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Awakening From The Nightmares of The West

Mitchel Bamberger | June 25, 2020

Topics: album release, black lives matter, BLM, ep release, music, new album, nightmares of the west, police brutality, political music, politics, punk, punk bands, Strike Anywhere, systemic racism, thomas barnett

Strike Anywhere’s first new release in over 10 years arrives at a time when Richmond is addressing many of the political issues the veteran punk band has been singing about throughout their career.

Richmond’s beloved veteran punk band Strike Anywhere is releasing their first batch of studio recordings in more than a decade. Their brand-new EP, Nightmares Of The West, is composed of seven songs that bridge their musical stylings with the state of the world today.

Music and the arts have long been creative outlets to turn to in times of social unrest. Thomas Barnett, vocalist and lyricist of Strike Anywhere, reminds us of this once again with the release of the new EP. 

“Music and art, and culture work, are part of the foundation,” Barnett said. “Giving people the space to check their privilege, and understand their spot in history — to break away from dominant culture and see truth. To see through propaganda, and seek courage to take a stand. That’s always part of what we’re about.” 

For decades, punk bands like Strike Anywhere have used their voices to bring awareness to injustice, rallying the troops of social revolution. Punks have long been a part of a lineage of people who are discontent with the status quo, and desperate for revolution.

“This is a crazy, beautiful, terrifying, and crucial time,” Barnett said. “It feels like talking about a punk band and its songs is not particularly relevant.” But with a listen to Nightmares Of The West, it’s apparent that the record is entirely relevant to the political and social climate of today. From their sound to their attitude, and their mission as a band, Strike Anywhere embodies the punk narrative with politically-charged songs and motivations for social change.

Barnett has consistently used his voice to bring attention to injustice, and made it his goals to give voices to the underrepresented and disenfranchised people of America. In many ways, the band itself is a vehicle for activism; the microphone is often used similarly to megaphones in protests, rallying and uplifting listeners to scream their anger in the streets and in concert halls. Much like the protests happening in Richmond and across the country, the band encourages their audience to mobilize, sending their message into the faces of their oppressors. 

Nightmares Of The West seems to pick up right where Strike Anywhere left off more than ten years ago. The new album is filled with rage and discontent for the status quo, and challenges the systems that are in place. It yearns for something better — a society that is more equal and just. In addition to these familiar ideals, there are topics and sentiments that may be new to the band’s repertoire. As the members age, new perspectives have emerged in their work. Even hardened punks will grow sentimental and nostalgic in time. 

The songs are reflective and personal. They explore the outer landscape of America, its ideologies, and social climate, but they also explore the inner world of musicians who are growing older, and the experiences that come with that process. Death and grief are recurring subjects on the EP.

“The past ten years, I’ve lost two close friends who were my age, and that’s affected everything,” Barnett said. “It’s about what you do with grief, loss, regret, and powerlessness… Seeing people’s addictions overtake them, depression and trauma overtake them. There’s always this ghost from your childhood pulling you back, and if you don’t face it and talk about it, it will kill you.” 

Barnett explained how this theme of self-care and dealing with trauma relates to the bigger picture, and what’s happening in the world now on a macro level.

“How we keep ourselves open, how we stay positive so we can be available for these changes, for justice, is important,” Barnett said. “And we do it with peace. And when I say ‘peace,’ I also mean burning police cars.” The sentiment is one that many angry Americans on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter movement can staunchly agree with. 

As far as burning police cars goes, Barnett showed his insight into what that means as an act of peaceful protest. 

“If there’s instruments of violence all around us, to neutralize them is peaceful protest,” he said. “I think that’s where Richmond stands… It’s not just about letting yourself get tear gassed. It’s about reclaiming the streets, taking back all of those weapons that we pay for with our taxes that are being used against us. Punk bands have been talking about that exact dichotomy for a long time.” 

Barnett lives in California now, and has for some years, but Strike Anywhere will always be a Richmond band. He visits Richmond often, not just to play shows, but to see his family and friends and walk the city. 

