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Groove-Gaze From Down The Lane

Julia Raimondi | December 13, 2019

Topics: groove-gaze, house shows, Lucy In Battle Armor, Lucy Lane, Miranda Jaroneski, psychedelic, shoegaze, Sporadic Organic Panoramic Hammock Epidemics, The Camel

From the instrumental psychedelic music they play to the shows they host at their house, Richmonders Lucy In Battle Armor bring a sincere, positive spirit to everything they do.

If you’ve never been to the house venue Lucy Lane, the best way to describe it is homey. The basement, where the stage is located and shows are performed, is lit by multicolored lights, and the size of the space is large enough to fit in a good crowd, but small enough to feel cozy. It’s not a very different feeling from the basement hangout areas in which I spent my adolescent years hanging with friends.

The band that runs the venue, Lucy in Battle Armor, makes sure that everyone who comes to their shows, including performers, feels right at home. When I met with them before their band practice at Lucy Lane, they invited me to sit at an L-shaped couch. The band sat around me, relaxed in their space, and I could tell that while Lucy Lane was meant to feel like home for those who visit, it didn’t just feel like home for the band. It was home for them. Lucy in Battle Armor quickly proved they were more than just any Richmond house band. They were a family.

Lucy in Battle Armor came together as a band over time. The original members met when they were all working at a Chili’s years ago. After they stopped working together they briefly went their separate ways before rejoining together as a band. Guitarist David Bowman and drummer Andrew Smith began writing music together. Andrew Westbrook was a member of a couple different bands for a while, then eventually joined Bowman and Smith as their bassist. Synth player Brittany Thompson joined the band later.

“I actually used to just come by, hang out and draw pictures, and drink wine,” Thompson said. “And I actually joined by fluke, because they had tried a few different synth options, as far as people and actual instruments. I started playing one night and we didn’t really stop, and they didn’t kick me out.”

Photo by Miranda Jaroneski

By the end of 2011, Lucy in Battle Armor was a full band. Eight years later, they are finally releasing their debut album, with a release show at The Camel on Sunday, December 15. Recording for the LP, entitled Sporadic Organic Panoramic Hammock Epidemics, initially began two years ago and was just recently completed.

The band members’ personal lives were some of the reasons why it took so long. But the main reason for the delay for the album was that, while Lucy in Battle Armor performs as a band, they also regularly host house shows at their home/venue, Lucy Lane.

“[Lucy Lane] is where we recorded our album, in this room,” Bowman said. “So everything that we do as a band gets put on hold when we’re hosting shows. The focus has always been: we get in town, we do our thing. We have our show. We make sure the touring band makes a little something for their troubles, and that’s always been the priority. Unfortunately, what that meant for us as a band is that everything takes forever.”

Lucy in Battle Armor is an all-instrumental band that performs self-described “groove-gaze” music.

“We’re shoegaze, but with grooves,” Bowman said. “We’re not My Bloody Valentine. We’re not George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. We’re there somewhere in the middle.”

This genre of music stood out in the Richmond music scene when the band first began. At the time, Richmond was saturated in metal bands, and they were bringing to the scene a new, groovy psychedelic sound.

“We felt, more so then than now, as outcasts playing shows, because we would be put on all-metal, punk, hardcore, math-rock show bills,” Bowman said. “It worked in our favor, and I think it allowed us to stand out a little bit at the time.”

Lucy in Battle Armor has also chosen not to have a vocalist. The band had experimented before with vocalists, and had a couple perform in some of their shows. However, as they kept playing, they began to realize that vocals hindered rather than helped them produce authentic music.

“I feel like, once you read lyrics, it kind of bottlenecks what the artist meant for that song,” Westbrook said. “Instrumental doesn’t have that bottleneck. You can have those interpretations yourself.”

Listeners that know Lucy in Battle Armor will be familiar with the tracks on the LP, as they are songs the band has been performing for years now. However, they did hint that new songs were in the works, and that they hoped to get a follow-up EP out in the near future.

Recorded at Lucy Lane, the tracks for the LP were recorded live, in order to capture the authentic feeling of the performance in a space where the entire band was comfortable and knew how their songs would sound. For that reason, Lucy Lane can almost be viewed as the fifth instrument in the band.

