RVA Shows You Must See This Week: May 31 – June 6
FEATURED SHOW
Sunday, June 4, 7 PM
The Camel Summer Staff Picks, feat. Pharaoh Sistare, with Soraya Silene, Mavi Taylor, Ceili Galante @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
I must say, I really like what the Camel is doing with their Staff Picks residency series. Too often, knowing what local live music promoters and club staff actually listen to and enjoy when they’re not at work is all but impossible. Because just like everything else in our late-capitalist economic hellscape, what makes it to stages of local venues is driven mainly by the almighty dollar. No matter what a promoter or bartender or ticket-taker wants to hear, they have to make their decisions on what to book at least somewhat based on commercial considerations. And the shows they’d most love to book sometimes never actually happen at the venues they give their valuable time and effort to.
The Camel’s Staff Picks series steps outside that whole dynamic, and reminds us all that, even for those of us who make our living off the music industry, it’s about way more than money. It’s about the art, the passion, the creativity, and the love of the sound that makes our lives go around. With the Staff Picks series, the Camel gets to put their weight behind an artist that means more to them than just a paycheck. In this case, the artist The Camel is backing with a full month of Sunday showcases is Pharaoh Sistare. Sistare, who got his start as a producer for other artists, stepped out from behind the desk a few years ago to show everyone his talents as a singer, a musician, and an extremely talented songwriter.
So far, Sistare only has one album — Once Upon A Groove, released in 2021. That’s not a problem, though, because you’ll get just as much joy out of listening to this album over and over on repeat as you do when you first hear it. The bouncy, upbeat soul-pop tunes Sistare unleashes throughout Once Upon A Groove highlight his high tenor, which is sure to remind a lot of people of prime Michael Jackson. There are some definite Off The Wall/Thriller vibes to Sistare’s music, but make no mistake, these songs are clearly products of a 21st century artist who has spent just as much time listening to Pharrell and Kanye as he has to Prince and Rick James. The synthesis he creates makes it abundantly clear why The Camel is choosing to put their weight behind Pharaoh Sistare’s music. He’ll be playing at The Camel every Sunday night this month, but why wait to discover what he’s all about? Go check out Pharaoh Sistare this Sunday night. You never know — what you hear might be enough to convince you to come back every Sunday this month.
Wednesday, May 31, 7:30 PM
Michigan Rattlers, The Sugar Hollows @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – $20 (order tickets HERE)
We’re starting off this week on a relatively mellow note — something you might not expect from a band whose name evokes snakes that make spooky sounds before they use their fangs to inject poison into you. On the other hand, it stays pretty cold up in Michigan most of the year, and snakes are cold-blooded, so they get sluggish once the temperatures drop. This is not to say Michigan Rattlers are sluggish by any means (maybe it’s time to drop this metaphor). Instead, I’d say they have a pensive vibe. Their sound is somewhere on the alt-country spectrum, in the same general territory as artists like the Jayhawks, Wilco, or even my mostly-obscure personal faves Vigilantes Of Love. And if you’re feeling a bit sluggish after your long weekend made the first couple days back at work feel like panicked catch-up sessions, the Michigan Rattlers’ sound should be a soothing balm for your jangled nerves.
The moody, introspective sound of Michigan Rattlers (who, by the way, really are from Michigan — you gotta fact-check these sorts of things) will be well complemented by the Sugar Hollows, a local Richmond ensemble who got together during lockdown and only released their self-titled debut album a few months ago. It’s full of gorgeous vocal harmonies and melodic guitar riffs that straddle the line between heartland rock and alt-pop, and there’s a definite tinge of No Depression-style Americana running through their sound as well. Neither of these bands are gonna make you want to start a mosh pit, but sometimes that’s OK. Sometimes the best shows are the ones that soothe our souls with gorgeously mellow sounds. If you’re ready for a show like that, head down to Richmond Music Hall tonight. Trust me on this one.
Thursday, June 1, 7:30 PM
Daddy’s Beemer, Ruth Good @ Get Tight Lounge – $12.12 (order tickets HERE)
When I found out there was a band playing in Richmond this Thursday night called Daddy’s Beemer, I was not at all sure how to feel about it. Having never heard a note of their music, I couldn’t help but associate them with the rich girls I went to high school with, who pulled into the senior parking lot in three-year-old E30’s while I was stuck driving my mom’s old station wagon to school (yes, car people who read this column, I am that old). But I figured despite the vaguely bitter vibes their name gave me, I should give Daddy’s Beemer a listen before I wrote them off.
I sure am glad I did! Lo and behold, their glittering indie pop turns out to be 100% up my alley. The guitar-driven melodies of their new album, Tangles, won me over immediately, and put a smile on my face that hasn’t faded yet. They’ll do the same for you if you give them a chance — something you can do by going to Get Tight Lounge this Thursday night to see Daddy’s Beemer hit the stage. They’ll be accompanied on the bill by Richmond indie mainstays Ruth Good, so you already know you’re getting some high-quality sounds from this show. And really, if you don’t trust me at least a little bit by now, I have no idea why you’re reading at all. Whether you’re driving a vintage BMW, a beat-up Dodge Neon, or an anonymous modern crossover, get behind the wheel and point your GPS toward Get Tight Lounge. The sounds you hear on arrival are sure to please you, no matter how you get there.
Friday, June 2, 8 PM
Terminal Nation, Morbid Visionz, Blazing Tomb, Private Hell @ Bandito’s – $15
There’s a pretty incredible point on the musical spectrum where the genres of death metal, sludge, and the moshy end of hardcore all come together. Some incredible bands have made their home in that exact intersection over the years, and Terminal Nation, who hails from Little Rock Arkansas of all places, is just the latest to find great success by doing so. Their 2022 split EP with Kruelty, The Ruination Of Imperialism, finds them laying down a series of lengthy mosh epics that have an equal appeal for death-metal diehards who love Autopsy, sludge lovers with the entire discographies of Grief and Eyehategod in their collections, and hardcore maniacs who enjoy hitting the pit to the sounds of Harm’s Way. To top all that off, Terminal Nation have a powerful stage presence, complete with mic stands that double as weapons of war. Their performance this Friday night at Bandito’s is sure to level the entire place, so eat your tacos early.
Really, you’d be well advised to finish dinner well before the music starts, because all of these bands are going to demand your presence on the dance floor, and you don’t want to experience those stomach cramps mom always warned you about when you tried to jump back in the pool right after lunch on a summer Saturday afternoon, do you? You’ll need to be in peak shape when fellow Little Rock residents Morbid Visionz hit the stage, because there’ll be a lot of headbanging to do. This band lands a bit closer to the death metal end of the spectrum than Terminal Nation does — something you might have guessed from their name’s homage to early Sepultura — but they’ve got quite a few opportunities for mosh up their sleeves as well, so don’t sit this one out. Two locals will get this started; Blazing Tomb straddle the line between hardcore toughness and blazing thrash metal, while Private Hell are more of an old-school metallic punk project. Regardless, you’re going to want to spend every minute of this evening of pummeling heavyosity in the pit. Plan accordingly.
Saturday, June 3, 9 PM
Kal Marks, Tongues Of Fire, Prayer Group, Gull @ Fuzzy Cactus – $10
I’ve always been a bit intrigued by Kal Marks — at first mostly because of their name. Was it a sideways reference to Karl Marx, or was I reading too much into things? I honestly have no idea, but it was enough to make me want to listen to their music, so regardless of whether or not I was supposed to think of proto-communist philosophy when I thought about this band, I’m glad I remembered them long enough to check out their music. This Boston trio has a pounding, nearly apocalyptic sound that achieves a deadly sort of heaviness without ever overtly dipping into the metal genre. On 2022’s My Name Is Hell, the first new Kal Marks record since frontman Carl Shane had to form a whole new lineup of the band after the original rhythm section quit on him, there are elements of Unsane and Jesus Lizard to be found. However, there’s also a strong undercurrent of emotion and melody, which occasionally rises to the surface on tracks like “Shit Town.” Don’t worry, though — not an ounce of heaviness is ever lost.
The same could be said of Asheville’s Tongues Of Fire, who are accompanying Kal Marks on this portion of their out-of-town jaunt. Tongues Of Fire certainly hit hard on recent singles like “Water” and “Lethargy,” but they leaven the noise elements of their sound with a strong undercurrent of postpunk, which results in a tightly wound, dynamic sound that should work for anyone who digs Shellac or METZ. Locals Prayer Group offer support on this lineup, and are perfectly suited to the overall feel of this bill. That said, the sheer brilliance of last year’s Michael Dose LP makes me wonder if they won’t steal this show outright. Between that tantalizing possibility and the opening set from legendary Richmond experimentalist/one-man band Gull, aka Nathaniel Rappole, you need to show up on time for this one and pay attention to every note unleashed on the Fuzzy Cactus stage throughout the evening. You’ll be glad you did.
Sunday, June 4, 9 PM
Deadsenate, Railgun, Psyop, Austin Royale @ Ipanema – $10
Ipanema has become a great place to go in recent months if you’re looking for heavy, noisy music somewhere on the hardcore/metalcore spectrum. With this Sunday night shindig, they’re proving their bona fides as a can’t-miss spot for punk rock as well. This evening’s bill is headed up by Charlotte citizens Deadsenate, who dish out a heaping helping of noisy punk awesomeness on their 2022 EP, Non Serviam. Its heavy, harsh production sound is sure to make the heavy hardcore fanatics happy, but the hectic song structures, chaotic vocals, and plentiful lyrical attitude mean that this band is much closer to capital-P PUNK than anything else. And I ask you — what’s not to love about that?
