RVA Shows You Must See This Week: March 29 – April 4
FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, April 1, 8 PM
Thunderchief, Destroyer Of Light, Temptress, Riot Queen @ Wonderland – Price TBA
Erik Larson keeps busy these days. He always has, really, but this feels like a particularly prolific era for the veteran drummer: from Avail’s ongoing reunion and the recent return to action of Alabama Thunderpussy (in which he plays guitar rather than drums) to his work with stoner metal trio Omen Stones, who released a new album last year, and his prolific solo work (three albums and two EPs in the past two years), he’s also got the band we’re talking about right now: Thunderchief. This duo pairs Larson (on drums, natch) with guitarist/bassist/vocalist Rik Surly, who’s probably best known for his time in wild-eyed rock n’ rollers The Deviltones. And when Surly and Larson get together, you know things are gonna get loud.
Thunderchief has a new record, their fourth, out as of the beginning of 2023, and it’s an illuminating look at both where these fellas are these days and at how they got started down the path of loud, metallic rock n’ roll that they’re on today. Dekk Meg…, the album’s title, is a Norwegian phrase meaning “cover me,” and sure enough, this album is made up of a dozen cover versions of various songs that mean something to the members of Thunderchief. The variety in their song choices is truly mind-boggling; artists covered on Dekk Meg… range from 60s UK blues/prog/proto-metal group Spooky Tooth and glam-metal mainstays Cinderella to tough-guy hardcore legends Sheer Terror and power-violence pioneers Neanderthal. They even do the “Badger Badger Badger” song, of early 00s meme fame.
What’s wild is that, despite pulling source material from all over the musical universe, the result is extremely unified, and all of it sounds like Thunderchief: that is to say loud, heavy, sludgy and metallic, but retaining an unmistakable rock n’ roll sensibility. It’s fun as hell, especially when you suddenly realize you know the song they’re playing. You’ll get a chance to have that realization several times over the course of their set when they play Wonderland this Saturday night — and to get familiar with the whole Thunderchief vibe, if you aren’t already. Trust me, you should be — this is truly one of the heaviest bands in Richmond these days, and the fact that they manage that with only two people in the band is even more impressive. I don’t know how much the show is, so make sure you’ve got some extra cash. If it turns out to be cheaper than you expected, you can use your remaining dollars to buy your own copy of Dekk Meg… It’s money well spent, trust me.
Wednesday, March 29, 8 PM
Waste Man, Tight Rope, Bonemachine @ Fuzzy Cactus – Price TBA
I love it when some show happening in Richmond introduces me to a great band I’d never previously heard of. Waste Man is my latest discovery in that vein, a band I’d never have encountered if it weren’t for the fact that they’re playing Fuzzy Cactus tonight. I’m so glad I did — this New Orleans-via-NYC crew has a wild, riveting sound that is sure to be quite the experience when they hit the Fuzzy stage tonight. Their most recent release, a three-song self-titled EP that just came out a couple of weeks ago, finds them ranging from 90-second chaotic hardcore bangers to an epic of barely repressed rage that builds up to a fever pitch over the course of six minutes. Trust me, it’s fucking amazing.
Evoking everything from the Jesus Lizard and Circus Lupus to legendary screamo band Please Inform The Captain This Is A Hijack, Waste Man are sure to please post-hardcore hipsters just as much as they’ll thrill noise-rock fiends. I’m sure you’re somewhere on that spectrum. So you know what to do. The show will also feature a performance by Tight Rope, the artist formerly known as Blunt (and my top pick for Most Improved Band Name 2023), who definitely land on the more danceable end of the post-hardcore spectrum, though always with an undercurrent of tension. Bonemachine, who just released a two-song followup to their self-titled 2021 EP, will kick things off, and based on the new record, you would be advised to expect heavy garage-laced alt-rock sounds. Good stuff all around.
Thursday, March 30, 7 PM
Danava, Century, Loud Night @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – $15 in advance, $20 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Another show, another band I’m somehow only discovering this week. Danava seems like the kind of band I would have been hearing about since they first got started; after all, they play a rockin’ retro metal sound of the sort that’s right up my alley. and they’ve had some records that got quite a lot of attention, most notably 2011 LP Hemisphere Of Shadows. Despite having existed for fully twenty years, though, this Portland-based quartet somehow escaped my notice until I was putting this week’s column together. At which time, I had plentiful occasion to wonder what rock I’d been hiding under.
