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Illiterate Light’s Unique Journey To Musical Bliss

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New EP Sweet Beast finds Virginia duo Illiterate Light becoming their best selves as they work to conquer the music world beyond their home state.

Illiterate Light, the duo of guitarist/vocalist Jeff Gorman and drummer/back-up vocalist Jake Cochran,  released their new EP Sweet Beast on January 18. For the fruit of over a year’s worth of work, Sweet Beast showcases just how dynamic, lush, and expansive a sound that a group made up of only two men can make.

“Sweet Beast,” the EP’s title track, deals with the sense of self both Gorman and Cochran have been grappling with since they became friends back in 2010.

“In one way it’s the process of waking up, and in a certain sense getting in touch with your highest self, or your best self,” said Gorman. “The verses represent the way our ego tends to operate, and the chorus represents this more free version of yourself. On a day to day basis we flow back and forth through our restricted ego and that higher self.”

“Sweet Beast” was written in only 30 minutes, and was the last song written for the EP.

“We didn’t sit down and try to perfect it a whole lot,” said Gorman. “It was just really raw, and almost animalistic in that way.”

Acknowledging their animal side is familiar to the duo. Years back they were faced with a decision: to stay working full time as organic farmers, which they had done for about three years in Harrisonburg, only playing music on the weekends; or to go out and live their dreams of touring as full-time musicians. They chose the latter, and as they tour now everywhere from Vermont to Florida, even heading to SXSW this summer, they have an appreciation for the cultural and idea-sharing function their band serves for those they encounter.

“One of our mentors told us, ‘In a forest there’s trees and shrubbery, things that are rooted, and then there are animals who can go up to the top of the mountain to hunt and look for food. As they eat they also poop, and when the rains come it pushed those nutrients from the feces back down the mountain, which leads to healthier soil. Right now you guys are animals, out there spreading ideas and art and connecting the culture. If you’re gonna go out there and do this you gotta do it to the fullest,’” said Gorman. “Our ecological function right now is to be out and moving, and there will still be times when we will be rooted. Right now we’re animals, and soon again we’ll be a tree.”

What lead them to become the animals they are today was a long road of pushing themselves into all of the exciting opportunities they could get their hands on. They’ve learned a lot as part of that process. Before settling into their rhythm of being full-time musicians, they worked together as organic farmers, spending time at Harrisonburg’s Our Community Place. Cochran also learned how to build tiny houses with his wife, while Gorman worked as a substitute teacher.

“It was more School of Rock than anything else. I would bring in posters and get kids at Harrisonburg High School to write the information down,” said Gorman. “I definitely was the butt end of some high schooler’s jokes. I have long hair and a beard, so sometimes they called me Mr. Jesus.”

While they started working together as musicians in college at JMU, places like Our Community Place shifted the duo’s focus to what the world had for them beyond campus. While spending time there, the duo found encouragement to step away from what may have been expected of them post-graduation and truly go after what they wanted. They ended up on a very unconventional path as they shifted from being a college group to being a professional band.

These days, the duo gives back by talking to students, who are looking to start their own music careers, about their experiences. A question they often get is how they managed to shift outside of the university setting and begin making their mark in other non-local communities.

“When we started, we would hit up a band from a different city and say, ‘Hey, so we have a pretty good buzz down here in Harrisonburg, if you guys come down here you’re guaranteed to play for 50 to 75 people. We can host you for a night and make you breakfast, and we’ll do a house show and pass the basket, make sure you guys get at least $100,’” said Gorman. “We looked to each city we wanted to go to, and rather than going there first, we invited a band from that city to our city and threw a good show for them. We were doing a show trade, basically, where we made sure to put in the effort first.”

After doing their own heavy lifting, managing their careers and performances, paying their dues playing covers at bars and weddings, and branching out into the various Virginia scenes, Illiterate Light has found its way into a blossom. Now with professional management, the duo is focused on touring, spreading their music as far as they can, impacting the people they meet in positive ways, and creating new music.

