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VA Shows You Must See This Week: May 1 – May 7

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FEATURED SHOW
Monday, May 6, 7 PM
Skeletonwitch, Soft Kill, Wiegedood, Portrayal Of Guilt @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $18 in advance/$20 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Monday is traditionally the most difficult night of the week on which to find a rad show at which to rock out. However, there have to be exceptions to every rule, and this week the exception to the Monday rule is hitting us in a big way. Huzzah! This bonanza for heavy music fans rolls into Capital Ale House’s Richmond Music Hall Monday night to decimate the vicinity of downtown Richmond and to make the beginning of our week that much better.

Skeletonwitch are leading this parade, and while this long-running black-death-thrash band has been through some trials and tribulations over the past few years that at one point saw them doing a tour fronted by Richmond’s own Andy Horn (Battlemaster), they’ve landed on their feet. Last year, they released their absolutely killer sixth album, Devouring Radiant Light, introducing permanent new vocalist Adam Clemans into the fold and showing that the removal of their original singer did nothing to diminish their energetic metal power. They’ll be bringing the headbanging rage to Capital Ale House with all the fury you’ve always known from them, so prepare yourself.

And prepare yourself for a trio of diverse and amazing support acts as well. Soft Kill are at the head of this one, and this postpunk group has definitely channeled the feel of fog-enshrouded guitar-driven UK bands of past decades, most prominently the Chameleons, on their latest album, Savior. Your head may not bang during their set, but your heart will be moved nonetheless. As for Belgian band Wiegedood, my less-than-perfect understanding of Dutch leads me to hear their name as something a surfer bro might shout as he catches a really excellent wave, but it turns out it means “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,” a fitting name for a band with such a raging, shredding, hyperspeed black metal sound. Expect blastbeats and tremolo-picking aplenty when these guys take the stage. And please, do NOT be fashionably late and neglect openers Portrayal Of Guilt — this outstanding band has arisen from the screamo scene in recent years with some incredibly scathing, heavy, and passionate hardcore that must be heard to be believed. Make the most of your Monday night — go to this show.

Wednesday, May 1, 7:30 PM
Whitesnake, The Black Moods @ The National – $50 (order tickets HERE)
Y’all know I’m old by now, but I’m even older than you realize, because I’m officially stoked that Whitesnake will be in town tonight. And look, we need to set the record straight on Whitesnake — because while I know everyone today only remembers them for that groundbreaking classic of car-dancing, “Here We Go Again” (a great song, to avoid misconceptions), they actually have a 40-year career of heavy-blues awesomeness. Led for their entire career by former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale, Whitesnake included as many as three ex-Purple players in their early days, and has also, over the years, featured guitar-slingers from groups like Thin Lizzy and Def Leppard, as well as the legendary axe-slayer himself, Steve Vai.

These days, Whitesnake — who were already 10 years deep into their career when “Here I Go Again” hit the top 40 — have Reb Beach of honest-to-god glam metallers Winger on lead guitar, and they’re only a week or so away from releasing their 13th album, Flesh And Blood. There’s definitely some of that glam-metal sleaze going on on the album’s first new single, but let’s be real, this night is all about their Zeppelin/Purple-style blues-metal classics: “Fool For Your Loving,” “Still Of The Night,” “Slide It In,” “Love Hunter”… it’s gonna rule. Apparently you can only get tickets through secondary sellers at this point, and they’re going for twice face value, which is too rich for my blood, but if you’ve got the scratch to drop a C-note on a Wednesday night, you’re sure to have a blast at this one.

Thursday, May 2, 9 PM
Pissing Contest, Nightcreature, Railgun @ Bandito’s – Free!
Hey all you punk-as-fuck Richmond ragers out there — take notice of this particular Thursday night gig! And not just because it’s free and there’s beer there. If you like to spike your hair and raise two fingers to the world, Richmond’s own Pissing Contest are the band for you. This quartet’s been venting their speedy, anti-social frustration on this city for over five years now, and they’re releasing their second full-length collection of punk tunes full of, um, piss and vinegar at this free Bandito’s gig. So get stoked.

The new Pissing Contest album is titled The Fountain, and its cover art makes clear that the album’s title is a reference to Marcel Duchamp’s notorious Dadaist found sculpture of the same name — a porcelain urinal of 1910s vintage. That’s proof that these guys are no dummies, and that they understand the process of making powerful art from shunned and rejected aspects of society. No wonder their new album contains songs with titles like “Buttfuck (My Cigarette),” “Boner Forest,” and “I’m Like King Midas But For Shit.” There’s a point being made here, and it’s being made in a loud, fast, furious fashion. The result is the ultimate in catchy punk rock fun. Don’t drink too much beer or eat too many Bandito’s tacos before their set — that sort of behavior does not go well with all the circle-pit action you’ll be partaking of when Pissing Contest hit the stage.

Friday, May 3, 9 PM
Ecstatic Vision, Heavy Temple, Sinister Haze @ Wonderland – $10
Do you like your music trippy? No, more trippy than that — like Hawkwind’s Space Ritual crossed with early Ash Ra Tempel, with saxophones blaring and electronic sounds making you think a spaceship is launching right behind your back even as a really heavy rock groove cranks right through the center of your skull and makes it impossible not to nod along. If so, you’re well on your way to appreciating the sheer enormity of the psychedelic power Philadelphia’s Ecstatic Vision will unleash upon Shockoe Bottom at Wonderland this Friday night.

Ecstatic Vision pull from the exactly the sort of biker-psych fury and German cosmische motorik I was talking about above on their 2017 LP, Raw Rock Fury, making the connection even more explicit on 2018’s Under The Influence EP, where they cover Hawkwind, the MC5, and Zambian psychedelic-guitar legend Keith Mlevhu, among others. Blowing minds is their mission when they come to Richmond, and they’ll be bringing witchy doom-metal crushers Heavy Temple down with them, just to leave us all properly pulverized and in the perfect mindset for the space journey on which we’re all about to embark.

Saturday, May 4, 3 PM
Laundropalooza 2.0, feat. Rebekah Rafferty and the Wakes, Keilan Creech, Weekend Plans, The Wimps, T Star, Deli Kings, The Northerners, Kenneka Cook, Moniker, Elliot Johnson @ Strawberry Street Neighborhood Laundromat – Free!
This is the kind of thing I wouldn’t normally believe could happen in a town like Richmond. An all-day Saturday show… in a laundromat? Get outta here. But don’t be skeptical, because it’s all true, and what’s more, it’s been done before! And why not? Spring is here, the temperatures are rising, the skies are finally clearing, and it’s time to enjoy the world once more. Considering that advance promo for this event advises you to bring a lawn chair and/or a blanket, I’m guessing it’s happening outside — and as I recall, the Strawberry Street Laundromat does have a lovely backyard and patio, so it really does all add up to a lovely afternoon.

The music looks to be pretty great too — the ten excellent Richmond artists performing here are mostly of the sort that don’t need that much amplification and electricity to put their sound across effectively, so expect a lot of acoustic sounds from local stars like Kenneka Cook and The Wimps, intriguing newcomers like Moniker and Elliot Johnson, perennials like The Northerners and Weekend Plans, and a whole lot more! Plus, if you have laundry to do, this is the perfect time to do it. God knows the hours sitting around the laundromat can sometimes get pretty boring — but having a free show break out behind the building just as you throw in your whites is the perfect antidote for that issue. So enjoy washing clothes for once, and head over to Strawberry Street Laundromat after brunch on Saturday. You won’t be sorry.

Sunday, May 5, 10 PM
Black Plastic, HotSpit, CAPTCHA @ Bandito’s – Free!
Sunday night is always a great night to head down to Bandito’s. There aren’t always free shows featuring great local bands happening, but it happens more often than not, and this Sunday is one of the nights where local music is definitely on the menu at my personal favorite local spot to get heaping plates of nachos — so don’t miss out! Black Plastic are a Richmond band who’ve been around for a couple of years but kept the releases to a minimum; thus far, they only have one official single to their name.

However, what that single has made abundantly clear is that they have an excellent songwriting sense and the ability to crank out catchy, memorable, and delightfully off-kilter tunes in flawless fashion. So their set this Sunday night is certainly essential. But the same can be said about HotSpit, who I wrote about only two weeks ago right here in this very column. At the time, I called them “a promising shoegaze quartet with strong vocal melodies and ringing guitars,” and I can’t imagine that much has changed since mid-April, so we’ll go with that once again, and further inform you that, like Black Plastic, big things seem assuredly on the horizon for this outfit. Grabbing a chance to see them for free as you enjoy a plate of tacos is definitely the move. Newcomers CAPTCHA, who are certainly no slouches in the “let’s come up with an ungoogleable band name” sweepstakes, kick this one off. Be there.

Monday, May 6, 7:30 PM
IDLES, Fontaines DC @ The Broadberry – $15 in advance/$17 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Playing basic three-chord punk can be the sort of decision that leads people to think that a band is untalented; especially today, four decades into the punk rock era, it’s the rare band that can both rage and riff in simple, direct, aggressive fashion and make clear from jump that they are bringing a fierce, critical intelligence to their take on no-frills punk. IDLES did this exact thing on their first LP, Brutalism, with sardonic songs that mocked anti-intellectualism and apathy.

But IDLES went through a lot between that album and their second album, Joy As An Act of Resistance, released last fall. And you can tell; while the raging punk sound remains intact on their second album, this UK band’s approach is significantly more refined, incorporating six-minute dirges and soul covers as well as lyrics that go beyond the first record’s cooking-show references into dark takes on depression, addiction, and death. But in the end, the group’s push is away from nihilism and toward finding positive aspects of life, making it all worth living through and smiling about. They certainly do so with their powerful music, which is if anything getting both more aggressive and more complex; at the Broadberry Monday night, they’ll make you think even as they stir your boots toward the pit. What better way to evoke the spirit of punk in 2019 could there be?