You can hear it when you listen to the LP. While the quality of the sound is great, it isn’t too polished, like it might be in a professional studio. Instead, there is a slight roughness to it, and that roughness gives the LP the exact character the band itself has, perfectly encapsulating their close relationship with their home venue.

Photo by Miranda Jaroneski

The band established Lucy Lane two years after their initial formation. Over time, it has become an established venue in Richmond for touring groups, and the band does the best they can to accommodate them. With a multi-year history of shows under their belt, Lucy Lane is a permanent fixture in the Richmond scene, especially compared to most other house show venues in the city, many of which are merely temporary spaces that last a matter of months, or less. The band devotes significant portions of their time to maintaining the space, and ensuring that it can carry on for years into the future.

One advantage Lucy Lane has over many other house venues in the city is its location in a more isolated part of the Richmond area, allowing them to host shows with less stress and more freedom. They don’t have close neighbors, so they don’t have to worry about noise concerns or city ordinances. They also have more space for parking, making it easier for both touring bands and showgoers.

The band also works to make sure that lesser-known bands get opportunities to play at Lucy Lane, in order to help get them out there. To the band, house shows are low pressure, low expectation environments — perfect opportunities both for rookie musicians to get exposure and also for musicians in general to cut loose and experiment more with their craft.

Touring bands that visit Lucy Lane to perform are given a private bunk room to store personal belongings and to sleep in after the show. They also have access to full bathroom facilities, including showers — a luxury underground touring bands don’t take for granted. In the morning, someone from the band will cook breakfast for them before they get back on the road.

“They don’t have to worry about things walking off anywhere,” said Miranda Jaroneski, who manages the band and the Lucy Lane venue. “Strictly the touring band, and only one of us, will go in there, so they have a safe space to call their own while playing a big show. It would be important to me if I’m staying at someone else’s house to feel safe and protected, and have my own little area.”

Photo by Miranda Jaroneski

For showgoers, the band tries to make Lucy Lane a place where they can come to truly experience music, not just go to a social event. The location helps, since in most cases showgoers have to drive themselves. This means that most show up sober, compared to other house shows in the heart of the city, where people can drink ahead of time and then walk over.

“The people that come here are kind of going out of their way,” Smith said. “And they’re coming here because they want to see music. We have shows where you can party, but it’s not a party where bands are playing. We don’t really have any strong opinions on what anybody does, as long as they’re respectful of everybody that’s here and they can maintain themselves.”

The band is considering ways to expand Lucy Lane. One day, they’re hoping to be able to have more than one stage at a time, so multiple bands can play at once in a festival atmosphere. However, their main ideas and goals, both as a band and as venue hosts, remain the same.

“The values of the venue are coherent with the values of the band,” said Jaroneski. “Community, hospitality, and overall, just having a great old time and bringing people together.”

Lucy In Battle Armor’s record release show for Sporadic Organic Panoramic Hammock Epidemics, featuring special guests JJ Speaks, Retrosphere, and Kristeva, will take place on Sunday, December 15 at The Camel, located at 1621 W. Broad St. Doors open at 7 PM. Tickets are $5 in advance, $8 at the door, and can be purchased online at Eventbrite.

Top Photo by Miranda Jaroneski

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Fat Spirit Continue to Bring Their Grungey Vibes on Latest Tracks

Amy David | August 27, 2018

Topics: Citrus City Records, Fat Spirit, grunge, kraut rock, post punk, RVA bands, rva music, shoegaze

A little “post-punk, a lot of psychedelic, a little bit of krautrock and shoegaze.” If that splendid mix of music doesn’t pique your interest then there’s no hope for you. That’s how Fat Spirit guitarist Ian McQuary described their latest sound when we caught up with the band last year. The Richmond four-piece was just about to drop their album, “Nihilist Blues,” via Citrus City Records that April and since then, the guys have been busy putting their own spin on grunge and performing around town.

Oh yeah, they’ve also been in the studio quietly cooking up some good stuff for our souls. For your Monday afternoon listening pleasure, Fat Spirit has just dropped not one, but two new tracks through Citrus City.

The songs, “Cul De Sac” and Ace of Cups,” are just a little teaser of the band’s upcoming material slated to come out sometime in the fall.

On “Ace of Cups,” singer/guitarist John Graham said its all about the choices or in some cases, vices, that end up shaping our life in one way or another.

