Pandemic Archives

A New Phase For Strawberry Moon

Marilyn Drew Necci | June 2, 2022

Topics: Control, COVID-19, Destructo Disk, Dust Bath, Habitual Creatures, Pandemic, quarantine, Quarantine Songs, richmond bands, richmond music, Sockhead Records, Strawberry Moon

Strawberry Moon has been a familiar band on the Richmond indie scene for a few years now, but with their brand new single, “Control” — the first off their upcoming LP, Habitual Creatures — the band has really come into their own, sporting a stronger, fuller sound than could be heard on their previous full-length release, 2018’s Dust Bath. It’s no wonder, really; as founder, lead vocalist, and chief songwriter Katie Bowles explains below, the current version of Strawberry Moon couldn’t have happened without the current lineup coming together.

Unfortunately for all involved, the current quartet came together around the end of 2019, and only had a few months to work together before the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns put the kibosh on any band activity for over a year. “Control” actually came out of that period; longtime followers of Strawberry Moon will remember the original version, released two years ago on a collection of Bowles’ solo demos entitled Quarantine Songs.

In the liner notes to Quarantine Songs, Bowles writes that “Control” was inspired by “feeling a big lack of control during a period of unemployment and solitude during COVID-19.” That’s certainly a relatable feeling for me; back when the pandemic began, I thought I’d really make the most of my time stuck inside the house. Instead, I quickly got to the point where anxiety made it difficult for me to get even the simplest of things accomplished. And of course, there’s also that tendency to blame oneself, to figure that if you can’t get off your ass and accomplish everything you want to do, it must be your own fault.

Bowles captures this feeling in “Control”‘s lyrics, singing, “Wish I could focus my energy on what’s right in front of me.” On the chorus, she admits, “I am beating myself up for things out of my control.” Musically, “Control”‘s sound captures the same feeling of pent-up anxiety that Bowles describes in the lyrics, with Liam McElroy’s lead guitar sketching a hesitant melody overtop of a rumbling rhythm section groove. It takes until after two full verses and choruses have gone by, but eventually the song’s tense feel explodes into a heavy, raging riff, over which Bowles finally declares that something must change. “Enough with the blame,” she sings. “There’s gotta be more than hating yourself ’til you die.”

Expanding on “Control”‘s lyrics, Bowles says, “It’s all about the concept of realizing your self worth; letting go of the things you can’t control, and embracing the things we can.” In this manner, the subject matter dealt with on “Control” reflects the subject matter of the album as a whole. “This album is largely about love, romantic and friendships and finding love in your community and in nature,” she explains. “This song in particular is about self-love.”

Here’s “Control,” the brand new single from Strawberry Moon. Listen now, and then scroll down for my interview with Katie Bowles.

Marilyn Drew Necci: To begin with: who is in the band as of right now? Is that the same lineup that recorded “Control”?

Katie Bowles: I sing and write the lyrics, Liam McElroy is playing guitar, TJ Meade is playing drums, and Gray Stephenson on bass! This is the same lineup on “Control,” as well as the rest of our upcoming record.

Drew: The full-band take of “Control” feels to me like a strong, heavy rock song. Obviously, it has changed greatly from the solo demo version you released on bandcamp two years ago as part of the Quarantine Songs EP. Does the form it takes now reflect the way you always saw it, even back when you recorded that minimalist demo? Or did bringing it to the band cause it to change in ways you hadn’t expected?

Katie: We actually did updated versions of all three of those quarantine songs! At the time, we had just formed the full band the winter before the pandemic, and playing in a group for the first time felt so empowering and affirming; it felt like growth. It was hard to go back to not seeing each other or collaborating for six months. I tried to keep my creative momentum going by releasing some lo-fi demos.

The song it became with a full band definitely feels meant to be. Gray wrote a very groovy bass line and it feels dancey. [When] Liam came in with the crunchy guitar halfway through, this song really came into its own. Adding the louder rock element made it so I can really yell in the high parts and really put my all into it. We decided to release this song first because the crowd always super engaged with it during shows.

Drew: While Strawberry Moon has released a couple of lo-fi demos since Dust Bath in 2018, this new album will be the first one to show off a recorded version of the full-band sound you’ve been constructing over the past several years. How did Strawberry Moon evolve from its solo project roots five years ago into what it is now? Was bringing in a full band always the plan, or did it happen organically?

Katie: I started this project five years ago with one friend, then a different friend, then alone. Now I feel so thankful to have found these talented friends to collaborate with. Liam McElroy, the guitarist, is my partner; he supported so many of my solo shows, and eventually we started playing music together. It felt so sweet and emotional and special to work with this person I love.

Gray Stephenson is an amazing bassist in Deli Kings, LJ and the Sleaze, and Nightcreature. We supported each other in the scene for a long time before he expressed interest in helping me make this a full band, and I absolutely jumped at the chance. TJ Meade is a badass punk drummer in the local bands Sweeties and Haircut. He is so talented and I’m so happy to have him on board.

We are all able to bounce ideas off each other and all bring something different to the table. When I am writing songs by myself, it’s easy to get stuck in a pattern of similar songwriting styles, but with our band we are able to workshop my song skeletons and breathe new life into them. It’s the most satisfying feeling ever to show each other ideas and watch how everybody makes it their own. Our band now feels like a more mature version of what I started five years ago. Every practice, every song written, every show, feels easy and fun and meant to be.

Drew: I see that you are playing quite a bit less guitar, at least live, than you once did. Considering the band started with you singing and playing guitar, why’d you decide to pass off the guitar duties, to some extent? How is the experience of performing with Strawberry Moon different now that you spend some of the time strictly in the lead vocalist role?

Katie: I feel that with Liam on guitar, I am able to put my absolutely all into singing. Every performance we do, I am putting every ounce of my power into my voice. It feels second nature to sing, and that’s where the joy of performing comes from. Liam is also able to play guitar in a different, more effortlessly rock and roll way than me. He steers the songs into a wave of fuzz, or rips a guitar solo, in a way that I could not have done with my atmospheric loop pedal. He brings so much energy to these songs. It’s inspiring!

Drew: Do you feel like the current version of Strawberry Moon is more of a “singer-songwriter with trusted backing band” type project, or has it evolved into a true collaborative band experience?

Katie: It has definitely evolved. The four of us are in the band for the long haul, and are excited to promote our upcoming album and then get right back to work on our next one. We are a great team and work together so well. Even though I write the songs, and honestly identify with the moniker Strawberry Moon alone, it’s not my band! I could not have made this album without them. I’m so thankful to be creating with friends and supporting one another as a team.

Drew: What was the process of making Habitual Creatures? How did it differ from past recordings you’ve done? How do you feel about the finished product? Does it represent a new phase of Strawberry Moon, or is this more like arriving at a destination you were always aiming for?

Katie: We are so proud of this album!! It is the biggest release our band has ever put out; it’s twice the length of the last album and has a lot of love and work put into it. We recorded it with Levi Douthit, who really was able to capture our songs and encourage us to push ourselves. Levi recorded the drums and bass on analog tape, and the guitar and vocals digitally, and it was so cool to see this process. I absolutely feel like this is the arrival of our destiny. I feel like we have found a great sound and I can’t wait to make more of it.

Drew: What are the plans for the release of the full album? Are you working with a label for the release?

Katie: We have recently been talking to the local label Sockhead Records, run by the members of the band Destructo Disk, to make some cassettes of our record. They are new to Richmond and we are excited to work with them on putting out cassette tapes and planning some tours to support the release! We are hoping to release the album and cassettes in late summer/early fall. Album art is in the works by Richmond Angel Alexa Taveras, and we have a tiny regional tour already in the plans for July with the band Gnawing. Basically we just want to take our time with this release and give this project the room to make an impact, trying not to rush things!

Drew: What does the rest of 2022 look like for the band? Are you planning on doing any touring for the album?

Katie: We are definitely planning some east cost touring this year, applying to festivals, and getting our foot in the door at some local venues that aren’t our usual haunts! We are so thankful for the pocket of community that Richmond has offered us. We feel so at home here, and we want to use whatever momentum we find from this release to channel back into our local scene and uplift all the talented folks around us as well. Mostly just want to keep playing music forever and ever with our buds.

Top Photo by Savannah Elliott

Someone Else Can Write About Smoking Weed: A Conversation With Chelsea Handler

Ryan Kent | May 24, 2022

Topics: abortion rights, Carpenter Theatre, Chelsea Handler, COVID-19, Dominion Energy Center, Hello Privilege It's Me Chelsea, Jo Koy, Pandemic, Roe v. Wade, standup comedy, US Supreme Court, Vaccinated And Horny Tour

I remember hearing stories. Stevie Ray Vaughan said he’d dreamt that Jimi Hendrix showed him secret techniques to playing the guitar. When he awoke, he reached for his Fender Stratocaster, but couldn’t remember anything Hendrix had shown him. Then there’s Eddie Bond. In 1954, he passed on hiring Elvis Presley to sing for his honky-tonk band after Presley’s audition. Bond told Elvis to “stick to truck driving.” Oh yeah, then there’s Shel Silverstein’s poem “Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda.”

Many of us cringe in hindsight. Sometimes there are even visual aids to remind us. Proof of the fools we’ve been. It could be a disregarded phone call or an old prom picture or squandered opportunities in our professional lives. Without much effort, you can remember all kinds of things. Maybe it’s Gwyneth Paltrow dropping an earring in Sliding Doors that jogs your memory of a misstep. Maybe it’s the thought of Stevie Ray Vaughan getting into a helicopter on August 27, 1990. Maybe it’s hearing “Heartbreak Hotel.”

