The Camel Archives

VA Shows You Must See This Week: November 13 – November 19

Marilyn Drew Necci | November 13, 2019

Topics: Appalling, Beach Slang, Ben Butterworth, Ben Nelson, Bennie Blonkoe Perry, Blackwater Holylight, Candy, Capital Ale House Music Hall, Carpenter Theatre, Creeping Death, Cruzer, David Marie-Garland, Devil Master, Eradicant, Fuzzy Cactus, Ghostemane, Goo Goo Dolls, Halshug, Herschel Stratego, High on Fire, Horus The Astroneer, Idol Womb, Kate Carroll, LE Zarling, Loud Night, Mind Dweller, Miss JR Rose, Mister Earthbound, Monolord, Parv0, Power Trip, Riffhouse Pub, Robyn Hitchcock, Rotten, Sadistikum, Sarah White, Serpentshrine, shows you must see, SNAFU, The Broadberry, The Camel, The NorVa, The Wilful Boys, Timmy's Organism, Vital Remains, Wonderland

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, November 16, 6 PM
High On Fire (Photo by CE Kelco), Power Trip, Devil Master, Creeping Death @ The Broadberry – $25 in advance/$30 day of show (order tickets HERE)
This week, Richmond is visited by the band that started it all: High On Fire, the kings of apocalyptic doom metal ever since guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike bailed on Sleep to start his own musical engine of brutality. That was over 20 years ago, and High On Fire are still going strong today, releasing their eighth album, Electric Messiah, last year and following it up this year with a killer EP called Bat Salad. That EP pays tribute to Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, and Bad Brains — three seminal bands whose influence can clearly be felt in High On Fire’s roaring musical rampage.

For the uninitiated, High On Fire’s sound can be explained to some extent by the fact that 2018 LP Electric Messiah was inspired by comparisons Matt Pike always gets to Lemmy. His gravelly bark certainly isn’t too far from that of the late, great Motorhead majordomo, but musically, High On Fire explore a variety of directions, some of which are more comparable to the speed-loving London trio, while others move in more of a spaced-out astral epic direction. While the former material is always the real catnip for me (is this because I don’t smoke weed? Widespread polling makes it seem like this might just be the case), the longer, slower epics are always fan favorites, mixing the foreboding astral-plane wanderings of Neurosis with the more straightforward old-school doom vibes of my favorite Wino project, Spirit Caravan.

Basically, High On Fire offers the perfect opportunity for all you sleeveless-denim scuzzballs to achieve cannabis-infused headbang nirvana. And on this jaunt through our local atmosphere, they’re accompanied by legendary Texas thrashcore veterans Power Trip, who arose from the hardcore scene a decade ago to engage in a top-notch reincarnation of classic 80s thrash that was just a little too evil to find itself within the notoriously goofy world of “crossover.” So much the better — these guys are capable of all the string-bending leads, propulsive circle-pit tempos, and terrifying vocal exhortations of the best thrash, with a decidedly dark undercurrent that almost reaches the level of early Scandinavian black metal. These two masterful metallic combos will also be joined on this trip through RVA by Philadelphia blackened-punk mayhem creators Devil Master and early-Metallica-loving Texas death metallers Creeping Death. It’s a bonanza for your scorched ears, a circle-pit demon’s delight. Be sure to partake.

Wednesday, November 13, 8 PM
Halshug, Mind Dweller, Loud Night @ Fuzzy Cactus – $8
Southern Lord has been the prime stadium crust label for a while now, and Denmark’s Halshug are just the latest example of that trend. You may not know what I mean when I use the phrase “stadium crust” to describe a band, but you can probably guess based on context clues — filthy hardcore punk that just sounds like its creators are all wearing leather jackets, made by punks who’ve clearly got Disrupt and Tragedy in their DNA but are shooting the moon with a big, loud sound that seems engineered to headline California Jam alongside Sabotage-era Black Sabbath.

While we can’t say that 30,000 kids would pack out the Nissan Pavilion (or Jiffy Lube Live, or whatever that place is called now) to see Halshug, it seems a sure thing that their loud, proud rage will fill the confines of Fuzzy Cactus with arena-worthy riff pyrotechnics tonight. That’s something you won’t want to miss, especially with Raleigh rockin’-punk powerhouse Mind Dweller on the bill as well, doing that classic Black Flag-meets-Ted Nugent sound that Annihilation Time made its name on. The bill is rounded out with the inclusion of local rippers Loud Night, who’ve got their own spin on that exact point where Motorhead meets Discharge, complete with a rollicking thrash vibe that’s sure to make the old-school metalheads smile and raise their studded-bracelet-bedecked fists.

Thursday, November 14, 8 PM
Monolord, Blackwater Holylight, Mister Earthbound @ The Camel – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the glut of doom metal that has overtaken the heaviest of genres in the past decade or so — sometimes it feels like it’s just slow grooves all the way down, and that can cause us to go from headbanging to nodding off. But it is still, in 2019, possible to do doom metal right, and Sweden’s Monolord are just the latest combo to prove exactly that with their new LP on Relapse Records, No Comfort. As with a lot of bands who achieve success in a world of a million soundalike Sabbath/Wino worshippers, Monolord do this by moving away from the 70s proto-metal influences to concentrate on late 60s psychedelia and classic Southern sludge.

No Comfort feels like the record Eyehategod would have made if they’d been contemporaries of Charles Manson rather than some of the foremost metalheads to develop an edgy fascination with that mass-murdering cult-leading scumbag at the dawn of the 90s. And while I love those first couple Eyehategod records, No Comfort‘s relatively unusual approach to moody sludge is like a breath of fresh air compared to the millionth band ripping off the genre’s godfathers. Monolord arrive in Richmond accompanied by Portland’s Blackwater Holylight, who show absolute mastery of witchy psychedelic foreboding on their 2018 self-titled debut LP. Light a candle for this set — it’ll be appropriate.

Friday, November 15, 9 PM
SNAFU, Eradicant, Idol Womb @ Wonderland – $5
This is probably only a warning I have to give to my fellow olds, but: don’t get it twisted, this is not an appearance by legendary Canadian skate-punk band SNFU. Hailing from just across the Canadian border in Detroit and featuring an extra letter in their acronym band-name, SNAFU are just as speedy and intense as their almost-homophone Canadian counterparts, but have a ton more metal in their sound, straddling the border between metal-thrashing crossover-core and outright skate-obsessed thrash-grind.

They haven’t released anything new since 2015’s heaping helping of speedy noise, Present Day Plague, but they are apparently in the process of preparing to record a new album, their first in four years. So you can expect them to have a ton of new tuneage for you when they show up at Wonderland this Friday night. This show, which serves as a birthday bash for Wonderland owner Chad Painter and a warmup for the Wonderland Quinceanera celebration that’s coming up just before New Years, will also feature two new Richmond ragers — Eradicant, who play death metal and feature members of 3:33; and Idol Womb, who are more of a black-death mix (metal, not plague), and feature members of Cruelsifix. Get ready to rock out!

Saturday, November 16, 7 PM
Robyn Hitchcock @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $25 (order tickets HERE)
Robyn Hitchcock is an absolute legend. This British singer-songwriter has been at the forefront of psychedelic pop for over four decades now, starting out as the frontman for psychedelic postpunk band The Soft Boys in the late 70s, and beginning his solo career in 1981. Since then, he’s released 21 studio albums and a ton of live albums and outtake collections documenting his prolific muse. He veers back and forth between solo acoustic albums with a sort of witchy-English-backwoods psych-folk vibe and full-band outings with backing bands The Egyptians and The Venus 3 (which features members of REM), aiding his creation of impeccable alt-pop gems. In indie circles, he’s considered a godfather of the sound, and has worked with XTC, The Decemberists, and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel.

With all that in mind, the fact that I can’t even tell you whether Hitchcock is bringing a full band with him for his appearance this Saturday night at Capital Ale House’s Richmond Music Hall shouldn’t even matter to you. His last full-length album, 2017’s Robyn Hitchcock, featured a full band and a bushel of delightful melancholy pop tunes with the subtlest of punk undercurrents — but that was two years ago, and the ever-creative Mr. Hitchcock may have moved on to something else by now. Considering how excellent he’s been at every phase of his career, from The Soft Boys’ immortal 1980 single “I Wanna Destroy You” to his outstanding 1990 solo outing, Eye, and from career-defining 1984 masterwork I Often Dream Of Trains to 2006 late-career highlight Ole! Tarantula, featuring the Venus 3… well, there’s no reason to think whatever he wishes to share with us will be anything other than great. Get over to Cap Ale and groove on this one.

Sunday, November 17, 9 PM
Timmy’s Organism, Cruzer, The Wilful Boys @ Fuzzy Cactus – $7 in advance/$9 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Garage rock can sometimes be the rawest, rootsiest expression of the original rock n’ roll spirit as possible, but Timmy’s Organism isn’t that kind of group. Instead, this project from longtime garage innovator Timmy Vulgar (formerly of the Epitonix, Clone Defects, and more) has a bit of an off-kilter, sidewise approach to the garage thing. On their 2018 LP, Survival Of The Fiendish, Timmy’s Organism veer from song to song between the Stones circa Exile On Main Street’s dankest basement sessions, the Replacements at their most plastered, and a loose, antisocial version of the MC5’s soul-inspired full-throttle rock n’ roll attack. It’s wild, it’s crazy, it’s a ton of fun, and it’s sure to get things all stirred up when Vulgar and co. arrive at Fuzzy Cactus this Sunday night.

They’ll be joined in their rock n’ roll assault on Richmond by The Wilful Boys, an NYC quartet fronted by Australian singing drummer Steven Fisher. Something about the way Aussie bands approach no-frills rock n’ roll is unbridled in a manner you’ll never see on this side of the international dateline, and with a half-Aussie lineup including Fisher, The Wilful Boys bring that Cosmic Psychos-esque approach to bear in an enjoyably brutal fashion. They’ll pair perfectly with the northern hemisphere wildmen of Timmy’s Organism, and local surf-punk fun-starters Cruzer will open this one up with the perfect mix of beach-blanket fun and out-of-control bonfire parties. Get stoked for this one.