“There are many things you can give yourself over to: beers, Instagram, friendship, selfishness, love, capitalism, self-righteous anger. Every time you make a choice you pledge allegiance and those things own stock. The choices you make can own you, so choose wisely.”

“Cul De Sac” dives into the toll toxic friendships can have and the struggles that come with having to start over. “In the recent past, I found myself giving a lot of my energy to friends that needed help but left me half broken,” Graham said. “I was struggling to be there for people while experiencing broken trust and abuse. During this time we underwent a restructuring of our band that found us basically starting over. The song is about trusting your intuition in the wake of calamity and overcoming the self-doubt that can accompany starting from scratch.”

These two releases are part of a special run of cassingle tapes. Fat Spirit’s full-length album is slated to drop this October and the band plans to tour the East Coast to promote the record. Give them a listen and keep your eyes peeled for more on their forthcoming release.

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Local trio Droopies discusses new album, ‘Responsible People’

Nidhi Sharma | December 5, 2017

Topics: Droopies, lo-fi, psychedelic, rva music, shoegaze

Richmond rock group Droopies has returned to grace the local music scene with their new album, Responsible People.

The album, which is the followup to their 2015 self-titled lo-fi debut release, dropped Nov. 18 and is 15-tracks of lo-fi gritty tunes with a heavy dose of psychedelia.  

With Chris Harmon on vocals and guitar, Zack Albeitawi on drums, and John Graham {Fat Spirit} playing bass, the trio aren’t worrying about fitting into any particular genre, they are just out to play music. 

“A lot of people have told us we sound like psych rock, but I don’t really have any affinities to any era,” Harmon said. “I could maybe classify our music as shoegaze, because of the guitars and drums and the general sound. We’re just making music.”

In high school, Harmon and Albeitawi met in a music theory class. Graham, a fellow student, was looking to start a band and so were they — and so Maniac McGee, one of many precursors to Droopies, was born.

As teenagers, the trio’s lives changed with the release of alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain’s first record. From there, the band continued to draw influence from shoegaze artists like My Bloody Valentine and Wire.

“We listen to a lot of stuff that passes through filters and comes out in different ways,” Harmon said. “Our first album was kind of minimalist, with just guitar, drums and vocals. This one, I really took the time to see how many layers I could slip in tastefully, without the danger of overdose.”

The group has been toiling away at Responsible People, which was mastered by Bryan Walthall at Stereo Image, for the last two years and releasing it was no easy feat.

“The three of us, for almost a year now, have been living in different cities,” Harmon said. “I have to drive like nine hours to make a band practice work, but it’s worth it. I’m kind of in a long distance relationship with the band.”

Droopies survives not only on the basis of creativity, but also on friendship and trust. The three members, just shy of 30, have spent the majority of their lives as friends.

“I think the reason our band works is because we’ve known each other for so long,” Harmon said. “Having actual relationships with my bandmates and knowing that I can trust them makes it a lot easier when deciding the direction of a song, or scrapping something that doesn’t work.”

The band has performed at venues like The Camel and Strange Matter, as well as in Philadelphia, and is already working on its third album.

“Music is a way for me to process what I was going through at the time, to process my thoughts aloud,” Harmon said. “A lot of my own emotions and experiences go into these songs. I’m really trying to make a connection here. I’m constantly seeking out music, and I want to reach some people out there that want to or need to hear music like this.”

And there aren’t any local shows on the horizon just yet, but keep your eyes peeled for more from The Droopies.

Richmond’s shoegaze duo Keep on their latest release ahead of Smatter show

Amy David | August 29, 2017

Topics: Citrus City Records, Keep, rock, rva music, shoegaze, strange matter

Citrus City Records’ new shoegaze recruit Keep is beginning to make waves in the Richmond music scene. The duo released their first full-length album,  For Your Joy back was released in June and with distortion, dissonant vocals, and industrial sounds, Wes Smithers (guitarist) and Nick Yetka (drummer/vocals) are becoming names to know if you don’t already.

Keep has appeared on national shoegaze radio stations, but Smithers commented that he doesn’t like to put themselves into boxes.

“Honestly, we just like to be called a ‘rock band,’” he said.

The two have been playing music together since they were 14 in Chesapeake and in 2014, they made their way to Richmond to record their first EP, Hypnosis for Sleep.

“We traveled to Richmond to record with our friend Ian, ended up moving to Richmond a month afterwards, and went on our first tour,” Smithers said.

