RVA Shows You Must See This Week: July 9 – July 15
FEATURED SHOW
Friday, July 11, 7 PM
Wrong Worshippers, CPS, Velvet Ruin @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – $17.10 (order tickets HERE)
Having a band in high school is a rite of passage many DIY musicians go through. But for a lot of us, those bands never really get out of the garage. Maybe you play a talent show, a battle of the bands, one or two house parties… that’s about it. Wrong Worshippers are an exception to the rule; this duo got started when both members were still in high school, and have gotten a whole lot done over the past five years — while, to my knowledge, still remaining too young to purchase cigarettes and alcohol legally (sorry Oasis). They’re about to release their second album, Get Skooled, and from the advance singles from it that I’ve heard, it seems that they’ve made a fair bit of progress in their sound over the last half-decade, augmenting their initial Big Business/Death From Above 1979-style heavy low-end noise-rock sound with some more melodic, introspective material. And if they’ve come this far while still in their teenage years, they clearly could take things quite a bit farther as they continue to grow and evolve.
Having said that, it’s undeniable that now is the best time to jump aboard the Wrong Worshippers bandwagon if you haven’t already done so. They’ve been steadily building on previous high points for a while now, and have an undeniable buzz in the local scene. The release of their second album is bound to kick things up several notches. And it’s definitely well-deserved. So don’t wait any longer — get into Wrong Worshippers now. Come to their Get Skooled release celebration at Richmond Music Hall this Friday night. In the past I would have followed up that urging by telling you to bring some extra cash and buy yourself a copy of the new album, but honestly, especially with younger bands, I have no idea how much anyone really cares about physical copies of albums anymore. Is this show really just a celebration of the album appearing on streaming services? Frankly, I have no idea. But go ahead and bring a few extra bucks anyway — if nothing else, you can buy a t-shirt or something.
Wrong Worshippers are not the only reason to come to this show — not in the least. New York-based band CPS is another duo, who combine either bass and drums or guitar and drums, depending on the song. Their latest EP, Goodbye Dear Neighbor, finds this duo delving into epic progressive post-rock vibes at times, while rocking out pretty hard at others. This show is the first of several shows they’ll be doing with Wrong Worshippers, and these two bands will make for a perfect musical pairing at this show — and all the others. This show will begin with a set from Velvet Ruin, a local quartet whose sound is full of spooky gothic melodies layered atop a solid alternative-rock foundation. Expect great things throughout the evening — this trio of acts are fully prepared to bring the musical magic.
Wednesday, July 9, 7 PM
Drivel, Rat Fight, Power Pants @ Bandito’s – $10
Things are getting punk as fuck tonight over at Bandito’s, and everyone in this city should be stoked. Our headliners, Drivel, hail from Washington DC, and living in a city where country-wide politics are a constant backdrop seems to have had a strong influence on this group. Their latest EP, released by the formidable hardcore label To Live A Lie, blasts through five songs in five minutes and keeps the tempos at maximum. With song titles like “Pledge Allegiance To the Bomb” and “Sniping Kids As A Form of Self-Defense,” it’s clear the message these amped-up hardcore punks are sending, and I expect a proper anti-fascist circle pit to rage when this band hits the stage at Bandito’s. So hey… maybe wait until after the set to order a giant plate of nachos, you know? Don’t want to feel like you dove back in the pool too soon after lunch.
Two Virginia-based bands offer support on this bill. The first, Rat Fight, might appear from pictures like they’re gonna be Judas Priest-loving hard rockers, but once they start playing, that entire impression is dispelled by their expert take on no-frills three-chord punk. These guys may have long hair and mustaches, but they rage like a classic early 80s hardcore band, albeit with occasional melodic tinges that demonstrate a subtle sophistication. It’ll be intriguing to see where their sound goes over the next couple of years; I for one expect good things. As for Power Pants, this incredibly prolific combo from the unlikely hamlet of Winchester, VA has connections to Winchester’s best-known exports, Destructo Disk, via their releases on DD’s label Sockhead Records. That said, Sockhead is unable to encompass the full breadth of this lo-fi garage-punk/power-pop group’s top-level work ethic, so they tend to release new albums and EPs in a variety of manners, with King Giz-like frequency. Folks who enjoy past prolific legends of the lo-fi punk/power-pop world, such as the late great Jay Reatard, are sure to find a lot to enjoy in Power Pants’s many releases, and the group’s catchy opening set at this show tonight. So hey, get out there, and get ready to get rocked.
Thursday, July 10, 7 PM
Electrocutioner, Nemesis, Desolus, Vigil @ Cobra Cabana – $10
I doubt anyone involved in Richmond music for any length of time is surprised to learn that there’s a thrash metal show happening at Cobra Cabana. That said, predictability is by no means a marker of mediocrity, and this show is a great proof of that fact. Electrocutioner are at the top of this bill, and this Long Island thrash-metal ensemble is a classic example of the form — uptempo drumming, vocals full of furious snarling rage, chugging galloping guitars… everything you want when you reach for a classic of the genre. You’re not going to be able to walk into the local metal bar and catch Morbid Tales-era Celtic Frost or Ride The Lightning-era Metallica playing a set in 2025, but if you come to Cobra Cabana this Thursday night, Electrocutioner are sure to provide you with the next best thing — an outstanding reason to bang your head, raise your fist, and start up a killer circle pit.
Charlotte’s Nemesis, who are accompanying Electrocutioner on their current tour, are coming from a similar musical territory, though these folks are if anything even more raw and no-frills than Electrocutioner, keeping things quick, dirty, and old-school, in the manner of a fifth-generation dub of a 1983 demo by a band whose first LP came out on Metal Blade two years later. Think early Dark Angel, complete with the occasional soprano high notes. I assure you, heads will be banged when these folks take the stage. Hard-raging DC trio Desolus will offer killer support, channeling a classic central European take on thrash metal with their Sodom-Kreator-Destruction style attack. Their 2024 LP System Shock is a scathing slab of scorched earth, and their set at Cobra Cabana is likely to leave the whole place smoldering. Richmonders Vigil will get the evening started with some solid metal riffage that is perhaps the least old-school of the bunch, but no less hard-hitting, brutal, and awesome. Limber up your neck before this one — bangovers are definitely a potential side effect.
Friday, July 11, 7:30 & 9:30 PM
Fonville, DJ Harrison, R4ND4ZZO, Yaya Bey @ Reveler Experiences – $30-$40 (order tickets for the early show HERE, late show HERE)
Recently my Auricular compatriot Doug Nunnally warned me that I am always taking a risk picking a Reveler show — “it seems like everything at that place sells out lately.” He’s right; over the past couple of months, I’ve had to delete multiple Reveler shows from the column at the last minute because I realized as I was about to write them up that they had sold out (and no, I don’t ever recommend you go to a show that’s sold out at press time. How grinchy would that be?). I’m hoping to avoid that problem with this show, if for no other reason than that it’s actually two shows — an early set at 7:30, and a late set at 9:30. The practical effect is to double the capacity of Reveler, and considering the powerful bill that’s in store this Friday night, that’s gonna be a big help.
What makes this bill so powerful? Only the inclusion of 60% of the almighty Butcher Brown, a Richmond soul-jazz powerhouse combo that has done a ton to put this city’s scene on the map over the past 15 years — and released a ton of incredible music while they’re at it. Specifically, this show brings together Butcher Brown drummer Corey Fonville, bassist Andrew Randazzo, and multi-instrumentalist DJ Harrison with talented New York-based R&B singer Yaya Bey. These four musicians got to know each other when Bey recorded a guest appearance on the song “I Remember,” which appears on Butcher Brown’s latest LP, Letters From The Atlantic. All involved hit it off in a big way, and that of course paved the way for future collaborations — for which this show is only the beginning. It’s hard to predict exactly what this quartet will come up with when they all combine for two hours of killer sounds (followed by two more hours for those who didn’t make it into the early show), but it seems certain that soul, jazz, R&B, funk, pop, and many other genres are all potentially on the menu for this quartet of world-class musical talents. There’s only one way to know for sure what’s in store, and that’s to grab a ticket to one of these shows for yourself. Hop to it immediately — in case you haven’t heard, gigs at Reveler tend to sell out.
Saturday, July 12, 7:30 PM
Chicha Libre, Zarove, Peleona @ Get Tight Lounge – $24.25 (order tickets HERE)
This Saturday night at Get Tight Lounge promises to be an intriguing evening of musical sounds from multiple worlds, coming together into a delightful blend of styles that is entirely headlining group Chicha Libre’s own. This Brooklyn-based ensemble was formed by frontman Olivier Conan in 2006 to pay tribute to the Peruvian musical genre chicha, which fuses elements of rock music into the classic Latin American genre of cumbia. Already a bit of a musical hybrid, Chicha Libre stretches the classic chicha sound of Peru into psychedelic and progressive directions, in a manner that’s likely to appeal to fans of legendary Brazilian psychedelic band Os Mutantes as well as folks who love the Afro-Cubano salsa-jazz of Ray Barretto and Richmond heads who know the musical joys of local heroes Bio Ritmo.
Really, you can expect any performance by Chicha Libre to be a fun evening full of deightful danceable fun. Their most recent EP, Tequila y Aguardiente, is their first release in a decade, and combines a fun chicha-style reimagining of classic rock n’ roll instrumental “Tequila” with a cover of a song by legendary Ecuadorian cumbia artist Polibio Mayorga — just to maximize the fusion of North and South American musical forms. With all of this on offer, this evening is sure to be a blast. With local trio Zarove on the bill, the sounds of Eastern Europe will be added into the mix, as this power trio led by the sound of the Turkish banjo combines the sounds of empires from previous centuries with up-to-the-minute rock n’ roll flourishes. Multimedia artist Peleona will kick off the evening with a DJ set bringing together influences from many different disciplines and traditions. The entire show is sure to be a mind-expanding experience for all of the senses. Be sure to partake fully.
Sunday, July 13, 7 PM
Empty Shell Casing, Fifteen Rhema, Beggars @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – $14.84 (order tickets HERE)
The most interesting aspect of growing older while remaining involved in the music scenes I loved as a youth, for me, has been watching so many styles and sounds that once felt familiar and later grew to be passe get rediscovered and revitalized by new generations that come along decades later. That’s definitely what’s going on with Texas band Empty Shell Casing, who combine hip hop flourishes like drum machine breaks and DJ-style scratching with chugging midtempo riffage in a manner that reminds me of the rap-metal fusions of quite a few early 90s groups. Some of the groups whose work springs to mind when I hear Empty Shell Casing are well-loved to this day (Rage Against The Machine), while others are received ambivalently (E-Town Concrete), and others are entirely forgotten (the post-Crumbsuckers project Pro-Pain). Here’s what all of those bands had in common with Empty Shell Casing now — a huge blast of furious energy that is perfectly channeled to deliver powerful messages about the state of the world today, and express frustrations with the many elements of our modern system that hold us all down.
So yeah, what I’m saying is that the time for bands like Empty Shell Casing has come around again for very good reason, and the fact that this band is generating quite a bit of buzz in the underground hardcore and metalcore scenes feels entirely appropriate. We’ve all got the burning desire to scream our fury into the faces of the powers that be overtop a series of impossible-not-to-mosh-to monster riffs that make floor-punching and spinkicking feel like the most logical response. When Empty Shell Casing hit Richmond Music Hall this Sunday night, we’ll all get the chance. Someone film it all with their cell phone and tag Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, will you? Fifteen Rhema, whom I have heard share members with Empty Shell Casing, are also along on this tour, and have plenty of metallic fury of their own to show off, though this band — who are named after a Zao song — focus exclusively on generating a scathing metalcore roar. You won’t miss the hip hop tinges when the vocalist is roaring into your face over some pummeling metallic breakdowns, though. You’ll just want to leap right out of your skin. Rip-roaring Richmond-based metallic hardcore combo Beggars will kick this one off with some fine noise of their own. Get stoked for this one.
Monday, July 14, 7:30 PM
OOYH Second Mondays, feat. Tim Daisy, John Dierker, Adam Hopkins, Scott Clark @ Artspace – $15
In my humble opinion, the Second Mondays nights presented monthly by Out Of Your Head Records at Artspace Gallery in the southside are always appointment viewing, but I have to tell you about this one in particular, because it is extra special. On this second Monday night of July, Out Of Your Head are having Minimum Wage’s Lance Koehler come out to record the entire evening with a remote rig for a future release on OOYH’s Beacons digital series. This choice was inspired by a particularly auspicious edition of Second Mondays in 2024 that paired up the same collection of musicians and led to some amazing sonic greatness. In the interest of capturing that particular bolt of avant-garde jazz lightning in a bottle, the leaders of OOYH (bassist Adam Hopkins and drummer Scott Clark) have put the band back together for another swing. And you will definitely want to be there.
The evening will pair Hopkins and Clark with two talented musicians from beyond Richmond’s borders. The first of the two is Chicago-based drummer Tim Daisy, who is known for both musical improvisation and his work within composed musical circles. He runs the label Relay Records, with which he documents his wide variety of creative projects, and he’s collaborated with too many well-known artists to name here. Daisy will begin the evening by pairing up with Scott Clark for a set of solo/duo drums, in which both musicians explore the limits of an all-percussion performance. Fans of both Daisy and Clark will be aware that the sky’s the limit for these two. After that, the two will team up with Hopkins and with Baltimore-based multi-reed player John Dierker, who is known for his far-out improvisational explorations and his high-energy bursts of joyous jazz sound. The dual-drum quartet of Dierker, Hopkins, Daisy and Clark will discover what can be generated when these four world-class talents of avant-garde jazz come together in a totally improvisational setting. Don’t wait for the digital release that’s apparently coming someday in the future — be a part of this event as it happens. There’s certainly nothing more important for you to be doing on a Monday night in July.
Tuesday, July 15, 7:30 PM
40 Watt Sun, Serpentent, Brandon AM, Tess Fisher @ Cobra Cabana – $18 in advance, $20 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Here’s a show that’s deceptively complicated to describe. Here’s why: anyone who knows 40 Watt Sun is likely to know them as a doom metal band. Their early material was indeed heavy, slow, downbeat, and intensely dark of mood. However, something that’s always set this UK project apart from their peers is the emphasis on frontman Patrick Walker’s incredible melodic vocals, which are quite unusual within a doom metal context. If anything, more recent work by 40 Watt Sun has stretched the boundaries of their genre even farther, as heaviness was de-emphasized in favor of the downbeat melodies and dark moods that remain even when the slow-motion pound and guitar crunch is stripped away.
The tour that brings 40 Watt Sun to Cobra Cabana this Tuesday is the ultimate extension of that musical evolution. Rather than appearing as the power trio the group began as, 40 Watt Sun at this show will be Patrick Walker performing by himself, his intense voice and incredibly emotional lyrics accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. There aren’t many doom metal projects that I can imagine withstanding this sort of musical transformation. However, if anything, 40 Watt Sun’s music hits harder, as the intense sadness and melancholy at the heart of their sound becomes all that’s left to hear. Anyone who has struggled with difficult emotions and dark times will surely find kinship in this performance. And if you’re the sort of music fan who has traditionally shied away from the slow, crushing heaviness of doom metal, perhaps 40 Watt Sun’s solo performance will offer you a way to understand what all the shouting is about. Seattle-based apocalyptic folk artist Serpentent is on tour with 40 Watt Sun, and will augment the mood with some stripped-down melancholy of her own. Two Richmond artists who have previously been part of heavy doom projects — Brandon AM with Cough and Sinister Haze, Tess Fisher with Petrichor — will offer opening sets of dark, moody acoustic sounds all their own. Through creating a dark musical mood, this evening should inspire us all to embrace life, and the beautiful sounds it continuously provides for us.
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
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