• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu RVA Mag Logo
  • community
  • MUSIC
  • ART
  • EAT DRINK
  • GAYRVA
  • POLITICS
  • PHOTO
  • EVENTS
  • MAGAZINE
RVA Mag Logo
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Sponsors

VA Shows You Must See This Week: November 7 – November 13

Marilyn Drew Necci | November 7, 2018

Topics: Ann Beretta, Bennett Wales & The Relief, Bigwig, Butt, classical revolution RVA, CounterPunch, Dad, Doll Baby, Fat Spirit, Fishbone, Flora, Good Riddance, gwar, HAUNT, Jackmove, Jafar Flowers, Madison Turner, Mannequin Pussy, Matthew E. White, Miss May I, Miya Folick, Municipal Waste, NØ Man, Pale Waves, Peabody's, planned parenthood, Roosevelt Collier, Sensual World, Shaka's, shows you must see, Slothrust, strange matter, Super Unison, The Broadberry, The Bush League, The Camel, The Candescents, The HofGarden, The National, Toxic Holocaust, Toxic Moxie, Trey Pollard, Ugly Muscle, Video Shoppe, Wargo

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, November 10, 8 PM
GWAR, Municipal Waste, Miss May I, Toxic Holocaust, HAUNT @ The National – $22 in advance/$25 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Folks, it’s time once again that we check in on Richmond’s reigning masters of bloodthirsty metal from outer space. Everyone’s favorite homicidal aliens, GWAR, will return to the National’s stage once again this Saturday night, and it’s sure to be an absolute gorefest, so you know what that means — wear your white t-shirts and get ready to be hit by the cannons of goo that are certain to be unleashed. You know the ones; the ones that throw so much blood and guts all over the place that the National has to drape their balconies in bedsheets just to protect the fancy woodwork. If you think you can be anywhere in the same room as GWAR and stay safe from the splatter, you’re sadly mistaken, but that’s OK — getting covered in slimy stuff of uncertain origin is part of what makes GWAR shows so much fun!

Last year, GWAR released their first new album since the death of founder Dave Brockie. The Blood Of Gods sees the crossover sound GWAR have cultivated over the past several albums giving way to a more over-the-top rock n’ roll sound that sees new vocalist (and originator of the Beefcake the Mighty character) Michael Bishop howling and yowling, Ted Nugent-style. There’s still plenty of thrashing going on with GWAR these days, don’t get me wrong; but the fact that the album ends with a cover of AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood (You Got It)” should tell you something about what you can expect, musically speaking, from GWAR these days.

That said, we all know that the gore-saturated show is the main attraction when seeing GWAR live. But there’s plenty of ass-kicking no-show all-go metal on this bill as well. The main attraction for all of you hoping to spend a few hours focusing on banging your head is the one and only Municipal Waste, who’d been largely dormant for most of this decade but returned to action last year with a beefed-up lineup featuring former Cannabis Corpse axe-slinger Nikropolis on rhythm guitars and their first LP in five years, Slime And Punishment. If you haven’t caught up with the Waste since all that went down, rest assured that they’re gonna fuck you up just like they always have. They’ll do it with the able assistance of their best thrashcore pals, Toxic Holocaust, as well as metalcore mainstays Miss May I and up-and-coming Maiden-esque power-metallers HAUNT. It’s a headbanging bonanza, and it’ll be topped off with a serious bloodbath. Should make for a wonderful weekend.

Wednesday, November 7, 7 PM
Slothrust, Mannequin Pussy, Doll Baby @ The Camel – $12 in advance/$14 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Look out, all you rock n’ rollers — the 90s are still back, perhaps more back than ever, and one great aspect of that is the continued ascendance of powerful songwriters with rough, distorted guitars that hit you hard even as their lyrics and vocal melodies make you feel some strong emotions. Slothrust is one of those groups, and singer-guitarist Leah Wellman is showing the world exactly what she has to offer on their brand new LP, The Pact, released a couple months ago on Dangerbird Records. There’s a darkness to songs like “Planetarium” and “Fever Doggs” that if anything harks back to a pre-90s, pre-Nirvana sensibility. These songs should strike familiar chords for fans of the Meat Puppets, or Green River, and do a great job of demonstrating that Slothrust has more to offer than an unabashed reiteration of what bands like Babes In Toyland and L7 did before (though don’t get me wrong, there’s a good bit of that in there too).