The duo’s second EP, Psychorama, Keep’s second EP followed a year later in November. The record was released by Cleveland, Ohio’s Mayfly Records.

“Bob Farley at Mayfly helped us find a home away from Virginia,” Yetka said. “…No tour followed, so we went straight into writing our album.”

Wishing to take their music to a new level of quality, Keep linked up with Jeff Zeigler at Uniform Recording in Philadelphia known for producing albums for The War on Drugs and Kurt Vile as well as now disbanded Richmond group White Laces. 

“When we were in high school, we were really into this band Nothing, and they recorded at Uniform, “Smithers said. That was basically our avenue to Zeigler.”

For their most recent release, Yetka and Smithers turned to Citrus City Records’ Manny Lemus last year to help with distribution and promotion.

 

“Manny is just a really cool guy helping us get our music out there,” Smithers said. “We released the album through Bandcamp, and Citrus City put out the cassettes.”

The local indie label has been churning out cassettes for some of RVA’s finest lately including Fat Spirit, Young Scum, Camp Howard and Lance Bangs.

When it came to the division of labor, both Smithers and Yetka wrote their own instrumentation, but Yetka wrote the lyrics.

“The album discusses the duo’s personal issues, perspectives on mental health, and how actions and consequences that arise between people affect them,” Yetka said.

Even though writing the album took about a year, the actual recording sessions only took two weeks. At that time, a friend of the duo, Calvin Lauber of Ardent Studios in Memphis, offered to mix and master For Your Joy and the bandmates were glad to have him.

“His mixing made the album credits more impressive, plus he’s the homie,” Smithers said.

Keep has done something remarkable with their latest release, and one can see why the duo has a hard time trying to define their genre. The 10-track album blends elements of shoegaze, doom metal, and electronic into a seamless product. The track “Man Made It” is a perfect example of the blending of all these together.  It swells with tempo, adding and dropping distortion with churning chords, all to end at the lofty chorus: “Feet don’t touch the ground / Ear don’t like the sound.”

For Your Joy comes to life in the second track, “Temporal Drift” with its use of melodic riffs, electronic keyboard tones, and introspective lyrics. However, the track immediately following, “Welcome To,” uses distorted guitar, switching the shoegaze atmosphere to a more grungy, gothic ambiance. Most of the album morphs between these hard sounds, until the very last. “7 Days” is the most unique track from the album as it leaves more room than any in this ballad form for the listener to absorb Yetka’s lyrics. The hollowness here is Keep’s sound personified.

“My favorite song is ‘7 Days,’ and it is the last one we recorded. It is just Nick’s vocals and my guitar. It just means the most to me, personally,” Smithers said.

Be sure to catch Keep at their upcoming show on Sept. 7 at  Strange Matter alongside True Body, Ó (fka Eskimeaux), and Hoops.

 

 

RVA’s power pop/grunge band Fat Spirit to drop new record ahead of spring tour, catch them 4/14 at Hardywood

Amy David | March 28, 2017

Topics: Bad Grrrl Records, BLUES & ROCK, Citrus City Records, Fat Spirit, grunge, Hardywood, Heavy Midgets, power pop, shoegaze

A splendid mix of dark power pop, shoegaze and grunge, Fat Spirit’s newest record is one you need to add into your rotation if you aren’t hip to them already.

The four-piece, which consists of Ian McQuary (guitar), Matty Seabass (bass), John Graham (vocals/guitar), and Robert Lindstedt (drums), will drop their new album Nihilist Blues April 16 via RVA label Citrus City Records and follow it up with a slew of Richmond shows and larger tour.

Fat Spirit recently released the teaser track “Cave” off the upcoming nine-track release. The teaser starts out very grungey, giving you all the 90s Nirvana feels, but as it progresses, it gets a little more upbeat and catchy. As for the album, Seabass said listeners can expect a few different sounds.

“There’s three very chill, ’60s, ’70s-inspired psych songs and then there’s some heavier ones, darker,” he said.

“Easter” gives listeners their post-punk fix and the track “Dagger” (probably one of my favorites on the album) stands out with its psychedelic intro and chill vibe. “Outside” is another ripper that is sure to get your blood pumping.

There’s definitely a lot going on in this album, and it switches up every few songs with a different sound so I can’t wait to see what these guys bring to the table live. The album ends on a seriously shoegazey, gritty note which pulls it all together, but doesn’t pack it up in a nice little bow which makes it all the more appealing.