Tuesday, May 7, 6 PM
Psycroptic, Cannabis Corpse, Gorod, Micawber, Crucial Rip, Voarm @ The Camel – $20 (order tickets HERE)
To the uninitiated, death metal probably seems like a lot of undifferentiated low-end noise. However, to those of us who’ve been listening to it for decades, there are many fine gradations that appear in what, to be honest, still is pretty much a wall of unrelenting aggression and brutality. This show at The Camel Tuesday night is definitely an unrelenting evening of death fucking metal in the offing. However, the bands on this stacked bill showcase all sorts of different approaches to the same basic template. And that’s what makes this one truly unmissable. Take Psycroptic, the veteran Australian group headlining this bill. They’re currently on tour in support of their seventh album, As The Kingdom Drowns. On that album — and surely onstage at the Camel Tuesday night — they display mastery of a technical approach to death metal that mixes complex riffing and melodic undertones with powerful brutal breakdowns in a fascinating multi-layered fashion.

Meanwhile, co-headliners Cannabis Corpse, from right here in Richmond, giving their tales of marijuana-infused terror a crushing yet somehow catchy energy, which is pointed straight at your face. Take a big hit of that, and then make sure you give some attention to French thrashers Gorod, whose riffy, progressive approach to the power of death metal shows complex talent while still making sure to rip your head off on a regular basis. There are multiple other bands on this bill, all bringing their own rich understandings of death metal to the stage, all of which will be more than worth your time. Don’t fear the metal — give yourself a chance to understand it. After all, as we all know, the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. And there will surely be excessive headbanging at this gig.

Picks from elsewhere around the state:

Saturday, May 4, 9 PM
Murphy’s Law, The Unabombers @ Taphouse Grill – $15 (order tickets HERE)
Where New York Hardcore is concerned, it doesn’t get much more OG than Murphy’s Law. Formed by singer Jimmy Gestapo (who mostly just goes by Jimmy G these days, for reasons that should be obvious) in 1982, this band’s fun n’ games take on hardcore emphasizes the sort of goofy reprobate attitude that was always the flip side of punk’s iconoclastic, anti-social approach to the world. As a result, over the course of their five albums, Murphy’s Law have often focused on drugs, parties, and avoiding responsibility — themes with widespread appeal among the punk rock masses that may also serve to explain why they’ve been around for over 35 years and, as previously mentioned, only released five albums.

These days, Murphy’s Law are approaching two full decades since their last release of new material, so let’s be clear — this show’s mainly gonna be a big singalong party. From speedy early tunes like “Beer” and “California Pipeline” to midtempo thrashers like “Beer Bath” and “Panty Raid” as well as their many noteworthy ska-infused tunes like “Back With A Bong” and “1%,” you can expect a lot of fun, catchy tunes to be dished out for your slamdancing entertainment. And then you can go home and sleep through work the next day (assuming you have the misfortune of working on Sundays), because as Murphy’s Law would be the first to tell you, living up to adult responsibilities is very overrated. Instead, let’s have some fun.

Sunday, May 5, 7 PM
Acid Dad, Ladada @ Charlie’s American Cafe – $7 in advance/$10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
For a fortysomething nerd like me, who grew up parsing the finer differences between My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, and the Catherine Wheel, it’s hard to figure what actually counts as “shoegaze” anymore. But the mere fact that we have to have this conversation about Acid Dad is in and of itself indicative of something — that something being ringing guitars, hazy distortion, laid-back vocals, and heavy beats, all adding up to a sound that is, if not “shoegaze” proper, at least guaranteed to appeal to fans of good old-fashioned alternative rock.

On their self-titled 2018 debut LP, Acid Dad effortlessly conjure memories of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead in their brief but powerful heyday (think Source Tags & Codes), as well as Thee Oh Sees, Ride, and some of the cleaner Sonic Youth albums. They rock hard, is the ultimate takeaway, and chances are they’ll only rock harder in a live environment, where they can really crank up the amps and let it rip. So do yourself a favor; whether you’re a Hampton Roads denizen or a Richmonder with an itch for a road trip, head down to Norfolk and catch Acid Dad at Charlie’s American Cafe. It’ll be the perfect way to wrap up a lovely spring weekend.

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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

VA Shows You Must See This Week: April 3 – April 9

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Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FEATURED SHOW
Thursday, April 4, 5 PM
Sports Bar (photo by Samuel Dixon Photography), Tommy And The Commies, Les Lullies, Nightcreature @ Hardywood – Free!
I’ve teased Sports Bar within this column in the past for being slackers. If you’ve been reading for a while, you surely know about it; I’ve even gotten emails from the band themselves about it (no worries, they thought it was funny). But I think I just might have to take it all back, because Sports Bar have been quite productive over the last six months or so. First they released their debut full-length LP, Stranger In My Head, last October. Now, only half a year later, they’re holding a release party for the follow-up EP, Something Good. Have Sports Bar outgrown their slack persona?

Well, let’s not be hasty — only time will really tell on that score. But considering that Stranger In My Head only further proved what savvy Richmonders have known for years — that this band’s mix of catchy melodies and garage-punk irreverence makes them a flawless creator of perfect power-pop gems — chances are they could take this whole thing a lot farther if they stay this active. More importantly for the purposes of this column, Richmonders will get more chances to see them play live! Here’s your first one — and it’s free, so you definitely don’t want to miss it.

They’ll be joined on this bill by two hot power-pop groups from outside the US, both of which are just as unmissable as Sports Bar themselves. Tommy And The Commies hail from Ontario, and not only have a pretty awesome name but also prove on 2018’s Here Come… that they know how to bring back the toe-tapping rage of late-70s British punk with maximum aplomb and panache. Meanwhile, Slovenly Recordings labelmates Les Lullies, who hail from France, have a grungier, snottier take on late-70s dawn-of-punk riffage, expertly evoking the Real Kids and Radio Birdman on last year’s self-titled LP. Both of these bands are going to tear it up at Hardywood tomorrow night, and with Nightcreature kicking things off, you’ll be hearing excellent sounds from moment one. Don’t miss this, y’all — you never know when Sports Bar will take another year off.

Wednesday, April 3, 7 PM
And The Kids, Bat House, Cardinal @ The Camel – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
And The Kids aren’t exactly punks, but they’ve definitely got some of that rebellious spirit within them. It isn’t just identified by them beginning their band name with a preposition, either. You can hear the spunk and spirit they bring to their melodic, energetic indie rock on their latest album, When This Life Is Over, which came out back in February. Recording for the group is always a bit of a complicated proposition, with one member having been deported to Canada in 2014 while the duo who formed the group make their home in Massachusetts. But by mixing together everything from bedroom demos to complicated multi-track layers, they pulled together a really great record.

How will they recreate such a thing live — and how will the fact that one of the band’s members was deported to Canada affect all that? I imagine the US doesn’t just let you back in with no complaints when it’s time to tour, so for all I know, we’ll be getting a slightly rearranged lineup of And The Kids at The Camel tonight. But the tunes will still be in one piece, and founders Hannah Mohan and Rebecca Lasaponaro’s excellent vocal harmonies are sure to shine brightly. So no matter who else is backing them up, you should really be there to see what magic they create. They’ll arrive in the company of talented Boston math-rockers Bat House, and get a guaranteed-splendid opening set from up-and-coming local indie geniuses Cardinal. All this, all for you. Isn’t it wonderful?

Thursday, April 4, 9 PM
Ulthar, Left Cross, Disintegration @ Wonderland – $10
Ulthar are coming through, and you better batten the hatches — especially if you see any cats around. This California trio brings together former members of harsh metal ragers like Mutilation Rites and Vastum to kick out some dirty blackened thrash in tribute to pioneering horror author HP Lovecraft — something they do an expert job of on their debut album, Cosmovore.

From the guttural vocals, blasting drums, and speedy riffage (all of which Lovecraft himself, an avowed despiser of music, would surely detest) to the lyrics referencing a variety of concepts from the old man of Providence’s classic works, Ulthar carry on a glorious tradition of Lovecraft-influenced metal, and we are all the beneficiaries as they prepare to cast a dank miasma over Shockoe Bottom with their eldritch terror. They’ll be joined by Richmond’s raw thrashers Left Cross and local grinders Disintegration for a blasphemous night full of maximum brutality.

Friday, April 5, 10 PM
The Marcus Tenney Trio @ The Savory Grain – Free!
It seems other people around town are finally starting to notice just how much top-quality free jazz (in the it-doesn’t-cost-anything sense rather than the Ornette Coleman sense) is available around Richmond, and I for one am glad — excellent jazz sounds have been bubbling just under the surface of the Richmond music scene for years now, and it’s high time it got wider recognition. But just because other people are catching on doesn’t mean we’ll stop talking about it over here, and so I’m here to tell you that the jazz show most worth talking about this week is happening Friday night at The Savory Grain.

Specifically, The Marcus Tenney Trio will be playing for your musical enjoyment. Tenney should need no introduction by now — from his work in Butcher Brown, No BS! Brass Band, and multiple other combos around town to his many excursions as bandleader and even his hip hop career under the name Tennishu, Tenney keeps busy with cranking out the excellent music for RVA fans’ enjoyment… and you know this, so I don’t know why I’m repeating it now. But this night finds him backed by a couple of local jazz stars who may not be as well known around town. Drummer Corey Fonville has anchored Butcher Brown’s rhythm section for years now, as well as doing a ton of session work and generally being amazing, while Matthew Hall spent several years as an expat, bringing his bass skills to the jazz scene in Istanbul, Turkey for quite a while. He’s returned to Richmond and will give locals a chance to catch up or get familiar as an integral part of Marcus Tenney’s trio this Friday night. Drop in and dig the sound.