Slothrust are joined on this bill by Mannequin Pussy, a Philadelphia punk band who’ve been making a strong impact in Richmond for years now, and have also been growing beyond their noisy punk roots, into a sound that encompasses a variety of genres and combines rage, passion, and melody in an inspiring manner. Their 2016 album, Romantic, moves from roaring blasts of punk fury into moments of breathtaking melody, complete with shoegaze-style guitar swells. One thing that’s present on all of their songs is a strong emotional foundation that singer-guitarist Marisa Dabice communicates with everything from a breathy croon to a frustrated scream. No matter where each moment lands on the spectrum of her vocal range, though, all of them are honest, real, and gripping in their intensity. This isn’t one you’re going to want to miss. Local support by Doll Baby, who have a great deal in common with both touring bands, completes a powerful trifecta. You know what to do.

Thursday, November 8, 9 PM
Roosevelt Collier, Bennett Wales & The Relief, The Bush League @ The Camel – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
If you love to hear people wail on the electric guitar, this is the show for you. Roosevelt Collier is a pedal steel guitarist with roots in the same “sacred steel” tradition that brought Robert Randolph and his family band into the world, but Collier combines that gospel-soul sound with a Hendrix-ian approach that finds him in high demand with heavyweights like the Tedeschi-Trucks Band and the Allman Brothers. He’s a core member of Snarky Puppy bassist Michael League’s “World Music All-Star Band,” Bokanté, and he’s finally stepped out on his own this year as the frontman for his own group, which he’ll be bringing to the Camel.

Collier and his backing band are on tour in support of his debut solo album, Exit 16, on which he worked again with Snarky Puppy bassist Michael League. The album displays a hell of a range, moving from uptempo workouts to slow, seductive grooves, all with a very heavy bottom end. Collier’s playing is always the star of the show, and the man gets some outstanding noise out of his pedal-steel axe. While instrumental music can sometimes feel a bit bare-bones, you’ll never miss the vocals when Roosevelt Collier is laying waste to his slide guitar. He joins with VA Beach funk-rockers Bennett Wales and the Relief and RVA’s own blues-wailing machine, The Bush League, to tear the roof off the Camel this Thursday, and you should really be there to see — and hear — it all go down.

Friday, November 9, 7 PM
Pale Waves, Miya Folick, The Candescents @ The Broadberry – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
These days when you hear the sort of reverbed guitars and ambient synth sounds that have been a marker of the goth-postpunk sound in vogue at the moment for several years now, you expect to know what you’re getting. Dark moods, downcast eyes, sad lyrics full of desolate imagery that connect strongly with your personal alienation as you sit alone in your room in the dark. But haven’t we all had our fill of that sort of approach to the mid-80s postpunk sound? After a few years, all those 80s goth kids turned into bouncy New Wavers that would rather dance to New Order than cry to the Cure anyway — isn’t it time we found an antidote for our own post-millennial kohl-eyeliner blues?

That’s what Pale Waves is here to offer. The Manchester band may trace their aesthetic back to Siouxsie and the Banshees, but their sound is building on the uplifting synth melodies of recent UK postpunk successes CHVRCHES and adding some of the same glittering guitars and melodic bass lines that the original goth bands excelled at. Recently released LP My Mind Makes Noises hits all the right notes for the kids who still want to wear all black but are discovering the thrill of new love and the promise of sunny days. God knows everything is depressing enough these days… don’t we need our music to lift the veil at least a little bit? If you’re ready to dance with a smile on your face rather than tears in your eyes, come to The Broadberry this Friday night and bounce to the music of Pale Waves. It can’t rain all the time.

Saturday, November 10, 7 PM
Eat Your HRT Out: A Trans Health Clinic Benefit, feat. Toxic Moxie, Madison Turner, Wargo, Dad, Jafar Flowers @ Strange Matter – $15-20 suggested donation
I know, I know, I just wrote about Toxic Moxie like two weeks ago. But what was the rule we established the last time I wrote about them? I do believe it was “you will go see Toxic Moxie whenever they play a show.” We just had an election, but this one wasn’t on the ballot, so it is still very much in force. You want punk rage and disco euphoria? You want serious political views leavened with some good-time party energy? Toxic Moxie have got it all.

And what’s more, they’re bringing it to you this time in support of a very good cause. Planned Parenthood’s Trans Health Clinic is one of the only steady providers of transgender-specific health services in Richmond, and considering that trans people are much more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than the general population, their patients are more likely to face economic strain in finding ways to pay for their medical care. What your donation at the door of this show — which, in addition to the disco party punk of Toxic Moxie, will also feature an always-rockin’ full band set from Madison Turner, some electronic dance sounds from Jafar Flowers, and a good bit more — will go toward is helping ensure that prices for Planned Parenthood’s much-needed medical support for the trans community remain as affordable as possible. Plus you’ll have a great time in the bargain, and who doesn’t need more of those?