A lot of times, it’s not as heavy. Sometimes it’s divided down the middle.

At 47, Chelsea Handler is mostly a household name. After being a correspondent for Scarborough Country and The Tonight Show, she hosted The Chelsea Handler Show for two seasons on the E! network. Soon after, Handler hosted her own half-hour late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately, which aired 1,048 episodes over seven years for the same network. Handler also published her first book, My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands (2005).

I couldn’t go anywhere during that time period and not hear Chelsea Handler’s name mentioned at least once a day. I enjoyed this, because I like Chelsea Handler.

She’s still all over the place. Her books, Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea (2008), Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (2010), Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me (2011), Uganda Be Kidding Me (2014), and Life Will Be The Death of Me…And You Too! (2019) were all New York Times bestsellers. Her series, Chelsea Does, aired in 2016, while another talk-show, Chelsea, ran for two seasons, both for Netflix. Handler and Netflix partnered again in 2019 for the documentary, Hello, Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea, in which she discussed white privilege with guests such as Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, W. Kamau Bell, and Ruby Sales. This was followed by the special, Chelsea Handler: Evolution for HBO MAX in 2020.

Currently, the stand-up comic, outspoken pothead, and veteran tomato-hurler (at Donald Trump) hosts two podcasts, Life Will Be the Death of Me with Chelsea Handler and Dear Chelsea. She is knee deep in her current US tour, Vaccinated and Horny, touching down at the Dominion Energy Center at the Carpenter Theatre on June 9, which will mark Handler’s first performance in Richmond. Prior to her two-night stint at The Masonic in San Francisco, Handler agreed to be interviewed about her upcoming tour. I figured we’d talk about smoking weed and it’d be a light, funny phone call.

Then a bomb went off.

The interview with Chelsea was scheduled a day or so after the Supreme Court’s opinion draft to overturn Roe vs. Wade was leaked to the website Politico. There was controlled chaos everywhere, with immediate shots fired from both sides of our divided nation. Republicans and the Christian Right applauded the SCOTUS for the potential walking back of the 50-year-old decree, while Democrats and liberals voiced their outrage via social media and a stack of magazine and newspaper articles you can see from the moon. With marches for Planned Parenthood happening in Richmond and across the United States, a conversation with Chelsea Handler ignoring the abortion discussion would’ve been tone-deaf at best. Something only to be regretted in hindsight. A missed opportunity for RVA Magazine to deliver an important message from an important female voice in these trying times of our society. It’s not Stevie Ray Vaughan or Sliding Doors or your prom picture, but you can pick up what I’m laying down. Either you’re helping or you’re not. No one likes to look back and cringe.

Someone else can write an article about smoking weed.

Ryan Kent: What can we expect from the Vaccinated and Horny tour?

Chelsea Handler: Oh, well, I got to just make fun of all of the behavior that we all participated in for the last two and a half, three years. From windexing our food to me getting my own at-home COVID health tests, where I was able to give COVID tests to potential penetrators in my backyard. After I went too long without sex, I just thought, “Okay, I’ve got to figure out a way around this pandemic.” I got my own kits, which was awesome, because that just opened up my world. Then I was able to test people. You get a nasal swab [and] plug it into this cartridge that was connected in my kitchen. It took about 30 minutes to run the diagnostics and during that time, I was able to interview them. If they said anything annoying, or I saw male jewelry, I would just tell them they were positive. That was my game plan. And it worked. It was awesome. It felt good to be controlling my own destiny in that way.

RK: Speaking of, “controlling your own destiny,” what are your thoughts about the recent news regarding Roe vs. Wade? You have a very important voice, and the opportunity to speak to you about such a heavy topic is not lost on me.

CH: I mean, I think anybody who knows me knows what my thoughts are. The idea that men who have never given birth, haven’t been pregnant, carried a baby, or raise a child alone making decisions on what women should be doing is not a world that we want to be living in. So, unfortunately, this kind of stuff is really unsavory to talk about and even think about. We’re supposed to be expanding rights, not restricting rights.

RK: Regarding your podcast, Dear Chelsea, what advice would you give to young women in America?

CH: I think my advice is more directed towards men. Standing up. It’s not enough to just support women’s rights. You have to stand up with us and fight with us. The time is now, you know? We can’t just keep doing this by ourselves. We need men activated. And the men who agree with us, and understand that it is a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own body, need to stand up. They need to fight with us in every way. To rally. To protest. To vote for the people that are going to perpetuate the sanctity of a woman’s choice — not take it away. We need activation. And if women are doing it, we need the help of the people that are in charge, and we need the help of men. Specifically, white men. So, that’s my message.

RK: Since your Netflix documentary, Hello, Privilege. It’s me Chelsea, in 2019, where are you at now? What have you learned as a result?

CH: I’ve just learned to be a better listener. It’s not important for [white] men to be chiming in about the realities of sexism or racism. Men aren’t the victims of sexism, and they’re not the victims of racism. So, when men call us hysterical, you know, [their opinions are irrelevant], because they’re the perpetrators, not the victims. It’s important to remember that in any dynamic, it’s not important what I think about racism, it’s important what I learned about racism, and the most important thing we can all do is listen. So listen, and say thank you for explaining this to me. Thank you for informing me about something that I didn’t know enough about. That’s the most active way we can all get a little bit smarter and a little bit more empathetic. To be better listeners.

Instead of opining about your own opinion, listen to other people’s opinions. Find out what the real conflicts are and how you can be of use, instead of being some white savior who thinks you’re gonna go in and fix everything. That’s just not a reality, and it’s annoying to see. People — we have to be better together as a society. This is a really ugly time. We don’t have to disagree on so many things in such a violent, vitriolic way. It doesn’t have to be that way. Unfortunately, we’re at this time [and] this is why it’s so important to have outspoken people. It’s important to have these kinds of comedy shows. It’s important to bring people together under the banner of laughter, and under the umbrella of enjoying yourself, and a togetherness that you can enjoy with another person and an audience when you’re seeing a live show. That’s a great reminder of humanity. You know, and what we’re missing a lot of these days.

RK: Since 2016 there was just this drastic change. Things that that were there — they just don’t even try to cover up anymore. It’s scary now. Where there was that boogeyman we always heard about, and now it’s really here.

CH: Yeah. Yeah, I feel the same way. And I think it’s important to think about your children and anyone who’s got a daughter. To remind people that your daughter is thinking about her future. Think about the safety of her future and what that means, and think about our children. I’m not a mother, thankfully. I worked very hard to prevent that from happening. But I value this generation of people that are coming into the world, and I’m so scared what we’re leaving behind. Whether it’s climate, whether it’s a political situation, whether it’s the deterioration of human rights… we’re going in the wrong direction. This is supposed to be America. We’re kind of losing the plot. I hope that’s not the case, but it certainly feels like that at various times.

RK: Have you noticed that problems in America kind of bleed into American things like baseball, for instance? You can look at how [the sport has] changed. Certain things that are American reflect America. Do you see that often? Or do you catch what I’m saying?

CH: No, I’m not catching what you’re saying. What are you saying?

RK: I think what I’m trying to say is baseball, to me, used to be something I really believed in and loved. Looking at it now, maybe it’s that I’m older, I can see things better. But it just seems very transparent and hollow to me. And there’s a lot of things like that. I’m just seeing that reflected. And then I think about the America that I thought I knew, or whatever, and then maybe it’s really just something I romanticized. I guess that’s what I’m trying to ask.

CH: Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. I think that we’re looking at all institutions in this country, and kind of understanding how they’re built and who’s in charge of everything. And the limiting powers that anybody who’s working for any of these mass corporations have. We’re basically all being run. It’s turning into a plutocracy. We’re living in a world where there’s a bunch of billionaires who are controlling everything. Elon Musk just bought Twitter. That’s not a good thing, that’s a bad thing. All of these things. If we don’t stop this pattern of all of this incredible wealth that people have accumulated. There’s a major divide happening and there’s a major gap happening. We need to be reminded that all ships rise with the tide. It works when everybody’s doing well, not just when a few elites are doing well. That’s not the way capitalism or democracy thrives.

RK: I’m kind of scared of everything going on. Maybe I was just younger and didn’t pay attention to [things I should’ve paid attention to]. I’m approaching 40 and I think of my dad when he was 40 and I don’t remember him being scared of anything. What do you suggest on a human level? What do people do?

CH: You know, I think you’re right. I think it is really scary. It’s right to be scared, but you can’t let the fear dictate your behavior or your actions. I think it’s really important, always, during these times to remember to act with love and kindness, in an extra way. Not just to the people that are in your world, but like, when you’re walking down the street. To be extra kind. Extra loving. Smiling at people. Helping people. Go out of your way for other people. And that goes a long way towards changing society and actually having a positive impact. Those kinds of good vibes are so important right now. [It] may seem like a small thing to do, or it may seem like, “Well, what’s that going to do?” It makes a difference. You can make differences. You can’t change the world, but you can change people slowly over time with acts of love and kindness and caring. In times like these, you have to remember to be that person that you want to meet. You want to be that kind of caring person that goes out of their way for a stranger, or that goes out of their way to help somebody cross the street or help somebody get a meal that’s homeless. Whatever you can do, do it now. This is the time to be showing up. And I think that can never be underestimated, or overestimated.

RK: You’re right. It’s a good time to embrace the golden rule. That always made sense to me, yet I fail all the time.