Saturday, April 6, 7 PM
YOB, Voivod, Amenra @ The Broadberry – $25 (order tickets HERE)
OK, I can’t be the only metalhead in town who saw this lineup and immediately whispered, “Oh my god…” to themselves, right? I mean, this is a double dose of the heaviest, hardest-hitting music out there. There’s just no other way to put it. YOB have been going for over two decades now, and this slow, sludgy, and heavy-as-fuck trio go so far beyond the typical doom metal template that they’re in a class by themselves. To give you an idea, their latest album, last year’s Our Raw Heart, was written by frontman Mike Scheidt while he was in the hospital recovering from a health scare. It is both sludgy as fuck and ominously psychedelic in the manner of the best Neurosis albums. Getting it thrown at you at top volume when these guys take the stage at The Broadberry is sure to be a treat, assuming you enjoy being buffeted by waves of pure sonic gloom.

And also assuming you aren’t completely spent after a set from YOB’s equally powerful tourmates, Voivod. Doing YOB one better, Voivod have been around for over three decades now, and just released their 18th album, The Wake, last year. Over their 35 years of existence, Voivod have done everything from speedy thrash to strange, mathematical prog-metal, and The Wake finds the group exploring all facets of their wide-ranging sound, and then some, in order to talk further focus on their long-running themes: the dehumanizing nature of technology, the chaos of our modern world, and our murderous culture of war and violence. Look, maybe this won’t be the most uplifting show that’s ever happened in Richmond, but do you come to metal seeking your daily affirmation? Or are you, like most of us, just looking for some great riffs to headbang to? YOB and Voivod have you covered on that one. You know what to do.

Sunday, April 7, 7 :30 PM
The Telescopes (Photo by Solange Magnin), Cult Of Lip, Keep @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $13 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Here’s a pretty incredible thing: psychedelic shoegaze pioneers The Telescopes are making their way to Richmond this Sunday night. The English group got their start in the late 80s, grabbing attention as a member of the formidable Creation Records stable in the early 90s and bringing a hazy, ethereal sensibility to their tunes full of loud guitars and beautiful vocal harmonies. After disappearing for a decade or so, the group returned in the mid-00s, and numerous lineup changes have taken place since, but always with founder and chief songwriter Stephen Lawrie in the frontman position.

Their simultaneous connections to the early days of shoegaze and the psychedelic, spaced-out UK guitar groups like Loop and Spacemen 3 shows through in the beautiful music they make, most recently on the brand-new Exploding Head Syndrome, the group’s 11th album. They’ll roll into town with plenty of fuzz and some powerful amps in tow, all set to blow you away and wipe your mind clean — so be prepared. They’ll have Minneapolis’s Cult Of Lip in tow, all set to bowl you over with a set of early-JAMC guitar clatter, and the whole night will be kicked off by local shoegaze torchbearers Keep. Get ready for some serious pedal-hopping, y’all.

Monday, April 8, 8 PM
Allegra, FINE., Hot Spit, Warrington @ The Camel – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Citrus City really manages to keep their finger on the pulse. Not only do they scoop up a ton of gorgeous emo pop bands around Richmond, they range far afield to sign the best bands playing this style around the country and world. Witness their latest collaboration with Philadelphia’s Allegra, who are coming to town this Monday night having just released their latest EP, Yet Not Enough, through Citrus City Records. Full of excellent tunes, this understated release from Allegra shows off the band’s “queer twinkly emo” sensibilities without overwhelming the listener with million-note lead guitar runs or brain-scrambling time-signature tricks.

Instead, we find singer-guitarist Allegra Eidinger’s softly beautiful melodies and ringing guitar strums anchoring a collection that’s sure to win your heart. And we’ll undoubtedly see the same thing onstage when the quartet pulls into town to liven up your Monday night — which is always appreciated. They’re accompanied by Providence duo FINE. (yes, written just like that), whose buzzing riffs and strangely Stevie Nicks-ish vocals have a harsher take on some subtly strong melodies. With local brilliance from Warrington and Hot Spit kicking this one off, we’re guaranteed to have a good time with this one.

Tuesday, April 9, 8 PM
Sinmara, Suffering Hour, Voarm @ Wonderland – $10
Is Wonderland the new Strange Matter? I ask because, for a long time, Strange Matter was the go-to for early-weeknight sets from touring bands that were either just starting to make their names or long-running legends you’d never expect to see in Richmond. For a while, no one was filling that gap, and our Mondays and Tuesdays were worse for it. But just in the past couple of weeks, I’ve started noticing shows like that popping up more and more often at Wonderland. And let me just say, if they’re going to become the new early-weeknight go-to for excellent live bands we otherwise might not see in town, I for one am stoked about it.

This show is particularly fascinating, being the sort of metal show that would have happened in Strange Matter but is now taking place in Shockoe Bottom. One wonders if it could even gather both the downtown metalheads with the Bottom-dwelling headbangers and bring true unity to Richmond’s metal scene once more. That’s a heavy responsibility for killer Icelandic black-metal trio Sinmara to undertake, but as long as they lay us flat with more of the windswept metal brutality they dish out on their latest killer full-length slab, Hvisl Stjarnanna, which just dropped last month… well, I don’t think anyone is going to complain. Prepare for a musical onslaught of epic proportions… and keep your eye on Wonderland. They might have more like this in the near future. Wouldn’t that be great?

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Friday, April 5, 8 PM
Inferior Brain Power, Tornado Bait, Brian Mann @ Taphouse Grill – $5
Hah, OK. Well, I can’t say I know that much about Inferior Brain Power — in fact, the first time I heard of this duo, which hails from somewhere in the DC/NoVA area, was when I found the event invite for this show on Facebook. But I couldn’t help looking into any band who is holding an 8-track release show, and now here we are. You young whippersnappers might wonder what an 8-track even is, but let me tell you, unlike a lot of other dead formats that have experienced minor revivals in recent years, this one is not worth looking into. If Inferior Brain Power is sincerely attempting to kickstart an 8-track revival with their new EP (and I have my doubts), it’s doomed to fail.

That said, I admire their chutzpah, and a listen to the album they’ll be releasing on 8-track, We Read Books, leads me to do so even more. Originally released last fall on standard cassettes, I’m glad to know this album is available in a more conventionally playable format, especially since it’s such a hard thing to describe. Pere Ubu jamming with They Might Be Giants? A Dead Milkmen album produced by Tim And Eric? It’s not your typical indie record, and that makes sense, because Inferior Brain Power aren’t your typical indie band, by any means. If you are one of the fourteen or so hoarders left on the planet with a working 8-track player, you should definitely go to this show and pick up a copy of We Read Books. The rest of you should just go enjoy the show. It’s certainly not going to be anything like anything else you’ve seen in this column lately, and if you ask me, that’s reason enough.

Monday, April 8, 7 PM
Eyehategod (Photo by Albert Licano), The Obsessed, Antiseen, Slaghead, Night Hag @ RiffHouse Pub – $20 in advance/$25 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Wow, this one is big. A triple-headliner bill featuring three of the most legendary collections of repropbates to ever play loud, heavy, anti-social music in America, all on one stage. People are gonna come out of the woodwork for this one, so if you want to be part of it, you better score your tickets now. You’re gonna want ’em, and not just because Eyehategod is at the top of this bill. The pioneers of NOLA sludge-blues swamp metal, these guys have been laying down pulverizing grooves full of sketchy spookiness for 30-plus years now, and neither drug busts nor liver transplants nor even death has put a stop to them.

But the Eyehategod train is not the only one that miraculously keeps rolling after many decades — The Obsessed can make a similar claim, even if their history isn’t quite as checkered as fellow DC doom-metal pioneers Pentagram. Forming at the dawn of the 80s, they’ve repeatedly broken up and reunited, currently on their third overall incarnation. Don’t let that intimidate you, though — doom-metal living legend Scott “Wino” Weinrich is still fronting the trio, and their 2017 album, Sacred, shows that they can still bring that Black Sabbath/Blue Cheer sludge groove like no one else. Last but certainly not least, we’ve got Antiseen, a punk rock group unlike any other, who hail from North Carolina and have at times made even Poison Idea look like upright citizens. Their latest release, Dying Breed, features a ton of covers including one of White Cross’s “Jump Up,” for you old-school VA hardcore heads. But it’s Antiseen’s classic originals, which somehow bring a Southern-rock feel to raging 80s punk sounds, that you’ll really be down for, assuming you enjoy some seriously antisocial sounds. And honestly, if you don’t, you might want to skip this one. Because I can promise one thing — it’s gonna get crazy. You’ve been warned.

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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

VA Shows You Must See This Week: February 6 – February 12

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FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, February 9, 8 PM
Three Sheets To The Wind presents the 8th Annual Love Boat Luau @ The Broadberry – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Valentine’s Day is a difficult, fraught holiday. And I say that as a happily married woman — imagine what the single people are all going through out there. Of course, a lot of you don’t have to imagine, those of you who haven’t held hands with a human you adore in some lengthy period of time, or are struggling to even get the person you dig to even have the “what are we, exactly?” conversation. When you’re in situations like that, it can feel like the best plan is to cancel the 14th of February entirely.

But take heart, singletons everywhere, because Three Sheets To The Wind is here to help you blow away your troubles with a tremendously entertaining blast of yacht rock awesomeness! Their eighth annual Love Boat Luau has become quite the tradition here in RVA, as the now-ten-years-strong yacht rock tribute act brings to hilarious life a quasi-parodic celebration of the extravagant excesses of the 70s and 80s soft rock music scene.

So get to the Broadberry Saturday night, and give yourself a pick-me-up sure to carry you through the entire Valentine’s week. Three Sheets will be doing two big sets of classics by artists like Toto, Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, and many more — and maybe you’ll even meet someone cute on the dance floor! Remember, they don’t wear that sailor suit every day… this is a special occasion. Word has it you can expect this event to sell out, so get your tickets now!