Monday, November 18, 8 PM
Comedy & Western Showcase, feat. Sarah White & The New Band, Miss JR Rose, Ben Butterworth, Ben Nelson, David Marie-Garland, LE Zarling, Kate Carroll, Bennie Blonkoe Perry, hosted by Herschel Stratego @ The Camel – $7 in advance/$10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I don’t know what possessed someone to create a showcase like this, but I’ve gotta admire their creativity. It certainly would never occur to me to combine standup comedy performances with country music, but considering the mutual variety-show roots of both disciplines, it actually makes a ton of sense. And it gives those of us who are more musically inclined an opportunity to feast our ears on some of the modern country sounds being created right here in VA, which doesn’t ever seem to happen often enough. So liven up your Monday night with this one.

Specifically, enjoy a performance from Virginia singer-songwriter Sarah White, whose 2018 LP High Flyer mixes heartland rock sounds with some classic country approaches and instrumentations to create a result that fans of No Depression-style alt-country are sure to enjoy. Miss J.R. Rose is someone I don’t know a lot about, but her classic country ballads seem like a perfect old-school note to add to this many-flavored stew. And of course Ben Butterworth is a local musical mainstay, though I don’t know as much about his fellow Ben, Nelson. The comedy half of this evening’s entertainment is on lock with some of the best local comedians to ply their trade in this city over the past decade on the bill. And of course, Herschel Stratego will deliver his own unique and inimitable skills as the host. This one’s sure to be a blast. Don’t miss out.

Tuesday, November 19, 7:30 PM
The Goo Goo Dolls, Beach Slang @ Carpenter Theatre – $38 – $73 (order tickets HERE)
I know what some of my longtime readers are probably thinking right now: “The Goo Goo Dolls? This is Drew’s ultimate troll move on all of us.” And I’ll grant that sometimes I have way too much fun in this column engaging in — how should I put this? — “subversion of your expectations.” But y’all, I am not fucking with you in the slightest bit on this recommendation. The Goo Goo Dolls are awesome. I will admit that their last few albums have seen time catching up on these guys, turning them from the best matured-ex-punks-turned-heartland-rockers since The Replacements to a group that’s a bit too Matchbox 20-ish in their balladry these days. But that’s OK, because you don’t have to buy their brand new album (which is called Miracle Pill and is their 12th overall) to enjoy the hell out of their live performances.

And for real, I’ve seen video of them performing in the past year, and they’re still rad! Bassist Robby Takac still bounds all around the stage doing jump-kicks, Johnny Rzeznik still plays electric guitar for most of the set, and they’re still playing legit great tunes from decades past, like “Big Machine,” “January Friend,” and “Broadway.” Granted, there’ll be a few lite-rock radio chestnuts to sit through (I never did fuck with “Iris”), but to make up for those, you get an opening set from legit punk band Beach Slang, who are about to release their fourth album, The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City, and still have the high-energy drive that made classic early-90s Goo Goo Dolls albums like Superstar Carwash and A Boy Named Goo so great. As for the headliners, chances are the Goos are gonna show their age at a couple points during their set, but where their best moments are concerned, you’re still not gonna find anything better.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Thursday, November 14, 6 PM
Vital Remains, Serpentshrine, Sadistikum, Appalling, Rotten @ RiffHouse Pub (Chesapeake) – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Death metal mainstays Vital Remains have been bringing us some of the most punishing riffs in the game for 30 full years now, and they’re on tour right now to celebrate. Having formed in the late 80s, established themselves as one of the foremost groups in the genre with 1998’s Forever Underground, and gone on to collaborate with the almighty Glen Benton of Deicide on Dechristianize and Icons Of Evil — two of the best death metal albums the 21st century has seen thus far — Vital Remains definitely have a lot to celebrate on this tour.

Now, I will grant you that they haven’t released an album since Icons Of Evil in 2007, and that at this point both Benton and longtime drummer/lead guitarist Dave Suzuki have left the band. However, Tony Lazaro is still fielding a lineup of powerful metal players — including latest vocalist Scott Eames of Thy Antichrist. In addition to the full catalog of raging hits that the band has to draw from, he’s supposedly got multiple albums worth of new material in the can and waiting to be recorded. Maybe if this anniversary tour is successful enough, Vital Remains will finally break their 12-year drought and grace us with a new album. But even if they don’t, you’ll get to see them decimate RiffHouse Pub with an unrelenting metal onslaught. And that’s certainly good enough reason to go to this one.

Friday, November 15, 7 PM
Ghostemane, Candy, Horus The Astroneer, Parv0 @ The NorVA (Norfolk) – $23 (order tickets HERE)
I gotta tell ya, I find Ghostemane pretty fascinating. Purely on a visual level, he looks like a goth kid who likes metal a whole lot. But he’s at least ostensibly a rapper — though hardly a straight-up old-school rapper, in light of his connections to $uicideboy$ and Lil Peep. He also used to play in hardcore and metal bands, and has been known to take current hardcore bands out with him on tour (note that Richmond hardcore up-and-comers Candy are playing with him on this NorVA bill). All of this speaks to a pretty wide-ranging set of influences that drive Ghostemane, and you can hear all of those influences on the highly prolific (20 releases in the past five years) rapper’s discography.

Sometimes he croons like Trent Reznor at his most emotionally fraught moments. At other times, his stuff sounds almost like Slipknot and Ministry jamming on solely electronic instruments. Sometimes it sounds like the sort of hazy, downbeat hip hop you’d expect from a $uicideboy$ affiliate. And his latest EP, Hiadica, isn’t even hip hop at all — it’s a straight up metallic hardcore record, full of throaty screams, blastbeats, and breakdowns. Whether you’re into the weirder end of the modern hip hop scene, brutal hardcore, or some combination of the two, Ghostemane’s NorVA performance is sure to have something to delight you.

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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: November 6 – November 12

Marilyn Drew Necci | November 6, 2019

Topics: Alluvion, Alpha Romeo, Amala, BBX, Bejxy, Bingo Beer Co, Cadillac Cat, Capital Ale House Music Hall, CAPTCHA, Chameleons Vox, Chauncey De Giant, Christopher Tignor, Colin Phils, Colpa Mia, Cop/Out, Cut The Architect's Hand, Days N Daze, Distant Dee, Don Chase, Dre King, Ellen Siberian Tiger, Fan Ran, Future Teens, gallery 5, Genosha, Hex Machine, Hotspit, Illa Styles, Jay Aston, Jimmy and the Delay, Kidd Khy, Lair, Leftover Crack, Lil Grits, Limbs, Lisa Prank, Magic Wand, Manzara, Murdersome, Nhibitions, Noah O, O-Z, Oceanator, Papi Majae, PT Veil, Pump Fake, Queen Elephantine, Riffhouse Pub, SAE, Sentius, Sharptooth, She, shows you must see, Site Of Suffering, Slim Kartel, Strangeways Brewing, Tavishi, The Bunker Brewpub, The Camel, The New Mutiny, Theatre Of Hate, This Will Destroy You, Tone Redd, Unmaker, Van Silke, Vulcanite, Wonderland, Wristmeetrazor, Yung Apollo

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, November 9, 5 PM
Thrashgiving IV, feat. Vulcanite, Genosha, The New Mutiny, LAIR, Murdersome (Photo by Dennis Williford), Alluvion, Site Of Suffering, Cut The Architect’s Hand, Sentius @ Strangeways Brewing – $10 cash, or $5 with canned/non-perishable foods
OK, y’all, Halloween is over, which means we’re officially into the holiday season, for better or for worse. Right now it’s for better, at least for me, because in spite of all it’s terrible cultural baggage, Thanksgiving as it exists in 2019 is my favorite holiday. Sleep late, eat a big meal, watch football… what’s not to love? We hit the “for worse” part along about 8 PM when Mom starts getting antsy and wanting to hit the Black Friday sales (these days a good many of them start as soon as the sun goes down on Thanksgiving, and whoever’s idea that was needs to be put on trial for their crimes against humanity).

Anyway, Thanksgiving itself is still a few weeks away, but over at Strangeways Brewing, they’re getting into the giving spirit a little early, as this Saturday brings about the fourth annual Thrashgiving celebration, put together by Metal Teresa Productions as a benefit to help feed the hungry and house injured military veterans and their families. These good causes are well worth your support, and if you bring some canned or non-perishable food items to donate, you’ll get half off admission, so that rules as well!

In return for your five bucks and your cans of beans, you’ll get a veritable showcase of the best Virginia’s metal scene has to offer. From grunge-metal ragers Vulcanite to mournful doom sludgers Lair — who have a brand new self-titled album out as of last week — and from bloodthirsty thrashers Murdersome to brutal hardcore mosh maniacs Genosha, this show has a ton of headbanging awesomeness to offer. In addition to those four, there are half a dozen more excellent groups on the bill, and considering how cheap the price of admission is, it’s really quite the bargain if your tastes run toward headbanging. This one gets our highest possible recommendation.

Wednesday, November 6, 8 PM
Future Teens, Oceanator, Colpa Mia, Pump Fake @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Despite the name at the top of the bill, as far as I know, none of the bands playing at The Camel tonight have any members under 13 years old. However, Boston’s Future Teens do have a new album called Breakup Season, which is full of melancholy, heartfelt indie rock tunes of the sort the band aptly labels “bummer pop.” These days it seems like that whole twentysomething malaise that descends when you get out of college and don’t know where you’re going to go next can last well into your 30s and beyond, and it can be comforting to hear a band sing poignantly and relatably about it over some amazing pop melodies.

That’s what Future Teens has to offer, and I think we could all use a night of that — maybe a bit more than we want to admit. Along with it, we’ll also get a set from New Yorkers Oceanator, who have a similar sort of emotional vibe but add a good deal more bottom-end crunch to their harder-hitting alt-rock tunes — which is always nice. Richmond’s own Colpa Mia will add their own indie sound to the mix, and brand new local emo duo Pump Fake will get things started at The Camel tonight. Get down there and soothe your troubled soul with music.

Thursday, November 7, 7:30 PM
Chameleons Vox, Theatre Of Hate, Jay Aston, Unmaker @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $20 (order tickets HERE)
The Chameleons were incredibly important to the development of UK postpunk in the 80s. While other guitar-based bands like Echo And The Bunnymen, The Cure, and The Jesus And Mary Chain are a bit more well-known today, any listen to 21st century exponents of music like this shows an indelible influence from the sound The Chameleons expertly crafted during their initial 80s run. The mix of Mark Burgess’s insightful, poetic lyrics, thundering basslines, and dramatic baritone vocals combined perfectly with the glittering twin guitar lines of Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding to create a legacy that still endures after four decades.