“The city is a friend,” he said. Their song “The Bells” from the new album is about those walks and, according to Barnett, what to do with grief and time. He left Richmond for California when he was 30, during a time that he called “the line between New Richmond and Old.” 

“Somewhere between 2007 and 2010, I noticed there was more shocking and significant change when I came back, versus tried and true nostalgic pathways,” Barnett reflected. He spoke about the massive transformation that Richmond has undergone in the past decade. 

PHOTO: Strike Anywhere at The Broadberry, February 2020, by Joey Wharton

“The way we look at time and space — seeing the past underneath the present, seeing through those layers — it’s a part of being human,” Barnett said. “But I also think it’s a particular part of Richmond.” He explained how living in Richmond has prepared us for this moment, by living alongside the manifestations of systemic racism, and daily reminders that gawk at the people, in the form of Confederate monuments and gentrification. 

Barnett went on to discuss social issues during the first decade of the 21st century, and how they informed Strike Anywhere’s last studio album, Iron Front (2009), compared to the issues of today. 

“I’m not sure that Iron Front was topically-anchored to that time in any way that isn’t relevant now,” he explained. For Strike Anywhere, that album reinforced the idea that today’s cultural uprisings and Black Lives Matter movement are a culmination of not just years, but decades and generations of injustice. The stories and topics addressed on Iron Front are, in many ways, the same stories relevant today on Nightmares Of The West. 

However, one major difference in the eras of Iron Front and Nightmares Of The West is the digital age, and the evolution of social media that has taken place between them. 

“We had MySpace back then, with no sense that what happened with social media could happen,” Barnett said. “Another thing that ravages us individually is trying to sort out truth from fiction, and what’s useful in all of this.” 

He went on to point out one gift of social media: we have legitimate evidence of police murdering innocent folks, and we can see the real-time victories of this protest, and degradation of police in the state. 

“We wouldn’t have had this without this technology right now, and that’s why this particular moment is different,” he said. 

Specific lyrics on Nightmares Of The West provide insight into their stories. 

“‘The Bells’ is about this idea that no one forgets, but no one remembers until the monuments fall,” said Barnett. “I wrote that song a year ago, thinking we would never in our lifetimes see the monuments removed.”

The statue of Confederate General Williams Carter Wickham was forcibly removed by protesters the night before his interview with RVA Magazine. This event, and the forthcoming removal of all Confederate monuments, gave new depth and meaning to these lyrics. 

“It’s strange, because [these songs] seem even more relevant now than they did a year ago when we wrote them, which I can’t explain,” Barnett said. 

PHOTO: Strike Anywhere at The Broadberry, February 2020, by Joey Wharton

“The Bells” could be an anthem for what will, hopefully, become a nationwide effort to remove all racist, insensitive, and offensive monuments from public spaces.

“These are structures that aren’t truthful, and are without context. They’ve been here to oppress us — to justify hateful nonsense for generations and to weaponize it,” Barnett said. “You take those structures down, and there’s only people left. These [monuments] are edifices of fear and supremacy, trying to put a lie to the loss. This is the era of unraveling all of that, and re-settling the table.” 

“Dress The Wounds,” the second song on the new album, has a section of lyrics saying Do not go gentle into that good night. This line is directly lifted from a poem by Dylan Thomas, of the same name. 

“The song is about perseverance,” Barnett said. “Why we are here, why we continue to seek the truth, why we feel this imperative — even through our anxiety, through exhaustion, trauma, and loss, to get back up and get out in the world to connect. To look internally, see what the fuck is wrong with you, meaning me.” 

Barnett summed up the meaning of the song, relating it back to the borrowed lyrics from Dylan Thomas. 

“It’s a song about healing and finding peace in all the chaos. We won’t go gentle into that good night is speaking to outside forces that want to silence you,” he said. “I think the idea of rebuilding and healing is extremely important. ‘Dress The Wounds’ is literally about that healing; your heart, your mind, and trying to figure out a way to move forward.” 

In the years since their last release, Strike Anywhere has been playing shows here and there while working on new material. 