CH: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We could all be a little bit better at that — why not start now? That’s what I do when I just feel hopeless or helpless. And those feelings don’t last forever, because everything is ephemeral. So, it’s important to remember that your feelings of despair or hopelessness aren’t forever, and there are moments of hope and there are bright spots. We just got the first Black [female] Supreme Court Justice confirmed. We just got the first Black White House Press Secretary confirmed, who is a member of the LGBTQ community. These are important milestones. Good things happen at the same time as bad things happen. It’s important to remember that and keep perspective. When you need a time out, you take a time out.

RK: We have moved forward a lot in some respects, but it’s still scary out there. There’s so much information out there now. I think it blurs everybody’s perspective and makes us kind of a lost people sometimes. But, on the brighter side of things, congratulations on falling in love.

CH: Aww, thank you.

RK: That’s good stuff. I had it happen about a year ago, too, and it’s been pretty great. Do you believe in those invisible, universal hands [that guide us], or how do you think you got it?

CH: Yeah, I do believe in the universal hands. I think that things happen. Jo [Koy] has been around me for many, many years and I just never looked at him in that way. And I think that there’s a lot of my mother in Jo. My mother, who passed away a long time ago; she passed away right before Chelsea Lately started. There’s so many things that he does for me that my mother did for me, that you could only get from a mother’s love. I just am so shocked. And I always think, “Oh, that’s my mom. That’s my mom.” She put him in front of me so many years ago, right after she left this world, and I didn’t see him. So, she just kept putting him back in front of me. And it was a slow burn and took me a long time to see him. You know, to really see him in that way.

RK: I saw you mentioned the pillows under your knees [on Instagram}. Yeah, that’s a that’s a sweet thing.

CH: Yeah. And so, I was ready. I was good. Listen, men have just been so disappointing in the last few years. I really had just lost all hope. I’m like, I’m just probably going to be single unless I transition into a full-fledged lesbian. I’m going to just be a single person. I’ve got enough going on. I have my friends I have my family. I have a pretty good life, you know? Fine — I don’t get that. I wasn’t gonna be desperate about it. So, to get that on top of all the other lovely things that I’ve been lucky enough to experience in this lifetime really makes me believe that everybody has somebody coming. All you can do is try and get to the best version of yourself, to prepare yourself for that person when they do come, because you don’t want to miss that. And my life was full before, but it’s bursting now. And he’s a huge addition, instead of a subtraction. A lot of my show, I talk about Jo and our relationship and how I got to where I got with him, and I think it’s really inspiring for so many people who haven’t found that person yet. Like, you don’t have to worry about how old you are, or freaking out about your age. Your person is coming, and the time is not when you know it. The time is when it’s right. When the universe decides you’re gonna find that person. So, don’t stress and don’t settle and don’t think you’re running out of time. “Fuck it. I’ll just be with this person.” No, no, no, you just hold out until the person [who] comes for you is the right person.

RK: It makes you a better version of yourself.

CH: Definitely. He brings out the best in me for sure.

RK: I found that on my end too. She leads by example. She’s just had a lot of heavy stuff happen in her life. She’s a lawyer and has twin teenage girls and had to raise them by herself. I look at all the things that have happened in my life and I feel ashamed that they made me buckle as much as they did, knowing what she’s overcome. It’s made me want to do things in my life like, “I’m going to do this,” and my life is better in a year of just knowing her.

CH: Aww, I love that.

RK: I believe you have that with Jo. Somebody that just makes you a better version of you.

CH: Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. I feel the same way that you’re talking about, and it’s a wonderful feeling. I want everyone in the world to experience that kind of love.

RK: How do you think we will get you back in Richmond after you come here?

CH: How do you think you’ll get me to come back [laughing]? Well, first, I have to get there and then you guys have to figure out how to get me back after that.

RK: Should we meet you at the plane with weed leis? Would that work?

CH: Yes. That’s a great opener.

Chelsea Handler’s Vaccinated And Horny Tour comes to the Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Energy Center on Thursday, June 9. Doors open at 7 pm. Tickets are available from Dominion Energy Center’s website.

The Foundation of Western Civilization: An Interview With Neil Fallon of Clutch

RVA Staff | May 20, 2022

Topics: Chuck Brown, classic rock, Clutch, COVID-19, hardcore, hip hop, live music in Richmond, metal, Pandemic, punk rock, Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone), The National, The Sword, Transnational Speedway League

It’s hard to believe it, but Clutch has been around for over 30 years. The Maryland-based band, whose unique sound straddles the worlds of classic rock, heavy metal, hardcore punk, and (as discussed in this interview) even a little bit of hip hop, released their debut EP, Pitchfork, in 1991. In 1993, the year they released their first LP, Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes, and Undeniable Truths, I (Marilyn) saw them put on an incredible headlining show at the long-gone Richmond venue The Metro. Around the same time, RVA Mag’s John Reinhold was seeing them as often as possible in Winston-Salem, NC, including once with a now-infamous tourmate (but you’ll have to read the interview to find out who that was).

We’re all quite a bit older now than we were then, but somehow Clutch’s music has remained a mainstay of the heavy music underground, with landmark albums like their 1995 self-titled album (discussed below) and 2001’s Pure Rock Fury. Most recently, they released brand new single “Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone),” which, in inimitable Clutch fashion, bases its lyrics around a ridiculous internet conspiracy theory that used the schematic of the famous distortion pedal as “evidence” to prove that 5G was causing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout their three-decade career, Clutch have remained hard-touring road warriors, reliably coming to Richmond’s National every couple of years to blow minds and speakers once again. Of course, every band, from young groups playing their first shows to seasoned road warriors like Clutch, had the past two years of their career completely upended as COVID made it all but impossible for bands to tour for a year and a half. Like many, Clutch dealt with this setback by filming a series of live performances that they streamed from their rehearsal room. As vocalist Neil Fallon explains in this interview, it was very important to them that they get this right, and capture the unmistakable feel of live performance, even if they weren’t able to be in the same room with their many fans.

Clutch will be back at The National this Sunday, finally back in the same room with their many Richmond fans. If you don’t already have your ticket, you’re gonna want to grab it now. But first, check out this conversation between our own John Reinhold and Clutch’s Neil Fallon, which covers everything from what it’s like to perform three-decade-old songs to the ways in which Drake resembles Slayer.

Hey, Neil said it, not us.

John Reinhold (RVA Mag): So where are you?

Neil Fallon (Clutch): That’s a damn good question. We’re somewhere in the middle of Illinois. We have a day off. We have a show tomorrow in Illinois, and I’m just kind of looking at a barren wasteland of a used car dealership and a water tower. And that’s about it.

John: Do you ever pull from that kind of stuff while you’re traveling, and seeing America, those moments on the road?

Neil: We have a great luxury of being in a tour bus, but the downside of that is you don’t get to see a lot of that stuff. You just fall asleep and wake up where we need to be. Whereas when we were in a van, you got to see all the granular details of roadside America.

John: You probably had plenty of years to enjoy roadside America through the van. I imagine the step up into luxury is probably kind of nice at this point.

Neil: Yeah, I’m not complaining. Don’t get me wrong.

John: So RVA magazine first interviewed you… my gosh, quite a few years ago. Tony, the founder of RVA, and myself grew up in Bassett, Virginia. We would go to Ziggy’s in [Winston-Salem,] North Carolina to see shows. I cannot count on my hands the amount of times I’ve seen Clutch. It’s a part of the collective youth for me and many of our friends growing up in Southern VA.

Neil: Well, that’s cool. I’m glad to hear that. A lot of times we do an interview and they just don’t know the band from Adam.

John: I’m certainly very familiar, I was in a band that played a few Clutch songs, like “A Shogun Named Marcus” and “[Walking In The Great Shining Path Of] Monster Trucks.”

Neil: We played that last night.

John: What is it like for you breaking out stuff like “Monster Trucks,” where it’s kind of a younger version of you and you’re jumping into that younger vocal area? What is it like doing those kinds of songs now?

Neil: In some ways it’s kind of like reading an old diary entry. It’s good to get perspective to see where you’ve gone to since then. I mean, there’s also those cringey moments, where I’m like, “Wow, I wish I had chosen a different word here.” And I know I can sing circles around those songs. My voice has changed quite a bit, but you know, a lot of the really early stuff was driven by adolescent anger that kind of dissipated really quickly. I’m glad for that, because I see guys my age trying to, like, keep up their 19 year old anger, and damn, it’s gotta be exhausting.

John: I imagine it would be very exhausting as you get older and you have a family, trying to get in that mindset over and over again. Not to mention, the vocal exercise of it all would be pretty difficult. I know you deal with keeping your voice over all these different tours. Are there any special things you do?

Neil: You know, coming out of hardcore — and this is a long-winded answer, so bear with me — coming out of hardcore, punk rock, I got the false impression that things like pitch and melody were kind of commercial, and you were supposed to not do that. So it took me years to realize that that was a very naive attitude. Once I started trying changes in pitch, and seeing melodies, those were more interesting than just screaming. That’s way less taxing than just belting shit out.

So when I started doing that, it became apparent that I needed to take vocal lessons. Not to change how I was singing, but… it’s almost like doing stretching exercises before you run. I wish I had known that 30 years ago, but, you know, we all arrive at our spots one way or the other. You gotta be honest with your age. I can’t go out after every show and drink pitchers of beer, and all you can eat pizza, and expect to wake up the next morning and feel good. Feeling good is a nice thing.

John: Yes, it is. Something popped up on my feed today, and I knew I was gonna talk to you today, so, interestingly enough, the ol’ Facebook showed me that the Clutch self-titled album came out today in 1995. What is it like reflecting on that album in particular? Maybe I’m wrong on this, but I think in some ways that was the first Clutch album that got some distance and really set you guys up.