The Chameleons did briefly reform and release three more albums in the early 00s, but these days, Mark Burgess soldiers on as the sole original member, performing classic Chameleons tunes under the name Chameleons Vox. While his backing band has featured a variety of different musicians over the past decade, Burgess has always recruited excellent guitar players to recreate Smithies and Fielding’s gorgeous spiraling melodies, and his own vocal and bass talents ensure that the songs retain their proper gravity. Basically, if you love the Chameleons — and if you’ve enjoyed bands like Interpol, Shadow Age, or Soft Kill in recent years, you definitely do — you’re sure to have a wonderful night seeing Chameleons Vox bring legendary songs like “Swamp Thing” and “Thursday’s Child” to full, glorious life.

Friday, November 8, 8 PM
Ellen Siberian Tiger, HotSpit, She, CAPTCHA @ Bingo Beer Co – Free!
Don’t panic, folks — I’ve done some research and learned that despite their band name, Ellen Siberian Tiger is just as human as you and me. This trio from Philadelphia dishes out some pretty excellent grungy alt-rock in the vein of Hop Along or Speedy Ortiz, and I for one am digging it. I also can’t help but love the powerful, confrontational feminism espoused on tracks like “Kitchen Knife” and “When Men Explain Things To Me.” We need more of these sorts of lyrics in the world.

Ellen Siberian Tiger will be rocking the halls of Bingo Beer this Friday night in a manner my punk rock friends always wanted to back in the 90s, so I can’t help but be excited, and I’m just as excited for the trio of excellent Richmond groups that are sharing this bill with them. The outstanding HotSpit are at the top of that list, and while they’ve still only released a few demos online, their live performances around town over the past year or so have shown that this band has a ton of talent on offer, from their excellent vocal harmonizing to the gorgeously downbeat melodies they seem never to run out of. She, who’ve excellently evolved from a solo project into a trance-inducing atmospheric indie combo, will also bring some lovely sounds to your ears on this evening, and CAPTCHA are certainly far more pleasant than any gridded image demanding you click on the portions of the screen that feature crosswalks. Get down with this one.

Saturday, November 9, 9 PM
Queen Elephantine & Tavishi, Hex Machine, Manzara @ Wonderland – $10
In a world that tends to be overfilled with doom metal bands these days, it’s rare to find one that’s approaching the genre in a manner previously unheard. But with Queen Elephantine, who were originally formed in Hong Kong and now make their home in Philadelphia, just such a band may have come along. Granted, new LP Gorgon is heavy and gloomy as fuck, but it’s hard to say that this is really “metal” in the conventionally understood sense. Instead, it seems to combine astral-travelling psychedelia, apocalyptic drone, spooky occult atmosphere, and noise experimentation, all with a massive dose of sludgy heaviness.

The result, at least on Gorgon‘s 13-minute opener, “Mars,” is like some sort of strange crossbreed between Acid Mothers Temple, Corrupted, and Sunn O))). It certainly should come to mind-expanding full-volume life at Wonderland this Saturday night, and if we’re reading this correctly, local experimental noise musician Tavishi will be lending additional texture to Queen Elephantine’s set for what’s sure to be a fascinating and unmissable experiment in dark, crushing noise. Local noise-rock powerhouse Hex Machine will open up, along with quietly devastating Richmond postpunk group Manzara, making this an evening sure to blow your mind. Be there.

Sunday, November 10, 8 PM
Rice God & Friends Fall Festival, feat. Noah-O, Fan Ran, Illa Styles, BBX, Amala, Yung Apollo, Alpha Romeo, Papi Majae, Dre King, Bejxy, Kidd Khy, Slim Kartel, Chauncey De Giant, Don Chase, Van Silke, SAE, O-Z, Lil Grits, PT Veil, Distant Dee, Tone Redd, Cadillac Cat @ The Camel – $8 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
It’s been about a month now since Noah-O and Fan Ran got together once again to unleash a new installment of Dirty Rice on the world. Dirty Rice: Deux, which dropped just over a month ago, is yet another piece of evidence in the argument that Noah-O’s at his best when he works with one really talented producer for the entire length of a project. See also The Rain with DJ Mentos (a project that led directly to the formation of Analog Suspects), or Face/Off with Cadillac Cat, or All Souled Out with the late Kleph Dollaz… and that’s not even all the examples I could mention.

This Sunday night at The Camel, Noah-O and Fan Ran will be teaming up to lay some dirty rice on y’all in the live environment, and they’ll be doing it up right by turning the whole thing into a Fall Festival that will feature over a dozen other hip hop talents from both RVA and the surrounding region. In addition to top-level local powerhouses like Illa Styles, Slim Kartel, Distant Dee, and the aforementioned Cadillac Cat, there’s also a whole crew coming through from the Kentucky/Ohio area, including Yung Apollo and Alpha Romeo, plus a whole bunch more from all over! If you love hip hop, this is going to be hours of the dopest rhymes and sickest beats imaginable, with Noah-O and Fan Ran at the center of it all. So hey, you know what to do.

Monday, November 11, 7 PM
Lisa Prank, Magic Wand, Jimmy And The Delay @ Gallery 5 – $7 in advance/$10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I love the band name Lisa Prank — and it’s not because I’m old enough to have actually had a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. Well, OK, it’s not JUST because of that. Anyway, Seattle singer-songwriter Robin Edwards struck gold when she named her indie-pop project, to the point that I’m amazed no one else has done it first. And on brand new LP Perfect Love Song, she also struck gold by getting production help from Rose Melberg, whose work in Tiger Trap, The Softies, Go Sailor, and others has been instrumental in creating and developing the exact sort of indie-pop milieu that Lisa Prank is working within today.

If you’re a fan of any of those bands, or if you’re too young to remember them but do enjoy bands like Speedy Ortiz and The Worriers, Lisa Prank is sure to be right up your alley. If they were 5 percent heavier or noisier, I’d call them pop-punk, but as it is, this is just simple, catchy pop music — and it’s great at being exactly that. It’ll put a big smile on your face, as will opening sets from local newcomers Magic Wand and Jimmy And The Delay. This will be a great way to end a really tough back-to-work Monday, so be there and let this show ease you into a better rest of your week.

Tuesday, November 12, 7 PM
This Will Destroy You, Christopher Tignor, Colin Phils @ The Camel – $15 (order tickets HERE)
In the wake of Explosions In The Sky’s Friday Night Lights-fueled early-00s success, a rising musical tide lifted all instrumental post-rock boats, and that of This Will Destroy You was definitely one. However, almost fifteen years after the release of their rapturously received debut, Young Mountain, This Will Destroy You have proven themselves to be more than just another post-rock combo writing epic instrumental after epic instrumental, all of which start to sound the same after a while.

Last year saw This Will Destroy You release two new albums in the space of a month, New Others Part One and New Others Part Two. Both show this quartet to be focused on different goals than one might expect; their songs are focused less on the sort of emotional escalation that, after a while, tends to feel like a gimmick repeated once too often. Instead, they build a musical mood and then live within it for several minutes, allowing the textures of their music to become the focus. It’s proggy, yes, and it’s also a bit nerdy, but there’s not a damn thing wrong with intelligent music, especially when it is able to be moving without being cliche. This Will Destroy You accomplish all that with aplomb on their albums, and seeing them pull it off live is sure to be quite the treat.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday, November 8, 6 PM
Sharptooth, Limbs, Wristmeetrazor, Nhibitions, Genosha @ RiffHouse Pub (Chesapeake) – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
As metallic hardcore shows go, this one is sure to be top-notch. Maryland’s Sharptooth are an absolutely ferocious quintet full of anger and fury of an incredibly political nature. 2017 LP Clever Girl features a song called “Fuck You Donald Trump,” but if anything, the title track’s condemnation of men who act as insincere allies, or “No Sanctuary”‘s vitriolic condemnation of anti-LGBTQ bigotry, ring even more bold and true and real to me. Singer Lauren Kashan has used her platform to be a strong advocate for issues relating to abuse and oppression, and as awesome as her band is, the kind of heart she puts into her lyrics and onstage presence makes Sharptooth that much better.

So if you’re the kind of metal/hardcore fan who wishes more bands would take a stand for issues that matter, this is the show for you. And it features a bunch of other great bands as well — Florida’s Limbs refer to themselves as “post-hardcore” but on 2018’s Father’s Son, they lay out a brutal, metallic sound that still feels HC as fuck to me, even if it’s not Negative Approach. Wristmeetrazor, who are sorta-kinda from Virginia, arise from the screamo scene but have a strong metalcore attack on their latest LP, Misery Never Forgets. And of course, Genosha and Nhibitions hold it down for the heavy hardcore scene in Tidewater and Central Virginia with skill and panache. This one’s gonna rule.

Saturday, November 9, 7 PM
Leftover Crack, Days N Daze, Cop/Out @ The Bunker Brewpub (Virginia Beach) – $16 (order tickets HERE)
I admit it — for the longest time, I never gave Leftover Crack a chance. As a straight edge kid, their name wasn’t exactly appealing to me, and their reputation as simultaneously the crustiest of squatter punk bands (their Wikipedia page features a section entitled “Venue bans, criminal records, and visa restriction”) and a straight-up ska band seemed totally incoherent. But recently I went ahead and listened to some of their music, and it turns out that they’re actually pretty goddamn talented. Instead of having goofy horns all over the place, they play catchy, hard-charging punk tunes. And while they do often use those catchy off-beat bounce riffs that we all identify as ska, they also incorporate touches of metal and hardcore. In the end, they are clearly first and foremost a punk band, in the same way Operation Ivy always was.

So hey, maybe going to see Leftover Crack on their latest tour isn’t such a bad idea if you like some good punk rock fun. One thing’s for sure, there won’t be a dull moment from a band that’s known for writing unapologetic, provocative songs about shooting cops and doing drugs — and for having an audience full of even bigger reprobates than the members themselves. You might want to steer clear of the pit if the stories we’ve heard about mid-set barf are true, but the tunes will make up for any suspect stenches that might invade the room over the course of the set.