“We’ve always been writing as a band, but we took a break from touring and folded back into our communities and families,” Barnett said. “What we’ve chosen to do is play special shows, and we’ve been able to give our all at those shows… and do it in a way that feels like if this was the last time, that would be okay. This could be the right last show.” 

Barnett reflected on the string of shows Strike Anywhere played earlier this year in Richmond. “That’s how we felt about the shows back in February at The Broadberry — it felt like we were closing the door on the past a little.” But the band continues to move forward, staying relevant with Nightmares Of The West and adding a meaningful voice to the current movement for civil rights. 

Before our conversation ended, Barnett took a moment to touch on the new album’s title. 

“Nightmares Of The West is the lyrical heart of the record, taken from the song ‘Frontier Glitch,’ about the mythology of Western dominance, white supremacy, and imperialism,” he said. “[It’s about] what it actually means to be human and a part of history, as opposed to the abstraction that gives some people power over the world, and other people erasure and genocide.”

It is surely a fitting title for a time of change like this. As America confronts a long history of systemic racism, “One side is the American Dream, and underneath is Nightmares Of The West.” 

Top Photo via Strike Anywhere/Big Picture Media

VA Shows You Must See This Week: December 11 – December 17

Marilyn Drew Necci | December 11, 2019

Topics: Ages, Alan Parker, Andrew Randazzo, Archbishop, Aster, Bar Stool Preachers, Chicho's Backstage, Deli Kings, Demons, Devonne Harris, EdHochuli, Films On Song, gallery 5, Gardener, Ghost Of Pop 2019, Hardywood, Incantation, Inter Arma, Isabella VanKesteren, Jackson Shurlds, Little River Creek Police, Manas, Marcus Tenney, Mojo's, Morbid Angel, Palm Palm, Poor Boys, Prabir Trio, R4nd4zzo & Co, Righter, Saw Black, Sean K. Preston & The Loaded Pistols, Shockoe Denim, shows you must see, Sid Kingsley, Silent Music Revival, Single Use Plastic, Strike Anywhere, Taphouse Grill, The Broadberry, The Camel, Watain, Yeni Nostalji

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, December 13, 7 PM
Ghost Of Pop 2019, feat. Palm Palm (Photo by Ashley Travis Photography), Deli Kings, Saw Black, Prabir Trio, Aster @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)

I don’t think it’s arguable that we’re right in the thick of the holiday season at this point, folks. Christmas is two weeks away, New Year’s Eve and an end to 2019 a week beyond that. Everyone’s cramming the big-box stores, shopping malls, and post offices to take care of last minute present-related needs, and then heading out to a whole passel of big year-ending shows once night falls. There are a ton of those big shows happening this week — more than I had room for in this column, by a good bit. However, in a week that also features the annual South Hill Snowdown, yet another two-night helping of Punks For Presents, and the annual No BS! Brass food drive at the Broadberry, it seemed most important to me to tell you about Ghost Of Pop at Gallery 5.

Ghost Of Pop is an annual throwdown that is the brainchild of Prabir Mehta, a guy who’s been making all sorts of musical, artistic, and scientific things happen around this town for well over a decade now. Every year, he brings together a solid collection of Richmond musicians to present their varying takes on what it means to play “pop music” in the 21st century. The bands are joined by a ton of holiday vendors and a proper holiday party, featuring drinks, photo booths, and a whole ton of holiday cheer to make the entire evening far more memorable than just another local-band showcase.

This year, Ghost Of Pop is headed up by Palm Palm, a band that, on the heels of J. Roddy Walston & The Business’s last show for the foreseeable future two weeks ago, becomes by default the main project J. Roddy is working on. Also featuring members of The Trillions, The Southern Belles, and The Milkstains, among many others, this band has a pedigree sufficient to guarantee a great rockin’ time for all when they’re onstage. We’ll also get a set from local singer-songwriter Saw Black; in light of the season and his recent release of a proper Christmas album, it seems likely that we’ll be getting a holiday-centric set from this fine fella, and that’s sure to be a lovely treat. Of course, Prabir’s current project, the Prabir Trio, will be on hand to present their anthems in praise of Bamboo Cafe and others, while appetite-driven rock n’ rollers Deli Kings and youthful bedroom-pop project Aster round out the bill in outstanding fashion. Head to Gallery 5 this Friday night and get in the spirit.