Later this year they also expect to release a full length album, the title and release date of which have not yet been decided. However, the album has been recorded in full at Montrose in Richmond, a studio that Illiterate Light has been able to call home.

As the year continues, Illiterate Light will be touring as much as possible, playing shows in their hometown, Harrisonburg, where the band was born; one of their favorite cities, Richmond, where the band grew up; and beyond. But despite their current wide-ranging ambitions, they haven’t forgotten the ideas that inspired them in their first days of being a full-time band.

“It all comes back to a desire to have a full and meaningful life, which sometimes isn’t always available in mainstream society,” said Gorman. “How can we live in a way that is fulfilling for us, and is positive and teachable for the world at large and our immediate community.”

Photos: Via Illiterate Light/Facebook

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Mekong Xpress Delivers Funky Soulful Debut Album, ‘Common Knowledge’

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For a group of musicians who came together by accident, Mekong Xpress have kept fans coming back time and time again. Holding down a weekly residency at The Answer Brewpub since 2013, the lively, eclectic group has entertained crowds with their mix of vintage blues, R&B, and funk, and this month, we will finally get to hear what they’ve been working on these past few years with the release of their debut album, “Common Knowledge.”

“It was a really cool, organic experience, I’ve never had anything creative happen like this,” said bassist/vocalist Todd Herrington. “We’re all in heavy touring bands so any second that we had that we could get together, we put a mark in the studio and recorded some stuff.”

The story of how the band formed isn’t the typical “met in college” or “parent’s garage,” or “house show” tale. Herrington, along with guitarist Andrew Raspisarda, keyboardist Ben White (Cris Jacobs Band), and drummer Kelli Strawbridge  (KINGS, Mikrowaves) have An Bui to thank for bringing them together.

After noticing a regularly packed restaurant of musicians on Monday nights, Bui, who owns Mekong and The Answer, suggested the crew start performing at the West Broad Street restaurant.

“The next Monday, the whole back room was set up, we hadn’t played together or anything,” he said. “Some of us knew each other, some of us didn’t. It was a scene. Every Monday night, it was awesome. Everyone would meet there, and then An would teach you about beer, you would be there after hours he would cook for you, the musicians would get to talk about music and hang out.”


Soon, their casual Monday night jam session grew to a full-fledged band, moving over to play The Answer Brewpub a year later with JC Kuhl (sax), Bob Miller (trumpet), Toby Whitaker (trombone), and Hector Barez (percussion), coming on to amplify their sound and round them out as Mekong Xpress and the Get Fresh Horns.

In 2014, the band started writing together and in the fall of that year, they finally headed into the studio at Montrose, working with Adrian Olsen and Alex Spalding on material that would later make up their debut album. Known for their funky, groovy originals as well as covers, this nine-track album is all original material and a soulful collection of songs that was a collaborative process among the group.

The name of the album, also their second single which officially drops Oct. 9, is a personal message to a friend that Herrington said is a favorite among the members.

“We all love ‘Common Knowledge’ and the way it was written, it was this really great creative moment all of us we’re contributing and it was really cool,” he said.

With most members on the road constantly, touring with major acts like Shakira, Foxygen, Blues Traveler, Govt Mule as well as local big names like Bio Ritmo and Matthew E. White., Herrington said Mekong Xpress serves as a fun creative outlet for each of the members even though they can only get together once a week.

“It’s like a release. We can literally never play together other than these Monday nights,” he said.

Mekong Xpress finished up the album this spring and decided to put it out on vinyl through local record label, Egghunt Records.  Herrington has known Egghunt founder Adam Henceroth since childhood, and while they’ve released other material on other labels, when it came to their debut, he said he knew he wanted to collaborate with Henceroth.

“Adam and I had always talked about doing something together and when this project happened, I thought it would be fun to work with him,” he said.

To give you a taste of what’s to come, the band has released the first single, “Light On,” an upbeat, feel-good tune that’s got this super trancey 70s vibe to it featuring local producer Dj Harrison.