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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: October 30 – November 5

Marilyn Drew Necci | October 30, 2019

Topics: 3:33, Addy, Alexa Rose, All Your Sisters, Benderheads, Buzzherd, Caroline Says, Cary Street Cafe, Ceremony (VA), Chicho's Backstage, Comrades, Crippled Fox, Deau Eyes, Eaves, Echo Beds, Empty, Flamin' Groovies, Fujiwara, Fuzzy Cactus, gallery 5, Greet Death, Haybaby, Hovvdy, Kevin Krauter, Loud Night, My Epic, New Boss, Nosebleeds, Rad Taco, Russian Circles, shows you must see, Smallhands, The Broadberry, The Camel, The Canal Club, The Girls, The Gladstones, The Needles, The Nerve Scheme, The Southern Cafe, Trey Burnart Hall, True Body, Unmaker, Windhand, Wolves At The Gate, Wonderland

FEATURED SHOW
Thursday, October 31, 7 PM
Halloween at G5, feat. Nosebleed, Benderheads, Unmaker, Haybaby, Chicki Parm, Niche Brand, hosted by Michael Smith @ Gallery 5 – $8 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night… it’s Halloween once again, and in classic Richmond fashion, we’ll be doing it up right, regardless of what day of the week October 31 arrives on. The classic Richmond tradition of Halloween covers show got thrown off this year when the venue Return Of The Living Dead Bands was booked into closed down, but never fear — there’s still plenty of fun, costumery, and punk rock madness to go around on this All Hallow’s Eve!

The cynosure of the music-related celebration in RVA this Halloween night is at Gallery 5, where my old pal Rivanna and Raw Mom Presents are doing it up in proper fashion, with more than just music for your entertainment. There’ll also be drag performances featuring Chicki Parm and Niche Brand, a costume contest with prizes, and host Michael Smith keeping the action going throughout the night. So come dressed up, and have some fun!

But make sure you catch the music, because this night is full of local groups with a lot to offer! At the top of the bill is furious Richmond hardcore group Nosebleed, who are going to be releasing a new EP on venerable HC label Triple B Records later this year. They’re sure to blow you away, and metallic postpunk rockers Unmaker, punk rippers Benderheads, and indie rock balladeers Haybaby will do much the same. Liven up your Halloween this year at Gallery 5, and get a full helping of devilish fun before the sun rises and the saints come out.

Wednesday, October 30, 7 PM
Russian Circles, Windhand @ The Broadberry – $18 in advance/$20 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Sometimes genres tagged with a “post-” prefix can get a little limiting. For Russian Circles, who’ve debatably been standard-bearers for the “post-metal” subgenre for over a decade now, their brand of complex, slowly evolving riff epics could certainly have resulted in them painting themselves into a corner, especially on their seventh album. Thankfully, new LP Blood Year shows that this Chicago trio is far from running out of ideas.

They’re also smart enough not to let the ideas they do have run away with them, avoiding long metallic symphonies in favor of concisely expressed musical ideas that generally conclude well short of the ten-minute mark. If anything, there’s more Breadwinner and early Don Caballero in the mix on Blood Year than reliable post-metal touchstones like Isis and Pelican. Which is a wonderful thing. Tonight at the Broadberry, Russian Circles will be joined by Windhand, a band that has learned to make epic lengths work for them in the related but decidedly separate field of apocalyptic doom metal. It all adds up to filling three hours of your Wednesday night with several days’ worth of riffs, and what could be a better bargain than that?

Thursday, October 31, 7 PM
Citrus City Halloween Bash, feat. Hovvdy, Kevin Krauter, Caroline Says, Addy @ The Camel – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
In the world of music, Halloween is often closely identified with punk rockers and spooky metal bands, but who says the indie kids don’t like to have fun too? Citrus City Records is proving that Richmond’s indie scene can embrace the Allhallows fun times as well as anyone with this shindig over at The Camel. Granted, things will be a bit more low-key over by the post office — as far as we know, no costume contests are planned (though we’re sure no one will mind if you show up in your trick-or-treating outfit). However, you will get an evening full of great indie sounds from local and touring artists, and there ain’t a damn thing wrong with that.

Hovvdy are at the top of this bill, and while I know this Austin, Texas duo wants me to look at that name and think “howdy,” I’m no good with these double-V-instead-of-single-W names, so I just think of them as “hov-dee.” However you feel like pronouncing their name, these guys exemplify their self-identified genre tag of “pillowcore” on just-released third LP Heavy Lifter, a collection that pairs bedroom indie sounds with hints of Americana and is the perfect soundtrack for a relaxing, low-key Halloween. Some other out-of-town indie pals are also on the bill — mellow indie-folk project Caroline Says also hails from Austin, while lo-fi singer-songwriter Kevin Krauter comes from Indiana. Local indie crew Addy will kick the evening off, and bring you a fine way to spend Halloween if you’re not feeling the whole stress of getting a costume together. (Believe me, I’ve been there.)

Friday, November 1, 6 PM
Wolves At The Gate, My Epic, Comrades, Empty, Eaves @ The Canal Club – $14 in advance/$16 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I have no idea what was in the water 20 or so years ago around certain religious institutions in the American midwest, but somehow or another, a certain subgenre evolved that seemed inextricable from Christianity. It was a mixture of hardcore, metal, and emo, and while it could go in more chaotic (The Chariot) or more melodramatic (mewithoutYou) directions, the general result was both heavy and driving while also being dramatic and emotional. And even for nonbelievers like myself, it was all but impossible to deny that a lot of it was really, really good.

Ohio’s Wolves At The Gate are solidly in that tradition, having evolved over their past decade of existence from the melodic metalcore of their early EPs to the epic, emotional metallic post-hardcore of their recently released fourth LP, Eclipse. Bringing in a decidedly epic atmosphere over the course of more recent work, they’ve attained a bit of a prog edge without losing their heaviness or the power of their dramatic musical crescendos. They’re sure to pair well with nomadic former Richmonders Comrades, who will join them on this Canal Club bill. Fredericksburg-based My Epic, who add a bit of grunge to their melodic alt-rock — entirely for the better — will also be part of this one, as well South Carolina’s Empty and Richmond’s own Eaves. Regardless of which faith you do or do not claim, rocking out at this one is a great way to spend your Friday night.

Saturday, November 2, 9 PM
All Your Sisters, Echo Beds, True Body @ Wonderland – $10
If you’re a longtime music nerd like I am, there’s a pretty clear picture that forms in your mind when someone starts talking about gothic industrial — and let’s be real, it’s a picture of Andrew Eldritch from Sisters Of Mercy on the cover of Floodland. That late-80s Sisters Of Mercy sound has made a fundamental imprint of 30 years of goth-industrial groups since that LP’s release in 1987 — that’s a fact. But it is still possible for bands to bring a new and more interesting approach to the genre without just walking in the Sisters’ footsteps, and Los Angeles project All Your Sisters is proving it.

Their latest LP, Trust Ruins, provides a blueprint for a way forward that should be just as interesting to dirty punks and angry metalheads as it is for traditional rivethead types. On it, All Your Sisters pair pounding drum machine beats that are straight off a late-80s Nitzer Ebb single with noisy, blown-out guitars that call to mind first-LP Jesus And Mary Chain. Plus, of course, that gloomy goth croon that we all know and love, which is a bit more Trent Reznor than Andrew Eldritch in the way this crew wields it. The result is equally enjoyable, though, and will certainly make for a great soundtrack to the stomping of polished black 20-hole Docs, even as it gives the less goth among us a sound we haven’t heard a million times before. Also on the bill, Denver’s Echo Beds will take things in an even harsher direction, while Virginia’s own True Body will cast a spell of delicious postpunk gloom over the entire affair. Hit the black eyeliner aisle and head to Shockoe Bottom for this one.

Sunday, November 3, 8 PM
Alexa Rose, Trey Burnart Hall, Deau Eyes @ Fuzzy Cactus – $8
The Sunday night at the end of the weekend after Halloween is a definite mood, y’all. Between a jam-packed Halloweek and a post-Hallows weekend that some people will just roll into a second straight weekend of celebrations, it can be hard to find your peace at the end of it all and get emotionally (and physically) prepared to get back to work on Monday. If that’s an issue you can relate to, I urge you to finish your weekend with this chill-as-hell Sunday night show at Fuzzy Cactus.

Alexa Rose is coming to town, and while this folk/Americana troubadour is currently based in Asheville, she originally hails from Clifton Forge, right here in Virginia. If you arrived in Richmond after a childhood spent in the vast rural west of Virginia (and a lot of us did), you’ll probably relate to Rose’s songs. With their tales of down-to-earth living and the day-to-day struggles we’re all contending with, they’ll sneak up on your with their resonant beauty. So why not meet ’em head on and let them bring you an easy smile of recognition? The warm glow Alexa Rose will offer you at Fuzzy Cactus this Sunday night is exactly the thing you’ll need to get you through the beginning of another ordinary work week. Let it shine on you.

Monday, November 4, 9 PM
Crippled Fox, Buzzherd, Loud Night, 3:33 @ Cary Street Cafe – $10
This rager will start your week off right with some awesome thrash punk sounds coming all the way from Hungary. Crippled Fox have been tearing it up in Central Europe for a solid decade now, and their hyperspeed rage evokes both the classic mid-80s era of crossover thrash — DRI, Heresy, Larm, all that stuff — but also the turn-of-the-millennium bandana thrash revival of legends like What Happens Next?, Life’s Halt, and Crucial Unit.

Basically, if your favorite Municipal Waste era is the early DIY EPs before they got a good recording budget, Crippled Fox is the band for you. Recent EP 10 Years Of Thrashing jams 5 songs onto one side of a 7 inch EP, and other than one midtempo singalong banger, they all flash by in 30 to 60 seconds. What’s not to love? These guys are sure to get a circle pit full of bandanas and backwards baseball caps going as soon as they hit the Cary Street Cafe stage, and it’d be a shame if you weren’t part of it. Pennsylvania death-grinders Buzzherd are also going to be part of this ripping thrash evening, and Richmond metallic punkers Loud Night and 3:33 will kick this one off right. Don’t get caught napping.

Tuesday, November 5, 9 PM
Greet Death, Ceremony (East Coast), Smallhands @ Wonderland – $10
This is a treat — with their new album, New Hell, on the horizon (it’ll be out within days of this show), Michigan’s Greet Death are coming to Richmond to grace us all with a set of gorgeous grunge-damaged indie rock. Their name may come from an old Explosions In The Sky song, but this trio are much closer soundwise to sadly-departed Philadelphians Creepoid, or maybe even 80s heartland noise-rockers like Antietam or Eleventh Dream Day. Greet Death definitely mix pastoral psychedelia, hazy slowcore, and sunbaked desert doom into their sound as well, creating a complicated, original music that has a ton of reference points but is mainly just its own thing.