Neil: It’s funny that you mentioned that, because I was speaking to some fans yesterday and they asked me what our favorite records were. And I mentioned that one, because I kind of feel that the self-titled record was the album that set us on the trajectory that we’re still on today. I’m sure we’ve tapped back and forth between different ideas or sounds, but that’s when we embraced the classic rock that we grew up listening to, and incorporated that into the heavy metal, the hardcore, and the punk rock that we listened to as teenagers. Maybe we didn’t realize it at the time, but that was the Eureka moment that allowed us to do a lot more stuff. If we had just said, “We’re only gonna do variations of Transnational Speedway League,” we probably wouldn’t have lasted another year.

John: Yeah, there’s a lot of different sounds on the self-titled album, sounds that are very appealing to me to this day. “Droid” and “Spacegrass” are in particular amazing to me because, well, I’m a big space guy anyway. Obviously those are also very popular with the fans. Spacegrass being, you know, one of them. Shoot, I even made a DJ Space Bass Mix called “Saturn is my Rotary” with cover art by Morgan Sawyer that has Jesus on a dashboard. I just have always been into how unique those sounds are, then and now. I’m so thankful that Clutch has kept it going, and especially coming from COVID. So how is it being out of COVID and going back to it?

Neil: I guess the short answer is, I still feel like we’re not out of it. I mean, every leg that we’ve done this tour, someone in our camp has gotten it. I’ve had it three times, and one of them really kicked my ass and it scared the shit out of me — for some selfish reasons, because a respiratory illness and singing do not make great bedfellows. I think we navigated those two years fairly well with just getting on the streaming thing. Sure, there was a financial aspect to that, but I think more importantly, it gave us a goal where it was like, okay, in three months time, we have the streaming, we got “[Red] Alert,” we’ve got to practice these songs.

We got to set that up, and that set up these mile markers. Not let our skills atrophy, because it’s just like any other muscle — if you don’t use it, it gets smaller. At the end of the day, it was odd, singing to a camera or singing to a laptop. But after the fact, seeing that there were a thousand people watching this and making an evening out of it was very gratifying. I don’t think we’ve ever taken that for granted.

I mean, maybe at first I took a lot for granted, but I’ve always appreciated what we have. But it definitely put a spotlight on not taking anything for granted, because it can be taken away very quickly.

John: I really enjoyed the streams. I needed it, and there was a certain rawness to them. I think there’s a rawness that comes with Clutch in particular. It’s kind of delightful to see for me, seeing when you were like, “We’re going to figure out how all this works.” Seeing people my age being like, “Okay, I guess we’re doing this streaming streaming thing,” and figure out this technology. But I think it also led to some really cool moments, for the fans that were in attendance and watching. And of course we get to support you while we’re all trying to figure out what in the hell is going on.

Neil: Yeah. I think you’re right on the money. That it was like, the people were trying, and the viewer was trying, to figure out what was going on. We were trying to figure out what’s going on and how to best navigate it, and we were very committed to actually doing it live. And it was pretty terrifying, especially when we told people that we were going to record the set and then press it up as vinyl. I think the risk and the gamble of assuming that the performance is going to go well provided some semblance of the adrenaline of a live show. If we had said, “Okay, we’re going to record something pre-recorded and then say, it’s ‘live at the tombstone’,” that’s one, kind of dishonest, and two, there’s no sense of urgency. I think that sense of urgency is one of the most important things about a live show.

John: Yeah. I got to see a couple cool live shows during all that. I actually really, believe it or not, liked the Post Malone show that he did, where he did all the Nirvana covers, which was surprisingly raw and good. I think those shows that I enjoyed the most were the raw ones. I thought Clutch’s, especially in the beginning, were very raw. And I liked that it was very analog feeling, if that makes sense; being a sound guy coming from digital technology, but always wanting that raw and warm analog sound.

Neil: I think I know what you’re saying. We also realized that we could have too much production.

John: Yep.

Neil: I’d seen some bands with that. Basically they’re on a soundstage with a big light show and it almost pointed to the fact that it wasn’t real life, that it was kind of overcompensating. Whereas if you just do it brass tacks, I think that’s a much more relatable scenario to most.

John: Yeah. I think that’s why Clutch is relatable in a lot of ways. I have shown off Clutch to many people. I’m very proud of the moments where I’ve shown some music to some of my hip hop head friends, and had them be like, “Yo, that’s pretty cool.” I think there’s a certain amount of lyricism, and there’s a certain amount of cadence to your voice and the way you present lyrics, that’s unique in the genre of rock. You’re not doing rap rock here, we’ve been down that road before, but it gets me to the question. You’ve mentioned being a fan of rap before. Can tell me a little bit more about what you like or what you’ve listened to in that kind of genre, and how it might influence you a little bit?

Neil: Yeah, sure. There’s a couple of different ways to approach that. I still listen to most of the hip hop that I listened to when I was between the ages of 16 and 25. I’m talking about early Public Enemy, NWA… I still listen to that. I’m kind of overwhelmed these days by how much there is. I look at it online; it’s like, I don’t even know where to begin.

I still listen to that Drake record. I was pleasantly surprised. I was bracing myself to be like an angry old, middle-aged guy. And I think it actually kind of kicks ass. It reminded me of a lot of hip hop I listen to that wasn’t, you know, mumble rap, or vocoded to all hell. Where there’s actually a lot of wordsmithing going on. I think musically too, it almost had the same feeling I had when I heard Slayer for the first time. It was terrifying. But that kind of intimidation is what turned me on. I was like, ‘Wow, I want to hear that again.’ Almost like a rollercoaster, musically speaking.

I think sometimes people draw too much of a gulf between metal and hip hop. And I think about this quite often, because we use Chuck Brown as our walk on music. That’s just a part of the influence of hip hop, but [Chuck Brown] was a blues guitar player, and he’s approximately the same age as Tony Iommi, who was also a blues guitar player. I think both those dudes probably listened to the same records growing up. And there’s really not that much of a walk between Black Sabbath and The Soul Searchers.

John: Yeah. There’s a certain groove to it. I get it with music like Clutch, and rap. It almost has the same cadence, almost like the same kind of like feel. I think that’s one of the appeals of both hip hop and Clutch, and why, when I do play Clutch for some people that might not listen to that style or metal as much as perhaps I do, there is definitely some crossover there. People seem to appreciate both. I’m sure you know, the reaction videos on YouTube are a huge thing.

Neil: Ha, well I’ve only watched a handful of those. I think a lot of that has to do with Jean-Paul’s swing. Metal bands are just punishingly straight. Jean-Paul puts a huge swing on just about everything we do. I think that’s the commonality between what we do and a lot of that hip hop. I mean, we do listen to a lot of hip hop, but that feel that you’re talking about, I think it’s just a huge pocket of swing.

John: Yeah. Yeah. Jean-Paul definitely has that almost jazzy feel sometimes, which I absolutely love. Makes for good listening anytime, even when I’m cooking or in the yard. Now, I know you love to garden. What do you listen to when you’re at home cooking or gardening, if anything?

Neil: Well actually, in our house, we listen to two radio stations. We listened to WWOZ from New Orleans that plays a lot of jazz and blues, and some hip hop at night. And we also listen to KCRW from Los Angeles. I liked the unexpected nature of those playlists. Because the DJs are really good and they do specific kinds of genres. That’s what we listen to at home a lot. Because my wife and I have kind of a different musical base, so we have to find a common ground.

John: I hear that.

Neil: We can’t blame each other if we put ourselves at the mercy of the DJ.

John: Yeah. I hear you. I’m the cook of our house and I probably play Mr. Bungle’s California more than anything when I’m cooking. Which is great, because it confuses the living daylights out of my wife. [Neil laughs] Because she doesn’t know what to make of it. She’s like, are these different bands? And I’m like, no, no, no, that’s the same band. So I always wonder what people do at home, as far as their relaxation time when off the road, and back home. What’s that dichotomy like? What is it like being a father, then shifting to the tour, and then going back to fatherhood? Do you compartmentalize it, or is it just a natural shift?

Neil: It’s pretty natural. I mean, we’re not Motley Crue, staying up all night with girls doing blow. We usually go to bed within an hour or two after the show. We’re pretty simple in that regard. I usually have a little bit of a hard time falling asleep the first couple of nights [after coming back from tour], because around 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock, my body’s naturally producing adrenaline, thinking I have to do a show. But one of the great things about where we are is, this is my job. I don’t have to concern myself with getting a gig in between tours. To me that’s success. That’s the sweet spot. And so when I’m at home, I’m home 100% of the time, seven days a week. And I can be very present. I also wonder how my son wraps his head around, like, okay, Dad’s gone, Dad’s home… but I have a feeling if I were like a Washington DC commuter, five to feeling like ten days a week, I would be a very, very different person, and not in a positive way.

John: Yeah, that’s what’s great about it. You do your art and then when you’re home, you’re home. I’m very happy for you and for Clutch’s success, and the fanbase that you guys have continued to have. I think it’s very rare in rock, to have what you all have. There’s multiple layers to it, and you’re living it. So, you know, congrats to you.

Neil: Well, thank you. The way I calculate success is like, you got to do something that you love, and that’s all you have to do. Most of our friends that are in bands or are musicians have to relegate that to weekends, maybe. I’ve known plenty of musicians that bang their head against the wall for years, to no avail. And sometimes things are looking good and then fate just deals them in, all four hands. But you know, we’ve stayed committed, through feast and famine as well.

Sometimes you can generate more quote-unquote “luck” the harder you work. But I also understand it’s a rare thing, to have the same lineup and to be able to do this. And as every tour passes, every year passes, I think we get more and more defensive and protective about it, because we realize that we dodged a lot of bullets along the way. We don’t, and we shouldn’t, take any of it for granted. I mean, the last two years was sort of a preview of what retirement might feel like. And it’s a drag. We don’t want to do that.

John: I feel that a lot. So you’re on tour with The Sword — I think that’s a great lineup. Can you tell me a little bit about The Sword, and how [touring with them] fits within the tour and the Clutch sound?

Neil: Well, we’ve done a number of tours with The Sword, starting out when they were very, very young. It was probably 15 years ago that we [first] toured with them. That’s a rough estimate. [We’ve toured with them] both here and in Europe, and it’s a great fit. I think they’re much more in that classic metal vein, but there’s an odd man out kind of vibe to them. I think we share a kind of camaraderie in that, they do their own particular brand of it and they’re not going to change. That’s who they are. I think their close fans can sense that. I’m sure the majority of the people in the crowd are mutual fans. Which is a good thing to have.

John: It’s nice to see a bill that works together, as far as the sound and the night. You don’t always get that — I’ve gone to enough shows to know that. I was going to tell you about an interesting show that I saw at Ziggy’s, and I’m sure you remember this. It was when you guys opened for — dare I say his name? Marilyn Manson. That was definitely one of the stranger lineups I had seen, as far as musical styles. I was young at the time. I certainly remember being really hype on it.

Neil: Yeah. That tour… well, Manson, as far as I understand, was a big fan of Transnational. He liked that record, and in the meantime, we had recorded the self-titled album. So when we were opening up, we started playing a lot of that self-titled, which he didn’t have a lot of use for. And I think he even wrote about us in his book, saying, “It was like watching concrete dry.”

John: Oh my god. [Laughs]

Neil: I take it as a badge of honor. [laughs] To be quite honest, I had a really bad attitude on that tour. I hated it. But in hindsight it was actually one of the best tours we ever did, because when we went back to those towns where we had opened for Manson, there was clearly a lot of people coming to our headlining show that saw us for the first time on that tour. So I’m grateful for having done that. God, it was long, though. Four months long.

John: Oh yeah. Well that’s good to know. I’m glad I got a little of the inside info here. I can definitely see where it would open Clutch for some new fans, that are still coming to all the various shows that you do. And… [laughs] I’m glad that you have the badge of honor from Manson. Shoot, I would put that on a shirt and wear it.

Neil: [still laughing] I always look at that, the analogy of concrete dryness, and say, “Well, you know, concrete is the foundation of Western Civilization.” So take a hike.

Clutch will be performing live at The National on Sunday, May 22, with special guests The Sword and Nate Bergman. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $32.50 and can be purchased at The National’s website.

Interview by John Reinhold. Introduction by Marilyn Drew Necci. Top Photo by Dan Winters.

Feeling The Weight: An Interview With Jonathan Russell of The Head And The Heart

Ryan Kent | May 17, 2022

Topics: Altria Theater, church hill, COVID-19, Every Shade of Blue, Jonathan Russell, Josiah Johnson, live music in Richmond, Living Mirage, Pandemic, richmond bands, the head and the heart

My great uncle used to fall asleep with his eyes open. If you didn’t already know Albert, you might’ve thought he was dead — shot or poisoned like some pale stiff in an old black and white movie. On your hands and knees looking around for shell casings or a bottle of arsenic until you heard him snore. I never met Albert because he’d fallen asleep for good, long before I was born, but there were stories and photos. I generally spend a lot of time alone, mostly chain-smoking cigarettes and overanalyzing the past. Sometimes I sit still for so long, I wonder if I look dead or asleep, just like Albert. Then, I wonder if I am actually one of the two and haven’t realized it yet.

If you close your eyes and recall the last two years, maybe you can relate. Maybe not.

Some people close their eyes during car accidents because they want to hide from the pain, forfeit sight to fear. I might not have closed my eyes during the pandemic, but I was still asleep at the wheel driving through it. Maybe even before. None of this did me any good, just protected me from reality. A lot of defense mechanisms get us nowhere. Life can do that.

Jonathan Russell of The Head and The Heart seemed to touch on something similar in “Hurts (But It Goes Away)” from the band’s new album Every Shade of Blue. Russell sings, “Coming back together / Different but the same / I know that I’m not the only one / Who feels the weight of it.” That sentiment seems to be all over Every Shade of Blue. Not heavy handed. Not self-righteous hipster wisdom. Not a finger pointed at anyone but the person Jon sees in the mirror and the people looking in the mirror with him. Seems like the entire band is pointing at the same reflection.

We all came back from the pandemic with something missing. Maybe it was years. Maybe it was loved ones. Maybe it was a piece of ourselves. Maybe it was the wool over our eyes.

It’s good to see people getting back together.

Released on April 29^th, Every Shade of Blue is the fifth album by The Head and The Heart and their third release for Warner Bros/Reprise. They played the single “Virginia (Wind In The Night)” live on the Tonight Show in March, and the single “Hurts (But It Goes Away)” May 5th on Jimmy Kimmel. The Head and The Heart begin their US headlining tour in support of their new album this month in St. Petersburg, Florida. They will be making stops at the Hangout Music Fest in Alabama, the Ladder To The Moon festival in New Mexico, and a SOLD OUT September 15th date at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.

When I got on the phone with Jon last week, I didn’t really know what to ask him. Most of the time these days it feels like I’ve forgotten how to talk to people. Speaking on the phone is awkward now. The ringer stays on silent. We all came back missing something from the pandemic. I pretended Jon and I were sitting on one of the benches in Jefferson Park in Church Hill instead of being separated by 2,630 miles. We both call this city home. I used to go to that park to sit when I had something to think about. We’ve all done a lot of pretending the last bunch of years. It’s good to be in a familiar headspace when you’re going to start a conversation with a stranger about his new record and the weight of all of it.

Ryan Kent: How do you think the head and the heart of the United States has changed since the pandemic? It seems like you were using the single, “Virginia (Wind In The Night),” as kind of a metaphor for that. Or at least that’s what I was thinking when I was listening to it.

Jonathan Russell: Well, it’s funny. I mean, I feel like that definitely, intentionally left that open for interpretation, because not everyone’s from Virginia. So, you know, the moment you get too specific, some people start tuning out, think it’s not really relevant to them. So, personally, it’s about a place for myself in terms of that song — this is almost a two-question part here. But in terms of the “Virginia (Wind In The Night)” song itself — yeah, I guess I see what you’re saying. I agree. There are some layers and some symbolic references to it. But really, I guess, the literal sense of me seeing it and feeling it was me coming and going from Richmond, Virginia over the years — from, basically, 2004 until now. Seeing myself almost as a reflection — like, one place as a reference point as my life changes, in terms of my personality, my personal growth, my actual work. When I left Richmond the first time, I was a busboy. So, to come back [as] a professional musician was quite a mindfuck. But yeah, the song “Virginia,” to me, was my way of tracking time, and time changing, and yourself.

I find it interesting to use a place almost like a mirror. Where you can have the perception of who you are, and who you’ve turned into. [I’m] 37 now. Instead of writing songs about missing home and leaving home, you start becoming a little more self-reflective. And not to mention, just personal age, on top of what the last few years were like. So, to go back to your initial question: “How do you feel the state of the head and the heart is in the United States?” [laughs] It’s interesting. Actually, last night I was talking to someone. Everyone was going through this sense of isolation, this sense of panic, fear, anxiety. Learning how to cope, learning how to stabilize yourself. Not really being able to rely on anything, necessarily, other than your own ability to cope and move through the world, and decide how you want to do that. In a strange way, it almost recalibrated humanity, you know what I mean?

That sounds like a pretty heavy statement, and I don’t even know what I mean [laughs]. Like I said, this was a conversation I was having last night, so it’s not like some fully [formed] concept yet. But in a strange way, after feeling relatively disconnected from society, I feel like… maybe I’m just searching for that silver lining of what just happened the last few years — as I tend to do, even in my songwriting. I think there was something that touched everyone and acts as a calibration system for all of us. So, what that means exactly? Who fucking knows? [laughs]

RK: Has it influenced the rest of the record, along with the departure of [founding member] Josiah Johnson?

JR: Well, in terms of the Josiah Johnson thing — I feel that’s like when you’re leaving a town, and you can see more than one street. And then the further you get away, you just see the one that’s behind you. Josiah Johnson is a cross street, and that’s no longer in the rearview mirror. I mean, we’re homies, but his story is his story. And our story is our story. I see very few intersections anymore — other than our friendship, which is beautiful. In terms of how the last couple of years would have shaped the music, I think, in kind of a microcosm way, what we chose to do as a band was to take advantage of the physical isolation and realize what it was allowing us and giving us, for the first time maybe ever, was the ability to have real conversations as a band, as a family, as a polygamous marriage, or however you want to look at it. It was the first time that we hadn’t had to walk into some sort of really intense situation following a conversation. Normally, we’re all together, and the last thing you want to do is have somebody on the verge of a breakdown. [Then] it’s an interview, and then it’s TV, or then it’s a concert, and it’s a meet and greet, or it’s radio, or whatever it is. You always just have to put a band-aid on it. And we did that for 10 years.