“It’s a quirky little thing. It’s another example of us writing together and throwing stuff at the wall and messing around with sounds and sections in the studio,” he said.

According to Herrington, much of the album pulls from the 60s and 70s. The song “Games” has an Earth Wind and Fire vibe for all you old school music lovers. But “Common Knowledge” doesn’t stick to any one genre so there’s a little something in there for everybody, no matter what you get down to.

“There’s instrumental stuff, there’s different genres all over. There’s some jazz funk tunes, there’s some classic rock tunes, some R&B stuff,” he said. “There was no plan we would just write, the four of us would just get together and sit in a room and play off each other and however it sounded was fine.”

And while they’ve performed at Cary St. Cafe and other venues around town, The Answer Brewpub is their home, where that chemistry and creativity initially sparked, and Herrington doesn’t see the band changing that up anytime soon.

“We’ll do it as long as he [An] wants us,” he said. “We love being here, it could be a great crowd it could be three people, it doesn’t really matter, we’re here to just make music together.

Mekong Xpress will throw their record release party next Fri., Sept. 28 at The Camel, with performances by Kenneka Cook and Sid Kingsley. The official online release of the album will drop Oct. 19.

Photos By: Joey Wharton Photography 

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

The Rise of Holy Roller

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You may not be familiar with the name Holy Roller or even know what it is, but you will definitely recognize some of the faces in this four-piece band that has recently made its debut, with an album slated to drop this fall.

Holy Roller is a new project from the guys of former Southern rock band Big Mama Shakes, who performed their last show under the name back in the spring. And now, armed with a new member, new material, and a new name and sound, the band is eager to show fans, old and new, what they’ve been working on. 

Since forming in 2013, Big Mama Shakes entertained Richmond crowds and beyond with their raw, energetic shows and southern charm. Since releasing their debut album, “As She Does” in 2015, the group built up a solid following with a monthly residency at The Camel, touring up and down the east coast and midwest, and playing alongside major names like Passion Pit, Incubus, and Nathaniel Rateliff.

While finding success musically, they weren’t without their shakeups. They went through a few lineup changes back in 2015, and again when drummer Chandler Matkins left to pursue a job with a theater company in Kentucky at the beginning of this year. Lady Empire’s Isaac Friend sat on drums for a bit, but recently departed the band and was replaced by Ryan Davis, who plays drums for the Richmond Ballet. In addition to that, their former guitar player, Gabe Taylor, also left to pursue other ventures.

“We lucked out that all this stuff happened immediately after we were done recording,” said vocalist Brady Heck. Between that, the gradual shift in their sound, and some confusion with blues-rock band Alabama Shakes, Heck said it was time for a transformation.

“At the end of the day, we had so much changeup with members and the music has changed now, it seemed like the appropriate time to move forward with something new,” he said. “The album was recorded with the intention of being Holy Roller and being a different band and being a different sound.”

Now with a firm lineup of Heck on vocals/guitar, Davis on drums, founding member Peter Cason on bass, and Bryce Doyle on keys, Holy Roller was ready to start carving out a name for themselves. For the band’s debut album, the group headed into Montrose Recording in late March, working with Adrian Olsen and Alex Spalding to churn out material they’d been writing. And while they were only there a week, Heck said recording at the local studio was one for the books.

“We were there pulling 10 hour days and it became a family-oriented process and everybody was invested,” he said. “They’ve got a little house attachment to the studio and by the end of the week, we were cooking dinner together and eating like a family. We’ve recorded a lot of places but I’ve never had an experience like that.”

Produced by Super Doppler guitarist, the yet to be named album is a shift from the southern rock fans are used to from Big Mama Shakes. While stressing not to label the new project as country music, Heck compares it to Ryan Adams and said the forthcoming release centers around a theme of returning to your roots.

“I found a deep-rooted love fairly recently for old outlaw country music,” Heck said. “That was something I was brought up around my whole life, my mom is a musician that has always played in country bands.”

While not initially a fan of the genre growing up, Heck said after he fell on some hard times, it was an old Willie Nelson record that picked him back up.

