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Triumvir Foul, Human Agony, ASM/Predation

McKenzie Grimes | March 4, 2020

Topics: concerts, Slimehole, terror assault, Things to do in Richmond, wonderland rva

Slimehole and WONDERLAND RVA are greatly displeased to hold host yet again to a an underground rager courtesy of the ominous TERROR ASSAULT! This one includes a pair of Invictus Productions darkest and bleakest North American acts in Portland Oregon’s TRIUMVIR FOUL featuring members of the heralded Ash Borer alongside Canadian threat HUMAN AGONY featuring a who’s who of the Vancouver BC death/black metal scene. This perverse evening will be finalized with the hammering RVA war unit ASM aka ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE with the harsh electronics of PREDATION. For this and more grim evenings to come follow WONDERLAND SHOWS and SLIMEHOLE!

Thursday March 5th, 2020 @ Wonderland RVA
9PM Doors // 21+

TICKETS $10 at the door!

Don’t Pretend: Weekend Playlist by Mark Osborne of Slimehole

RVA Staff | August 2, 2019

Topics: hip hop, local artists, local booking, local music, Mark Osborne, metal, music, Playlist, punk, richmond shows, rock, rva magazine weekend playlist, RVA shows, shows, Slimehole, strange matter

Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an absolutely essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week, our featured playlist comes from Slimehole founder Mark Osborne, who started his event promotion/tour booking/music consulting business a few years back when he was the talent buyer at the late, lamented Strange Matter. These days, he’s responsible for bringing to Richmond many of the best live music events this city sees on a week-to-week basis, at venues large and small, from the Broadberry to Wonderland and everything in-between. If you want to hear about good live music every single week, make sure you’re keeping up with Slimehole.

On this dreary summer weekend, Osborne has brought us a playlist that runs the gamut — everything from horror movie soundtracks to hard-hitting hip hop, from moody postpunk to raging metal, and more. All of it’s here, and it’s sure to brighten up your weekend.

Embrace the slime, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

The Angular Anger of Large Margin

Alexander Rudenshiold | July 18, 2019

Topics: allyship, Chris Carreon, Chris Compton, James O'Neill, Large Margin, noise rock, Slimehole, strange matter, Zach Walsh

Richmond’s Large Margin go beyond the obvious frustrating aspects of American society in 2019 in order to critically examine their role within that society. They also rock really hard.

Any active listener to indie rock in the last half-decade will have noticed the uptick in  “angular rock,” a term partially lifted from jazz criticism used to describe odd musical phrasings (or, to use theoretical terminology, large harmonic jumps). This buzzword has been posthumously applied to such 90s-era groups as Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu, both of whom are big influences of Richmond’s own angular champions, Large Margin.

Though Large Margin only started in 2017, all of its members – singer/guitarist Chris Compton, guitarist Chris Carreon, bassist Zach Wish, and drummer James O’Neill – had known each other and appreciated each other’s music for over a decade, according to Compton. “Since these friendships were already established, we all kind of understood musically where the other was coming from,” he said.

This cohesion is evident when listening to the band’s self-titled debut album, released last fall – not only is the musicianship tight, but the songs themselves sound composed by a band of scene veterans; they’re layered and complex, but are not gaudy, or trying to prove something. That said, they clearly know what they want to sound like. “I’ve always been drawn to powerful melodic voices in aggressive music,” said Compton, crediting not only the aforementioned Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi but also less predictable groups like Nine Inch Nails and Killing Joke as core influences.

In another veteran move, the band completed a full album of original material within a year of their formation. Compton credits the band’s creative speed, in part, to a time-crunch created by Chris Carreon’s impending move to Philadelphia at the time of the band’s formation.

“I’ve always been the type to dwell on every detail, and that rush to create allowed me to not second-guess my instincts,” said Compton. “We had the music for the record written by the time Chris had left, which for me is lightspeed. It did take me awhile to finish the lyrics, but I’m very proud of what we created in such a short amount of time.”

Chris Compton. Photo by Adam Stokes

Large Margin’s music isn’t just sonically cohesive, though; lyrically, it’s united by an intense frustration with the current social and socio-economic landscape. But for Compton, it goes beyond that.

“I felt that the frustration of a white cis-het male towards a system ultimately set up to work for them was hardly something that needed to be exclaimed,” he explained. “I instead chose to look inward and analyze my own role as an ally. A lot of the frustration and disappointment heard [in the lyrics] are more directed at my own insecurities and failures to help those that are truly marginalized by those in power. Beyond the surface aggression heard in the music, this ended up being a very personal record.” 

Compton had good things to say about Richmond’s music scene and the people in it – crediting Mark Osborne of Slimehole and Shannon Cleary at WRIR as promoters who are consistently supportive. “Though we’re all still grieving the loss of Strange Matter,” Compton said, echoing a sentiment which continues to resound throughout Richmond’s music scene even eight months after the club’s closure, “it’s been great to see other venues around town pick up the slack, as well as a wealth of DIY venues putting up touring acts.”

James O’Neill. Photo by Adam Stokes

Despite their first record having only been out for a year, and a member living multiple states away, Large Margin has begun to write new material. “Writing with a member long distance is something we’re learning to navigate,” says Compton. “I don’t imagine it being as quick to come together as our previous release, but our goal with this band is to enjoy the process of writing and playing as much as we can.”

He also says that the band doesn’t have plans to tour. “Booking tours and marketing our music is not something that brings us much joy,” he said. “We’re just trying to have a good time.”

Top Photo by Craig Zirpolo

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

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