• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu RVA Mag Logo
  • community
  • MUSIC
  • ART
  • EAT DRINK
  • GAYRVA
  • POLITICS
  • PHOTO
  • EVENTS
  • MAGAZINE
RVA Mag Logo
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Sponsors

VA Shows You Must See This Week: January 29 – February 4

Marilyn Drew Necci | January 29, 2020

Topics: A Deer A Horse, Cary Street Cafe, Chubby & The Gang, Cool Moon, Deadculture, Degrader, Dogfuck, Don't Look Back Triple, Dont Look Back, Dozing, events in richmond va, events near me this weekend, events richmond va, Fuzzy Cactus, gallery 5, Grivo, Hammered Hulls, Hardywood, Harli & The House of Jupiter, Haybaby, Horse Culture, Jawbox, Kaos Reign, Keese, Mike Bizarro, music, must see shows, Mutant Flesh, Nervous System, New Lions, Order, Paint Store, Plastic Nancy, Positive No, richmond events, richmond va, richmond va bands, Riffhouse Pub, Rough Age, RVA, RVNT, Sanji the Hedgehog, Sensual World, shows this week richmond, shows you must see, Slow Crush, Snack Truck, The Broadberry, The Royal Hounds, The Southern Cafe, things to do in richmond va, things to do richmond va, Timelost, Twin Drugs, Ultra Dolphins, Unmaker, Violent Life Violent Death, Weird Tears, Wonderland

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, February 1, 6 PM
Snack Truck, Ultra Dolphins, Order @ Hardywood – $20 suggested donation

Whoa boy, this is a real treat. While the mid-00s in Virginia underground music is better remembered today for Municipal Waste’s party thrash and the no-frills USHC of the No Way Records crowd, the fact is that a whole bunch of really incredible bands in Richmond and around the state were getting excellent results with a strange brand of psychedelic math-punk noise-core… or something like that. This show brings together fully THREE leading lights of that era, constituting some of the best music ever produced along the I-81 corridor. So whether you were there back then or had no idea about any of this until right now, it’d be a really good idea to come to this show and see what it’s all about.

Snack Truck are at the top of the bill, and this band’s decade-long history saw them grow from a speedy, chaotic two-piece with riffs for days into a dual-drummer quartet generating instrumental space epics for days. What lineup this reunited group will give us, and what era of Snack Truck’s music they’ll be playing, is anyone’s guess. But regardless, their set is sure to be riveting, because they always brought the fire, no matter what phase of their evolution you caught them in.

One Snack Truck member (besides guitarist, leader, and only constant member Matt Krofchek) I’m sure will be in the house this Saturday night is Nate Rappole. He may or may not be drumming for Snack Truck, but he’s certain to be strapping on his guitar and fronting spastic noise-rock trio Ultra Dolphins, which makes him a good candidate to appear behind the drums during Snack Truck as well. If you’ve seen Rappole’s work with Gull, his current one-man exploration of music’s outer limits, you know he can do it all, and more besides. Come out to this show to see where he started out.

And of course, make sure you catch Order, the maniacal garage-noise combo from down Blacksburg way, who also evolved so significantly during their lengthy career that it’s hard to predict who will be on stage for this performance or what era of the band’s career they’ll sound like. By now, you know I’m going to tell you that it’s worth seeing regardless. On top of all that, this event is a benefit for Bronwen Zwicker, who is currently living with ALS. We all know medical bills are a nightmare even at the best of times, so come help out someone in need, and get a chance to rock out in the bargain.

Wednesday, January 29, 10 PM
New Lions, Cool Moon, Rough Age @ Don’t Look Back Triple – Free!

It’s Wednesday night, and if you’re having as much trouble getting through this week as I am, you certainly need a break and some great music to keep you getting up for work the next day. Don’t Look Back has exactly that sort of thing for you tonight, and what’s even better is that it’s free — so you can spend your cash on their delicious tacos. At the Triple location over in Scott’s Addition tonight, three excellent bands will take the stage, with Richmond mainstays New Lions at the top of the bill.