“All of a sudden [it] made a whole lot of sense and from there, the songwriting changed and everybody got on board,” he said. “The music went from being the big show that Big Mama Shakes kind of was, to being more song-centered, focusing more on the story.”

And for the first time, Holy Roller wrote most of the songs together as a band. In the past for Big Mama Shakes, Heck had been the primary songwriter.

“It’s a cool thing to see somebody that never really experimented with writing music blossom as a songwriter over the course of a couple weeks,” he said. “It’s not this ringleader circus anymore, it’s more of a well-oiled machine and everybody’s got an idea of the way it’s supposed to sound because they had a part in putting it together.”

As far as the name, Heck credits that to Cason.

“It was kind of a joke,” he said. “I come from a super religious upbringing I was brought up on a house divided and both were super religious. Regardless of what we follow now, it’s sort of a harkening back to where we come from and the same could be said for the music we’re doing now.”

But not to fret longtime BMS fans, there will be a few songs for you on the new release.

“There’s going to be a little bit of crossover that if you were here, in the beginning, you will be able to see,” Heck said. And while they aren’t giving away any teasers to the new music, from what RVA Mag has heard, the new sound is going to be something that longtime fans and new listeners can dig. 

For now, Heck said Holy Roller is working on getting their name out there a little more before setting a date for an album release party in the fall. In the meantime, you can catch Holy Roller at Hardywood’s Goochland location this Sat., Sept. 1, at the Tuckahoe Creek Americana Festival alongside Dharma Bombs, Hackensaw Boys, The Tillers, Dogwood Tales, The Judy Chops, VILLAGES, Alexa Rose, Mackenzie Roark, and Eliza Jane. 

Photo By: Joey Wharton Photography 

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

RVA Mag Premiere: Brunswick’s ‘Through The Trees’, Album Release Party On Saturday

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It’s been five years in the making, but we finally have a debut album from Richmond brass ensemble, Brunswick.

The 13-piece jazz orchestra is the brainchild of John Hulley, member of another little Richmond brass group who you may have heard of, NO BS! Brass Band. Hulley, a former trombonist in the VCU Pep Band, recruited the talents of his fellow bandmates Reggie Pace and Sam Koff when he started this project back in 2012.

Entertaining fans with their original compositions as well as putting their own special twist on well-known hits, the big band jazzy ensemble brings a fresh take on the genre.

Fittingly titled Five Years, the nine-track album, slated to drop June 16, is a culmination of what they’ve been working on and performing over the years, showcasing Brunswick’s more modern jazz sound, with some “emo jazz,” as Hulley referred to it at one point during our chat, thrown in.

“The album is all original music, there’s no covers on there,” Hulley said. “We started with a bunch of covers and a few originals. Usually, we’ll play two full sets of music in a night, so we do have a lot of cool covers in our book, so it took awhile to make a full album of original music.”

But while the ensemble kills it with covers like Daft Punk’s “Something About Us”, and Frank Ocean’s “Super Rich Kids”, Hulley said when it came to putting out the band’s debut record, he wanted a compilation that was uniquely their own.

“I felt like it was the most representative of the band and the sound,” he said of Five Years.  

Hulley just wrapped up his tour with Bon Iver, but I managed to catch a quick moment with him to chat about the album, what its like performing with big names like Iver and Sufjan Stevens, and their upcoming release show at The Camel. Oh yeah, and the awesome video the band is letting RVA Mag premiere.

The song, “Through the Trees” is the third track on the album, which features local dancer Russy J grooving through the Randolph neighborhood.

“We {Russy} sat down and listened to a couple different tracks, and I said nobody had done anything for that one yet and he was like, ‘Yeah! This one works great for me!’” “The jacket Russy wears in the video, that is also on the cover of the album, was designed and painted by EARL MACK, a local RVA artist and one of my favorite creative dudes in the city.  It was awesome finally getting a chance to bring him into the fold on one of my projects and something I had been hoping to do for awhile since becoming a fan of his work.”