If you ask Richmond punk rookie sensations Railgun, they’ll tell you: nothing. Railgun know all about punk. This energetic trio may only have released around half a dozen songs in the past three years, but can you blame them? They’ve been focusing on winning this city over with their excellent live shows, and at this point, if you haven’t caught the buzz, I have to wonder where you’ve been hiding. Those of you who are on the Railgun bandwagon have already marked your calendar by now, but those who are still wondering what the story is with this band: you must show up at Ipanema Sunday night and find out for yourself. I don’t make the rules. Politically informed DC hardcore punk band Psyop will also be on this bill, playing the hits from their new EP, Permanent Underclass (gotta tell ya, that title hits pretty close to home), and the evening will begin with a set from rapper Austin Royale, who often lays down rhymes over heavy guitar riffs, making him a far more appropriate choice for this bill than you might otherwise expect. Get stoked for this one.
Monday, June 5, 8 PM
Deterioration, Suppression, Snuffed Out, ROTWLCFTSCBMH @ Bandito’s – $10
People throw the term “grind” around a lot these days, and they’re mostly using it to talk about working oneself to exhaustion. As a person forced to do that exact thing multiple times a week, I much prefer to talk about “grind” in the musical sense, which is to say: grindcore. Grindcore is basically what you’d get if you ramped every fast hardcore band up to a thousand miles per hour and fed them through a death metal filter. It’s twice as intense as any pseudo-influencer on Instagram’s “grindset,” and it never gets old, because due to the sheer speed of the genre, bands can play a 15 song set in 10 minutes or less. It’s loud, it’s fast, it rules.
Grindcore is the kind of music played by Deterioration, a two-piece band from Minnesota who practice the art of what my friends and I used to call “gorilla-chicken vocals” — one guy does deep growls, the other guy does high screams. On their brand-new split EP with Traffic Death, Deterioration dish out seven intense grind anthems in the space of about nine minutes. Which is impressive until you hear about the new Suppression EP, Scrap Heap, which runs through 55 songs in five minutes. Suppression’s gotten really into long sequences of chaotic micro-songs that go by in a second or two apiece, full of intense speednoise fury and hitting you one after another in rapid sequence like your ears are being pelted by a grindcore machine gun. Which might sound unpleasant to the uninitiated, but believe me — this kind of overwhelming, chaotic aural experience is fascinating and unforgettable. Chicago’s Snuffed Out keep the tempos relatively legible, but hit fast, hard, and heavy in much the same manner as tourmates Deterioration, while local maniac youths ROTWLCFTSCBMH start things off with a strong dose of metallic noisegrind mosh chaos. If, as I often recommend, you show up early to this one to get some nachos, finish them before you head into the Diablo Room for this show. Things are likely to get messy.
Tuesday, June 6, 5:30 PM
Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Jerry Harrison & Adrian Belew: Remain In Light @ Brown’s Island – $49.50 – $59.50 (order tickets HERE)
Thirty years ago when I first heard Primus, they struck me as a bit goofier than the average alternative/metal-adjacent band, but still pretty straightforward. I would never have predicted that bandleader and bass mastermind Les Claypool would grow to become a bit of a jam-band icon. Once Primus went on hiatus and Claypool formed his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, though, it was only a matter of time. The group’s name was a subtle homage to Col. Bruce Hampton’s Aquarium Rescue Unit, and they played three-hour multi-set shows in which they were known to cover Pink Floyd and King Crimson; they definitely had a strong appeal with the jam band crowd. And yet, with Claypool’s Frank-Zappa-meets-thrash-metal aesthetic at the forefront, the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade were always so much more than a jam band; their sole studio album, 2002’s Purple Onion, had lots of elements sure to appeal to both longtime Primus fans and fearlessly experimental music fans of all stripes.
Claypool’s remained highly active ever since the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade’s early-00s heyday, but while he’s occasionally reformed Primus, it’s been nearly two full decades since the Frog Brigade last flew across the stages of the world. That ends with their current tour, though, which sees Claypool bringing together an ensemble including the likes of guitarist Sean Lennon, drummer Paulo Baldi (formerly of Cake), and keyboardist Harry Waters — the last of which happens to be the son of legendary Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters. It is fitting, therefore, that the Frog Brigade’s current tour has seen them bringing back their legendary cover versions of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals in its entirety. And that’s just part of what you can expect from their set at Brown’s Island, which is sure to be extremely memorable. A group called Remain In Light, which brings core Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison and legendary Remain In Light-era Talking Heads guest guitarist Adrian Belew together to perform songs from the Heads’ classic early 80s era, will get the evening started in proper fashion. Be prepared to settle in for this one, because you’re definitely gonna get your money’s worth.
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): rvamustseeshows@gmail.com
Not taking commissions right now — much as I could use the money, I’m just stretched too thin. But please consider supporting my Patreon, where I’m documenting my progress on two different novels and (sometimes) writing about music of all types. patreon.com/marilyndrewnecci