Wednesday, February 6, 8 PM
Anna Webber Trio, feat. Scott Clark and Adam Hopkins @ Vagabond – Free!
There was a point where I couldn’t get through a week of this column without writing about metal. These days, though, it seems that the hot RVA genre I can’t go a week without mentioning is jazz! It’s not a development I would have expected, but I definitely love it. And of course, Vagabond’s Jazz Wednesdays are a big part of what’s making it all happen — so keep up the good work over there, y’all.

This week’s Jazz Wednesday programming brings New York-based saxophonist Anna Webber to town — she’ll be joining up with two Richmond-based musicians of superior talent, in the form of drummer Scott Clark and bassist Adam Hopkins, to delight all comers. Webber’s just-released album Clockwise shows her talent in complex, unpredictable arrangements that work together in brilliant harmony with flurries of hot and heavy soloing. Of course, according to Hopkins, the trio won’t be playing any Clockwise material (makes sense — the album was recorded with a septet), but considering the talent of all involved, they’re sure to blow your mind with whatever they choose to perform. Don’t miss out on this one, y’all.

Thursday, February 7, 7 PM
Patrick Bates, The Trillions, Continuation @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
If you’re a regular reader, you know we covered a Patrick Bates show within this very column only a month ago. We don’t typically return to the same artist that frequently, but in this case, exceptions must be made. Bates, who hasn’t released a new record since 2015’s Feathers And Pearls, will be using this show to celebrate the release of his brand-new EP, Salad Days, by DC label Verses Records. Technically, it won’t even be out yet — it comes out the first week of March — but you’re sure to get a live preview of what’s in store for you, and based on the two songs we’ve already heard, it’s sure to be pretty great.

Really, the live performance is what this release is all about for Patrick Bates. Recorded over the course of nearly a decade by the songwriter and a rhythm section made up of some very talented friends, Salad Days does a good bit more than previous Bates releases to show exactly what the songwriter can create with a full-band backing in a live environment. And let me tell you, the hypnotic post-hardcore melodies this guy has in store for you are sure to delight whether you’re hearing them live or on a record. So go to this show, get stoked for Salad Days, and if there are advance copies available (we’re not promising anything), pick one up. You won’t regret it.

Friday, February 8, 8 PM
Teen Death, Dad, Sea Of Storms, Small Bones @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$8 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Hey, here’s a name that always makes us happy to type: Teen Death. This local Richmond punk band doesn’t do all that much all that often — they’ve played a couple times in the last year or so, but we’re going on four years since they last released an EP that was less than three minutes long. This set may just be a good chance to hear this band play the excellent tunes you know so well — but really, what’s wrong with that? The way Teen Death simultaneously channel 90s alt-rock legends like Nirvana, The Toadies, and (early, good) Weezer even as they’re dishing out some grungy pop-punk riffage makes any opportunity to see them live more than worthwhile.

It’s also noteworthy that Teen Death are joined on this gig by Dad, a New York band that shares their name with a Richmond queercore band who’ve played Gallery 5 a time or two — so don’t get mixed up. This Dad shares some musical elements with Teen Death, though recent single “Road Soda” makes clear that Dad’s sound is rooted in frustration, anger, and noisy heaviness to a much greater extent than that of Teen Death. As their bandcamp page will tell you, they aren’t mad, they’re just… disappointed. But you won’t be disappointed by this show, especially with local post-hardcore veterans Sea Of Storms and entertaining newcomers Small Bones on the bill. Let’s rock.

Saturday, February 9, 9 PM
Cane, Got My Own Sound, Chance Fischer @ The HofGarden – $15 in advance/$20 at the door (order tickets HERE)
The HofGarden’s been making things pretty interesting in recent months — for an upscale multi-story venue that seems like the kind of place where rich business types would hang out, they’ve had some surprisingly strong talent performing in their multiple venues. That stays true this Saturday night as hip hop comes to the Hof in the form of Cane and GMOS (Got My Own Sound). This NoVA collaboration between a lyric-spitting rapper and a top-level jazz-fusion group is excellent at living in the liminal space between those two genres; they give us an outstanding aural vision of what that can sound like on their brand new EP, Out Of Love, for which this Richmond performance will act as a release party.

Cane and GMOS will be joined by one of Richmond’s most talented MCs in the form of Chance Fischer, who will also be kicking high-quality rhymes over music from a live band. Any fans of local hip hop are sure to know that this will be an excellent listen. And of course, the fact that in addition to the musical performances a whiskey-tasting will be taking place at this event should be no surprise for anyone who read our Chance Fischer profile from last year — the man knows his whiskey. Whether you partake in the booze or you’re just there for the music, though, this evening is sure to be worth every penny.

Sunday, February 10, 7 PM
The Hague, Ghoul Trouble, Kensey, Bonjinski @ The Camel – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Portland, Oregon’s The Hague are coming to town, and not to try anyone for war crimes, either (god, how many times have they heard a variation on that joke? Sorry guys). This melodic post-hardcore… OK, emo band are currently riding the wave of not one, not two, but THREE new releases since the start of 2019. And that’s probably a good thing for them, considering that a van wreck a week or so ago has forced them to finish their tour in a rented vehicle with very little on-hand cash.

So hey, show up to this one and pick up a record, huh? Between split EPs with Beach Party and Sun Valley Gun Club, and a brand new four-song cassette, these guys have quite a bit to offer. And musically, the same is true, as they’ve got crunchy guitars, killer chorus melodies, and an introspective mood that’s sure to connect with all comers. They’re joined on this bill by some rad locals, too, including punk-rock newcomers Ghoul Trouble, who I actually haven’t heard, but definitely have a rad logo. You’ll also get a set from energetic noise-grunge group Bonjinski and indie newcomers Kensey, all of which should be excellent. Don’t miss this one.

Monday, February 11, 8 PM
Harry Jay, Miette Hope, Cypress, The Ledgesleepers @ The Camel – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
You don’t really hear people talking about neo-soul too much anymore these days, do you? It’s kind of a shame; that subgenre produced some really great music for a while, including the excellent work of Richmond’s own D’Angelo. But it seems like it might be coming back — not only did some of the songs on Kenneka Cook’s last album remind me more than a little bit of Jill Scott, Boston artist Harry Jay is coming to Richmond this coming Monday night to show us that there’s still plenty to be done with the sound of that mostly-dissipated musical movement.

There’s not much Harry Jay can’t do: not only is he a tremendous singer, he also plays guitar and piano with tremendous talent, and writes incredible songs with plenty of feeling and heart. He’ll be bringing all of this to The Camel’s stage, letting us all know that a young artist early in his career can still have a lot to offer. Jay is joined on this bill by Brooklyn singer-songwriter Miette Hope, who integrates soul influences of her own into a more alt-rock-inspired sound that draws influence from artists like Fiona Apple and Jeff Buckley. Indie-folk singer songwriter Cypress will round out the bill, along with a set from brand new RVA band the Ledgesleepers, just to ensure that you get a full evening of top-notch music.

Tuesday, February 12, 8 PM
Alex Jonestown Massacre, Mickey And Mallory, Rising Revolution, Heavy Mistress @ The Camel – $5 in advance/$8 day of show (order tickets HERE)
OK so I’ve seen the Alex Jonestown Massacre name on a lot of bills around this town over the past year or so, but I must admit: I haven’t really dug into what this band is all about until now. Their name updates the sort of wry reference Anton Newcombe made to psychedelic pioneer and original Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, and updates it for the Trump era. In case you didn’t figure it out yet (it took me a while), it’s a reference to Infowars blowhard Alex Jones, a reference made explicit in the lyrics and imagery on the group’s debut album, Fear Of A Flat Planet. And really, ya gotta love it.

Musically, Alex Jonestown Massacre are the same sort of catchy, erudite punk rock that Titus Andronicus specialized in during their early years, with a big dose of Against Me mixed in. And this makes them a good fit to top a bill with touring Baltimore group Mickey And Mallory, whose Natural Born Killers-referencing name gives a hint of the wry, self-effacing intelligence at the heart of their rockin’ melodic punk. Brand new album You’re A Nightmare provides more than enough reason to think that seeing this band live will be a worthwhile investment of your Tuesday night. Get on it.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Friday, February 8, 8 PM
Arms Bizarre, Prayer Group, Guilt Wave @ Taphouse Grill – $5
Down in Norfolk, they like to rock. And this Friday night, NFK’s Taphouse Grill will present a show totally worthy of the late, lamented Strange Matter (RIP, we’ll mourn you til we join you), featuring a trio of Virginia bands that all totally rock. Hard. Arms Bizarre, who are based in Virginia Beach and therefore pretty much local to the area, have a sludgy, heavy sound that is nonetheless interlaced throughout with downcast, melancholy melody, keeping them from ever falling into predictable stoner-rock monotony. Their 2017 album, Bizarre Family Drama, is a hidden gem that should be thrown into glorious light in the live setting.

Prayer Group, who occupies the middle slot, should be much more familiar to my usual Richmond readers, as this rollicking crew of noise-rockers have been laying Jesus Lizard-ish manic rage on us all for years now. One thing’s for sure: Norfolk’s in for a treat with this one. And the same is true of the set from Guilt Wave, which will round this evening off with some epic metal roaring fury of the sort that Mastodon unleashed in their earliest years, and fans of early Neurosis are also guaranteed to love. Let’s fucking rock.

Saturday, February 9, 9 PM
Brook Pridemore, Uglyography, Dead Love Alive @ Taphouse Grill – $5
It’s really tough to tell what you’re getting with Brook Pridemore if you try to go by the hype surrounding his work. Is it alt-country? Indie rock? Grunge? Punk? Well, the answer is sorta “all of the above, plus more,” and sorta “not even any of that,” so once again, the media (aka me) is no help. Just listen to his album Metal Is My Only Friend, which came out late last fall. You’ll hear reasons for lumping Pridemore into a variety of genres from song to song, but it’s the overall feeling of his music that matters most.