And listen — it’s a pretty great thing. Expect Greet Death to prove this to you in loud and proud fashion on Tuesday night down at Wonderland, and you can also expect yourself to have a thoroughly great time while they do so. They’ll be joined by Fredericksburg’s Ceremony, aka Ceremony East Coast, aka not the formerly-hardcore band from California but a noisy, drum-machine-backed duo who’ve been around for about 15 years and are currently enjoying somewhat of a career renaissance. They’ve just released their sixth album, Candy, and it continues their legacy of ear-damaging noise-guitar roar that’s sure to please fans of first LP Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine circa “You Made Me Realise.” If you haven’t picked up on this group yet, this is the perfect time to get on board. Fellow Fredericksburgians Smallhands are coming down as well, to lay out some guitar noise of their own. It’s gonna be grand.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Thursday, October 31, 6 PM
Flamin’ Groovies, New Boss, The Gladstones @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $18 (order tickets HERE)
I know the name Flamin’ Groovies doesn’t quite ring out today the same way it did two or three decades ago, but if you young whippersnappers don’t yet know about this pioneering garage rock/power-pop combo from California, you need a crash course in their truly unequalled excellence — and you’ll get it at Charlottesville’s Southern Cafe on Halloween night. Cyril Jordan has been leading the band since 1965, and in that time, they’ve innovated in the fields of psychedelic garage, proto-punk, and power-pop. They’ve got an overstuffed catalog full of timeless classics, and they’ll be bringing them all to the Southern, so you’ll want to be there to rapturously receive them!

These days, Cyril Jordan is the only original member left in the group, but though longtime co-leader Chris Wilson retired last year, Jordan has a rock-solid backing group to this day, and the four-piece will bring us highlights of their classic garage rock and power-pop eras, emphasizing both the classic 1971 rock n’ roll LP Teenage Head and the more Beatles/Byrds-influenced sound of 1976’s immortal Shake Some Action. It’s gonna be a killer show full of amazing tunes, and if you don’t already have Halloween plans, skip the costume in favor of some Beatle boots and a Nehru jacket, and head over to The Southern for some truly classic rock n’ roll sounds from the Flamin’ Groovies. You won’t regret it.

Saturday, November 2, 9 PM
The Needles, The Girls, The Nerve Scheme, Fujiwara, Rad Taco @ Chicho’s Backstage (Norfolk) – Free!
This free Saturday night show down in Norfolk is gonna keep the rock n’ roll sounds flowing and get everyone dancing and having a great time. This bill is topped by a double-shot of raw and wild garage punk straight out of Wilmington NC. The Needles have been around for damn near 20 years now, and there sound is a throwback to a trashy era of punk rock that was really just rock n’ roll played with a rude, snotty, don’t-give-a-fuck appeal that just can’t be denied. If you loved The Candy Snatchers and The Dead Boys, these guys will bring them back to life in your heart and put a big smile on your face with their rollicking tunes.

Fellow Wilmingtonians The Girls might take the prize for most un-Google-able band name of all time, but once some helpful person directed me to their Bandcamp, I found that their high-energy jams were worth the search. As you might have guessed given band-naming trends over the past 15 years or so, they’re not actually girls at all, but these three rock n’ roll boys all have a somewhat androgynous appeal, and wore dresses on the cover of their latest single, “Our Generation,” so if they’re willing to be that committed to the bit, I ain’t mad at them. Dishing out punky rockin’ tunes that land somewhere between The Donnas and The Ramones, they bring some pretty great sounds to the table as well. Outer Banks punk rockers Fujiwara bring a third NC punk rock combo with a slightly more melodic approach to this bill, and Tidewater hometowners Nerve Scheme and Rad Taco make for a deliciously overstuffed bill of all the rockin’ punk awesomeness you can eat. Belly up to the bar.

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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: October 23 – October 29

Marilyn Drew Necci | October 23, 2019

Topics: Alfred, Antiphons, Berries, Bingo Beer Co, Blacker Face, Brain Drain, Camp Howard, Candy, Capital Ale House Music Hall, Captain Scrunchie, Carnivora, Castle OG, Cut The Architect's Hand, Cyber Twin, Deer Eat Birds, Dozing, Emily Easterly, Future Projektor, gallery 5, Gold Connections, Halloween cover shows, Hotspit, Infant Island, Kevin Ganley, Knocked Loose, LAVA, Majjin Boo, Night Idea, Paper Aliens, Poor Boys, Prabir Trio, Rotting Out, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, She, shows you must see, Smallhands, Spowder, Stick To Your Guns, Taking Meds, Tavishi, The Camel, The Canal Club, The Recreation Center, Toast, Trash Boy, Wine Lips, Wonderland

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, October 25, 8 PM
Majjin Boo, Gold Connections, Castle OG, Antiphons, HotSpit @ The Camel – $5
Mathy, melodic indie rock is a sound that’s in vogue right now, and if you’re anything like me, you might find yourself mostly thinking “Yeah, this stuff is cool,” then going months without giving it another thought. However, Richmond’s own Majjin Boo blows all that faint-praise damnation into a million pieces.

I’ve liked Majjin Boo since their earliest demos, circa 2016 when they were just a quartet, but my esteem rose to a whole new level with the two-song single, “Tension Rod/One Wing,” that they released earlier this year after growing to a six-piece. Out of every new release I’ve heard this year, I’ve probably played those two songs most often. Not just out of Richmond bands, either — I love the new Jamila Woods, Bob Mould, and Mannequin Pussy records, but Majjin Boo has them all beat.

That’s why I am stoked as fuck about the fact that their debut full-length, Go Between, comes out next week on Egghunt Records. And that’s why I’m imploring you to go to The Camel this Friday night and catch their record release show. Complex yet glittering guitar melodies are only the beginning with this band — the dual-vocal harmonies, the dynamic and energetic drumming, and the whole band’s incredible ability to perfectly layer their instruments so six different people combine into one beautiful, seamless whole… well, suffice it to say, this is why Majjin Boo aren’t just another mathy indie band. The bandwagon’s pulling up Friday night at The Camel — jump on it now while the getting’s good.

Wednesday, October 23, 9 PM
Carnivora, Future Projektor, Cut The Architect’s Hand @ Wonderland – $7
Straight out of Salem, Massachusetts, some brutal, witchy metal is coming at you tonight in Shockoe Bottom. Carnivora is a band that’s been around for most of a decade. However, the recently released “Bogdweller” single is their first new material in over four years, and it finds the band heading into some new musical territory, thanks in part to the addition of Haydee Irizarry on vocals. Irizarry is capable of unleashing some gorgeous clean vocals, but for most of this song, she growls with terrifying low-end aggression over riffing that’s heavier than anything Carnivora have done before.

Remarkably, that makes this new single both heavier and more melodic than anything this Massachusetts band has done before. And it’s just one song! Imagine how much more awesomeness they have in store for us. Well, if you make it out to Wonderland tonight, you won’t have to. And you’ll get a bonus in the bargain; Future Projektor is a brand new power trio who bring back the early 90s days when heavy, complex instrumental bands (Breadwinner, Alter Natives, etc) ruled the roost around here. They feature members of Kepone, Gritter, and Honor Role as well, so the lineage is definitely there. Local heavy mainstays Cut The Architect’s Hand will kick this evening off with a solid dose of pounding midtempo grooves. Be there.

Thursday, October 24, 8 PM
Cyber Twin, Trash Boy, Deer Eat Birds @ Bingo Beer Co – Free!
There are a bunch of bands running around Virginia these days with “Twin” in their names, so I can understand why Cyber Twin might confuse you. But to clear things up, this is not Silver Twin, Twin Drugs, Glass Twin, or Two Cars (OK, that last one doesn’t really count) — it’s Cyber Twin, a Harrisonburg-based trio with a delightful resemblance to early Green Day showing through on debut EP Wire. Before they wrote the graduation song or the rock opera, Green Day were just a snotty power-pop band with messy hair, and Cyber Twin are pretty much the same thing, a quarter-century later. What’s not to love about that?

This show also features Philadelphia quartet Trash Boy, who have a ton of fun and make some really great catchy punk noise on their new LP, Who Will Take The Trash Out When We’re Gone? Their anthems for the alienated working class — “Job Interview,” “Piss On Their Graves,” and “Perfect Teeth” notable among them — are great things to hear and sing along with on a Thursday night when you’re just struggling to get through the week. The fact that this show is free will help you make it until payday without dying of boredom, and Deer Eat Birds will get things started with some great rock sounds to ensure that the second you walk in, you’ll have a smile on your face.

Friday, October 25, 8 PM
Camp Howard, Night Idea, Alfred @ Gallery 5 – $10 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Damn — almost any other week, a Camp Howard record release show would have scored the feature slot. The fact that Majjin Boo put out my favorite record of the year thus far got them the nod, but it’s by a narrower margin than you might think. Camp Howard’s phenomenally structured indie-pop gems have stood head and shoulders above the average here in Richmond for years now, and their new LP, Cañón, is a stunning collection of their best material — now available on local powerhouse Citrus City Records, natch.

So what I’m saying is, you might end up choosing to hit up this Camp Howard record release show at Gallery 5 rather than the Majjin Boo record release show at the Camel, and if you were to do so, I wouldn’t have a single problem with that decision. These boys are moving in a downright Beatlesque direction on some of the new LP’s material, and that’s sure to light Gallery 5 with brilliant rays of sunshine pop this Friday night. With math-rock veterans Night Idea and unorthodox hip hop genius Alfred also on the bill, this show is sure to be a delight. If you’re not at the Majjin Boo show, you damn well better be at this one.

Saturday, October 26, 8 PM
Emily Easterly, Prabir Trio, Kevin Ganley @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $8 (order tickets HERE)
You might know Emily Easterly as a local musician, if you’ve been around Richmond long enough. Back in 2001, when she was still a high school student, she released her first LP, Assembling Emily, by herself here in Richmond. Education took her to Miami later that year, and she’s been living in Brooklyn for the past decade or so, but whether you classify her as a local musician or not, she’s continued to make memorable sounds that whole time, and her first Richmond show in quite a while is certainly worth checking out, even if you’re young enough not to remember the days when she was making records here (and I know some of you are, which makes me feel a million years old).