Sunday, November 11, 8 PM
Video Shoppe, BUTT, Fat Spirit @ Flora – $?
It’s always fascinating to see how people find ways to do a band despite lacking some seemingly crucial core members. Providence duo Video Shoppe easily found a way around this particular dilemma. No drummer? No problem — just bring in a primitive electronic beat machine, trigger it with foot pedals, and stack TVs and VCRs around you to when you play to make up for the fact that there’s nobody flailing away behind a kit and giving the audience some sudden moves to latch onto.

But that sort of creative problem-solving only goes so far if you don’t have some really cool songs to bring to the world when you play, and Video Shoppe’s latest EP, Nostalgia Trap(s), finds them filling that need in excellent fashion as well. Their pounding drum machine makes for an interesting contrast with their delicate postpunk guitar sound, just as their singer’s moody baritone offers an emotional feel completely different from that presented by their chiming melodies. The result has both power and ethereality, and will glow brightly in the dark room at the back of Flora this Sunday night. Their pairing with local ramshackle garage-rockers BUTT and the glorious grunge fury of Fat Spirit will round out the evening into a blast of rock n’ roll fun you’ll be willing to pay whatever the heck they’re actually charging at the door to get into.

Monday, November 12, 8 PM
Super Unison, NØ Man, Sensual World, Ugly Muscle @ Strange Matter – $10 (order tickets HERE)
This is one I’ve been looking forward to. Super Unison recently released their second LP, Stella, and it took their already powerful post-hardcore sound to a whole new level. You may know this group from the fact that singer-bassist Meghan O’Neil previously fronted ripping fastcore band Punch, but from their inception, Super Unison have had a great deal more to offer than O’Neil’s previous group, as they both retain the hardcore velocity of Punch and integrate the sort of driving, noisy energy of bands like Drive Like Jehu (who inspired the group’s name) and Rodan.

Stella finds Super Unison expanding beyond the sound of their 2016 debut LP by incorporating more dynamic shifts within single songs; they’ve also increased the melodic quotient of their guitar riffs, even as O’Neil’s vocals have become harsher and more emotionally-driven. Some might say these guys have been listening to some of the screamo stuff coming out of their home state of California — Vril, say, or Loma Prieta — and I think there’s definitely evidence to support that conclusion. Whether you’re a fan of passionate screamo, hardcore fury, or noisy rock chaos, though, you’re sure to get a lot out of Super Unison’s unrelenting attack. Put yourself in the way of it — you’ll never regret it.

Tuesday, November 13, 6:30 PM
Classical Revolution RVA presents Trey Pollard, Matthew E. White @ The HofGarden – $7 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
This is about as far as you can get from post-hardcore rage, but like they say, variety is the spice of life. It’s also how we keep things interesting here in Richmond, which a lot of people (including me) will tell you is one of the best music cities in the entire country. This Tuesday night sees some tremendously interesting things happening at The HofGarden, as Spacebomb Records head honchos Trey Pollard and Matthew E. White join together with local chamber music collective Classical Revolution RVA in order to present the live premiere of compositions from Pollard’s new album, Antiphone, coming later this month from Spacebomb.

Trey Pollard isn’t the sort of musician we’re used to interacting with here in the indie rock world. He’s a true composer, one who has done orchestral compositions and arrangements for everyone from Spacebomb compatriots Matthew E. White and Natalie Prass to Scottish indie-folk group The Waterboys and This American Life-affiliated podcast S-Town. Now he’s releasing the first album of his own compositions, which was recorded by a 16 piece ensemble earlier this year with Pollard conducting. For the performance at The Hof, a string quintet featuring members of Classical Revolution RVA will play compositions from Antiphone live for the first time. They’ll also accompany Matthew E. White for portions of a solo piano-and-vocal set that he’ll treat us all to, before we dive fully into the bold new works Pollard is bringing into the world. This is an evening for people who love all forms of music, and are most excited to see something unlike anything else out there. If you’re a true music fan, you’re not going to want to miss it.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Thursday, November 8, 7 PM
Fishbone, Jackmove @ Shaka’s – $27 in advance/$32 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Remember how we were talking earlier about the 90s being back? It doesn’t just show through in the return of sounds and styles that were popular back then; it also shows up in all the bands that are getting back together and returning to the road after decades away. Strictly speaking, this doesn’t describe Fishbone — they’ve been together the whole time, with founding vocalist Angelo Moore and bassist John Norwood Fisher sticking around through thick and thin. However, this year has seen the group return to their classic lineup for the first time since the late 90s. Or, well, that’s not entirely true — no one familiar with the whole saga will be surprised to hear that Kendall Jones isn’t back. But other than Jones, the lineup responsible for classic late-80s/early-90s LPs Truth And Soul, The Reality Of My Surroundings, and the unforgettably titled Give A Monkey A Brain and He’ll Swear He’s The Center Of The Universe is back once again and hitting the road to remind us why we loved Fishbone back in the day.