Specifically, this guy and his rotating collection of backing musicians (potentially none of which will make the trip down from New York for this show) flawlessly evoke feelings of ennui and alienation that all of us are intimately familiar with in these late-capitalist dystopia days. It’s sad, it’s sweet, it longs for something better… haven’t we all been there? So go to the Taphouse Grill (for the second day in a row) and find a connection with the music of Brook Pridemore. Uncategorizable Tidewater legends Uglyography and Norfolk rock n’ rollers Dead Love Alive will round this one out with some lovely sounds.

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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] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: December 18 – December 25

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FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, December 22, 9 PM
L’Amour, Sick Bags, DJ Sam Slug @ Mojo’s – Free (Donations appreciated)
It’s time to go back to the dawning days of Richmond punk — long before White Cross or Death Piggy, back when punk hadn’t yet become a pedal-to-the-metal speed competition, before it was all about rage and fury. Back in the late 70s, the Ramones, Dead Boys, and Dictators were still kings of the US punk scene, and here in Richmond, our earliest punk exports fit into much the same mold; mixing teenage hormones, class-clown goofiness, and no-frills rock n’ roll into a potent cocktail of melody, energy, and fun.

1979 was the year that L’Amour, one of the foremost bands in that first wave of RVA punk, released their sole EP. It featured two songs, “Sunglass Party” and “Someday,” and preserved the group’s blend of Stonesy catchiness and New York Dolls-style gleeful trashiness for posterity. There was a lot more where that came from, but it was much harder in those days to record and release music than it is today, so the rest of it spent decades languishing unheard on tapes buried in former members’ basements.

Thankfully, this year has seen a resurrection of L’Amour’s greatness, as VA label Beach Impediment has collected all of the band’s known recordings onto an excellent 14-song LP entitled Look To The Artist. To celebrate its long-overdue release, core L’Amour members Tom Applegate and David Stover have regrouped, recruited a young rhythm section from among the fertile talent pool of today’s Richmond punk scene, and returned to action for this incredible reunion show at Mojo’s Saturday night. Most of us probably missed L’Amour the first time (I was three, and I’m OLD), so this is a golden opportunity to be present for a return to the very roots of this city’s near half-century of punk greatness. And how can you possibly turn that down?

Wednesday, December 19, 7 PM
A Very Butcher Holiday, feat. Butcher Brown, R4nd4zzo Big B4nd @ The Broadberry – $12 in advance/$15 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Christmas time is here, and Butcher Brown knows it. This excellent quintet is getting into the holiday spirit at the Broadberry tonight with an excellent set of jazzed-up Christmas standards, paying tribute in particular to the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s classic soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas. They’ll be joined by the R4nd4zzo Big B4nd, a fifteen-or-so-piece project led by Butcher Brown’s very own bassist, Andrew Randazzo, which brought us much the same tribute last year, as captured on their Tribute To Vince Guaraldi LP, released back at the beginning of this year.

Considering Guaraldi often worked at the head of a simple piano-bass-drums trio, this brassy, expanded treatment from a group that includes multiple trumpets, trombones, and reeds is different from the original in significant ways. However, the jazzy spirit of Christmas that makes Guaraldi’s original album the objective best holiday music ever (yeah, I said it) remains intact, even as the group’s inspired new arrangements allow for considerable creativity. Whether you’re a fan of A Charlie Brown Christmas in particular or the holidays in general, and even if you just like good jazz music no matter the season, this show’s got a lot to offer you. Be there, and get into the spirit the Butcher Brown way.

Thursday, December 20, 7 PM
Snail Mail, Bleary Eyed @ The Broadberry – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Look, I admit it — I’m just discovering Snail Mail. I’m a big-time music nerd (as you may have gathered) and I catch a lot, but sometimes things are gonna slip past my radar until way past time that I should have heard them. Snail Mail is one such thing; somehow I missed their debut full-length, Lush, when it was released this past summer and proceeded to score Best New Music plaudits from Pitchfork. Oops.

I mean, I always take that website with several grains of salt, so don’t get me wrong, but this time they are totally correct — Lush is an absolute tour-de-force. Where downcast indie-pop songwriting is concerned, Snail Mail frontperson Lindsey Jordan has an incredible gift, and songs like “Speaking Terms” cut to the heart of the tremendous difficulties inherent in all human relationships, even as they wash your tears away with beautiful vocal melodies and perfect chiming guitars. This is an album that will resonate with the awkward emo nerd inside us all, even the jaded denim-clad metalheads among our number. I will go so far as to say this — if you’ve ever in your life had feels about a thing, you need to be at the Broadberry this Thursday night. Snail Mail’s gonna make you feel all those feels all over again, and in much more wonderful ways.

Friday, December 21, 8 PM
Camp Howard, Twain, Recluse Raccoon, Kenneka Cook @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Get ready for a lovely night of gorgeous indie sounds at Gallery 5 this Friday. This quartet of excellent Virginia artists will ease you into the weekend before Christmas and all the hectic travel plans you’re sure to be executing in the days that follow. Reliable RVA mainstays Camp Howard are at the top of the bill, and that’s always a good place for them; it may have been a year and a half since most recent EP, Juice, but Nic and the boys have established such a reliable track record of glittering post-punk power-pop over the past several years that everyone in RVA knows what these boys have to offer.

Where this show is concerned, though, Camp Howard is just the beginning. Twain hail from Franklin County, a rural region just south of Roanoke that has legendarily been known as “the moonshine capital of the world,” so you know this band understands how to have a good time. Their 2017 LP, Rare Feeling, is full of beautiful songs that bring an understated, pensive touch to a style landing somewhere between indie and alt-country. They’re simultaneously reminiscent of Sturgill Simpson and My Morning Jacket, and just as excellent a listen as those two, so they’re well worth your time. Recluse Raccoon are a good bit more social than the name suggests, and in fact they recently released a gorgeously weird self-titled LP that makes quite an impression with its introspective tunes embroidered by a variety of unconventional instruments. And of course Kenneka Cook is always someone you should catch, even if it means showing up early — her excellent voice and skillful compositions are worth the price of admission all by themselves.

Saturday, December 22, 8 PM
Planned Parenthood Fundraiser, feat. Occultist, VV, Kuni, Trapcry @ Gallery 5 – $5 to $10 suggested donation
With Strange Matter sadly shuffling off this mortal coil, there seems little doubt that we’ll all be spending more time at Gallery 5 in the near future. Their focus on the DIY community and support for causes that matter to the less-privileged inhabitants of the river city makes the gallery the obvious torchbearers for the sort of local scene support that Strange Matter was so good at. This Saturday night, they prove it for the second time in 24 hours with an amazing benefit for Planned Parenthood — an organization that’s been constantly under siege for several years now, and does crucial work within the local community, from ensuring your right to reproductive freedom to such important things as providing essential health care for transgender people without other options (like me, for instance).

Occultist are headlining this shindig, and it’s great news, considering how difficult it’s been to catch these thrash-metal ragers in a live setting over the past year or so. It’s been quite a while since they brought us any new studio recordings, and at this point they’re sure to have some new material to bring you, so get ready to headbang with a grateful fury. VV are an excellent addition to any bill, and their vitriol-drenched, synth-laced postpunk attack is particularly apropos for a Planned Parenthood benefit — smashing patriarchal faces for the win. Kuni’s queer electro-punk and the seductive techno-dance sounds of Trapcry will round this bill out perfectly. You’ll dance, you’ll rock, you’ll smash the patriarchy… it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Sunday, December 23, 8 PM
Marc Rebillet, DJ Harrison @ The Camel – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Marc Rebillet is a phenomenon that’s not that easy to explain. What I’d heard from other people before I checked out his music led me to expect one thing, but what I found was something significantly different. People will tell you this guy’s a bit of a comedian, and certainly he approaches his electro-funk music with an irreverent, humorous attitude, but the results he gets from synthesizers, beat loops, and most importantly his unforgettable voice are not only entertaining but seriously intriguing.

His Loop Daddy EP, released a couple of months ago, finds Rebillet, who got his start on YouTube, in loverman mode, sounding a bit like Baltimore electro-goof Dan Deacon if he was able to expertly channel R. Kelly. However, he’ll occasionally put the whole damn thing on pause to holler ridiculous improvised exhortations, and yeah, you’re gonna laugh at those times. Mostly though, Marc Rebillet’s gonna get your booty shaking with a rhythm that might seem totally out of place this close to Christmas but is, if anything, exactly what you need to survive another awkward dinner at Grandma’s house. So head to the Camel this Sunday and get in the pool. You know what I’m talking about.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Friday, December 21, 8 PM
Demons, Shy Low, Ladada @ Taphouse Grill – $5
Shit is always pretty heavy down Tidewater way, I’ve found. There are indie shows down there at times, but a lot of what I find coming out of that geographical region of Virginia is hard as fuck and taking its best shot at crushing your skull. The same is true of Demons, though instead of super-heavy deathcore stuff, this band is aiming for more of a thick, metallic sound on latest EP Made In The USA. The resulting pummeling lands somewhere between Far Beyond Driven-era Pantera and early Every Time I Die. And when it lands, it lands on its feet and starts charging straight at you. Be there to meet the onslaught at Taphouse Grill this Friday, and you’re sure to be glad you did.

This show will also bring you a performance from Richmond’s own Shy Low, who’ve been less active recently than they were a few years ago. However, their most recent release, Burning Day, was only a year and a half ago, and it showed that they’d retained their powerful approach to the instrumental post-rock sound on which they made their name back a half-decade or so ago. So you can certainly expect a reliable (post-)rocking from these guys, and you’ll get a bonus set from openers Ladada, who have a catchy indie-pop sound that’s sure to delight. All in all, it’s a fine Friday night in Norfolk. Enjoy!

Sunday, December 23, 4 PM
Shaka’s Appreciation Show, feat. The Unabombers, Beggar’s Row, Accident Prone, Pushing On, Evade, Faded, Freebase, Chain Breaker, Catalyst, Semtex @ Shaka’s – Free!
It’s a sad story, one that those of us here in Richmond know all too well. Norfolk live music mainstay Shaka’s is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month… but it’s also closing its doors forever. That’s not happening after this Sunday matinee show — their last show is actually the Doyle gig on New Years Eve — but it is one of the last chances the Norfolk area will have to show their appreciation for a venue that’s filled much the same role in their scene that Strange Matter has in ours. What a shame.