Easterly’s most recent release is a 2018 single, “Yellow Leaves,” but she’s right on the cusp of releasing her fifth LP — and first full-length release in a decade — The Blems. In fact, it should be out the day before this show happens, so keep an eye out for copies at the merch table. But first, make sure you focus your full attention on the stage when Easterly is playing, because her riveting, dramatic take on alternative rock is positively gripping, with a dark, foreboding instrumental undercurrent that adds depth to her memorable vocal melodies. Easterly will be joined on this bill by Prabir Trio, featuring the talents of another early-00s Richmond singer-songwriter who’s remained local; and Kevin Ganley, a younger performer most familiar to local audiences as a member of HotSpit. This is going to be a wonderful-sounding night throughout. Be a part of it.

Sunday, October 27, 6 PM
Knocked Loose, Stick To Your Guns, Rotting Out, Candy, SeeYouSpaceCowboy @ The Canal Club – $22.50 (order tickets HERE)
It’s a heavy night of hardcore at The Canal Club, and it’s getting kicked off early so all the energetic teens who love to stagedive and mosh it up can do their thing in the pit. If you’re solidly middle-aged like me, you might want to stand back from this one a bit, since Kentucky’s Knocked Loose bring some serious pit-heaving rage on their latest LP, A Different Shade Of Blue. The vocals have enough of a raw edge to keep this band from descending into outright tough-guy monotony, instead introducing notes of apocalyptic anxiety into their incredibly brutal metallic hardcore pound.

So yeah, basically, you’re moshing. Or maybe headbanging towards the back of the room, depending on how well your hips are holding up these days. And Knocked Loose are bringing quite a few heavy hitters along on this jam-packed bill, so you can expect to be rocking out throughout the night. Veteran hardcore acts Stick To Your Guns and Rotting Out are also performing at The Canal Club this night. Local chaotic hardcore juggernaut Candy are on the bill too, and you can expect them to blow your mind with their noisy, aggressive attack. Plus, fresh off their first LP of all-new material, The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds, SeeYouSpaceCowboy rounds out this bill with a set of heavy-as-fuck chaotic sasscore that’s sure to get you revved up from moment one. This show’s gonna be mega.

Monday, October 28, 7 PM
Blacker Face, Spowder, Brain Drain, Tavishi @ Poor Boys – $5
Poor Boys, the venue formerly known as Flora, Balliceaux, and — if your memory stretches that far back — the original Bogart’s, has (re)opened their back room, and great sounds have returned to it once again. Let’s all rejoice with this challenging Monday night bill, topped off by Blacker Face. This multi-racial quintet has taken some heat for choosing such a name while also having white members, but co-founder and vocalist Jolene Whatevr has made it clear that she intentionally chose to combine the name and the racial makeup of the lineup, specifically to challenge the biases of their audience — especially the white members of that audience.

If you’re ready for that challenge, you better be ready for a musical challenge as well, because once you get used to how Blacker Face’s members look, you’ll be confronted with their fascinating musical mixture of jazz, postpunk, soul, and experimental music. On their latest LP, Distinctive Juju, the band throws clashing moods into the same songs, alternating between dissonant heaviness and soulful beauty and sometimes even layering them overtop one another. It’s not predictable or easily categorizeable, but Blacker Face definitely is an invigorating listen that is sure to be twice as eye-opening in the live environment. This is one performance you owe it to yourself to catch — even if it does take a few minutes for you to wrap your head around what Blacker Face is doing, the result is sure to be rewarding, and to provoke thought. And, speaking as a white person, I will say that we in particular always need more provocation to use our brains.

Tuesday, October 29, 7 PM
Wine Lips, She, Captain Scrunchie @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
I’m inclined to have warm feelings toward Toronto’s Wine Lips, and not because I drink wine, or any other alcohol — you know by now that I don’t. It’s because “Wine Lips” is the name of a song by my favorite outlaw country singer, Lydia Loveless. However, this Canadian trio didn’t go along at all with my expectations before hearing them. Rather than even a touch of country, they bash out some energetic, catchy garage punk with a strong helping of rock n’ roll majesty mixed in. If you dig the more recent work of Ty Segall or Thee Oh Sees, Wine Lips are sure to connect with you.

They’re joined on this Tuesday night Camel bill by She, a group led by Liza Grishaeva and, indeed, formerly known as LIZA. It seems Grishaeva is pivoting towards a band identity rather than a solo project, but that doesn’t diminish the massive atmospheres and mournful ambience of the songs She has released thus far. Perhaps there’ll be a thicker sound backing them this time around? We’ll only know for sure once Tuesday night rolls around. This event will be rounded out by a performance from Captain Scrunchie, whose girls-in-the-garage aesthetic results in some very pleasing tuneage on their recently-released demo. Get ready to rock at this one.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Saturday, October 26, 5 PM
LAVA Halloween Extravaganza, feat. Black Sabbath, The Strokes, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty And the Heartbreakers, System of a Down, Pavement @ Toast (Norfolk) – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
OK, so it’s almost Halloween, and you can’t be but so surprised to see shows like this popping up. Musicians love to learn sets of material by bands they love and play shows “in costume” as those other bands on Halloween, and if you’re a music fan, chances are you get a big kick out of it too. Therefore, this LAVA Extravaganza should bring you some delight, as a variety of Hampton Roads-area musicians come together to present the music of their faves on a fun Saturday evening at Toast.

A couple of these sets bring us a single band interpreting their favorites, and these are always pretty intriguing. For example, a Black Sabbath set by progressive soul band Paper Aliens and a System Of A Down set by indie-rockers Berries both inspire questions along the lines of “What’s THAT gonna be like?” Meanwhile, members of Tidewater-area notables like You’re Jovian, Mas Y Mas, LADADA, Mae, The Last Bison, Pet Name, Cupid McCoy, and more will join together to bring us sets of material by The Strokes, Pavement, Tom Petty, and Fleetwood Mac. All of this should be quite enjoyable, and to top all that off, there’s a costume contest too! What’s not to love about this one? So come on, all you Halloween heads! Get in the car this Saturday afternoon and get there.

Sunday, October 27, 6 PM
Taking Meds, Infant Island, Smallhands, Dozing @ The Recreation Center (Fredericksburg) – $5
Taking Meds is the sort of band name that lets you know where you stand right away. Nobody who’s in a super great place in life names their band Taking Meds. And sure enough, their most recent LP, I Hate Me, New York’s Taking Meds give us a collection of melancholy melodies with a powerful underlying crunch that’s sure to evoke memories of Dear You-era Jawbreaker or the last couple of Wonder Years LPs. It’s music for people who are getting older and still not quite finding the place in life where they fit. If you’ve ever felt that way, even for a moment, you’re sure to connect with what Taking Meds is bringing to Fredericksburg this Sunday evening.

They’ll be joined by a few Fredericksburg locals who do a lot to make clear that there is a real honest-to-god scene in that small city halfway between Richmond and DC. Infant Island’s energetic screamo has been buoyed considerably over the past couple years by the band members’ go-getter nature, and their contribution to a recent 4-way split EP shows that they’re only getting better as they go. Expect some serious emotional-musical fireworks from this performance. Fellow Fredericksburghers Smallhands have a hazy yet metallic approach that might make you reach for the term “blackgaze,” but gimmicky terms like that never really convey the full impact of bands like this one, so expect something quite a bit more expansive than that subgenre tag might evoke. The show will be rounded out by the first performance from Richmond melodic hardcore crew Dozing. Overall, this one should be well worth the single hour’s drive north. Make it happen.

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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

HALLOWEEK 2019: Seven Days of Halloween Madness For All

John Reinhold | October 22, 2019

Topics: costume, Costume contest, Ellwoods, festival, Halloweek, Halloweek 2019, Halloween, Halloween Parade, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, music, parade, The Broadberry, The Camel

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery & RVA Magazine’s HALLOWEEK is our week long celebration of all Halloween-inspired events, music, and parties in RVA. For over a decade now, we have celebrated one of our favorite holidays in Richmond — for an entire week, because Halloween’s too creative and fun a holiday to be confined to just one day. Since our first Halloweek over 10 years ago, it has grown to be one of our biggest event lineups each year, packed to the brim with events for all ages!

HALLOWEEK 2019 begins October 24th at Hardywood, and keeps going ’til the big Parade and Rooftop Party at Graduate Rooftop on Wednesday Oct. 31st! Hardywood has been an amazing supporter of RVA Magazine and partner in Halloweek for many years. Not only do they make amazing brews, they also provide multiple events for the whole family, to help make Halloweek truly special.

We kick off Halloweek this year on Thursday Oct 24th at Hardywood, with their Haunted Food Truck Court. Its family and dog friendly with great food trucks, music, games, a Red Vein Army selfie station, and a special new brew just for Halloweek. Make sure and pick up Hardywood’s Farmhouse Pumpkin around town and at our events, as our Official Halloweek Beer this year.

On Saturday Oct 26th, Beauvine Burger Concept’s Nightmare on Plum St. returns as a outdoor Halloween festival with some of the best bands in the area — including Sleepwalkers, Minor Poet, Holy Roller, Heartracer, and more! We will be hosting a cash costume contest at this event, during breaks between bands. Make sure and get your tickets, as this event is one you don’t want to miss out on.

New for 2019, we’ve started working with Red Vein Army, to provide a real haunting flavor for this year’s Halloweek. They will be at a few of our events giving out tickets to their big haunted attraction at Hanover Vegetable Farm. And in fact, we have something special for local people this year: Celebrate RVA Halloweek with Red Vein Haunted House! October 27th is officially RVA Magazine night at Red Vein, and you can save $4 on tickets with the code “RVAMAG“. Coupon good for tickets on 10/27 ONLY, so don’t miss out! Tickets available at Red Vein’s website: redveinhaunt.com.

Everything wraps up on Halloween night with the 14th annual Halloween Parade by All The Saints Theatre Company, followed by a big Rooftop Party at Graduate Richmond, for The Haunted Carnival Halloween Party!

Catch all the Halloweek action at our instagram, @rvamag, and be sure to use the hashtag #RVAhalloweek2019 for your own pics!

Join us: http://rvahalloweek.com/

Scroll down for a complete listing of this year’s Halloweek festivities!

