt Records‘ Feral Conservatives have been on our radar since the Virginia Beach punk/indie pop band released a short political film “Twenty-Eight“, targeting Donald Trump. Since then, the group put out the well-received album Here’s To Almost, come back from a Southwest tour, added a band member, and earlier this month, dropped a new LP, Better Lives.

The 12-track album, according to drummer Matt Francis, reveals the band’s hopes and uncertainties and is the  “truest band record” they have had.  After the success of Here’s to Almost, which dropped at the beginning of last year, the band was met with the challenge of building on that momentum. 

“It was always kind of like, ‘well where do we go from here? How do we continue this trajectory upward, how do we improve on this foundation?’,” Francis said.

One asset the band was especially excited about for this album was bringing on Jon Auer of the Posies to mix and bring his own special touch to Better Lives. Auer also recorded and produced Here’s to Almost and co-produced Better Lives along with Mark Padgett. On Better Lives, however, he added his own style and collaborated with the band to improve the record and add depth to it.

“It’s mostly like ear candy, textual stuff, but I really think it helps elevate everything,” Francis said.  “I think it really brought a cohesion to all the different sounds and tones we were giving him.”

Feral Conservatives recorded at Chesapeake’s Earthsound Recording back in November 2016 and wrapped up back in April. Better Lives is a continuation of the band’s garage folk sound which is greatly improved by the addition of full-time guitarist, Zach Jones, who rounds out the group as a four-piece with Dan Avant on bass and Rashie Rosenfarb as lead vocalist/mandolin player. 

The songs cover a wide range of topics from growing up, to parental relationships and while some bands struggle to present such different topics through one cohesive album, Feral Conservatives nailed it. Rosenfarb’s melodic, soothing voice carries listeners through the album and makes every track easy to digest.

“I think we covered a lot of ground in a good way, but I think it also all melds together and makes a lot of sense in the track order and also the way it was mixed,” Francis said.

The songs move into one another nicely and tell the story of maturing and finding themselves as a band and as individuals in adulthood. Better Lives showcases the artists’ different talents through songs like “Sun Room” which is more melodic, and “Sippin’ Slowly”, which is loud and filled with energizing guitar solos. Each member of the band wrote at least one song on the album, which contributed to its cohesiveness and artful demonstration of each member’s talents.

Feral Conservatives also challenged themselves with this album. They explored other styles of songs with one written in 5/4 time signature and ended the album with an eight-minute shoegaze style song which was completely new to the band.

“We’re looking to punch above our weight and to succeed in certain areas we maybe don’t feel we have a chance in, and I think that’s where the concept of ‘Better Lives‘ came from,” Francis said.

No shows on the horizon yet for the band, but your eyes peeled on RVA Mag for more the band.

Photo Credit: Beth Austin