The show itself will be a glorious occasion, though, with longtime VA punk veterans The Unabombers taking care of business at the top of the bill. These guys have been rocking the Hampton Roads area and beyond for over 20 years now, and they’re the perfect band to send Shaka’s off on a high note. And there’s a ton of hardcore punk on the bill besides, from the speedy metallic rage of Beggar’s Row to the brutal pummeling mosh of Evade to the angry punk/HC of Pushing On. There are a whole bunch more bands on this one too, and the price is certainly right, so if Shaka’s ever meant anything to you, there’s no time like the present to both show it some love before it disappears and to enjoy the Hampton Roads hardcore/punk scene’s past, present, and future all in one great place.

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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] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: October 31 – November 6

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FEATURED SHOW
Friday, November 2, 8 PM
Brian Wilson presents Pet Sounds: The Final Performances @ The Carpenter Theatre – $67-107 (order tickets HERE)
Richmond, we are in for a treat this Friday night — one that is both rare and unlikely to come again. I suppose there’s an outside chance you won’t recognize Brian Wilson’s name by itself like this, but you’re sure to know a great deal of his work as the bassist, vocalist, and chief creative mind behind the Beach Boys in their 60s heyday. Wilson wasn’t just an advocate for surf, sand, and killer falsetto harmonies, either; while songs like “I Get Around” and “Help Me Rhonda” are indisputable pop classics, it’s the material he created when he started growing up and getting more ambitious that has really made Brian Wilson a crucial figure in the last half-century of pop music.

The pinnacle of Wilson’s creative genius was Pet Sounds, a 1966 Beach Boys album that saw him skipping tours to stay home in the studio with legendary LA studio band The Wrecking Crew and create a towering masterpiece of symphonic pop. Wilson was known to refer to these elaborate creations as “teenage symphonies to God,” and that admittedly grandiose statement is fully borne out by the brilliant results he achieved. Pet Sounds featured several classic tunes that have been staples of the musical landscape ever since — “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” “God Only Knows,” and more — and went on to influence everyone from The Beatles to Animal Collective. Now, over 50 years after that classic album was released, Wilson is doing one last tour to commemorate Pet Sounds, after which he intends to retire the album from live performances.

Now, Brian Wilson is no spring chicken; he’s 76 years old, and actually had to reschedule this date from earlier this year due to health issues. Fortunately for us, after years of struggling with mental illness and being taken advantage of by unscrupulous managers, he’s been in top form for over a decade now, finally completing SMiLE, his long-abandoned follow-up to Pet Sounds, 15 years ago. He’s released two solo albums since then and, while not perfect, they are both far more enjoyable than what his cousin Mike Love did with the Beach Boys after Wilson left the group (“Kokomo,” anyone? Bleh). He’s accompanied on this tour by fellow original Beach Boy Al Jardine and early 70s Beach Boys bassist Blondie Chaplin, as well as a large complement of talented musicians who’ll reprise the fabulous work of The Wrecking Crew, all those years ago. God only knows, tickets are not cheap, but if you can wait a couple weeks to pay the power bill, you’ll get all the light you need to get you through the cold winter months ahead from this show. Highest possible recommendation.

Wednesday, October 31, 7 PM
Gallery 5’s Halloween Party, feat. Haircut, Unmaker, Alfred, Spooky Cool @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
We went through a solid week of Halloween-related shows last week, but the holiday still hasn’t finished yet, so let’s give it one more round before November begins with this wild night of underground sounds at Gallery 5. You’ll definitely find yourself in the perfect place to enjoy the spirit of the holiday, with spooky decorations everywhere, tons of glitter, and the always-enjoyable costume contest! So get dolled up, hit the Gallery, and get ready for the main attraction — which is, of course, the music. Gallery 5 has brought together several excellent musical acts from the local area with which to celebrate All Hallows Eve, spanning a wide variety of genres. And it’s gonna rule.

Haircut will bowl you over with a blast of angry, speedy punk, complete with bilingual lyrics and some relatable themes under all the vitriol. Unmaker have a goth-postpunk vibe that will appeal strongly to those who are bummed about Shadow Age going on hiatus, but will also connect with those who like the more metallic end of that whole thing (think Killing Joke). This show will constitute a release party for their new LP, Firmament, and where better for a goth band to have a release celebration than a Halloween party? The lineup’s rounded out by Alfred, a young rapper with a fresh approach to the weirder electronic end of that particular musical spectrum; and Spooky Cool, who recently made good on the promise of their years of local buzz with debut EP Every Thing Ever. No matter what flavor of the local scene you enjoy, you’re sure to get a taste of it here — and have an outstanding Halloween as well! Who can complain about that?

Thursday, November 1, 8 PM
The True Commonwealth, feat. Nickelus F, Michael Millions, Radio B, Cole Hicks, Sunny & Gabe @ Gallery 5 – $10
Nickelus F’s been one of the better rappers in this city — hell, this country — for over a decade now. Quite a few years over the past ten to fifteen have seemed like they were going to be his year, but somehow, it never seems to come to pass. 2018, though, seems like it might finally be the one. First he paired up with local punk rock label Vinyl Conflict for a vinyl release of his latest album, Stuck, which by the way is also a high-water mark in a career full of excellent releases. Then he got together with Richmond rap weirdo Lil Ugly Mane for a tour that took him across the country, playing to everyone from true-blue hip hop heads to moshpit-loving metalheads and punk maniacs. It feels like that whole punk rock-hip hop fusion that we all expected to happen after Rage Against The Machine and the Judgment Night soundtrack (instead we got Limp Bizkit. Ugh) is finally coming to pass.

So now, with this True Commonwealth show, Nickelus F stands at the top of a stacked bill featuring several of Richmond’s top hip hop talents. His compatriots in the AGM crew, Michael Millions and Radio B, have both demonstrated their styles and talents this year with new albums of their own — Hard To Be King and Jesus Never Wore A Suit, respectively. Taken in tandem with Stuck and Cole Hicks’s incredible coming-out party, May Day — also released in 2018, natch — the True Commonwealth showcase at Gallery 5 encompasses the top level of rap talent at work in RVA today. And that’s definitely something you’ll want to be part of, especially since the show will also feature a special guest performance from hot VA Beach duo Sunny and Gabe. They’ve got a 2018 album of their own, Peace Of Cake, and it shows off their wide-ranging sound just as they will do to get this party started tomorrow night. Don’t miss a moment.

Friday, November 2, 8 PM
Mothers, Mega Bog, Addy @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
The indie kids should find a lot to enjoy at this show — but they aren’t the only ones. Mothers, who started in Athens, GA but moved to Philly last year, have a sound that definitely hints at the tension between beauty and darkness that marks the best music coming out of the indie scene these days. But they’ve got a good bit more going on, as they display on their sophomore album, Render Another Ugly Method, which just came out from Anti- Records. Its moments of languid torpor (“Beauty Routine”) hint at an uneasiness just under the surface, while the more energetic sounds found on the album (“Blame Kit”) function in lockstep, in a manner that almost sounds more like strained aural nervousness than painstakingly well-practiced tightness.

That is by no means a criticism, though — it’s this tone that suffuses throughout Mothers’ music that really makes them evocative, that brings the ideas the band is expressing through their somewhat abstract lyrics to solid, concrete life. Mothers will take you on an emotional journey, and if you’re not entirely comfortable with all the places you’ll go, you will at least be enjoying some excellent music on the trip. Mega Bog has a similar clearly-delineated wire-tight melodic indie-postpunk sound, but the emotional effect is very different, both brighter and deeper. Connect with both of these bands, and up-and-coming local opener Addy, and see where the night takes you. It’s sure to be an interesting trip.

Saturday, November 3, 8 PM
Abacus, Drones For Queens, Voarm, Hoboknife @ Strange Matter – $7 (order tickets HERE)
We’re heading rapidly toward the winter months, and now is the perfect time to get an increased dose of metal into your life. And rest assured, Strange Matter has the cure for what ails you, in the form of this tour package bringing together examples of brutal metal power from both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Abacus hail from the South — South Carolina, to be specific — and have a thick, dark sound full of harsh guitars and roaring vocals that pummel you just as hard as the punishment their rhythm section deals out.

Drones For Queens, who come from the northward locale of Philadelphia (always a hotbed for music and meanness), are just as ready to inflict some serious metal punishment as Abacus. They’ve got a slightly faster and cleaner approach, which just means it’ll take you longer to realize that their harsh vocals and thrashing guitars have slit your throat. Protect your neck — you’ll need it for headbanging. These two bands are on tour in support of their just released split EP, so make sure you attack the merch table with vigor in order to secure yourself a copy — this is one slab of rage you’ll want by your side throughout the winter months. Local mainstays Voarm and Hoboknife will open this show with a flagrant display of intense heavyosity. Get ready.

Sunday, November 4, 7 PM
Omni, Majjin Boo, Black Plastic @ Gallery 5– $8 in advance/$10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Atlanta’s Omni are back at Gallery 5 once again, thanks as always to their pals at Citrus City Records, and all you indie kids who love to dance are going to want to make sure you’re there for it. Omni’s definitely got a little of that tuneful guitar jangle that we’ve all come to know and love from Citrus City’s many releases, but they bring in a solid dose of Southern-style postpunk as well, drawing inspiration from Georgia underground legends Pylon as well as Wire and The Feelies. I know I’m losing my younger readers with these comparisons, but an obvious modern reference would be Parquet Courts, mixed with the nervous dancefloor shuffle of the Talking Heads and that one Franz Ferdinand song everyone knows (and a lot of their other songs too).