Wednesday, December 11, 8 PM
R4nd4zzo & Co, feat. Andrew Randazzo, Marcus Tenney, Jackson Shurlds, Alan Parker, Devonne Harris @ Poor Boys – $5

This time of year, the main place you’d expect to encounter bassist extraordinaire Andrew Randazzo is at the head of his R4ND4ZZO Bigband playing classic Vince Guaraldi compositions from the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Rest assured, he and his many compatriots are still doing that this year, and you can catch them at least once more between now and December 25 if you play your cards right. But this show is another matter entirely, and it’s a chance to see Andrew Randazzo do what he does best the other 11 months out of the year.

This evening finds Randazzo heading up a jazz quintet that will bring him together with a couple of his bandmates from Butcher Brown as well as several other Virginia jazz heavyweights of his generation. Expect things to be loose and unscripted, but not aimless or boring — all of these musicians are experienced with improvisation and are sure to bring some outstanding sounds to the back room at Poor Boys. If you want to know what’s going on with jazz here in Richmond, this is the place to be tonight. You know what to do.

Thursday, December 12, 7:30 PM
Manas, Gardener @ Shockoe Denim – $10

Here’s an intriguing musical prospect brought to us by Little Dumbo, the experimental music aficionados who’ve been presenting delightfully unexpected evenings of unusual sounds around town for the past couple of years now. This time around, they’re bringing the North Carolina-based duo Manas to Shockoe Denim, and there’s no doubt that the expensive jeans will be threaded just a little differently when the evening is done.

Manas features Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji, who came to the United States as a teenager, cut his teeth on the wild, politically-driven hardcore of bands like His Hero Is Gone, then moved in an experimental direction. He collaborates in Manas with drummer Thom Nguyen, an experienced noise-rock veteran, and the two of them combine abstract free-jazz improvisations with raging noise explosions in a manner that generates a great deal of fantastic tension and will leave listeners on the edge of their seat to see what this group of talented musicians will do next. You won’t know unless you’re there, so plan your Thursday evening now, because you don’t want to miss this.

Friday, December 13, 6:30 PM
Little River Creek Police, Righter, Sid Kingsley @ Hardywood – Free!

December can be a bit rough sometimes; what money you don’t have tied up in keeping the lights on and the rent paid gets eaten up by Christmas shopping, and the next thing you know, you’re sitting home every night watching Christmas specials from the 80s on YouTube because you can’t afford to go out. Well, we certainly know your pain on this one, but this Friday night, you’re in luck, because there’s a free show happening at Hardywood that would be worth your time even if you had to pay for it.

Little River Creek Police are celebrating the release of their latest single, “Yuri,” at Hardywood this Friday night. Following up their debut EP, Quiet The Ruckus, this catchy new tune finds the trio moving in a more immediate direction that adds some rough-n-ready folk-punk appeal to their jangly pop sweetness. Their set at Hardywood is sure to keep your feet moving, and you’ll be lucky enough to get sets from local indie mainstays Righter and Sid Kingsley in the bargain. See? There are still things to go out and enjoy even if you did spend your last dollar to send your mom a Christmas card. Now go enjoy yourself.

Saturday, December 14, 9 PM
Edhochuli, Inter Arma, Archbishop @ Mojo’s – $10 suggested donation

I love it when hardcore bands stick around for over a decade. The main reason I say that is because it’s always intriguing to see the ways a group evolves in a genre where most bands don’t even make it to a second album before falling apart. Edhochuli, who take their name from the most muscular referee in the world of pro football, have been cranking out excellent chaotic hardcore from the land of Pittsburgh for a very long time now, always with excellent results — results which seem to get heavier and more epic in scope with each new release. Their most recent is 2015’s Dream Warriors LP, so at this point it’s high time for them to bring us something new, and we can certainly hope they’ve got a bunch of new songs in their quivers for this performance.