After their recent EP, End Story, took their catchy, complex post-hardcore sound to a new level of awesomeness, New Lions’ brand new single “How Do You Feel?” shows that they still have plenty of room to grow. Houston’s Cool Moon offer a tough yet melodic take on catchy alt-rock sounds that we can never have too much of. And brand new RVA band Rough Age finds two former members of Lightfields coming together with former Exploder guitarist Jesse Lyell to bring us the same sort of loud, chaotic, yet fundamentally catchy post-hardcore sound that both bands were so good at before. All of this is going to be great — it’s sure to improve your mood. And so will the tacos.

Thursday, January 30, 9 PM
The Royal Hounds, Chubby & The Gang, Sensual World @ Fuzzy Cactus – $8

When you think of punk rock, you probably think of something harsh and confrontational. A lot of it is exactly that. But one thing that marked a lot of the best early punk bands was their flair for a sort of no-frills tunefulness that had really been lost by mainstream rock groups of the time. You can hear a lot of those early, catchy punk bands in what the two out-of-town bands playing at Fuzzy Cactus this Thursday night have to offer.

First, there’s The Royal Hounds, an NYC band that harks back to the catchiest, most rocked-out of the early UK Oi! bands. If you love Blitz and Cocksparrer, this is the band for you. Meanwhile, London’s own Chubby & the Gang are much closer to that spitfire energy and massive catchiness of the first few Damned LPs — and they’ve got some velocity to their attack as well. Richmond’s own Sensual World open the evening up, bringing a bit of a gothic feel to their dark, jangly punk tunes — like Gun Club jamming with the Wipers. Dig it.

Friday, January 31, 7 PM
Jawbox, Hammered Hulls, Positive No @ The Broadberry – $28 (order tickets HERE)

It’s a good time to be an aging 90s kid, especially if you were able to parlay your college degree into a job that gives you a fair amount of disposable income. I wasn’t, but those of you more fortunate than myself are in luck this Friday night, as reunited 90s legends Jawbox storm the Broadberry. This DC post-hardcore (I’m using that term in the column a lot this week… give me a break, I’m tired) quartet is best known for “Savory,” which got some play on MTV back in the day, but anyone who has spent some time with their four great albums knows that there aren’t any weaknesses anywhere in the catalog.

And that’s what’s great about this reunion tour; there isn’t any new album to dilute the legacy, it’s just gonna be all the classic Jawbox tracks you know and love. So get ready to rock out like you did at that roller rink show back in the summer of 95 (I missed that one — had to work a shift at Taco Bell). Jawbox is bringing Hammered Hulls, the latest project of Mary Timony (Ex Hex/Wild Flag) and Alec MacKaye (Faith/Ignition), with them to add some bonus awesomeness. Plus, in a bittersweet note, this evening will feature the final live performance by Richmond’s excellent Positive No. You certainly won’t want to miss that — because if you do, you’ll never get another chance.

Saturday, February 1, 9 PM
Slow Crush, Grivo, Haybaby, Twin Drugs @ Wonderland – $10

This Saturday night at Wonderland, it’s time to embrace the haze. Belgium shoegaze crew Slow Crush are coming through, and they’re fully prepared to envelop you in a simultaneously crushing (no pun intended) and beautiful wall of anointing guitar fuzz gorgeousness. 2019 EP Ease shows that this band knows how to wield dynamics to their advantage, incorporating moments of quiet beauty and enormous volume into the same song with aplomb.

Texas’s Grivo, the other touring band on this bill, shares a spiritual kinship with Slow Crush. However, they move more in the direction of a glittery, slow-motion hypnosis. On 2018’s Elude, their songs proceed deliberately and create a lovely ambience, which they fill with the same sort of reverbed guitars that delight fans of the Chameleons and The Cure circa 1983. These two groups will find some of the most appropriate support possible in Richmonders Haybaby and Twin Drugs, making this whole evening an opportunity to dream away… at top volume, of course.