Majjin Boo is a well-paired local to act as support on this bill; they’ve definitely got that same sort of wire-tight guitar bit that permeates Omni’s music, though Majjin Boo seems to derive it far more from the lighter, twinklier take on math-rock that several local bands have done an excellent job with in the past. Are they the next Fight Cloud? We can only hope. Finally, we need to mention the fact that openers Black Plastic suffered a pretty devastating setback recently, in the form of a house fire that destroyed most of their equipment and left members in need of a lot of financial support to get back on their feet. Whether or not you can make it to this show, they’d certainly appreciate whatever you’re able to throw their way via GoFundMe. But they’re gonna appreciate y’all showing up on time and giving them a warm reception just as much — and believe me, their brand of catchy, twangy power-pop certainly merits exactly that. So please, show up on time and give them some love.

Monday, November 5, 7 PM
Yashira, Gillian Carter, Infant Island, In Wolves Clothing @ Strange Matter – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Oh hell yeah. Yashira coming to town is a very good thing, regardless of whether it’s happening on a Monday night. Look, I know you’ll be tired from the weekend, and you’re still coming down from your Halloween hangover or whatever, but I don’t care. You need to go see this band. Yashira are an incredibly heavy band who are incorporating the epic heaviness of bands like Neurosis and early Mastodon with the kind of epic grind-crust madness of Tragedy and His Hero Is Gone. Their latest LP, Shrine, is an excellent example of this sort of thing that gets through its six songs just quickly enough to leave you wanting more.

Of course, now they’ve followed it up with a split EP with none other than metalcore legends Zao, and they’ll be laying waste to Strange Matter this Monday night. What more could you want? It would be so cliched for me to say “you could want the other three excellent bands on this bill,” but when the bands are indeed this amazing, how can I avoid it? Florida’s Gillian Carter are a band with a lengthy history of excellence in the field of metallic screamo, or something like that (even to this day, I can’t type the term “screamo” without cringing). Their new LP, …This Earth Shaped Tomb, is full of the simultaneously heavy and passionately emotional riffage that has become this group’s stock in trade, and proves that regardless of how silly they act on stage, there is real, powerful music at the heart of their existence. VA openers Infant Island and In Wolves Clothing exemplify the next wave of Virginia screamo (ack) and do so in outstanding fashion, so be sure you catch every second of this one.

Tuesday, November 6, 7:30 PM
Scott Bradlee‘s Postmodern Jukebox @ The National – $25.50 in advance/$28 day of show (order tickets HERE)
OK, let’s get this out there from the start — Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is hipster bait of the highest order. Covers of already-proven hits, redone to sound like different genres? Suburban goofballs have been gaga for this ever since the first time they heard the phrase “dynamite hack.” That said, I really can’t deny the talent at work here — nor the fact that jazz, unlike a lot of modern popular-music styles, was throughout its history far less about original composition than it was about putting your own stamp on tunes that might be your own… but might be well-loved standards that everyone knows. After all, it was this tradition that brought us John Coltrane’s take on “My Favorite Things,” and I certainly can’t hate on that.

So should you go see Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox on Tuesday night at the National? Well, probably not if you hate jazz and swing — but if you see merit in these classic American music forms, and would like to see one very talented pianist and quite a few of his equally talented friends update those styles for the 21st century by applying them to songs from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Toto’s “Africa” to Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop,” well, this is the place for you. Feel free to wear your best three-piece suit or cocktail dress and dance it up on the floor. But on the other hand, if it’s a little too soon after Halloween for all that, you’re welcome to just come as you are. Even if you hate hipsters, you’re sure to enjoy yourself.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Thursday, November 1, 7 PM
Mortuary, Battlemaster, Vorator, Rotten, Hiss @ RiffHouse Pub – $10 in advance/$15 at the door (order tickets HERE)
You guys — Mortuary is coming! The true headbangers among you are already stoked, but for the rest of you who need an explanation, let’s discuss the power and brutality dished out by Mexico’s pioneering group, who made their name by bringing death metal to the masses from their support slots on some huge Slayer tours in the late 80s. Their 1990 album Blackened Images is a cult classic today, its primitive and overpowering sound serving to light a fire under all the incredible riffs that come flooding out of every song, backed by incredible drumming and some seriously unhinged vocal roars and screams.

Mortuary were doing their thing before the deep growl became de rigeur in death metal, and the raging howls of their vocalist add a lot to their already blazing sound, connecting the group with its thrash influences and pointing the way forward into the more extreme genres that rule the metal scene today. Some excellent VA-area bands will be demonstrating those sounds from their support slots on this bill, from local legends like Battlemaster and Vorator to up-and-comers like Rotten and Hiss. All of it’s gonna be outstanding, and if you can afford to show up late with a headache to work on Friday morning, the drive down to Chesapeake’s RiffHouse Pub is more than worth it for this opportunity. Make it happen, metalheads.

Friday, November 2, 9 PM
Bantustans, A Deer A Horse, From Overseas @ Taphouse Grill – $5
If you like your underground rock bands both heavy and progressive, you need to be paying attention to what’s going on at the Taphouse Grill in Norfolk this Friday night. Bantustans, a Norfolk-based dual-drummer quartet who don’t have time to mess with vocals, are all set to lay down some heavy instrumental grooves that’ll keep your head nodding and your brain engaged regardless of the lack of lyrics. The complex rhythm patterns laid down by the group’s two drummers are both consistently in step with each other and allow for far more variation and creativity than is typically the province of the percussion. Not to be outdone, guitarist Aaron Evans’s tangled melodies and intricate song construction use a single guitar to add multiple layers of intrigue to this group’s unusual, hypnotic sound palette. They’ll be bringing some new material to this one, too, so it’s sure to delight even the most ardent of fans.

Bantustans are joined on this bill by New York heavy rockers A Deer A Horse, who certainly present just as enticing a musical buffet for the interested showgoer as the hometown headliners do. Having been around for close to a decade now, A Deer A Horse still haven’t given us a full-length yet, but they’re hard at work on one, and if the advance single they released only a couple of weeks ago is any indication, this record is sure to fulfill the promise of this group’s many EPs, showering us with the kind of darkly powerful rock n’ roll that has been the province of NYC since the days of Unsane, Surgery, and Live Skull. Singer/bassist Angela Philips’s name totally deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Thalia Zedek’s, and if you’re tuned in, you know that’s high praise indeed. Norfolk openers From Overseas explore some ambient drone guitar experimentation, beginning this show with some strong atmospherics. It’ll only get more intense from there.

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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] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: October 3 – October 9

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FEATURED SHOW
Friday, October 5, 6 PM
Bracewar, Cold World, Shark Attack, Day By Day, Victim, Division Of Mind, Mindforce, Downfall, Antagonize @ The Canal Club – $20 (order tickets HERE)
It might be a surprise for the uninitiated to hear this, but hardcore is basically dance music — and hardcore bands know it. So many of them have “Intro” songs they play when they first hit the stage, and big mosh breakdowns that they end their sets with, most of which are introduced by a singer screaming, “Last chance to dance!” I rest my case. Richmond’s Bracewar is one of those bands, and in fact, I’ve often heard other hardcore kids talk about how their “Intro” (from their 2007 Juggernaut LP) is their best or most popular song. It makes a weird sort of sense — for a typically fast-as-hell band, the intro offers a perfect chance to get the kids all fired up before launching into a million-miles-an-hour rager.

Bracewar were super active about a decade ago, but the members have gotten older, and they’ve focused less on the band in recent years, playing the occasional local show but mostly not doing much. However, it appears all that is changing — they’ve got a brand new EP, Colossal, coming out on Triple B Records this week. It’s only three songs, but it’s their first new material in a decade, so we can cut ’em some slack. What’s really interesting is that they’ve got a new intro song on this one, entitled “Introduction.” Will this far more metallic take on the set-starting dance call get the kids moving as much as the old intro did? On Friday at the Canal Club, you’ll probably have a chance to find out.

You’ll also get a chance to see a TON of other rad hardcore bands from the past two decades, giving you a great view on what’s been happening in the world of hardcore since the millennium turned. Well-respected veterans Cold World will be sharing headliner status with Bracewar and bringing their brutal riffs with a slight tinge of hip-hop flavor to keep the dancefloor moving. And of course we can’t forget about Shark Attack, the short-lived but legendary northeast hardcore band that blew everyone’s minds back in 2001 with two incredible EPs, then dipped out leaving everyone wanting more. Their discography LP finally came out this year, complete with some unreleased tracks, and now they’re coming to Richmond to knock everybody on their asses once again. There are quite a few other excellent bands on this bill, from current ragers like RVA’s own Division Of Mind and Florida’s Day By Day to reincarnated VA Beach warriors Victim and the brand-new project from legendary Bane frontman Aaron Bedard, Antagonize. Practice your moves, kids — you’ve got a lot of dancing to do.

Wednesday, October 3, 7 PM
Thrice, The Bronx @ The National – $24.50 in advance/$29.50 at the door (order tickets HERE)
It’s hard not to love Thrice. They’ve been around forever, and despite many sonic evolutions they’ve been through, they’ve consistently remained great. From the ridiculously metallic skate-punk of their earliest work to the progressive, emotionally-driven sound of their Alchemy Index tetralogy to the work they’ve released since their brief hiatus earlier in the decade, everything has been enjoyable in its own way, and on its own merits.

It’s still true, too — their recently-released tenth album, Palms, mixes a variety of different sounds from all eras of their work to create a moving and powerful example of a band carving their own path. I guess you could call it post-hardcore, but even that rather nebulous genre term falls woefully short of describing this band’s capabilities — capabilities they demonstrate every time they step onto a stage. Tonight at the National will be no exception, and the fact that they’ve got irreverent melodic punk rippers The Bronx (speaking of groups who’ve remained consistently great for multiple decades) on tour with them only sweetens the deal. Prepare yourself — this one’s gonna be an experience.