Of course, some of you are going to wonder what the heck I’m talking about. I hear you muttering: “Who is Fishbone, and why does it even matter?” Here’s the deal: back when “funk-punk” was a real, up-and-coming hybrid genre with underground energy and vitality, Fishbone were at the center of it. Never mind Red Hot Chili Peppers (who knew enough to shout Fishbone out constantly on their early albums); tracks like “Party At Ground Zero,” “Bonin’ In The Boneyard,” “Swim,” and “Everyday Sunshine” showed a talented group absorbing everything from ska and soul to hardcore and metal, then spitting it all back out in a wave of talented originality like nothing else out there, then or now. The members of Fishbone are quite a bit older now, but the songs they created in their heyday are still great, and their talent (and singer Angelo Moore’s boundless energy) are undiminished. This show will be both the perfect introduction for the young ‘uns among you and an outstanding opportunity for those of us who know exactly what Fishbone is all about to see the classic lineup in full nutt-megalomaniac form. Hell yeah.

Saturday, November 10, 7 PM
Good Riddance, Bigwig, Ann Beretta, Counterpunch @ Peabody’s – $20 in advance/$22 day of show (order tickets HERE)
And speaking of excellent bands from prior eras returning to demonstrate that they’ve still got it going on… here’s an excellent example of not one but THREE melodic punk bands of the 90s doing exactly that. California’s Good Riddance are at the top of this bill, nicknamed the “Fall Brawl 2018,” and they’ve got the kind of gritty hardcore feel underlying their more melodic moments to back that name up. Of the 90s Fat Wreck bands that cemented the skatepunk genre as the go-to sound for a generation of rebellious high school freshmen, Good Riddance were always the toughest, the dirtiest, the most hardcore. Returning to action a few years ago after almost a decade away, 2015’s Peace In Our Time showed that Good Riddance still had the goods.

New Jersey’s Bigwig haven’t made a new album in over a decade, but they’ve stayed on the road, cranking out their brand of metallically-melodic skatepunk for years now, and they’re still bringing the fire as well. More momentous news for longtime fans of RVA punk has been the return over the past couple of years of Ann Beretta, who were mainstays here in Richmond back in the late 90s but have been out of action since shortly after the dawning of the new millennium. They came back to us this year with Old Scars, New Blood, a new album of old hits rerecorded for the modern era, and the word is that they’re working on another entirely new collection that’ll hit town in the near future. This weekend, though, old-school RVA heads and melodic punk skate rats alike are gonna want to gas up the coupe and head down to Peabody’s, because this show is going to be full of excellent sounds from the past three decades of punk rock awesomeness.

—-

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

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 12/20-12/26

Marilyn Drew Necci | December 20, 2017

Topics: Andrew Leahey & The Homestead, Capital Ale House, Carousel Kings, Coke Bust, Continental Clouds, Dry Spell, Exebelle, Fighting Gravity, Hardywood, Jackmove, Karen Jonas, Memory Loss, Mistaker, Murphy's Kids, Mylo Shift, Naked Pictures, Nosebleed, Pedals On Our Pirate Ships, Santa Kilmagik, shows you must see, Skalidays, Sports Bar, strange matter, The Camel, The Great Heights Band, The National, The Pietasters, The Pink Spiders

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, December 22, 8 PM
Skalidays 2017, feat. Murphy’s Kids, The Pietasters, Jackmove, Mylo Shift, Santa Kilmagik @ The Camel – $10 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It is the end of an era, y’all. The 2017 Skalidays will mark the final live appearance of Murphy’s Kids. This long-running ska band traces its origins back to the thick of the late 90s punk-ska revival, which brought us bands like Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger, and Save Ferris. On the local level, a bunch of high school kids from the Southside started playing their own version of that sound back in 1999, and over the next 18 years, Murphy’s Kids honed and expanded their sound, outlasting the movement that birthed them and almost every other band that had been part of it to become godfathers of the pop-punk, ska, and reggae scenes in Central Virginia.