While the band didn’t officially get in the studio until about two summers ago to record Five Years, Hulley said all the material has been building up since he first embarked on the project, but his hectic schedule never allowed him time to fully focus on it.

Indeed, if you’ve been following Hulley’s success, than you know he’s been quite the busy guy from performing at the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival in Wisconsin alongside Pace to sharing the stage with huge acts like Blind Boys of Alabama to performing as a member of Sufjan Stevens’ backing band, and most recently, touring this spring with Bon Iver.

“I have been blessed to be on some of on these amazing tours, and it’s been a minute since I’ve been able to find the time to really drop this thing, so it’s exciting to finally be able to put it out,” he said.

Pace has been involved with Bon Iver on and off since 2011. The indie rock band, fronted by songwriter Justin Vernon, asked the No BS! Brass Band leader to put together a five-piece trombone section for them and so he grabbed some of the usual suspects.

“I fit the long list of five trombones if you keep putting enough trombones in a band, eventually I’ll show up,” Hulley said laughing. “We been doing that since the past fall and it’s been a lot of fun hanging out and playing music with those guys.”

Hulley kicked off his tour with Bon Iver on May 24, making stops in Portland, Washington for Sasquatch Music Festival, Canada, Chicago, Indiana. and wrapping up the tour at this weekend’s Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

Once they were finally ready to get into the studio, Brunswick, whose name comes from Hulley’s hometown in Maine, sought out the expertise of Adrian Olsen at Richmond’s Montrose Recording.

“He’s recording people from everywhere all the time, but also finds a way to get a bunch of Richmond acts in there, and that’s not on accident, he really cares about making sure Richmond bands want to record with him,” he said.

Producing the album is Papa Hotel Records, run by Hulley’s dad, which is awesome. “He was really interested in helping out. He’s been pretty excited about telling all his friends that he’s the head of a record label,” Hulley added.

Fans of the funky “Fire Circle” will be stoked as that makes its appearance as the second track. RVA Mag also had the honor of premiering that video, which the band recorded live at Round Two, back in 2016. And as for the record in its entirety, Hulley said the band has more than just a few tricks up their sleeves.

“The album is structured in an interesting way, I sort of think of the album as eight tracks that have the Brunswick sound on them, and the ninth track is sort of this jazz epilogue that’s like, ‘hey we can do this do.’”

The eighth track, “Henry Wadsworth” is a tune the band closes out most of their shows with, and one of the first songs Hulley wrote for Brunswick.

“It’s definitely one of the more rock and roll finale tracks, and then once that concludes, this straight-ahead bop-jazz track begins, and its like, ‘oh yeah, just you guys know we can do that jazz thing so check this out’,” Hulley said. “Its birthed out of brass band world, but it also has much stronger indie rock influences between all the stuff I listened to growing up. “

You can bet this show will be one for those that have been following Hulley since his days at VCU Pep Band, to his energetic performances with No BS!, and new fans who have discovered him on bigger stages in the last few years. Don’t miss Brunswick performing Five Years in full for the album release at The Camel this Sat., June 16 at 8 PM. $5 cover. Local rapper Chance Fischer and CGI Jesus will join the festivities and you can also snag a copy of the new album at the show.

Photo By: Jesse Peters

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

RVA’s Dharma Bombs mix a little romance in with bluesy/folk sound on debut album out May 11

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For three years, the rowdy, bearded guys that make up the band Dharma Bombs have brought RVA feet-stompin’, booty-shakin’, whiskey-drinking party tunes with their fusion of blues, folk, and swing, a genre they refer to as Appalachian Dixieland.

But the group has been toiling away on their latest effort, Old Time Romance, their first full length album and it’s one that is a bit different from what fans have come to expect at their wild, loud and boisterous live shows.

Trey Hall, lead vocalist/guitarist for the band said they wanted to be known for more than just being a party band.

“We do some slower songs which for us we never did,” he said. “It’s a nice mix of really sentimental songs, but really rowdy songs as well, but having that mix of rowdy and sincere and emotional kind of pulls the veil back a little bit. It was a departure from the Basement tape.”

Hall is referring to their previous five-song EP, Bird Dog Basement Tapes, which they released last May through Crystal Pistol Records. The local indie label, run by Saw Black and Pete Curry, will put out Old Time Romance as well.

Black, who just released his own album Azalea Days in February, produced the album for Dharma Bombs and the band sought out the talents of Adrian Olsen at Montrose Recording Studios to track and mix the record.

Starting in December, the six-piece band which now includes Hall, Stephen Moser (Trumpet), Drew Brunson (Upright Bass), Josh Smith (Clarinet), Chris Gatens (Mandolin Banjo) and Clay Trinkle (saxophone, Mandolin), began recording, and had the 12-track album wrapped up two months later.

“We recorded the whole album in three days, but spaced out…we thought we would be able to bang it out in one weekend in December and we were so wrong,” Hall said laughing. “We gave ourselves two months to prep and prepare because last fall we were touring and playing all over and really pushing ourselves instead of preparing for the album.”

But that extra time allowed for a more refined and put together album, according to Hall.

“We really hammered practicing and getting the arrangements really tight,” he said. “Adrian is incredible, we really wanted to go up a step {with the new album}. Adrian really fostered that.”

Dharma Bombs have released two singles off the album, “Pack Your Bags”, an acoustic folky piece with warm shining vocals from Allie Smith and “Ballad of Big Sandy River”, released today, a song about two feuding families during the Civil War that has become so legendary it’s been made into movies, cartoons and literature.

“That’s a song about the Hatfields and the McCoys, it’s really a southern Shakespearean fable,” Hall said. “That’s where southern folklore has a big part in our music.”

Next week, they will release “Apocalypse Now”, a tongue-in-cheek “barn-burning song” written by Hall, David Brunson, and Rudwan Bakhsh after they watched the 1979 epic war film.

Personally, the title track, “Old Time Romance” is a song I fell in love with right away. It gives you this old-school bluesy/folk, heartfelt vibe that made me picture a couple in love dancing freely in their living room to a record together. Call me corny, but give it a listen and see what you think.

This is a good time, feel-good album, with some old-school soulful, folky ballads and some love songs thrown in, I shall be kicking my heels, whiskey in hand, as I jam to it at their release party.

And since the band was going for a sort of timeless, old school vibe, and a sound that differed a little from their previous EP, Hall said they wanted to capture that in the recording process.

“It’s kind of a time piece, that’s why we wanted it to be called Old Time Romance, not just songs about love, but its all kind of a romantic aesthetic, we used this old RCA microphone…we just all circled around the big mic the way they used to record,” Hall said. “We created kind of a nostalgic piece in a nostalgic way, but with modern technology.”

And according to Hall, the songs can be appreciated by the young and young at heart alike.

“A lot of the songs on the record are very personal, but the lyrics are meant to be where most people can relate,” said Hall. “Somebody who thinks back to when they were our age in the ’70s will have that same nostalgia that somebody who’s 25 will feel the nostalgia of last weekend.”

But fans of the band’s rabble-rousing and high energy party jams needn’t worry, tracks like “Rollin” a fast-paced, upbeat tune, “Virginia Swing” and “Apoclypse Now” keep that same Dharma Bombs sound you know and love so be sure to check those out.

Rounding out the album, Dharma Bombs brought in Allie Smith, Garen Dorsey, (Saxophonist for Groam and Joan Son of Groam, Erin & The WildFire), & Marissa Resmini (Mckinley Dixon) to sing or play on several tracks.

Dharma Bombs will throw an album release show party for Old Time Romance May 11 at The Camel with performances by Angelica Garcia, Lobo Marino, and Blush Face. $5 adv // $7 at the door. Doors 8PM, music 9 PM. They will play the album in its entirely with all guest musicians and the album will officially drop May 12 on Bandcamp, Spotify and other online platforms.

The band is set to hit the road in June so keep an eye on their Facebook page for tour details soon.

Photo credit: Joey Wharton Photography