Sunday, February 2, 8 PM
Unmaker, Timelost, Dozing @ Wonderland – $10

The Super Bowl has become such an overwhelming thing that it’s almost impossible to find good live music on the first Sunday night in February because every bar wants to show the game instead. Fortunately, there’s one music venue in Richmond that is immune to the charms of America’s most monolithic sporting event; leave it to Wonderland, the punkest bar in Shockoe Bottom, to come through in the clutch. And that’s exactly what they’ll do with this Sunday night refuge for everyone out there who’d rather rock than watch the “big game.”

Unmaker top the bill for this one, and their brand of gothic, metallic postpunk has been one of the most reliably great times available on the Richmond live music scene for a while now. If you’ve missed out to this point, you should really unfuck that now before you waste any more of your life. Meanwhile, Timelost brings us members of post-rockers Set And Setting and black metallers Woe doing something much catchier and more easily approachable. Their debut LP, Don’t Remember Me For This, has a somewhat shadowy atmosphere, but fills it with downright toe-tapping melodic hooks; the result, far from being an odd pairing, is just about perfect. The evening is completed by up-and-coming Richmonders Dozing, whose catchy rock n’ roll tunes should round things out quite nicely.

Monday, February 3, 9 PM
Mutant Flesh, Paint Store, Plastic Nancy @ Cary Street Cafe – $10

Bombastic sludge is never a bad thing, and Philadelphia’s Mutant Flesh are bringing that exact sound to Cary Street Cafe this Monday to shake the dust off the tops of the deadhead posters over there. While Mutant Flesh share members with the legendary Stinking Lizaveta (who were a regular and welcome presence on the RVA noise-rock scene during the heady days when Hell Mach Four and More Fire For Burning People ruled the roost), their current sound is much closer to Saint Vitus or Candlemass. If this is your kind of thing, you know it, and you should definitely make it out to Cary Street Cafe this Monday night.

You’ll also be lucky enough to see Paint Store, the instrumental math-metal group that lit things up around Richmond a while back but have been keeping a low profile recently. I for one am glad to see that they’re still out there, and looking forward to more from these talented shredders. Youthful psychedelians Plastic Nancy will kick off this event, bringing a delightful retro sound to get things started off right. Chase away the Monday blues with this one — you’ll be glad you did.

Tuesday, February 4, 7 PM
A Deer A Horse, Horse Culture, Weird Tears @ Gallery 5 – $8 in advance/$10 day of show (Order tickets HERE)

Doom metal’s chill, but I always like it when a band finds a way to be slow and heavy without falling into too many classic doom tropes. Therefore, I definitely approve of what Brooklyn trio A Deer A Horse are up to. Sure, they definitely traffic in doom, but they mix so many other things in there, from driving punk riffs to sudden dynamic shifts, always topped off with Rebecca Satellite’s powerful, unforgettable vocals. It’s heavy, it’s foreboding, and best of all, it’s unpredictable — something too many doom bands are not.

A Deer A Horse are joined on this bill by another “horse” band that messes with doom tropes but ultimately subverts them — Richmond’s own Horse Culture, who can get sludgy at times but also love to explode into harsh, uptempo punk moments and generally entertaining doses of noise madness. With Weird Tears, the group of Richmond all-stars doing the best Replacements-style downcast pop sound the river city’s got right now, kicking this whole evening off, you’re in for an entertaining time from moment one til closing time.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday January 31, 7 PM
Harli & The House Of Jupiter, Keese, Dogfuck, Mike Bizarro, Sanji The Hedgehog @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $7 (order tickets HERE)

Taking a closer look at the Charlottesville music scene might not have found you much back in the late 80s when I was a bored high school student living there, but that’s changed in a big way over the past few decades, and we’re all better off for it. Harli Saxon is the exact sort of talented songwriter that Charlottesville’s always needed, and her work with the House Of Jupiter definitely enriches the sound of that city and the state as a whole.