So, we brought in a therapist and a specialist. Somebody to be like a referee for us and create a safe space. And as much as I am really burned out on having to be on camera for a zoom call, that did allow this — little subtle, unintentional things. You can read people’s body language. People listen better. There’s a vast personality difference in this band. People will talk over people, and some people care about that, and some people don’t. But bringing in someone to work with us and work on our communication skills, essentially put the focus on mental health, in that regard. The last few years gave us a framework to do that. But I think it’s the work we’ve done on our personal relationships with one another that had the biggest impact on our music. People are respecting each other and listening to one another and trusting each other. So, to circle back to your initial question on the greater state of the United States or just the world, anything we learned as a band, it’s about communication, and feeling respected, and feeling like there’s a trust in the room. You don’t have to agree with everything everyone thinks or says, just give them the fucking space. Give them the floor.

RK: You should feel comfortable being able to do that in your place.

JR: If there’s anything I’ve noticed from the six people that I’ve known for 12 years — that’s easier said than done. I mean, it’s an even a larger conversation, going into strangers, having that type of trust with total strangers. There’s a lot of rebuilding to do. There’s a lot of communication. There’s a lot of love that needs to be spread around. Not to get all hippie on it, but what good is doing the opposite? It’s just not working for us. So yeah, I feel like I do enjoy the tendency to zoom out and zoom back in. But I don’t want to pretend to be able to speak on all of these things. I guess I can only really speak to what the six of us went through in [these] last few years. If there’s anything I can take from that, this was a band that was ready to say, “this might be our last one.” If we can come back from that and make one of the most vulnerable and bold records we’ve ever made — other than our first one, because we didn’t even know one another — to me, that gives me hope.

RK: Each album by The Head and The Heart has increased its lean towards pop instrumentation. Even more so with Every Shade of Blue. Was that a conscious thing, or was that just an evolution of the band?

JR: I think maybe both. I started collaborating with different writers, with different producers, in my off time. I think maybe I was just in a place where Living Mirage, the previous record, was, so… I think it had to happen. I was reading an interview that I did three years ago, around that record, and it blows my mind how heavy I was. How heavy my thoughts were. So, it doesn’t surprise me that we made a record that’s kind of a deep purple. Heavy colors [are] attached to that record in my mind. So, once that was out of my system, I was looking for a lime green and a yellow, like a bright orange. I ended up working with Jesse Shatkin, who I met in Los Angeles. [He] does a lot of pop, and we just had fun when we were in together. “Tiebreaker” [from Every Shade of Blue] was one of the first songs I ever did with him, and it was just so light and fun, but also compelling in a way, sonically. I think I use this phrase somewhere else, but honestly, it just hits it on the head. He kind of champions my freak flag a little bit.

That song “Tiebreaker” is pretty unusual, at least from a band who started out with an acoustic-guitar folk message. To me, that was so much fun. There’s so many types, there’s some angles to everyone’s personality. And if you’re fortunate enough, as we are, to have a fifth record, eventually you’re going to start seeing more and more of these individuals. And a song like “Tiebreaker” — working with a producer like Jesse Shatkin just really added this new layer of trust and confidence into a personality of mine that I wasn’t necessarily always exposing to people, unless it was just for fun. Behind closed doors, just having fun with shit. I think for the longest time I was really drawn to more of a serious tone. At least that’s maybe why I was using songwriting. I needed to get some heavier, serious topics off my shoulders. You know, coming as a pendulum. Reacting to being in quite a heavy state during Living Mirage — it just felt really nice to… not keep it light, there’s still real topics on this record, [but] kind of what you were saying initially, pop can kind of make you feel good.

RK: Looking at each album, over time it’s like looking at a version of yourself, and you have an opinion of each record, which will evolve as you evolve. With that being said, how do you think your opinion of Every Shade of Blue will evolve over time?

JR: Yeah, that’s a great question, and great insight you have there. I guess where we’re at now is kind of its infancy, in terms of being introduced into the world. Other people can now touch it and listen to it and critique it, both in good and bad ways. Which I think is fair, and as it should be done. To me, it feels like a stamp in time of the band’s relationship. Whereas I really feel like, for a while, I was always sort of thinking of records in terms of my relationship with myself. This is the first record where I’m hearing it and viewing it, and the imagery it gives me are memories of this group having breakthrough moments. Yes. It feels like a group.

RK: Now, it’s everybody’s success.

JR: Yes! We played a really small but beautiful acoustic set last night here in Los Angeles, at this place called the Winston House. It was just really half the band doing the acoustic set. If you watch in your present, with those around you — this whole ride, this whole life experience, this whole putting a smile on someone’s face and making them feel good or whatever… It’s like, just be present with those around you. Let their beauty and their pain and their excitement and their nervousness, let that go through you too. This is maybe a weird way of getting to something we had already mentioned, but it being about the group just feels like you don’t have to be the sole provider, or the only person in charge who is making sure shit works. I feel like we are unraveling something that you and I have already said, so maybe I’ll just leave it at that.

RK: It’s like a new comfort level that you have. I would think being able to do that is almost like stretching completely, to your full potential. In your head, when you were making Every Shade of Blue, did you feel like you were making a great record? Like you hear artists say, “I knew that was a hit when I wrote it.” And they’re not being arrogant, they just had that feeling. Did you have that feeling at all when you were writing and recording this?

JR: Yeah, well, you know… what’s funny is, I feel like in the inception stage of certain songs, I definitely feel that way, from time to time. I think because of the void in which this record was being made. By that, I mean the last few years. It was almost scary to feel that way and then have, like, a vast silence come back to you. I’ve never questioned my own barometer so heavily, and I think maybe through that process, I let go of trying to decide whether something is really good or not.

RK: Yeah, I understand. You quit questioning and, like I said, you kind of stretched, and were just like, “this is good.” The Head and The Heart are playing in Richmond at the Altria on September 17th, which is two days before my 40th birthday. You said you’re 37 years old, and you’ve written five records. Toured all over the place. You’ve done a lot of stuff in 37 years. Weird question here: not like any of these have been fucking normal or anything, but what advice would you give to a 40-year-old?

JR: [laughing] Oh god. I don’t know. Is the younger supposed to be giving advice to the elder? I’m not sure.

RK: I mean, we can all take advice [laughing].

JR: I don’t mean to call you an elder [laughing].

RK: We can all take advice from everybody, especially on life experience. I dunno, man. I’m gonna be 40. So…

JR: Right. Start exercising again. [laughing]

RK: Great answer!

JR: [laughing] In all honesty, man, I’ve realized the difference [from] 34 coming off the road, and 37 going back out feels like a different body. And a different mind. I think I took for granted somewhat good genetics, and I’ve always been somewhat athletic. I grew up skateboarding. But it’s time to get fucking real. Especially if I want to go out and feel young, and feel healthy, and feel excited. And able to bend down, smash the fucking pedal and jump back up and seeing like… bro, it’s time to get back out there, man [laughing]. I’m trying to stick to this. I started working with someone to help guide me getting back into it. And it’s honestly, it’s been, like, a week and a half, and it’s very noticeable. So, my advice: take physical health a lot more seriously than you did when you’re 30 or 35 or whatever, you know? Yeah, that’s where I’m at.

RK: I’ve been trying to drink more water. I used to do push-ups. I’m like, “Yeah, I’m gonna do them tomorrow.” And tomorrow comes and I just don’t do anything, so thanks for the reminder. [laughing]

JR: Dude, I’ve even started doing the lady push-ups. I don’t give a shit. I just started doing them. I’m sure at some point, I’ll be able to get back to doing real push-ups, but like, whatever it takes to not feel like you can’t do it. Just eliminate that shit.

RK: It’s only gonna get better if you do it, I guess.

JR: Yeah. I just normally have a lot of anxiety around doing stuff like this, for the record. I just kind of stew. But there’s been something like an unlock or a release from just doing, like, 30 to 45 minutes of stretching, cardio, whatever it is. Just low impact stuff, because my knees are kind of jacked now from running. But yeah, it just calms you down.

RK: [laughing] I’ll take that advice.

JR: And hopefully, we’ll see you at the Altria Theater, man. A birthday gift. I mean, I would love to do that for you.

RK: Jesus. That would be great. Thank you very much for that.

JR: Of course, I really enjoyed this interview. It’s like… sneaky, left of center questions. They don’t come out sounding wild or pretentious, but you’ve got a sneaky ability to stay off the obvious.

RK: Man, I didn’t want to ask you the same shit. I wanted it to be like we’re sitting next to each other somewhere, and we got on some weird topics. So, thanks for that, Jon. Mind if I ask you one more?

JR: Yeah, for sure.

RK: You were mentioning different shades [before]. I remember reading this interview about Liz Phair, when she was writing Exile In Guyville. Somebody said [Liz Phair] wanted one of these songs to sound [like the color] brown. I never forgot that, because I’d never thought of a sound as a color before. So, to bring it back to Richmond, what’s the color you think of when you think of Richmond?

JR: One color… [pauses] That’s tough. I mean, if we’re talking about the James River — brown [laughing]. I think I have to come at it from a different angle for a minute. What I noticed when I was living in San Francisco for six years and kept my apartment in Church Hill the whole time — and that’s what I’m back into now. Whenever I’ve come back to my apartment, my songs seem to be piano based and more mid-tempo, and I don’t know if that’s just because I needed to contrast from the way I was writing in SF, which was more upbeat and sporadic. To me, Richmond is somewhat grounding, and I’m calmer. I love the fact that I can hear a fucking leaf being blown down the street. The dryness. That kind of like [makes crunching sounds]. That’s what I love about being in Richmond, especially in the east side of it. As often as I used color to describe sound, that place to me is more like a tempo thing. And the tempo, to me, feels calm and mid-tempo, which I love.