Meanwhile, Inter Arma has been blazing an epic metallic path of their own for over a decade themselves, remaining ambitious and creative on their fourth full-length, Sulphur English, released earlier this year. Their tendency toward long, slowly evolving songs that build toward head-crushing crescendos remains intact on their latest release, and the members’ incredible talent at their instruments remains one of the key reasons to see this band live. This show’s pairing of them with Edhochuli makes this an unbeatable evening of heavy music, and the addition of relative newcomers Archbishop — which features ragers from local groups like The Skin and Memory Loss — will only serve to sweeten the pot that much more.

Sunday, December 15, 7:30 PM
Silent/Music Revival, feat. Yeni Nostalji @
Gallery 5 – Donations appreciated
Silent/Music Revival is a storied institution in the world of live music around Richmond, and another installment of this long-running series is always a welcome treat. Coordinated by Jameson Price of Lobo Marino, Silent/Music Revival pairs a local musical project with a silent move they’ve never seen before, for which they improvise a soundtrack on the spot. This Sunday night’s film is The Wild Cat, a 1921 German silent film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The director was at the dawn of his career when he made this film, and went on to gain fame as a director of uniquely sophisticated comedies of manners in the early sound-film era.

The group paired with The Wild Cat on this occasion is Yeni Nostalji, a Richmond-based ensemble led by singer-songwriter Christina Marie Gleixner. Born in America, Gleixner nonetheless was so strongly influenced by Turkish pop of the 20th century that she decided to create music in that idiom, singing in Turkish and playing songs that have a decided Eastern European influence in Yeni Nostalji. That influence shows through in the lush continental pop of their self-titled 2018 LP, and it’s sure to appear in the soundtrack they create for The Wild Cat as well. The combination of the two will provide a warm and sweet experience for your Sunday night. And if you stick around afterwards, Gallery 5 will also present a holiday-themed installment of Strange Projections, the VHS-driven experimental video montage experience. There’s no better way to wrap up your weekend.

Monday, December 16, 8 PM
Morbid Angel, Watain, Incantation @ The Broadberry – $30 in advance/$35 day of show (order tickets HERE)

Mondays are for metal, just like every day that ends in Y, and this week brings us a particularly metallic Monday with the arrival of three titans of death and black metal to Richmond’s own Broadberry. At the top of the list are those Floridian pioneers of death metal, Morbid Angel, who’ve been raging hard and heavy since well over 30 years ago. Lead guitarist Trey Azagthoth is the only remaining original member at this point, but the group currently features Steve Tucker on bass and vocals once again. Tucker, who previously fronted the band in the late 90s and early 00s, returned for 2017’s Kingdom Disdained, the 11th album to continue Morbid Angel’s tradition of releasing LPs in alphabetical order.

Like the band’s three previous albums fronted by Tucker, Kingdom Disdained is a dark, complex slab of metallic heaviness that stands strong alongside classics like Blessed Are The Sick, Formulas Fatal To The Flesh, and the almighty Altars Of Madness. With the embarrassment of riches within their catalog, Morbid Angel are sure to craft a set of pure devastation from their headlining spot on this bill. However, not to be outdone, Swedish black metallers Watain come to Richmond fresh off 2018’s triumphant Trident Wolf Eclipse LP, and their notoriously bloody live performance is sure to be quite the spectacle as well. Legendary New York death metallers Incantation will round things out with their fiery, brutal take on the genre, and are sure to get the heads banging as soon as they hit the stage. This one’s gonna rip.

Tuesday, December 17, 7 PM
Ages, Films On Song, Isabella VanKesteren @ The Camel – $5 (order tickets HERE)

This Tuesday night of locally-based music is another bargain for all you deal-hunters out there, as it affordably provides you with the opportunity to check out Ages, the latest project from the fertile mind of Richmond musician Age Shurte. Previously of Magnus Lush and quite a few other groups, Shurte now joins with musicians from such leading lights of Richmond rock as Dumb Waiter, Piranha Rama, and New Lions to bring us another wonderful helping of entrancing, powerful rock.

Well, that’s really just my best guess — as far as I can tell, Ages don’t have any music online as yet, and they haven’t played many shows either. But in light of all the talented RVA music vets involved with this project, I’m more than willing to blindly recommend checking them out. With melodic Charlottesville postpunks Films On Song and hypnotic Richmond singer-songwriter Isabella VanKesteren on the bill as well, this evening is sure to be worth way more than the five measly bucks they’re charging you to get in.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday, December 13, 9 PM
Sean K. Preston & The Loaded Pistols @ Taphouse Grill (Norfolk) – $5 in advance/$8 day of show (order tickets HERE)

When you’ve named your band The Loaded Pistols, it’s hard for you to fade into the background as an artist, but one listen to Sean K. Preston’s 2018 LP, Forgive, lets you know that fading into the background is the last thing this Baltimore singer-songwriter wants to do. On tracks like “Last Call,” the opening “Barnburner,” and “Snakeskin Boots Boogie,” Preston and his Loaded Pistols draw from the most evocative aspects of mid-20th-century country music, pre-war blues, early rock n’ roll, and dark troubadours like Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. With all those influences in tow, they create a spooky, dramatic sound that mixes all those styles together and is sure to appeal both to fans of rock n’ roll wildmen like the Gun Club and Reverend Horton Heat and country outlaws like Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.

So if that sounds like something that’ll appeal to you, you certainly should make it your business to come to Norfolk’s Taphouse on Friday night and enjoy some high-energy sounds from Sean K. Preston & The Loaded Pistols. Sure, it’s the start of the weekend, there’s a lot more you could be doing, but really, can’t the Christmas shopping wait until Saturday morning? After seeing Preston and co. you’ll go all the way home with a smile still on your face. Can you really say the same thing about the holiday crowds at the mall? You know the answer as well as I do.

Sunday, December 15, 7:30 PM
Strike Anywhere, Bar Stool Preachers, Demons, Single-Use Plastic @ Chicho’s Backstage (Norfolk) – $17 in advance/$20 day of show (order tickets HERE)

Strike Anywhere is from Richmond, and what’s more, they are one of the best melodic hardcore bands this town has ever produced (Avail’s their only real competition… yeah, I said it). So if you want to see them in both your and their hometown, I certainly understand that. However, the Richmond date on this particular tour finds Strike Anywhere opening for the Bouncing Souls’ 30th anniversary tour at The Broadberry — and right now, as I write, that show is already sold out. If you didn’t grab those tickets, you’re going to need to make the drive down 64 East to catch Strike Anywhere this time around.

And let me tell you, it’s worth doing. While it has at this point been an entire decade since we last got some new studio material from these guys — 2009’s Iron Front — classic singalongs like “Sunset On 32nd,” “Blaze,” and “Chorus Of One” do not diminish with age. Raising your voice to scream along with Thomas Barnett — a dude who remains a tremendously energetic frontman — is not going to feel any less powerful now than it did in years past. And you know you want to feel those feelings one more time. So do it — get your tickets, gas up the car, and make the drive. You’ll never regret it for a second.

—-

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Fest 13: Three days of hectic Halloween punk rock action

Marilyn Drew Necci | November 14, 2014

Topics: Candy Hearts, Caves, Circle Takes the Square, Close Talker, Descendents, Dikembe, Dowsing, Florida, Foxing, Gainesville, Halloween, Hold Tight!, Into It Over It, Kittyhawk, live music, Ma Jolie, music, Paint It Black, Post Teens, Rapturous Grief, RVIVR, Spraynard, Strike Anywhere, sundials, The Fest, The Hotelier, The Marked Men, The Menzingers, tim barry, Timeshares, Touche Amore, Typesetter, Underground Railroad to Candyland, Vacation, You Blew It!

The 2014 edition of the long-running punk music event known simply as Fest was held Oct 31, Nov 1st, and Nov 2nd at various venues, restaurants, bars, and public parks in Gainesville, Florida. Bands playing The Fest come from all over the globe–including quite a few from Richmond.
[Read more…] about Fest 13: Three days of hectic Halloween punk rock action

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