On their 2019 LP, Deja Vu, Harli & The House Of Jupiter combine a mishmash of different sounds from various far-flung genres into a unique style that shows clear influence from blues, soul, jazz, metal, and classic rock, but feels very much of the moment. You may not know what’s coming next at any given time, but you always know that it’s gonna rock — and isn’t that what we all want? This evening features a variety of Virginia hip hop creators opening things off, which should strike a pleasant contrast with what Harli & The House of Jupiter are bringing, and serves to remind us once again that Charlottesville has it going on.

Saturday, February 1, 7 PM
Deadculture, Degrader, Violent Life Violent Death, RVNT, Kaos Reign, Nervous System @ RiffHouse Pub (Chesapeake) – $10

I don’t know what to call the heavy music the kids make these days. I hear everything from Earth Crisis mosh to Meshuggah math and nu-metal groove in what Ohio’s Deadculture are doing, and I must ask: does this count as deathcore? I’m honestly not sure, but I am sure that these guys make me want to headbang. And really, where metal’s concerned, do you need anything else?

Massachusetts boys Degrader are bringing even more of that sort of thing to Chesapeake’s RiffHouse this Saturday night, and I can’t help but smile when I hear the brutal, nearly sludgy power of their monolithic riffs. There’s some vaguely industrial-sounding notes here, which reminds me of Harms Way just a bit, but as with Harms Way, what I really get from this band is that they’re heavy as fuck. Paired up with Deadculture and several of the Tidewater area’s heaviest local bands, they’re doing more than enough to create an evening of headbanging nirvana. Be part of it.

—-

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: January 15 – January 22

Marilyn Drew Necci | January 16, 2019

Topics: angelica garcia, BATO, Beggars Row, Brain Drain, Brower, Brunswick, Calvin Presents, Camper Van Beethoven, Capital Ale House Music Hall, Charlie's American Cafe, Circle Back, Cracker, Dad, Dave Watkins, Down To This, Faded, Gabby's World, gallery 5, Ghouli, Jackie Cohen, Louis York, missangelbird, Nervous System, Nightcreature, shows you must see, Single Use Plastic, Strawberry Moon, The Broadberry, the Hof, The Pump House, The Spliffs, Vagabond, Violent Life Violent Death, weekend plans, Weird Tears, West Beach Tavern, Yowler

FEATURED SHOW
Sunday, January 20, 1:30 PM
Dave Watkins @ The Pump House (1708 Pump House Dr) – $30 (order tickets HERE)
Our city has a long and fascinating history, going back hundreds of years, and one result of this fact is that there are random neglected corners of Richmond that hold fascinating treasures mostly undiscovered by the city’s population at large. A great example of this is the old Richmond Pump House, which can be found at the end of a little-used road just up the hill from the toll booths at the nickel bridge (aka the Boulevard Bridge). Long ago, it pumped the city’s water out of the Kanawha Canal and uphill to the Byrd Park reservoir, from which it made its way to the taps and spigots of the city.

The Pump House is a big old stone castle of the building, and its gothic spires are irresistible when you come around the curve and see them standing tall. It’s been almost a century since it supplied the city with water, and almost as long since the huge dance hall on the balcony was open for events. When I first discovered it in the mid-90s, my friends and I enjoyed wandering around its dusty depths, but these days it is not open to the public due to safety issues. However, the non-profit Friends Of Pump House have some grand wishes for it, and are currently working with Enrichmond and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to restore it to its former glory and gain it an occupancy permit, so it can host events and dazzle visitors once again.

To that end, they’re holding a pretty excellent and unique music-related event this Sunday afternoon, and while tickets are extremely limited, there were still a dozen or so left when I checked this morning, so you absolutely still have a chance to be part of it. The event will begin at 1:30 with a full tour of the Pump House, and if you aren’t old enough to have had the chance to explore it years ago, it’s definitely worth getting a full tour (especially since you’ll have knowledgeable people there to tell you what you’re looking at and what its purpose was). Then at 2 PM, Richmond mainstay Dave Watkins will break out his homemade dulcitar and grace all in attendance with a beautiful set of avant-garde music incorporating his fascinations with old-time folk music and electric-guitar ambience. I talk a lot about great shows in this column, but full-on experiences that incorporate this city’s rich history are rare indeed. Make it your business to be part of this one.

Wednesday, January 16, 8 PM
The Spliffs @ Vagabond – Free!
When I hear a name like the Spliffs, my mind goes in one of two directions — either irreverent punk or marijuana-scented jam-band. However, the Spliffs coming to Vagabond tonight to play a free show for us all occupy neither of those genres. Instead, they’re a vehicle for the amazing soulful vocalizations of Brittany O’Neill, a lady who has been lighting up stages and recordings around the Richmond scene for years — I first saw her take a guest vocal for The Big Payback at The Republic, so you know that was a while back.

She’s been back and forth between RVA and LA for the past couple of years, but she’s home now, and she’ll be fronting the Spliffs for a set of soulful jazz fusion at Vagabond tonight. And she’s got some powerful friends backing her up — the group also consists of People’s Blues of Richmond drummer Neko Williams, jazz pianist Macon Mann (probably better known to RVA Mag readers as “Mc Chicken,” the rapper responsible for the viral “Richmond River Rat” video of a few years ago), and brothers Paul and Dmitri Yeonas of the Twin Brothers Band (and they are indeed identical twins). This quintet’s sure to be responsible for some deep grooves down in the Vagabond’s downstairs space, known as “The Rabbit Hole.” So head down the stairs and enjoy the underground sounds.

Thursday, January 17, 7 PM
Jackie Cohen, Angelica Garcia, Strawberry Moon @ Gallery 5 – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Spacebomb Records isn’t always right in your face with what they’re up to, but one thing’s for sure — they never sleep. This past year saw them release music from a variety of artists, and one particularly striking voice on their roster came from Jackie Cohen. She released two EPs on Spacebomb in 2018, known as the Tacoma Night Terror EPs, parts one and two. The nine songs in total presented by these two dispatches from Cohen’s personal emotional landscape that might have started out as quirky indie-folk tunes, but bear the unmistakable stamp of Spacebomb in their final form, harking back to the funky smoothness of the 70s Laurel Canyon music scene just as easily as they evoke post-y2k oddball indie singer-songwriter vibes.

It’ll be fascinating to see what form this sound takes in a live environment, and we’ll have just that opportunity on Thursday night, as Jackie Cohen takes the Gallery 5 stage and presents us with her unique tunes, including such hits as “Make U Sick,” “Ladies’ Man,” and the memorably-titled “I Hate My Body.” She’s joined in this endeavor by Richmond singing sensation Angelica Garcia, who’s currently hard at work on the follow-up to her attention-grabbing 2016 debut, Medicine For Birds. Recent Bandcamp uploads indicate promising results being achieved in the studio, and Ms. Garcia always brings her A game to the live environment, so you’re sure to enjoy this one. Strawberry Moon opens up with their entrancing ambient indie-pop — get there on time, and stay all night. Not a minute of this evening will be missable.

Friday, January 18, 7 PM
Gabby’s World, Yowler, Missangelbird @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
This is one for all you young indie kids. Gabrielle Smith hasn’t been performing under the name Gabby’s World for very long; previously, she was known as Eskimeaux, a name that undoubtedly got the boot due to dodgy cultural implications. However, both under that name and at the head of her new quartet, she’s produced some undeniably memorable music. Beast On Beast, the album Gabby’s World released a couple of months ago, show that her delicate vocals and assured songwriting touch are both very much intact; indeed, this just might be her best work yet.