Earlier this year, they released their seventh album, a progressive concept album called Time Dilation that expanded into psychedelic territory through the use of ambient soundscapes and heady lyrical themes. It was still just as much of a danceable burst of fun as any of their previous work, though, so it would have been tough for anyone to predict that it would also become their swan song. However, only six months later, the band will leave the stage for the last time as part of the long-running holiday charity benefit they created over a decade ago. One thing’s for sure–they’re going out on top.

Chances are good that Skalidays will live on; after all, it’s bigger than just one band, and it’s been that way for a long time. As if to prove that Skalidays is more than just Murphy’s Kids, their last gig will share headlining with DC ska legends The Pietasters, who’ve been on the scene even longer than Murphy’s Kids and have even more classic albums under their belt with which to establish a lasting legacy. VA Beach reggae-punkers Jackmove and local goof-punk maniac Mylo Shift will round out the lineup, along with some between-set sounds provided by DJ Santa Kilmagik. As always, the proceeds of Skalidays will be given to charity; in this case, it’s Food Not Bombs RVA, a group with a deep political-punk legacy of its own. It’s a fitting end for a band that’s given so much to this city and this scene. Don’t miss your last chance to dance along.

Wednesday, December 20, 8 PM
Pedals On Our Pirate Ships, Sports Bar, Naked Pictures, Mistaker @ Strange Matter – $5
Wow, this is certainly noteworthy–the return of Pedals On Our Pirate Ships, the band that defined RVA folk-punk for years. Originally starting out as Matt Seymour’s acoustic solo project, the band grew to include peppy synths and a tiny, ad hoc percussion kit before finally becoming a full-on four-piece electric band on 2012 LP A Place To Stay. After that album’s release, as members grew older and gained more commitments, Pedals became less and less of a full-time concern. These days, it’s been over five years since their last release, and shows have been hard to come by for quite a while now.

But fear not, fans–Pedals On Our Pirate Ships is set to return tonight at the top of an incredible edition of Strange Matter’s ongoing Locals Only series. The band’s been reconstituted almost completely, with Matt Seymour now being backed by an almost completely new lineup that lacks keyboards but features members of Sundials, among others. There’s no new music to check out as yet, but the band apparently has plenty stored up to unleash upon its fans tonight–so you definitely don’t want to miss it. The addition of a super-solid lineup of heavy hitters including Sports Bar, Naked Pictures, and Mistaker definitely sweetens the pot, but make no mistake, this show is Pedals On Our Pirate Ships’ coming out party, and you’re gonna want to be there to see what their latest incarnation has in store for you.

Thursday, December 21, 7 PM
The Pink Spiders, Carousel Kings, The Great Heights Band @ Capital Ale House – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s been really neat seeing Capital Ale House expand their live offerings over the past several months. Here’s yet another show that I never would have predicted would end up onstage there but is sure to be excellent no matter where it takes place. The killer garage-pop of The Pink Spiders has been excellent for over a decade now, from their super-rad debut, Teenage Graffiti, right up to current singles “Black Dagger” and “Easier Than Ever,” both of which feature slightly glammier sounds but the same killer hooks that always made this band one to watch. A new album’s coming next year, but if you show up to this show, chances are you’ll hear a lot of it early. That’s definitely worth checking out.

Carousel Kings are a pretty strong attraction in and of themselves, so don’t sleep on them. This PA melodic hardcore band first got onto my radar with 2014 LP Unity, which featured some truly devastating emo-punk anthems. Their most recent album, Charm City, is their first for Victory Records, so they’ve hit the big time–and the band definitely rose to the occasion. Anthemic emotional tunes full of melody and power still dominate the album, though there’s a definite tinge from 80s pop-metal geniuses like Poison and Warrant hiding in the mix there somewhere (that’s not a dis, those bands rule. Yeah, I said it). Their hardcore lineage contrasts with the garage-rock background of the Pink Spiders, but these two bands are definitely on the same page where writing killer hooks are concerned. You’d be a fool to miss either one on their own, but together, this bill is unstoppable.