The Head And The Heart comes to Richmond’s Altria Theater on Saturday, September 17, with special guests Shakey Graves. Tickets are on sale now at the Altria’s website. The Head And The Heart’s new album, Every Shade Of Blue, is available on vinyl and CD from the band’s website, and can be found on all streaming platforms.

Photos via The Head And The Heart/Facebook

Fraying The Edges

Marilyn Drew Necci | May 13, 2022

Topics: Hot Dice, Pandemic, Parlor Tricks, richmond bands, richmond music, slowcore, Ten Pound Snail

RVA Mag presents the world premiere of “Hot Dice,” the new single from Richmond indie-psych trio Ten Pound Snail. Marilyn Drew Necci spoke to Ten Pound Snail frontperson Holden Wilson to get the lowdown on the new song and the story behind one of Richmond’s most intriguing new bands.

We all lost a lot during the 18-month shutdown that accompanied the pandemic, but if there’s one silver lining to all that, it’s to be found in the numerous bands that have sprung fully formed onto the Richmond scene in the months since things opened back up. Of all those new bands, one of the ones that captured my attention most quickly and thoroughly is Ten Pound Snail. This indie trio caught my attention with an intriguing blend of that quiet, moody sound known as slowcore (exemplified in the genre’s heyday by groups like Red House Painters, American Music Club, and Galaxie 500) and a more psychedelic, shoegaze-influenced sound that seems to reflect the influence of groups like Mazzy Star or Mojave 3.

Their debut release, an EP called Sunspots, entered the world in December 2020, at the height of the pandemic panic, but it was the followup, Parlor Tricks, which first showed up on my radar upon its release at the beginning of summer 2021. Heavy with atmosphere, it opened up a space inside your head and filled it with resonant emotion. It’s the sort of thing that might confuse listeners into thinking this band would be a quiet, listless live act. However, there’s a whole other side to the Ten Pound Snail side, one that brings in more energetic tempos and crunchy guitars than you’d ever expect from previous work.

That live sound first showed up on “Overgrowth,” a digital single Ten Pound Snail released at the tail end of 2021. It constitutes the first hint of the group’s upcoming full-length, which they’ve continued to hone and put finishing touches on since the release of “Overgrowth.” Now they’re giving us another single from that album, “Hot Dice,” which builds from a rather subdued opening section into an out-and-out rocker that’s more driving than anything else Ten Pound Snail have put to tape. RVA Magazine is pleased to bring this killer tune into the world, and you can stream it below. After you do so, keep scrolling to read our interview with Ten Pound Snail singer/guitarist Holden Wilson, in which we attempt to figure out where this band came from, what their goals are, and when the world will be graced with their new album.

Marilyn Drew Necci: Thanks for agreeing to the interview. I’ve enjoyed your music so far, but the fact is, I don’t know much about Ten Pound Snail beyond what I’ve heard. So, first things first: who is in the band?

Holden Wilson: The band consists of Josh Akerley on drums and percussion, Yusuf Goulmamine on bass guitar, and myself, Holden Wilson, on guitar and vocals, plus instruments that we use in the studio like piano and synths.

Drew: How did you get together?

Holden: We’ve played music together since becoming friends in high school, but never overlapped in any official projects together until this project began a couple years ago. I had come up with some full-band arrangements that I wanted to try out to see what came of it, but we quickly realized that we could hit the ground running with a full-force project after all the years of building that chemistry.

Drew: I’m not the only one who has described the sound of the early Ten Pound Snail recordings I’ve heard as “slowcore.” Do you guys identify with this genre? If so, why? If not, what genre do you feel like you’re trying for — if any in particular?

Holden: Much of our released material, particularly from Parlor Tricks, definitely shares some common ground with Slowcore. I’m a big fan of Unwound, Duster, Horse Jumper of Love, and other artists in that zone, mostly because of their approach to integrating jazzy harmony, psychedelic timbres, and stuff of that sort where it doesn’t traditionally belong. However, Parlor Tricks was just kind of a group of mellow songs that we chose to fast-track because it felt more reflective of our lives during the start of the “COVID era.” Our live set nowadays consists almost entirely of unreleased material, which has a lot more energy and emphasis on intricate rhythmic motifs [than it should in order] to fall completely [with]in the boundaries of a genre like that. But we have plans to revisit some more contemplative styles in the future, after we release the rock and roll stuff.

Drew: How did you land upon your sound? Did you come together with a specific goal of sounding like you do now, or was it something that came about organically once you all got together?

Holden: It has mostly just developed naturally, but I did have a few sort of free-form founding principles that I wanted to explore.

I think the easiest summary of the idea would be “doing whatever feels right,” but a bit more actively and intentionally than that would suggest. Our aim is to combine and blend the different musical influences that captivate us into something cohesive, on a few levels — within an album and across different releases for sure, but most importantly within individual songs. For example, we have a lot of upcoming work that has a noisy solo section and big, blissed-out psychedelic chords in the same minute. I’ll often listen to artists [like] Bill Evans and Oh Sees back to back, and I really enjoy how dizzy and rich that experience is. So I like to channel that idea of opposing forces into my own writing, which creates very interesting and automatic contrast and dynamics.

I also just get bored if a song stays in one place for too long, so a lot of the songs end up having plenty of room for these different sounds and styles; [they] “evolve,” more like a phasic composition than a classic verse-chorus-verse-chorus song structure. I think it’s a good sign if you struggle to describe your sound with existing genres or common adjectives, and that challenge seems to be a reliable result of our process of taking a wide variety of inputs, melting them down, and making some strange hybrid sculptures, so to speak. The tricky part is retaining a catchy sound and natural feeling, but that just comes with practice.

Drew: The new song that we’re premiering, “Hot Dice” — this is part of a larger project, right? What can you tell us about that project? How is it an advance on what you’ve done before? What are your goals for it? When do you expect it to be out?

Holden: “Hot Dice” is the second single for our upcoming album, following our first single, “Overgrowth.” The album will pretty much just be all the songs from our current live set plus an ambient interlude, about 14 songs in total. There’s a lot of energy and force in this batch of songs, but it’s packaged a little differently in each one. My main goal is for it to feel layered and fully developed without sounding maximalist or losing focus, so it’ll likely have some more dimension and a wider scope than our previous work.

We’re also recording and mixing it ourselves, which is a double-edged sword. You get a lot more creative control over all the small details, and have time to add and subtract and think on it a bit more. But the other side of that is that a lot more time, effort, and education goes into making it happen, and you have to have the grit to trust that it’ll work out when you inevitably get lost in the process. The timetable is still very much in the air, but we’ll have another single or two within the next few months. Our goal has been to have the full release out by the end of the year so we have time to be really thorough with it, but I’d love to accelerate the process if we manage our time well.

Drew: Some might tell you that the pandemic has gone away, but it seems to me that in very real ways we’ll be dealing with it for the rest of our lives. How has the pandemic affected Ten Pound Snail in the present? Do you feel the same way about, say, touring, or playing live, as you would have if the pandemic had never happened?

Holden: As I mentioned earlier, it definitely affected our musical direction at the beginning, but in a way that felt natural and fulfilling. Outside of that, our first performance was December 2019, a little over two years ago, so it took a big chunk out of our potential growth at the time, not being able to play shows for so long. We’ve only been regularly performing for a little under a year now, even though it feels like so much longer, but I couldn’t be more grateful for the response and momentum since getting back to it. I think it was initially a little disappointing to have to step back from shows for a year, but in hindsight I’m extremely grateful for how we approached it. Putting out Parlor Tricks, learning new songs, and writing a mountain of material for the future (much of which we still have yet to explore) were all crucial pieces in our growth, and have permitted us to keep pushing forward in a way that may not have occurred without that forced free time and preparation.

Drew: In an email, you told me that Ten Pound Snail had queer members. Would you care to elaborate on this/be more specific? If not, that’s fine, but regardless, how do you think queerness has affected your creative work as a band?

Holden: I identify as non-binary. I think that aligns with my current feelings around gender fairly well, but I still have a lot of questions that I haven’t been able to answer yet, so I’m not quite sure what the future holds. All I can really tell you is that it won’t get any less queer from here [laughs]. The most pronounced influence that it has on the music is through my writing process, but those are fairly subtle explorations so far and probably won’t appear on recordings until later. On the performance side, wearing big formal dresses for an engaged live audience has also felt personally affirming. There’s a lot of people who’ve voiced their appreciation for how I display that element of myself in a scene where rock and roll often looks quite different, so I really value that too.

Drew: Are there specific political or social ideas you’re attempting to get across in your lyrics? If so, please elaborate. If not, what do you write lyrics about?

Holden: There’s a few lyrical passages that deal with the aggravation of progressive ideals not being implemented well or unanimously supported, but it’s not a very common theme within the songs themselves. The songs mostly pertain to personal challenges and mental health, or sometimes there’s a little story thrown in there. The most consistent element of my lyrics is abstract imagery and fraying the edges of what actually makes sense, in an attempt to invert common ideas and paint a picture of a different, less predictable world. I like to write things that have a certain degree of ambiguity or crypticness to them, which in turn allows for more open interpretation — which I also enjoy.

As far as what the lyrics mean to me, a common theme is my childhood mental illness and how that’s evolved over time, but more often I write about knowing where I want to be nowadays, but not being able to think it into existence, which is my default reaction to everything. Actually getting there, for me, only ever comes from a sort of mindfulness that I’ve identified in great detail, but have struggled to implement. I think that feeling of progress eluding you again and again is a lifelong challenge for most people, so it’s a good intersection of relatability, while still being able to paint the world in the unique way that I view it personally. A lot of the motivation to create centers around music being the medium by which I can really express the more complex, compounded emotions of real life, beyond one-dimensional things like “happy” or “sad.” I like to twist things until they feel ambitious, melancholy, hopeful, unsure, mysterious… things of that nature where you’re kind of being pulled in different directions. I find those feelings better pertain to the natural oscillations of health and confidence, and end up representing human feelings in day-to-day life more accurately, which feels more fulfilling to me both as an artist and a listener.