— HALLOWEEK 2019 —

THURSDAY, October 24th –

💀 HALLOWEK KICKOFF AT Hardywood Park Craft Brewery FREE!

Haunted Food Truck Court 5pm -9pm (Kid & Dog Friendly)

💀 We’ll be releasing a ghoulish new brew!

💀 All the food trucks will have their most frightful menu items for you to choose from!

💀 Live music from Geek RVA, an awesome Smashing Pumpkins cover band, and Minimum Balance.

💀 Devilish selfie station and ticket giveaways from Red Vein Army

💀 Come dressed in your most hair-raising disguises!

Illiterate Light w/ Twen & Grayling Skyy at Richmond Music Hall–

Music at 8pm $12 ADV, $15

FRIDAY, October 25th –

The Broadberry – Nightmare on Emo Street: A Big A** Halloween Party w/ Throwing Back Sunday! 9pm / $10

Costume Contest: $50 prize!

Haunted Photobooth & Face Painting

The Camel – WRIR Presents: Majjin Boo “Go Between” Album Release Show – 8pm Doors, 9pm Music / $5

WRIR 97.3 fm Richmond Independent Radio& Egghunt Records

5 bands, 100% of ticket sales go directly to supporting everyone’s favorite local radio station, WRIR.

🎺 Funk O Ween at Bingo Beer Co FREE

FUNK PIMPS – Reinhold & Dice. Funky tunes on the Patio of Bingo Beer, Halloween themed funky music of all types.

🌈 Scary-Oke 2019 at Diversity Richmond

LGBTQ Diversity Event – 7pm – 10pm FREE

Diversity Richmond’s largest Costume and Karaoke Gaylalala is even bigger, with $2000 in CASH prizes for most amazing costume, best karaoke performance, and grand combo costume-karaoke. (Individual and group entries welcome) AND, it’s FREE!

SATURDAY, October 26th –

👹 OUR BIG WEEKEND PARTY at Beauvine Burger Concept

Beauvine Burger Concept presents Nightmare on Plum Street with SLEEPWALKERS, Minor Poet, Deal Casino, Heartracer, Holy Roller, Kid is Qual, and Justin Golden & The Come Up.

👹 Enjoy all-day live music, games, Tarot reader, raffle, photobooth, and a BIG COSTUME CONTEST with a CASH grand prize!

👹 Stay tuned for details including set times and costume contest

Free 2pm – 5pm (Kid & Dog Friendly)

After 5pm: $8 Pre / $12 at door

15th Annual Richmond Zombie Walk 1pm – 4pm

Benefiting the American Cancer Society. The FAMOUS ZOMBIE WALK IS BACK AGAIN. Be a part of the horde!

*Check event page for details / costume contests / plans

HARYDYWOODS Trickery Release 1pm – 10pm

Release and party of TRICKERY // 13.5% ABV

An imperial milk stout aged 10 months in apple brandy barrels for a smooth apple brandy finish. Warm caramel, blackstrap molasses, and chocolate-covered cherries. Trickery? No, it’s a treat! At both Hardywood Richmond and Hardywood West Creek.

SUNDAY, October 27th –

👻 RED VEIN Haunted House‘s “RVA”DAY. We are working with Red Vein Army to bring you a discount special for Sunday night, October 27th. Order tickets at http://redveinarmy.com/ USE PROMO CODE: RVAMAG. Good only for Sunday the 27th.

Trunk or Treat at Hardywood West Creek Benefiting SCAN

12pm – (Kid Friendly)

Trunk or Treat is free to attend. All ages welcome! Trick-or-treating fun without crossing streets or worrying about traffic. Family-friendly fall activities, food trucks, and a raffle for a chance to win a few awesome prizes! Hardywood West Creek will be donating a percentage of sales from the event to Greater Richmond SCAN.

Pints & Pumpkulents at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

*Special Event / 1pm-3pm $35 (check event page)

In this hands-on workshop, we will teach you how to make and care for your pumpkin succulent and keep it healthy and happy, indoors or outdoors. You’ll learn how succulents can help remove toxins, oxygenate the home, and even brighten your mood.

Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House presents Alex Jonestown Massacre, Loser’s Bracket, BarryWhite Hanson, Mad Abbey 9 PM – 12 AM / $5

🌈 River City Roll’s Deadly Drag Halloween Ball

LGBTQ Pride Event – 6-10pm $10 adv / $15 Door

Join us Sunday, October 27th for our Deadly Drag Halloween Ball! Five Queens will hit the stage, and the floor we’re sure, as they pull out all the stops to make this year’s Halloween weekend one to remember! A portion of proceeds and tips will benefit Virginia Pride.

MONDAY, October 28th –

🍺13th Annual Hallobeer ELVIS EDITION! 9pm FREE

One of our favorite events yearly at The Answer Brewpub.

🍺 This year, in honor of Quy Pham, we present the music of Elvis by Mekong Xpress & The Get Fresh Horns.

🍺 Costume contest for Best Elvis and Best costume overall, food and beer specials. ❤️ #Diabloforever

Elwood Thompson’s Spooky Screenings: Ghostbusters

12pm (Kid friendly movies Daily till Halloween)

Why limit the fall festivities to just one day? We’ve got something special leading up to Halloween, culminating with our annual Costume Contest for employees and the community alike!

TUESDAY, October 29th –

Adult Mom, Big Baby & Deau Eyes at Gallery 5 – 10/29

8pm $10 Adv / $12 Door

ADULT MOM returns to Richmond, taking to the GALLERY 5 stage this October bringing their queer-indie-bittersweet-romantic-pop-sounds on TINY ENGINE back to RVA!!!

Revenge of the How To Halloween Makeup Workshop

*Special event / 6-8pm $25

Includes workshop instruction + materials PLUS a TO-GO makeup kit with instructional handout so you can execute the most terrifying makeup on the block for Halloween!

Ellwood Thompson’s Spooky Screenings: Hocus Pocus at 12pm

WEDNESDAY, October 30th –

Ruston Kelly with Donovan Woods at Richmond Music Hall

7pm / $15 https://www.rustonkelly.com/

Russian Circles with Windhand at The Broadberry

7pm /$18 ADV, $20 DOS https://russiancirclesband.com

Ellwood Thompson’s Spooky Screenings: Coraline at 12pm

THURSDAY, October 31st – HALLOWEEN!!

👺Haunted Carnival Rooftop Halloween Party

Join us on Halloween night at Byrd House for carnival-themed frights and delights including live music with Dj Just Different Bee, costume contest, specialty spooky drinks and complimentary photos w/ Just Snap Me Photobooth from 7 – 11 pm in the lobby*.

100% of ticket sales will benefit Graduate Hotels’ 150K Payoff in partnership with Scholly, a scholarship search app dedicated to student success.

😻 Richmond’s 14th Annual Halloween Parade- October 31, 2019

presented by ALL THE SAINTS THEATER COMPANY. 7pm

Meet at Monroe Park, check event page for more details on how to be involved!

🎃 Ellwood Thompson’s 𝙃𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙀𝙉 𝘾𝙊𝙎𝙏𝙐𝙈𝙀 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙎𝙏

October 31st, 7AM – 9PM

$100 Ellwood’s gift card to 1st place winners! Categories are ‘Best Steward Costume’ and ‘Best Customer Costume,’ chosen by popular vote on Facebook November 1st – 4th.

Thank you to our sponsors:
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
Beauvine Burger Concept
Graduate Richmond
Capital Ale House
Ellwood Thompson’s
River City Roll
RED VEIN ARMY
Broadberry Entertainment Group
The Answer Brewpub
The Camel
Richmond Zombie Walk
VA Pride
Gallery 5
Bingo Beer Co

VA Shows You Must See This Week: September 25 – October 1

Marilyn Drew Necci | September 25, 2019

Topics: Applaud The Impaler, Autopsy Affair, Baby Grill, Bandito's, Bob Mould, Brain Drain, Braincell, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Cognitive, Coy Pond, Dead Aim, Dirty Fuss, Dori Freeman, gallery 5, Gorrak, Green Fiend, Isabella VanKesteren, J Clyde Morris, Jimmy and the Delay, July Talk, Korine, Leopard Print Taser, Neighbor Lady, Oxx, Paint Store, Shadow Age, shows you must see, Strung Out, The Broadberry, The Bunker Brewpub, The Camel, The Canal Club, The Casualties, The Front Porch, The National, Thin Pigeon, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Will Johnson, Wingtips, Wonderland

FEATURED SHOW
Wednesday, September 25, 7 PM
Bob Mould, Will Johnson @ The Broadberry – $25 in advance/$30 at the door (order tickets HERE)
This one should just be a given, y’all. That said, we need to talk about Bob Mould, because I feel like he might be fading from the spotlight a bit for anyone who is under 40 — and if you are under 40, and you like loud music played on guitars, you need to be aware of Bob Mould. Here’s why: because he’s been making loud, fast, impassioned, beautiful rock music for four solid decades, and he’s been excellent at it pretty much the entire time. At the dawn of the 80s, he formed Husker Du, a formidable trio who were to the Minnesota punk scene what Black Flag were to LA, or Minor Threat were to DC: the first, the best, the most consistent, the least complacent. Between their 1982 live debut album, Land Speed Record, and their breakup six years later, Husker Du not only made massive innovations in the world of hardcore punk but also laid some of the most important groundwork for the Nirvana-led grunge/alternative rock explosion of the early 90s.

Husker Du had ended by then, but Bob Mould was still heavily involved, then leading an incredible second power trio called Sugar (which also featured future Drive-By Truckers producer David Barbe). Sugar only lasted a few years, but they created a legacy with the four releases they produced in that short time — one that far outlasted their lifespan. Leading lights of the early 00s rock revival like Ted Leo owed a huge debt to the music Mould had created a decade earlier. Today, Mould is in the midst of a late-career renaissance that has seen him, backed by a trio featuring members of Superchunk and Verbow, release four stellar solo albums in a row, the most recent being this year’s outstanding Sunshine Rock.