Friday, December 22, 6 PM
Exebelle, Andrew Leahey & The Homestead, Continental Clouds @ Hardywood – Free!
Here’s some excellent news for all the alt-country heads haunting the RVA live music scene. For the first time in six years, Exebelle has a new album for us all. What’s more, it’s a double CD that’s full of all the excellent songs they’ve spent the past half-dozen years putting together. That amount of time has put paid to the band’s former “Rusted Cavalcade” sobriquet, but if anything, the stripped-down name just makes way for some really amazing new tunes. The 19-song double album is still under wraps until this Friday’s release party, but advance singles “The Long Pour” and “Share It With You” both have an outstanding rock n’ roll swagger beneath their country twang, calling to mind The Rolling Stones in their early-70s prime even as they also connect the dots between early Wilco and Southern Rock Opera-era Drive-By Truckers.

The result is potent indeed, and should do more than enough to justify a 19-song double-disc release. It’ll definitely make for a great record release show–Exebelle is promising 75 minutes of music spanning their decade-long career (the majority of which, it must be noted, would be represented by songs from the new record), and of course, they’ll have the new album for sale as well. Exebelle will be joined on the bill by fellow twangy rock n’ rollers Andrew Leahey and the Homestead, who hail from Nashville and are touring behind last year’s excellent Skyline In Central Time LP, a great pairing with the latest offering from Exebelle. Locals Continental Clouds, formerly known as Eric Hunter and the Distractions, will open up with some rad power-pop sounds. Don’t miss a moment of this one.

Saturday, December 23, 8 PM
Coke Bust, Dry Spell, Memory Loss, Nosebleed @ Strange Matter – $10 (order tickets HERE)
It’s the weekend before Christmas, and it’s time to bring it all back home with a raging hardcore banger to get all the kids back from school for the holiday out of their parents’ house and into the pit! Coke Bust have been around for over a decade now, dishing out their lightning-speed straight edge fastcore with a fury that just does not let up. It’s been four years since their last release, the Confined LP (which was pressed to 12 inch vinyl even though it’s less than 10 minutes long), destroyed turntables across the world with its furious velocity, and Coke Bust have become a bit of a part-time concern in the years since (seemingly the way of all things where the hardcore scene is concerned), but they’re back with a vengeance to let it rip onstage at Strange Matter once again this Saturday night.

Also back in action is Dry Spell, a Richmond hardcore band who brings the fury in a more rockin’, less speedy fashion than Coke Bust, and demonstrated their technique on their self-titled 2010 LP for local label Vinyl Conflict. These guys are even less active than Coke Bust these days, but you can rely on them returning to terrorize unsuspecting audiences on at least an occasional basis. Looks like Christmas is the perfect time to make that happen, and combined with killer opening sets from currently active RVA hardcore killers Memory Loss and Nosebleed, this will make for a devastating night of sweat and lunacy. You’ve gotta get all spiffed up for grandma’s house the next day anyway, right? What better time to rage?

Tuesday, December 26, 8 PM
Fighting Gravity, Karen Jonas @ The National – $20 in advance/$23 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s a late Christmas gift from the patron saint of ska, who apparently decreed that the final Murphy’s Kids show just wasn’t enough unmissable amazingness for one week. That’s right–you have the opportunity to celebrate the Feast of Stephen this year with the reunited Fighting Gravity. How could you possibly turn down a chance like this? Well, it’s certainly possible you don’t remember this band from their first time around–I recognize that I’m no spring chicken, and a lot of you probably weren’t even born when No Stopping No Standing came out in 1994. But see, here’s the thing–you can’t even tag Fighting Gravity as being part of that late 90s ska-punk revival. They predated all of that.

Originally known as Boy O Boy (they got sued out of that one), these guys put together a muscular brand of ska with some distinct heavy rock influences, then proceeded to take over RVA with an incredible live show that got huge crowds sweating and skanking with big smiles on their faces. Their mid-90s heyday was marked by excellent albums like Forever = 1 Day and the aforementioned No Stopping No Standing. They grabbed at the brass ring of major label success–which still seemed possible in those heady post-Nirvana days–but never quite made it to the level of Reel Big Fish and all those other bands we talked about before. But Richmond heads know–this band was easily as good as any of them. And 20 years later, their live show is sure to be just as powerful and energetic as it ever was. So end your extended holiday weekend with a reunion that will truly remind Richmond how great we once had it, and give us all the opportunity to relive those days once again.

—-

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] [yes, my email is through GayRVA, don’t get weird about it]

sidebar

sidebar-alt

Copyright © 2021 · RVA Magazine on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Close

    Event Details

    Please fill out the form below to suggest an event to us. We will get back to you with further information.


    OR Free Event

    CONTACT: [email protected]