Drew: Let me know about any future plans you have as a band. Upcoming shows? Planned tours? Any releases coming up that aren’t already included in the question above?

Holden: We had our first tour this past spring, and are hoping to do another round this winter. The past few months have been pretty intense — our summer plans are a bit more sparse for the purpose of continuing to record, mix, and learn new songs, but I believe we have some local shows planned for June 17 and July 8, and we’ll definitely play more often in the fall. Historically we’ve thrown house shows under the house name Spiral Mansion every month or two, so we might throw one of those in there at some point. We’re also hoping to start performing new songs and recording another album as soon as we finish this one.

You can buy Ten Pound Snail’s music from their Bandcamp page, and follow them on Instagram @Tenpoundsnail.

Virginia Schools Look To Fill Over A Thousand Vacancies

VCU CNS | May 2, 2022

Topics: COVID-19, education in virginia, homeschooling in Virginia, Karen Greenhalgh, Pandemic, provisional teaching licenses, school infrastructure in Virginia, teacher shortage, teachers in Virginia, unfilled teaching positions, Virginia Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators, Virginia Board of Education, Virginia Department of Education, Virginia Education Association

Krysti Albus taught multiple subjects for 20 years and now teaches early childhood special education. She saw many colleagues leave the classroom in the middle of the year for better-paying corporate jobs.

“What we have had to go through to have a net income of 30-some thousand dollars a year, but to also have the increased expectations that we have had to have during this pandemic, has been unreal,” Albus said.

Schools in Virginia are facing a critical teacher shortage, according to Adria Hoffman, president of the Virginia Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators.

The teacher shortage has resulted in about 1,000 to 1,200 unfilled positions statewide, according to Hoffman.

“It’s not just about how many teachers are we missing, but also how many human beings who care about kids and understand human development and child development,” Hoffman said.

Teacher shortages were something the state grappled with before the pandemic. Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a 2018 Washington Post article that the “teacher shortage will be the steepest education challenge” that his successor would face.

Teaching vacancies increased by nearly 62% from the 2018-19 school year to the 2020-21 school year, according to an article published by the Virginia Mercury. That resulted in an increase from 877 vacant positions to 1,420.

Data from an annual Virginia Department of Education report in October 2021 showed over 2,500 teaching vacancies. The numbers have likely changed, but school divisions do not report daily, weekly or monthly data on unfilled positions, according to the VDOE.

School districts with the highest student populations, such as Fairfax County with more than 178,000 students and Prince William County with around 90,000, currently have hundreds of vacancies, according to representatives for both counties.

Fairfax County Public Schools, as of April, has around 200 teaching vacancies, according to media outreach specialist Jennifer Sellers. The school is “1% shy of being fully staffed,” Sellers stated. The numbers are typical of trends over the last few years and don’t indicate a shortage, Sellers stated.

Prince William County Public Schools has 453 vacant positions. Prince William County hires between 700 to 900 teachers per year on average, according to Diana Gulotta, PWCS communications director.

Richmond City Public Schools, with over 21,000 students, has listed at least 90 open teacher vacancies this year.

Filling a “leaky bucket”

Schools are filling these open positions by hiring individuals who carry provisional licenses, according to Hoffman. The licenses allow individuals to start teaching without completing teacher preparation programs, according to Hoffman. They must obtain full licensure requirements before the provisional license expires. However, these individuals have significant attrition rates, according to Hoffman.

“Recruiting pools of people and making it easier for them to enter doesn’t actually solve the crisis,” Hoffman said. “I equate it to filling a leaky bucket.”

The pandemic also caused many educators to be out on sick leave for weeks at a time due to COVID-19, according to Hoffman. This led to schools utilizing staff members who traditionally don’t work in the classrooms to alleviate the shortage.

Office administrators, superintendents, professional learning coordinators and curriculum specialists across the state were deployed to be full-time substitute teachers for months at a time, according to Hoffman.

The Virginia Retirement System is also being used as a critical teacher shortage recruiting resource. Employees who retired through a VRS position, and who hold a state Board of Education license can apply for temporary teacher or administrator positions only in designated critical shortage positions. They can continue to receive retirement benefits while teaching.

Contributing issues

As the retention rate continues to drop, Hoffman said better working conditions, pay raises and infrastructure improvements will likely help retain teachers.

Many schools need infrastructure improvements as they lack updated ventilation systems or windows that open, Hoffman said. This creates bad air quality, which can hurt those who are either immunocompromised or live with such individuals at home, according to Hoffman.

“Even losing 1, 2 or 3% of your workforce due to lack of safe and clean air quality makes an impact,” Hoffman said.

Lawmakers amended the state budget last year to put $250 million from the American Rescue Plan Act toward improvements to school ventilation systems. School districts were required to fully match their allotment.

Denise Johnson, associate dean of teacher education and community engagement at the College of William and Mary, conducted an exit interview of teachers in 2018. Teachers listed reasons for leaving such as lack of support from the administration, workload, and pay.

A third of teachers surveyed indicated that a pay raise would have been an incentive to stay in the classroom. However, 23% said that no incentives would have encouraged them to stay.

Teachers are leaving the classroom due to high stress levels due to the pandemic, according to Shane Riddle, director of government relations and research at the Virginia Education Association.

Teachers are nervous that they will be blamed for student’s learning losses from being in and out of the classroom so often due to the pandemic, Riddle said. “How do you get students back to where they need to be if the state is going to hold them accountable for something they can’t control?”

Teachers need to feel like they’re being better supported by their administrators and school districts as a whole, according to Riddle.

Many parents started home schooling their children during the pandemic because they felt there was “no real structure,” and they had lower confidence in the school system, according to Riddle.

“The writing on the wall”

The number of students being home-schooled throughout Virginia for the current school year is over 61,000, including students home-schooled with religious exemptions. That total number in the 2019-20 school year was just over 44,000. The number of students being home-schooled now is currently almost 40% higher.

Home schooling jumped even higher the school year after the pandemic hit and decreased a little as vaccines became available and schools opened back up the classrooms.

“Most of the time, parents and teachers work together really well,” Riddle said. “I just think the pandemic added a different aspect to the parent-teacher relationship and then added some stress to it.”

Albus said teachers pivoted when schools closed in 2020 and found ways for students to learn and obtain materials virtually.

Teachers needed to be flexible because many students didn’t have the proper guidance or support at home to help with virtual education, according to Albus.

“You can imagine the amount of learning loss that we had because so many of these children were not monitored appropriately,” Albus said. “It had nothing to do with the parents, it just had to do with this whole horrendous situation.”

Children also have internalized trauma from the pandemic, which comes out in the classroom, according to Albus. It is stressful for teachers to deal with these behavioral issues, Albus said.

The school where Albus works received a mental health counselor this year, according to Albus. School counselors help prepare students academically and behaviorally. Mental health counseling provides additional support, Albus stated. Legislation passed in 2020 required local school boards to employ one full-time equivalent school counselor position per 325 students in K-12, effective with the 2021–22 school year.

“It gets to a point where you’re weighing your options and you’re like, is this really worth my net pay of $30,000 a year with all the student loans I have,” Albus said. “Or, why am I not getting paid more to do more of what they expect me to do since the pandemic.”

Erin Chancellor taught in multiple counties around Virginia but left the classroom in 2021 after six years, due to the stress and demands of the job during the pandemic.

Chancellor cited her top reason for leaving the profession “without reservation” was due to health security, because teachers were called back to the classroom during the uncertainty of the pandemic before there was a vaccine.

Teaching is Chancellor’s lifelong calling, she said. But it was hard to continue dealing with the stress of her students’ academic performance dropping due to the pandemic. The constant switching between virtual and in-person learning environments affected student learning, she said.

“I don’t know if I have it in me to live with the pressure of having my students get test scores that are high enough to show progress and also meet criteria for X, Y and Z,” Chancellor said.

Many teachers across different counties left the profession because of the difficulty of virtual teaching and the realization that the pandemic would have lasting effects in the classroom, according to Chancellor.

“I just feel like I saw the writing on the wall and I wanted to leave in time to get out and get into a new profession before everyone quit,” Chancellor said.

The “most important thing right now” is for teachers to be heard and be a part of the decision-making process for public education, she said.

“Education is just trying to catch up with the pandemic and figure out how to move forward with it,” Chancellor said.

Financial assistance for teachers

Del. Karen S. Greenhalgh, R-Virginia Beach, introduced House Bill 103. The measure seeks to provide an income tax deduction up to $500 for teachers, counselors and other educators that work a minimum of 900 hours, to help with curriculum, supplies, textbooks and other educational equipment purchases. The bill was continued to the special session when lawmakers could not agree on an amendment. The special session began April 4, but the measure has not been picked back up.

House lawmakers proposed a 4% salary increase for public school teachers in 2022 and 2023 with a bonus of 1% for each year. If the House version is passed, the first salary increase would take effect July 1.

Lawmakers have not finalized the budget at this time, and negotiations are ongoing.

Written by Anna Chen and Reid Murphy, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Students at Honaker Elementary School in Russell County socially distancing during the 2020-2021 academic year. Photo courtesy of Janice Barton.