“{We’re} pulling from a lot of post punk, a lot of psychedelic, a little bit of kraut rock and shoegaze,” said McQuary of the forthcoming album.

The band has been cranking out tunes for the last seven years and Nihilist Blues will be the followup to their 2013 release Super King, released via Bad Grrrl Records.

The group has been rocking out as Fat Spirit for the duration, however you might recognize a few of the band members, (McQuary and Graham) who previously performed under the name Heavy Midgets.

Graham and McQuary were the founding members along with Charlanne McCarthy and a few lineup switchups over the years.

Under the name Heavy Midgets, the group released the split LP Sisters with Tungs in April 2012 (again via Bad Grrrl) and Something Terrible, their debut EP, in January 2012.

They decided to change their name around the time Super King was coming out to book more gigs.

“We tried to book a tour and people were like, ‘are there any little people in your band and we were like, ‘no, it’s not really about that’, but there was no justifying it so we were like, ‘fuck this name!,” said Graham. “It’s not worth having people question whether or not we’re good people or if they should book a show for us.”

Not to fret though, McQuary said the new material isn’t that much different from the band’s previous releases.

“We never really felt like we shifted bands, we just changed names,” he said. “The influences remain the same…”

Fat Spirit recorded the album at the end of the summer with James Seretis at Virginia Moonwalker in Mechanicsville.

“We recorded most of the music live… the drums, bass, guitar at once and then did overdubs later not at Virginia Moonwalker,” McQuary said.

Seabass, who came in as their new bassist a year before they recorded the album in 2015 said Nihilist Blues was mostly fleshed out during practice sessions.

“[A] majority of the songs on the album were written during our acoustic practices,” he said. “We played acoustically to really hear the different parts.”

Newest member Robert Lindstedt came on to play drums in the fall after McQuary saw him play one night at Gallery5.

“It was Sports Bra’s last show at Gallery5 because that’s when I met {him},” McQuary said. “Afterwards we were supposed to meet Rivanna {Youngpool, Gallery5 Booker}, for a drink at GWARBar, she didn’t show up and I was kinda tipsy talking to Robert and he was great in the show.”

At the time, Fat Spirit was looking for a new drummer and Lindstedt said he showed McQuary some material he happened to be working on and the rest is history.

The band is releasing the new record through Citrus City Records (Young Scum, Lance Bangs), but they aren’t signed to the local burgeoning indie label. They did, however, give props to co-founder Manny Lemus for being instrumental in helping to push their album.

“He just kind of stepped up and has become the new local label that’s helping smaller local bands get their stuff out there outside of Richmond,” said Seabass.

They were in the middle of recording their album when Lemus reached out to them about working together and the partnership has flourished from there.

“He hit me up on Facebook and was like, ‘I’m a fan of your music, when is the next album?” said Graham.

Citrus City Records is handling promotional materials for Fat Spirit and will put out all tapes for the band.

Music videos for “Easter” and “Dagger” will drop sometime before the album comes out on April 16 according to the band, so keep an eye on RVA Mag for details on those.

In addition to a new album, Fat Spirit will also embark on a mini-tour in May so be sure to check out those dates below. In the meantime, catch Fat Spirit in Richmond April 14 at Hardywood with Spooky Cool and Zula, April 16th at Gallery5 with You’re Jovian and Basmati, May 5 at Gallery5 with Slump, and May 6th at The Camel with Night Idea for their homecoming show.

Tour Dates: Follow the band on Facebook for additional details on tour info

DC May 12
Philly May 13
NYC May 14
Pittsburgh May 15
Columbus May 16
Cincinnati May 17
Louisville May 18
Nashville May 19
Atlanta May 20
Athens May 21
Charleston May 22
Raleigh May 23

Local noise rock band Ashes drops new video, debut album release party NYE

Amy David | December 21, 2016

Topics: Ashes, Crystal Pistol Records, experimental rock, noise rock, shoegaze

Ashes, an up and coming noise/shoegaze band out of RVA is the latest group to sign onto local indie label Crystal Pistol Records, and on New Years Eve, they will drop their debut album, MyBadYerGood. They also have a new video they are allowing RVA Mag to premiere!
[Read more…] about Local noise rock band Ashes drops new video, debut album release party NYE

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