You’re not going to want to miss out on what Gabby’s World conjure up in a live environment. Equally, you’re going to want to catch every second of the set from Yowler, a solo vehicle for Maryn Jones, who previously grabbed attention as the leader of All Dogs. On Yowler’s second full-length, Black Dog In My Path, Jones brings us a set of hushed, mournful songs that center on her softly plucked acoustic guitar and vocals delivered at a near whisper. The room will have to get quiet for this performance, but it will certainly be worth it to hear the dark, delicate beauty of Yowler’s music. Richmonders Missangelbird will get this one started off right, and it’ll only get better from there.

Saturday, January 19, 8 PM
Louis York, Calvin Presents, Weekend Plans @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Louis York is a group whose name you may not know as yet. They’ve been recording for a few years now, and have released three installments in their Masterpiece Theater series of EPs. But what really makes the duo of singer Claude Kelly and pianist/multi-instrumentalist Chuck Harmony so distinctive is their background in the behind-the-scenes world of the pop music industry. Both have some heavyweight songwriting credits to their name — Kelly for Miley Cyrus’s “Party In The USA,” Harmony for Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette, among many others of course — and both made quite a name for themselves in that world separately.

The combination of their talents into the duo known as Louis York has only produced more gold in a variety of genres, from the dance-club bounce of “Don’t Play” and the cocktail jazz of “I Enjoy You” to the orchestral R&B-pop of “Clair Huxtable” and the Queen/MCR power balladry of “Nerds.” This isn’t a group with limited ambitions, by any means, and they certainly don’t seem to have any limit to their talent, so when they hit the stage, there’s no telling what sort of amazing flights of musical fancy you’ll be privy to. What we can tell you, though, is that you’re sure to enjoy every moment of it.

Sunday, January 20, 7 PM
Brower, Nightcreature, Weird Tears, Brain Drain @ Gallery 5 – $7 in advance/$10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I love it when a band I’ve never heard of shows up in town and blows my mind. Well, Brower aren’t here yet, but considering it’s my job to write this column every week, I always get a little bit of advance warning — which is my cue to alert all you Richmond music fans. And this week, it falls to me to ensure that all of you are aware of Brower, the New York power-pop group who’ll be taking the Gallery 5 stage this Sunday night. A fuzzy garage-rock edge is certainly present in Brower’s music, but what really makes this group stand out is their flawless sense of pop-rock songcraft.

Led by Nat Brower, a singer-songwriter with credits from garage rockers Nancy, Brower does quite a bit to evoke the best sounds of 70s rock radio, from David Bowie to T. Rex, on their new album, Buzzsaws. The result is a recipe for nonstop dancefloor action, of the sort that’ll have you smiling all night. We all could use a bit of that, especially since we’ll all have to head back to work the next morning. Excellent local support from garage-punk up-and-comers Nightcreature, post-Cherry Pits rockers Weird Tears, and bubbling-under punk group Brain Drain will only make this evening even sweeter.

Monday, January 21, 6:30 PM
Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven @ The Broadberry – $25 in advance/$30 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s always nice when post-punk bon vivant and one-time Richmond hero David Lowery brings his music back to a stage in RVA, and this particular event promises an overview of Lowery’s entire career in one enchanted evening. It all got started back in the early 80s with the formation of Camper Van Beethoven, who both ascended from the California punk scene of that era and tweaked its incipient orthodoxy by breaking all sorts of unwritten rules: using acoustic instruments and violins, incorporating country and folk sounds into their punk-tinged melodies, and Lowery’s iconoclastic lyrics, always delivered with biting wit.

But it was Cracker that really made David Lowery a star. Brought together in the Oregon Hill neighborhood, long before it was gentrified beyond all recognition, Cracker grew to international stardom with early-90s heartland-rock hits like “Low” and “Get Off This.” Today, David Lowery plays and records regularly with both of his bands, and double-billed shows like this one have been an outstanding result of that synergy. We’ll all get an amazing overview of David Lowery’s entire four-decade career, from “When I Win The Lottery” to “Euro Trash Girl” to “Waited My Whole Life.” And every moment of it is going to be excellent. We don’t get a treat like this every day here in Richmond — I’m counting on you not to miss out on this one.