Thursday, October 4, 8 PM
Rotten Mangos, Benjamin Shepherd, Saw Black @ Strange Matter – $7
Psychedelic rock n’ roll is a style of music that’s been around for a long time, but when it’s done right, it still rules. And there’s nowhere they do it as right as they do in Austin, Texas. From the band that started it all, the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, to current phenomena like Golden Dawn Arkestra, Austin is the place to go when you’re looking for wild, crazy psych to blow your mind.

Alternatively, you can let it come to you — and that’s what’s happening at Strange Matter Thursday night. Rotten Mangos, an all-star Austin psych crew featuring members of The Black Angels, former Richmonders The Diamond Center, and a whole lot more, will be rolling through with some pop-infused psych n’ roll that’ll open up your third eye and let the sun shine in. You’ll get a not entirely dissimilar experience from the local singer-songwriters opening up the show — Benjamin Shepherd brings a folky touch to his songs, but he’s not without some side trips into drug-fueled weirdness. Saw Black’s material is both more countrified and spacier; it’s not that predictable, especially on his excellent recent LP, Water Tower, but it’s always fun. This is a show to get your toes tapping even as your mind drifts through the astral plane. Who doesn’t love that?

Friday, October 5, 8 PM
Ragana, Haircut, Listless, Tavishi @ Strange Matter – $7
Things are getting spooky this Friday night at Strange Matter. Ragana is hitting town for the first time in several years, and this California group, only a two-piece, creates a powerful, all-encompassing ambience with their sound, one that’s sure to have a deep psychological effect on the denizens of Grace Street this weekend. The fact that Ragana’s most recent release is a split LP with New Orleans sludge-doom veterans Thou entitled Let Our Names Be Forgotten certainly gives you some idea of what to expect from their performance on Friday.

But it would be unfair to write Ragana off as just another doom metal band. They certainly have their share of loud, crushing moments that roll over you in slow motion like waves… or maybe a steamroller. But they also integrate quiet melodies and ominous atmosphere into their sound, significantly increasing the witchiness quotient of their music while also offering something more than the unremitting punishment dealt out by the typical doom band. For this reason, it makes sense that they’re sharing a bill with three Richmond bands who span a significant musical breadth. Listless’s crust/grind queercore, Tavishi’s harrowing electronic soundscapes, and Haircut’s angry punk noise all have elements in common with Ragana and each other, but every performer on this bill will offer their own unique take on the anguish that plagues us all as we walk through this difficult life.

Saturday, October 6, 7 PM
The Wedding Funeral @ Garden Grove Brewing & Winery – $?
This is a weird one, y’all. The Wedding Funeral is a project brought into the world by Darren Deicide and Ethel Lynn Oxide, a romantically-involved duo of musicians with widely divergent backgrounds. Deicide, an honest-to-god priest of the Church Of Satan, has been playing Robert Johnson-style acoustic blues for years now, while Oxide has a background in choral singing and the voice of an angel. The two of them have come together to create The Wedding Funeral, a sort of noir-folk project that uses rootsy blues-style instrumentation to jump all around the musical map, from pastoral British folk sounds to deep South blues to bizarre noise interludes.

At least, that’s how it seems from listening to the 30-second samples of their as-yet-unreleased debut album, You Are Cordially Disinvited, which they will be premiering for all comers at Garden Grove this Saturday night. Those samples are the entirety of the music they have available anywhere on the internet — their debut EP, Beneath The Floor Boards (Covered In Feces) (how’s that for a title), has been scrubbed from the World Wide Web in the interest of moving on to exciting new sounds, which is an understandable policy, if a frustrating one for a music journalist with a minimum of time on her hands. But I can tell you that you’ll learn a good bit more about what The Weddding Funeral have to offer if you make the trip down to Garden Grove, and in light of how unusual this band truly is, I definitely think it’s worth it.

Sunday, October 7, 8 PM
White Denim, Rotem @ Strange Matter – $15 (order tickets HERE)
This one’s gonna be a lot of fun. White Denim, another excellent Austin, Texas band, have been around for about a decade, and in that time, they’ve been traversing a similar trajectory to that of another deep-South rock n’ roll group, The Black Keys. Starting out with a primitive garage-rock stomp that came out sort of like a janglier White Stripes and moving over the past decade into a thicker, funkier take on post-garage rockin’ that is downright impossible to deny.

Discovering their 2016 LP, Stiff, when I heard multiple songs from it at Sheetz (those of you who’ve known me for a while know how stoked I am about the music they play at Sheetz and really about Sheetz in general — don’t @ me, Wawa nerds), I fell in love with their ability to write incredible tunes that made you wanna get up and dance wherever you were when you heard them, but also rocked hard and had real staying power. And the fact that this excellent band is finally, after a decade of touring existence, bringing their live show to the river city has got to be the best news I’ve heard all week. So take my advice: go to this show, and bring your dancing shoes. Don’t worry if you know nothing about this band — just be yourself, and try to have a good time. You’re sure to succeed.

Monday, October 8, 7 PM
Culture Abuse, Gouge Away, Praise, Deviant, DJ Devolved @ Gallery 5 – $13 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
A double-shot of punk rock awesomeness from two of the best bands on the scene today, both of which just put out new LPs that took their already-outstanding sound to an even higher level? Yeah, this one definitely falls into the category of a no-brainer. Both of these bands have a ton of cachet in the hardcore punk world, and for that reason you might expect their music to be on the harsher end of things — but if you like catchy melodies and strong, memorable choruses, you’re in for a pleasant surprise, because both of these bands have a ton of songcraft skills and melodic dexterity to wow you with.

Californians Culture Abuse split the difference between driving punk-damaged power-pop groups like Neon Piss and straight-up goodtime rockers like The Strokes, and on their brand new Bay Dream LP, this approach yields a bumper crop of toe-tappers that are guaranteed to make you smile. Gouge Away are a bit more fired up; on their just-released Burnt Sugar LP, their harsh vocals and driving riffs land somewhere between melodic hardcore a la White Lung and post-hardcore noise-rock along the lines of Circus Lupus or early Rye Coalition (everyone who even got those references knows I’m over 40 now). As if this bill wasn’t stacked enough, Baltimore melodic, emotional hardcore group Praise are also here to get you fired up, and transgressive up-and-coming local hardcore crew Deviant get things started in fine fashion. Get stoked for this one.

Tuesday, October 9, 8 PM
Marbled Eye, Dark Web, Slump, True Body, Smut @ Strange Matter – $8 (order tickets HERE)
There’s no particular reason why the genre descriptor “postpunk” needs to mean anything in particular, beyond the fact that a band has taken formative influence from punk rock and brought it with them to a sound beyond that genre’s borders. But let’s be real — when I say that Marbled Eye is postpunk, you know what I mean. You expect the moody vibe, the wiry undistorted guitars, the melodic basslines and deadpan vocals. And you get all of that here. No doubt about it.

But it only takes one listen to Marbled Eye’s debut LP, Leisure, which just came out this week, to realize that this band has a fresh take on this style, one that takes them far beyond the Joy Division clones and Chameleons riff-stealers who’ve been part of the underground musical landscape for quite a while now. Remember how cool that postpunk style sounded over a decade ago, back when no one was really doing it? Marbled Eye still sound that cool. And if that isn’t proof of their standout talent, I don’t know what is. Fellow out-of-towners Dark Web and Smut, along with local mainstays Slump and True Body, provide excellent support to make this bill a top-quality musical evening from beginning to end.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Friday, October 5, 8 PM
Carriage, Nemesis, Catalyst @ Shaka’s – $10 (order tickets HERE)
It’s tough to try to talk to people about 80s metal who weren’t there for that whole era, because they figure you’re talking about one of two things — either Slayer-style thrash (which, don’t get me wrong, rules) or teased-hair glam metal in the style of Poison and Motley Crue (which, don’t get me wrong, also rules — haters to the left). But there was a whole other wave of heavy, powerful underground metal from that time that people today don’t even think about, and it’s that sound that Carriage evokes today.

Their new LP, Visions, is full of the kinds of flourishes that the kids used to call “power metal,” from the kind of  high-pitched yowls that Mercyful Fate’s King Diamond made de rigeur for a while there to the epic progressive riffs that bands like Candlemass took from prog-rock giants like Rush and King Crimson. Carriage has all of this going on and more, and their sound is genetically engineered to get you banging your head. This release party for their Visions LP should be full of more denim jackets and flying hair than you can shake an air guitar at, and if you have any love at all for the days of high-flying, triumphant metal, you’re gonna want to get in the mix at Shaka’s Friday night.

Saturday, October 6, 9 PM
Uglyography, Human Services, Unk Al @ Taphouse Grill – $5
The fact that Richmond has long been a hub for the musically unique and downright bizarre should never blind us to the fact that crazy stuff comes out of the Tidewater area on a regular basis as well. This show is a great example of that exact fact, and it all starts with Hamptonites Uglyography, who have been wielding their goofy, uncategorizable sound for over a decade now. They themselves call it “quirkadelic rock,” and if you imagine an alternate universe where Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention, Devo, They Might Be Giants, and 90s noise-rockers Alice Donut were all the same band, you’ve sorta got a general idea of what they’re up to.

But the reality is certainly going to be even crazier than you expect — Uglyography demonstrates just this fact on recent LP Evil Rays, which features ridiculously catchy tunes like “Neighborhood Watch” and “We Want You To Click Play,” then amidst all of the mania delivers a heartfelt ballad like “Imperfect For You.” They’re a group that must be seen to be believed, which is exactly why the Taphouse Grill is an eminently worthwhile destination for all you musical explorers of the new and unusual this Saturday night. They’ll be joined by the heavier but just-as-bizarre Human Services, who also hail from the Hampton area. Plus there will be an opening set from Unk Al, aka The Real Unk Al, aka Unk Al and the Amazingly Mediocre, a strange yet enjoyable bluegrass troupe that hails from Chesapeake. Open your mind and dive in.

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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] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond