RVA Shows You Must See This Week: June 11 – June 17
FEATURED SHOW
Friday, June 13, 7:30 PM
Gnawing, Camo Face, Painted World @ Get Tight Lounge – $12.12 (order tickets HERE)
This is a tough time to live in Richmond, and that’s mainly because Richmond is in the United States of America and this is a scary bummer of a country to be in right now. At tough times like this, it can be nice to turn to the things in life that are always good, as a way to soothe yourself from the horrors on your TV (most of which you can do very little about). You know, things like good food, great stories, and lovely lovely music. So what happens when news from even the music world is a bit of a bummer? Honestly, the answer depends on you. My personal advice is to try and find the positive things you can take away from the situation; make the best of it, and try to find reasons to smile. And to rock out.
Of course, what I’m talking about is the fact that Richmond alternative rockers Gnawing are calling it quits — that the show they play this Friday night at Get Tight Lounge will be their last. If you ask me, Gnawing’s always been a bit underrated and overlooked; they make catchy guitar-driven tunes that are midtempo and full of fuzz brilliance. As I’ve said before, they remind me of the bands who were all around the underground alternative rock scene when I was in high school in the early 90s — all the bands who already had a couple albums out by the time Nirvana blew up and brought a few of them into the mainstream along with them. Dinosaur Jr., Screaming Trees, Mudhoney — the DNA of all these groups is present in Gnawing’s music. And their two LPs were full of brilliant tunes whose worst sin might just have been that they were more the type of songs that grow on you than the ones you love at first listen. Maybe this isn’t an era conducive to bands like that becoming beloved, but it’s still a shame that more Richmonders (and music fans beyond Richmond) didn’t discover this band sooner.
But hey, there’s still one last chance — if you haven’t given Gnawing much attention before, or if you enjoy their tunes but haven’t made the time to get out to see them, this show is for you. Head on over to Get Tight Lounge this Friday night and rock with Gnawing one last time. Find out exactly what you’ve been missing for the past seven or so years. And pick up a record from the merch table if they still have any; you’ll never get the chance to fall in love with this band again, and they are absolutely worth your affection. Post-Sports Bar bass n’ drum duo Camo Face will also be on the bill to get us all dancing to the tunes they write with maximum pop catchiness and perform with maximum punk rumble. Openers Painted World feature a member of Knifing Around and seem to play chunky rock tunes from the brief excerpts I’ve heard, but they’re largely unknown to me. Still, I expect good things from their opening set. And of course, one last go-round with Gnawing will cap off the evening in delightful fashion one last time. Thanks for the memories, guys.
Wednesday, June 11, 7 PM
Not Milk, Homey, Lichtenvol, Dials Dials Dials @ Gallery 5 – $14.64 (order tickets HERE)
Midweek rockouts at Gallery 5 are always a treat. And on the humid late-spring Richmond nights we’ve been having lately, a treat is certainly needed just to carry us all through until this Friday. Florida’s Not Milk are at the top of this particular bill, and while I haven’t been able to learn many non-musical details about this band, I’ve listened to their most recent EP, Reach, enough to have a good sense of what they’re doing and how well they’re doing it. This is guitar-driven indie fuzz crunch with considerable backbone, mixing enough heaviness into their subtly melodic midtempo riffs to please most Deftones fans who might wander into the room, while still sharing more of a sensibility with the alt-rockers and indie kids of the world. I don’t know how old they are or what kind of experience they have as musicians, but I can tell you one thing: Not Milk have a ton of really enjoyable songs to bring to us all tonight. And hey… isn’t that what we’re all looking for when we head out to a show?
A few local crews are also on the bill to sweeten the pot with some killer rockin’ sounds of their own. Lichtnenvol, for example, makes melodic indie tunes that have strong shoegaze elements stirred in, even as their rhythms and core riffs remain strong and propulsive. If you like bands that remain soft and melodic even as they’re getting heavy, these folks will do it for you. Fellow Richmonders Homey hit a similar nerve, though they do so with a more jangly guitar sound that adds elements of Sarah Records-style indie pop into the overall catchy shoegazey sound. Dials Dials Dials will be opening things up, and this ensemble claims to play jungle/DnB music on their Instagram bio. I can’t entirely disprove that, either, because a lot of the music I found on their Bandcamp bears at least some relationship to those genres. If anything, it almost makes me think of the drummer from Lightning Bolt playing along with electronics instead of crazy hectic bass parts. Show up to this one on time and you can find out how accurate the impression I formed from demos on Bandcamp really was. And then you can stick around and rock out to all these bands.
Thursday, June 12, 7 PM
Laura Ann Singh & Marlysse Simmons @ Reveler Experiences – $15 (order tickets HERE)
Here’s an intriguing phenomenon that comes along within this show column more often than you might think: a show which simultaneously has me very intrigued and leaves me with no idea what to expect. As far as the former aspect, how could I not be intrigued when this evening out at Reveler finds one of the premiere vocalists in the city teaming up with a keyboardist beyond compare to delve into their shared musical heritage? Laura Ann Singh does a ton of different things around this city, and while I’m mainly aware of her avant-garde jazz work in the scene surrounding Adam Hopkins and Scott Clark’s label, Out Of Your Head Records, she’s just as well known in this city for her work in the bossa nova genre, with such groups as Miramar and Quatro Na Bossa. As for Marlysse Simmons, she’s well known for her work as a music director and arranger, specifically with Bio Ritmo but also with Miramar — where she already works with Singh.
The two of them also recently collaborated with Richmond-based string quartet Rosette on an album entitled Crumb Of Me, on which Singh leads Simmons (on piano and arrangements) and the Rosette players through her own interpretations of a variety of legendary tunes from many different genres, all written by women — from Consuelo Velazquez’s iconic “Besame Mucho” to Sandy Denny’s immortal “Who Knows Where The Time Goes” and even Stereolab’s “Vonal Declosion.” That album was just released last month, but already Singh and Simmons are on to other green musical pastures to find yet more opportunities for collaboration. That’s what they’ll be doing at Reveler this Thursday night, as they perform a selection of beloved songs from the Musica Popular Brasileira movement of the late 60s. This movement combined traditional Brazilian musical styles with jazz and rock trends of the era, and brought the world artists like Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso, among others. Singh and Simmons are joined by a trio of talented rhythm section players: Scott Clark on drums, Randall Pharr on bass, and Bruno Alcalde on guitar. I’m not really sure what these talented, adventurous players will come up with when they all come together in pursuit of their current mission, but I am sure it’s going to be brilliant, delightful, and worth every ounce of attention you can give it. You know what to do.
Friday, June 13, 7 PM
Knelt, Qualms, Blazing Tomb, Spikepit @ Cobra Cabana – $12
This Friday night is a great night for some serious heavyosity from the venue in town most reliably known for bringing you exactly that: the almighty Cobra Cabana. This show brings together four bands who all occupy the exact musical waypoint at which it’s hard to really tell whether the band is best categorized as punk, hardcore, or metal. Considering that Boston’s Knelt describe themselves as “hardcore metal punk” on their Bandcamp, it may be that the distinction isn’t even all that meaningful. And really, as long as you know you’re getting something that’s loud, fast, heavy, and harsh, should you really even concern yourself with whether it’s hardcore, punk, or metal? If you like any of those genres, you’re going to like all the bands on this bill, and knowing that should be enough to get you to Cobra Cabana this Friday night.
But on the off chance that it isn’t, let’s get into specifics. First, let’s start with the aforementioned Knelt, who are a relatively new band with only a demo to their name thus far. That said, the band features former members of Final Gasp and Search Warrant, so their pedigree can’t be called into question. What’s more, the rip-roaring high-speed thrash-punk rage on their demo is high-octane enough to keep your car on the road for that extra half-mile between the spot where it runs out of gas and the nearest gas station. That’s right, this band is a scorcher. As for Qualms, they come from Portland, Maine, and have a scathing, desperate sludge-metal attack that’ll singe your eyebrows off if you stand too close. Which is not to say that they can’t go fast — these folks know how to keep it interesting, and are certainly more than willing to blow you away with a sudden burst of speed right in the middle of some scary sludge breakdown. Fans of Cavity’s classic early material will find a lot to love here. Where Richmond hometown heroes Blazing Tomb are concerned, I would think their credentials are unimpeachable now, but every column is someone’s first, so if you’re not familiar, let me just say this: rip-roaring thrash of the classic late-80s style, with one toe over the line into classic Obituary-style Florida death metal. Yeah, it’s fucking great. Virginia Beach combo Spikepit will get things going with some classic angry hardcore of the sort that has very little metal in its DNA but makes up for that with a truly heroic dose of hard-hitting rage velocity. This show will wipe the floor with you and you’ll love every minute of it.
Saturday, June 14, 7:00 PM
Hard Count, Null Fiction, Nowhere, UniS @ Another Round Bar & Grill – $10
Sometimes I end up writing about a show despite having relatively little information about it, just because it manages to intrigue me. This is one of those, where a bunch of the bands involved have little to no internet presence, and I can’t really find much of anything to listen to and get a better idea of what they’re about. But the one band on this bill who did manage to reach me is North Carolina’s UniS, whose music mixes a strong melodic sense and some lovely vocals with a progressive metal approach and a knack for intriguing song structure. They don’t have all that much out, but UniS definitely have enough on the ball to leave me highly intrigued about their set this Saturday night.
The other band on this bill who caught my attention did so solely through a few song excerpts uploaded to Instagram, but those were more than enough to inspire a recommendation. Null Fiction, who come from North Carolina’s Outer Banks, play the kind of riff-centric instrumental metal music that should inspire any veteran Richmond heads to think of the legendary Breadwinner, but will undoubtedly inspire thoughts of a vocal-deprived Decapitated or Cryptopsy to the more metal-minded among you. These folks have some killer riffs, and they’re bringing them all to us Saturday night up at Another Round. There’ll surely be plenty of heads banging during Null Fiction’s set — it’d be a crime if yours wasn’t one of them. The bill is rounded out by Richmonders Hard Count, who play a speedy sort of catchy punk rock, and Nowhere, about whom I was able to learn nothing at all! Wish I could tell you more, but if you ask me, what I’ve told you here is more than enough. Head out to Another Round this Saturday night and get ready to rock out.
Sunday, June 15, 7 PM
Hello Mary, Lip Critic @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – $23.03 (order tickets HERE)
I must admit I was pretty delighted to learn about Hello Mary recently. An all-female guitar-driven indie trio with strong influences from American Football? Sign me up! I haven’t been disappointed by what I’ve discovered as I’ve delved deeper on the Hello Mary catalog, either. Their 2024 LP, Emita Ox, does indeed at times evoke American Football, with its glittering arpeggio guitar lines and ethereal vocal melodies, and song structures that never quite reach that heavy crescendo you sometimes expect. At other times, though, the trio upends this impression, generating hypnotic moods that would please an ambient shoegaze fan, only to bust them all up by crunching into a brief moment of pure fuzz rumble. How all of this will play out when they perform live is anyone’s guess, though in light of the high-quality sounds they unleash on their records, it seems likely to be amazing no matter how heavy or light it gets at any given point.
Lip Critic will probably seem like quite the contrast when paired with Hello Mary. However, that’s OK, because it’s hard to imagine there’s anyone out there who are truly on Lip Critic’s level. This electronically-infused New York ensemble keeps the beats going throughout their latest LP, Hex Dealer, but does so in musical contexts that sometimes feel more like hardcore or punk than anything you’d conventionally expect to dance to. The hectoring vocals push listeners to get up and get moving, and the pounding beats are sure to keep everyone’s booties shaking on the dance floor, but Lip Critic will offer plenty more than a dance party. If anything, I expect fans of the long-gone, forgotten-by-too-many Richmond synth-punk ensemble VCR will get a big kick out of Lip Critic. These evening at Richmond Music Hall will be a study in contrasts, but what will tie this evening’s disparate sounds together is a mutually high level of quality. And that’s always welcome.
Monday, June 16, 7 PM
Quintron, Aaron Dilloway, Brown Piss, The Three-Brained Robot @ Gallery 5 – $14.64 (order tickets HERE)
If you know the name Quintron, it’s probably due to his work with his wife, Miss Pussycat. When organist and one-man band Quintron gets together with Miss Pussycat, he makes catchy retro rock n’ roll with a subtly weird sensibility that still results in a lot of catchy tunes. This time, though, Quintron’s not coming through on tour with Miss Pussycat. He’s on his own, and that means he’ll be delving into his much stranger and more avant-garde solo instrumental work, which is highlighted on his 2023 album, Ephemeral Ponds. Full of slowly evolving electronic soundscapes that create a vivid picture in the minds of listeners, this material might really throw someone expecting “You Made It Weird” or “Witch In The Club.” However, it’s sure to fascinate the noise heads out there who would love to see Quintron delve deeply into his more avant-garde electronic leanings. You’ll get plenty of that this Monday night at Gallery 5, I assure you.
Quintron is accompanied on this tour by Aaron Dilloway, who is best known for his work with legendary experimental noise troupe Wolf Eyes. While he may be on his own these days, Dilloway hasn’t shown any tendency to head toward more structured, predictable sound, and his latest LP, Rawhide, is full of strange, spooky sounds that are no less fascinating for the fact that they have no obvious source of origin. Those who come out to see Dilloway at Gallery 5 will surely get a valuable lesson in how exactly he’s generating all these sounds — or maybe not, maybe he’ll just use a keyboard to play samples. I admit to hoping he drags sheets of aluminum across the stage at Gallery 5; god knows that’s not something you see every day at shows. This lineup will be filled out by two local performers; first, Brown Piss, one of Jason Hodges’ (Suppression, Bermuda Triangles) more intense and noisy solo projects, will blast us all in the face with some electric harshness. The Three-Brained Robot will open the evening with some relatively conventional tunes that should please all of the Devo fans in the audience who wish they’d kept going farther into the 80s. This one will be fun — at least, if your idea of fun is atonal noises blasted loudly through a PA (and really, who isn’t into that?).
Tuesday, June 17, 6 PM
Heart Attack Man, The Dirty Nil, Carpool, Dear Seattle @ The Canal Club – $25 in advance, $30 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Definitely nice to have Heart Attack Man back in town; the Cleveland combo who named themselves after one of the best Beastie Boys songs have been a personal favorite for quite a while now, and they’ve taken things to another level entirely with the recent release of their fourth album, Joyride the Pale Horse. These guys have always had a powerful knack for upbeat, catchy, emo/alt-rock anthems, and they take things in an even more intense and melodramatic direction on their latest LP. That’s not to say they’re giving us escapist fantasies, either — tracks like “One More Song (Imposter Syndrome)” and “Laughing Without Smiling” contrast their intensely positive-sounding riffs with lyrics that speak to the anxiety and fear that any thinking person feels while trying to live through the ongoing nightmare that is 2025.
So yeah, Heart Attack Man make music that gives you the strength to smile — or at least shake your head and laugh while sighing — in the face of life’s difficulties. And god knows that’s a quality in short supply right now. So spend your Tuesday night at The Canal Club with Heart Attack Man, and hopefully draw enough positive energy from the music to push on for another week or two. God knows, sometimes that has to be enough. Canadian alt-rock trio The Dirty Nil will definitely bring plenty of anthemic rock n’ roll energy to the evening on their own behalf, but I have to admit I’m way more stoked by another appearance in my town of Philadelphia quartet Carpool, who have made some really great emo tunes over the past seven or so years, most recently on 2024’s excellent My Life In Subtitles. These guys are always more than worth everyone’s time, so show up early to this gig and make sure you catch every note of their set. And while you’re at it, vibe on the opening set from talented Australian pop-punkers Dear Seattle, who have real potential to steal the show entirely. Find your smile at this one.
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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