Tuesday, January 22, 8 PM
Brunswick @ The Hof – Free!
One way you can tell that Richmond is a great town for music is by taking a look at the caliber of mid-week free shows we get around here. For a great example, look no further than this jazz performance taking place in The Hof’s “Darkroom” performance space on Tuesday night. Brunswick is a name that might not grab as much attention in discussions of local jazz groups as more prominent leading lights like No BS! Brass and Butcher Brown.

Nonetheless, this 13-piece ensemble is a local mainstay, and features members who’ve done time in all sorts of other noteworthy jazz groups around town. Last summer, they released Five Years, their debut LP, which celebrated the amount of time leader John Hulley and his talented bandmates had been working toward this milestone. Live, they’ll intersperse original tunes from the album with brilliantly unorthodox covers of artists like Frank Ocean and Daft Punk, giving you an up-close experience of jazz in the 21st century. And you get all this for free on a Tuesday night — how awesome is this town?

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Saturday, January 19, 7 PM
Ghouli, dad, Bato, Nervous System, Single Use Plastic @ Charlie’s American Cafe – $5
Both of the picks for the Hampton Roads area this week are on Saturday night, which is something I usually try not to do. However, with the way everything stacked up this week, unless you want to catch up on what Jimmie’s Chicken Shack are up to in 2019, or see a solo show by one of the ICP guys, you’re gonna have to try and double up on Saturday night. So it goes. The question you must answer, in order to know which of these is more up your alley, is: are you more of a punk rocker, or a hardcore kid?

If you picked the former, you’re going to want to head to Charlie’s American Cafe, where two RVA groups head up a bill of punk rock excellence. Ghouli keep it raging and ranting with their straight-ahead punk riffs, while dad’s pensively furious queercore summons up memories of pre-Sleater-Kinney group Heavens To Betsy. A fierce trio of Tidewater punk rock crews are also on the bill, with the hyperspeed punk rage of Bato being a standout. Nervous System has a creative D-beat sound, mixing that genre’s expected UK punk gnarl with a surprising talent for multi-layered guitar harmonies. Local newcomers Single Use Plastic get things started off right. This one will rule.

Saturday, January 19, 7 PM
Faded, Circle Back, Beggar’s Row, Down To This, Violent Life Violent Death @ West Beach Tavern – Free!
But don’t get us wrong, this one will be a ton of fun too, and if you answered “hardcore kid” to our question above, it will appeal to you in particular. This one will offer chances aplenty for serious mosh pit action, as a quintet of hardcore bands from Tidewater and the Carolinas come together to lay the brutality on ya. VB rippers Faded have shown a serious talent for metallic hardcore of the breakdown-laden variety; they’ll get the spin-kicks flowing for sure. And of course, fellow Virginia Beachers Beggar’s Row take things in a thrashier direction, picking up the speed without dropping an ounce of the metal.

These groups are joined by a trio of powerhouses from the Carolinas, bringing their riffs northward to devastate the Tidewater region. Circle Back in particular has a powerful sound with an outright death-metal undercurrent, but rest assured, these guys keep it core all the way. This Charleston SC band comes to us in the company of Charlotte, NC’s Violent Life Violent Death, who have the most direct appeal for those who want their hardcore to bear at least a passing resemblance to Swedish thrash (I’m definitely one of those people). And of course, Down To This, who hail from the oceanside military town of Jacksonville, NC (not FL), have some serious thick-necked beatdowns to deliver. This one’s gonna be heavy as fuck, so come prepared to move.

—-

Top photo via Friends Of Pump House

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

sidebar

sidebar-alt

Copyright © 2021 · RVA Magazine on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Close

    Event Details

    Please fill out the form below to suggest an event to us. We will get back to you with further information.


    OR Free Event

    CONTACT: [email protected]