While Mould isn’t bringing his band to Richmond, his current “solo electric” tour brings us a format with plenty to offer in its own right. Due to his issues with hearing loss (something a lot of us aging musicians can relate to), he often performs by himself, but the lower volume never stops him from giving his all to the performance, and you can certainly expect a powerful set when he takes the Broadberry stage. What’s more, he uses the solo format as an opportunity to perform music from throughout his incredibly consistent 40-year career, so we may be fortunate enough to hear a few Husker Du and Sugar songs mixed into the set as well as a great selection of the many excellent tunes he’s released over the past decade of solo albums. Whether you celebrate Mould’s entire catalog or need a crash course in what makes this guy so great, you’re sure to get a treat tonight at the Broadberry. See you there.

Wednesday, September 25, 6 PM
Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Cognitive, Green Fiend, Applaud The Impaler, Autopsy Affair, Braincell @ The Canal Club – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Being in a tech-death band is apparently pretty brutal — and not just in a musical sense. South Carolina band Through The Eyes Of The Dead spent their first decade or so as a band shedding members willy-nilly, with the only constant remainder being lead guitarist Justin Longshore. Each of their first three albums featured a different singer, a different drummer, and a different rhythm guitarist. However, the turbulence within the band seems finally to have calmed, as 2017 saw Through The Eyes Of The Dead release their fourth album, Diosmus, with almost exactly the same lineup as their third album seven years earlier. An impressive achievement, given the circumstances.

But that’s not the only impressive achievement of the band’s recent history. What’s even more awesome is the musical evolution they’ve undergone from their early days as a white-belt hipster deathcore band into the powerhouse of technical death metal heavyosity they’ve become today. Their recent work doesn’t mess around with melody or simplistic breakdowns — it goes straight for the throat with nonstop brutality, of the sort that’ll keep you headbanging throughout a metal-as-fuck evening at The Canal Club. Regional death metal stalwarts aplenty will be on this bill to get you warmed up, but save some of your energy — you’ll need it if you want to make it through the Eyes Of The Dead set in one piece.

Thursday, September 26, 9 PM
Dirty Fuss, Thin Pigeon, J Clyde Morris @ Wonderland – $10
Down n’ dirty, no-frills rock n’ roll — their ain’t a damn thing wrong with that. Proving this statement to be true is Nashville band Dirty Fuss’s prime directive. They do a great job of fulfilling their mission on debut LP American Animals, which was released earlier this summer and is sure to bring a gleam to the eye of Ty Segall and White Stripes fans everywhere.

This isn’t complicated music, and it isn’t recorded in a highly polished and sterilized studio. Instead, it’s the kind of wild noise you’d expect to hear in a sweaty barroom with inadequate climate control, the kind of place where by the end of the night, there are empties with cigarette butts floating in them sitting on every flat surface (gross). Wonderland isn’t quite that room, but it’s as close as you’re gonna get in smoking-ban Richmond, and you’ll be able to catch your breath a little bit easier after you spend an evening dancing your ass off to Dirty Fuss. Hard to complain about that.

Friday, September 27, 9 PM
Oxx, Gorrak, Paint Store @ Wonderland – $10
Back to Wonderland once again, and this time it’s for an entirely different type of chaos. The sort of massive hectic noise that Danish math-metal trio Oxx brings to Shockoe Bottom this Friday night may be summed up by the fact that they called their new album The Skeleton Is Just A Coat Hanger; These Are The Black Strings That Make You Dance.

Having just blown 10 percent of my word count on that title, it’s going to be that much harder to describe exactly what Oxx has in store for you, but considering the complexity, unpredictability, and sheer panicked energy of their music, I have to admit that it’s not all that easy to describe anyway. Do you like fast, heavy, hectic music that makes you want to bang your head but challenges you with knowing exactly when to do so? If so, Oxx is the band for you. Get ready to rock the hell out — and expect some strong help with the rocking from two Richmond noise-rock powerhouses: wild jazz-metal hybrid Gorrak, and math-rock fascination machine Paint Store. It’s gonna rule.

Saturday, September 28, 8 PM
Leopard Print Taser, Brain Drain, Baby Grill, Jimmy and the Delay @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I love it when a band with a truly original name comes across my radar for the first time. Leopard Print Taser? Holy shit, that’s great. I don’t even care what they sound like — I’m in. Fortunately for me, I didn’t get let down at all once I listened to this Massachusetts quartet, who manage on their 2018 EP, Teeth Are Not Bones, to bring exactly the sort of shocking bite you’d expect from their name to a melodic punk sound that is both energetic and emotionally-driven, in a manner that is sure to please fans of bands like Mannequin Pussy and Screaming Females.

There’s a bunch of awesome local stuff happening on this bill as well, starting with Brain Drain. This trio bashes out some wild, hectic rock n’ roll noise that seems like the perfect fit for this bill — if you haven’t been rocked by this Richmond crew yet, now’s the perfect time to start. Baby Grill, a grungy two-piece who may or may not have a drummer with them at this performance, will get you dancing around the room with a particularly excellent combo of catchy tunes and rumbling distortion. And finally, I have to give a shoutout to RVA Mag contributor Jimmy O’Keefe, who apparently has a solo project that will be opening this show — I had no idea! Bringing catchy indie tunes with baritone vocals, this opener should be a fun time. And so should this entire show — so don’t miss it!

Sunday, September 29, 8 PM
Neighbor Lady, Isabella VanKesteren, Coy Pond @ The Camel – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
As a kid, I would have used this band’s name to describe some weird person who lived on my block. As an admittedly weird adult, I’m sure that phrase gets applied to me on at least an occasional basis. But I’m cool with that, and I’m also cool with Atlanta band Neighbor Lady, whose music has a laid-back cool and relaxed catchiness that makes it easy to slip right into.

On Neighbor Lady’s 2018 LP Maybe Later, they mix a psychedelic take on indie rock tunefulness with more than a touch of old-time Appalachian mystery, in a manner that should definitely appeal to Richmond music fans who miss The Diamond Center and wish Julie Karr would play local solo shows more often. They may not exactly blow the roof off the Camel this Sunday night — they’re too subtle for that. But their set is sure to expand your mind in some pleasing directions.

Monday, September 30, 9 PM
Shadow Age, Wingtips, Korine @ Bandito’s – Free!
Last year, Shadow Age’s self-titled LP was an undisputed highlight of Richmond music. It was made bittersweet when it was followed only a month later by the announcement of the group’s indefinite hiatus. But in light of the fact that they’d departed the scene at the very moment of gaining some incredible creative momentum had to make you wonder whether they wouldn’t be back pretty soon. Sure enough, by December, the occasion of Strange Matter’s extended farewell celebration brought them back from their hiatus to perform their first show as a quintet.

And now, this Monday at Bandito’s, we get another return engagement from Shadow Age, one billed as their “only show this year.” This melodic, fog-enshrouded gothic postpunk group have a ton of great songs in their catalog, and the thought of hearing them live one more time should definitely be enough to entice both longtime fans and new converts down to Bandito’s for this free Monday night show. No word on how many members the group will have for this performance, but trio, quartet, and quintet lineups have all charmed in the past, so it’s sure to be worth it regardless.

Tuesday, October 1, 6:30 PM
Catfish And The Bottlemen, July Talk @ The National – $25.50 in advance/$28.50 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Sometimes it feels like rock music is on a long downward slide into irrelevance. It can be tough to find rock bands that are able to attain a share of popularity while also retaining artistic quality. As has been true for decades now, though, the British continue to be much better at locating exactly that sort of band, and ensuring that they do achieve some degree of success — at least, across the pond.

Catfish And The Bottlemen’s current American tour has brought them to The National, so they’re doing pretty well on this side of the Atlantic as well, but if you haven’t checked them out yourself yet, you owe it to yourself to fix that. This Tuesday night is the perfect time to get better acquainted with this charming group and their catchy brand of melodic pub-rock, which lands somewhere between first-LP Radiohead and The Libertines. Their new album, The Balance, shows that, even though not every song hits the highs of their all-time greatest tune, “Cocoon,” they’ll always keep your toes tapping and give you some great choruses to sing along with. Consistency — it’s an underrated virtue.

Elsewhere Around the State:

Wednesday, September 25, 7 PM
Strung Out, The Casualties, Dead Aim @ The Bunker Brewpub (Virginia Beach) – $20 (order tickets HERE)
In the mid-90s, the California skate-punk sound ruled the world. NOFX and Bad Religion were the kings of the proto-Warped Tour hill, but the bands on their respective labels (Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph) had ways of distinguishing themselves from the pack. Propagandhi was political, Lagwagon was emo, Ten Foot Pole’s singer was a major-league baseball pitcher… and Strung Out were metal. Don’t get me wrong, they still had the speedy melodic riffing and unforgettable catchy choruses that were common across the entire genre, but the licks guitarists Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos busted out were definitely the group’s most distinguishing characteristic.

These days, though, you’d also have to give Strung Out credit for staying power. After a 2018 acoustic EP, Black Out The Sky, they released their ninth full-length, Songs Of Armor And Devotion, just last month, and it proves they haven’t lost a single step since the heady days of the Survival Of The Fattest compilation. Catchy choruses and metal leads are still in abundance, and they surely will be at The Bunker Brewpub tonight as well! So if neither of the Richmond shows I’ve already told you about tickle your fancy, you certainly can’t go wrong gassing up and heading East on 64. If you hurry, you can catch opening sets by drunk-punk mainstays The Casualties and VA Beach hardcore survivors Dead Aim, which will certainly sweeten the pot.

Sunday, September 29, 7 PM
Dori Freeman @ The Front Porch (Charlottesville) – $18 in advance/$20 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Dori Freeman isn’t from any of the cities our more urbane readers would necessarily expect a Virginia musician to come from. She’s from Galax, a Southwest VA town close to the NC border, about 90 minutes south of Blacksburg. They used to build a lot of furniture down there, but the factories have gone away; these days, the main industry in that city is old-time folk and country music. Therefore, the fact that Freeman has risen to prominence with her old-fashioned blend of Appalachian influence and the Nashville sound of the mid-20th century isn’t nearly as surprising as you might think at first.

Freeman’s set to release her fourth album, Every Single Star, any day now. In fact, it will be released between the time when I write these words and the day this show will take place. The new album finds Freeman much happier than she’s been on previous work — newly married, she’s largely turned away from lonesome lover’s laments in favor of songs about making a relationship work. The result is a collection of positive tunes that incorporate 60s pop influences into a country framework that should delight fans of Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris. Dori Freeman will bring all of this to wonderful full-color life at Charlottesville’s the Front Porch this Sunday evening, and you’re going to want to be there. Mark your calendar.

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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