Of course, it didn’t help that Danava went largely quiet over the past decade, only now getting around to following up Hemisphere Of Shadows with a new album called Nothing But Nothing, which comes out at the end of April on Tee Pee Records. Only two songs have made it into the wider world thus far, but they’re both total rippers, and let you know that if powerful, riff-heavy metal bangers of the sort that Judas Priest and Iron Maiden excelled at back in the early 80s are your cup of tea, the new Danava is essential listening. You can get a sneak preview of the awesomeness to come at Richmond Music Hall Thursday night, and you’ll be lucky enough to get a bonus performance from Hirax-evoking Swedish metallers Century, who have a new album coming out in April as well. Richmonders Loud Night, whose excellent Mindnumbing Pleasure was a thrash-metal balm for the soul during the darkest days of the pandemic lockdown, will get this one going in fine style. Don’t miss a minute.
Friday, March 31, 7 PM
IONNA, Trapcry, Landis Wine, Sophie Colette @ Black Iris Social Club – $10 in advance, $12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Friday night is synth-pop night at Black Iris, and considering the vogue for synth-pop over the past few years, this show should be just the ticket for a significant percentage of Richmond’s show-going populace. Even if you aren’t immediately stoked about the prospect of synth-pop, though, you should be excited to see the lineup awaiting us all at this evening of keyboard-driven acts. At the top of the bill is IONNA, a project headed by singer-songwriter Soraya Silene, who was recording under her own name until recently. Pre-pandemic singles like “Deep Sea Diver” and “Barely Breathing” don’t necessarily give us the full picture of what Silene and IONNA are up to now, but they certainly prove that a strong melodic sense and a flawless ear for catchy pop tunes are what drives this entire project. IONNA takes Soraya Silene’s work to the next level; you should definitely be paying attention.
Queer dance-music project Trapcry has been producing killer soul songs with beats that make it impossible to sit still while you listen for several years now, and they haven’t slowed down yet, with recent singles like “Solo” and “$ad $luts” proving that this group can still send you straight out to the dancefloor even as their emotion-driven lyrics and flawless vocal melodies make these songs instantly unforgettable. Expect to move your feet during this set. It’s a little harder to predict what we’ll get from Opin frontman Landis Wine when he takes the Black Iris stage for a solo performance Friday night, but having heard a variety of his solo demos for songs later performed with groups like Opin and White Laces over the years (which are always way closer to the dancefloor than the finished full-band versions), I can tell you that the man knows his way around a groove. Recent Richmond transplant Sophie Colette, who showed us all what she had to offer on a recent Shockoe Session, will get this one started in fine fashion. Be there. (Editor’s Note: Make sure to check out our premiere of Sophie Colette’s new single and video “Fun Again.”)
Saturday, April 1, 6:30 PM
Eluveitie, Omnium Gatherum, Seven Spires @ The Canal Club – $30 in advance, $35 day of show (order tickets HERE)
This week’s column is pretty heavy with metal bands (no pun intended… OK, OK, I admit it, pun intended), but what’s pretty fascinating about that fact is that all of them sound way different from each other. For a genre that got its start over half a century ago when Black Sabbath first discovered down-tuning, metal has branched out into a variegated family tree with farflung branches that don’t bear even the most superficial resemblance to one another. Consider Swiss folk-metal group Eluveitie, who mix traditional folk instrumentation and song structures with the sort of melodic death metal that Scandinavian bands like In Flames, Children Of Bodom, and too many others to name have found fame with. As a person who used to go see Irish folk bands play at pubs on a semi-regular basis, I find a lot of the folk elements familiar and welcoming, even as the roaring vocals and crunching metallic guitar riffs also feel like a sort of homecoming.
All that being said, the mixture of the two takes some getting used to. Still, there’s something intrinsically intriguing about the juxtaposition between the emotional melodies of traditional folk ballads with the power of triumphant metal riffage. This might sound crazy, but it sort of reminds me of what I always wanted Evanescence to sound like. The music industry kept that band from ever letting their heavy parts be heavy enough, but I have no such objection to Eluveitie — the riffs are always heavy, and singer Fabienne Erni’s high, clean vocal parts always add a notable contrast that only makes the metal riffage hit that much harder. For a lot of people, Eluveitie’s sound might be totally out of left field, but that doesn’t mean it’s not great. Find out for yourself — you’ll be glad you did.
Sunday, April 2, 7 PM
Faim (Photo by Eye Of the Storm Photography), Fallfiftyfeet, Black Matter Device, Flesh Machine @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
It’s always great to clear away the cobwebs and end the weekend with a powerful shot of raging hardcore. The Camel has exactly what we all need in that vein this Sunday night, as Colorado hardcore veterans Faim roll through town in support of their latest batch of gnarly, furious hardcore tuneage: Your Life And Nothing Else, an eight-song slab of metallic riffs, pummeling breakdowns, and sick midtempo mosh grooves. What’s more, the songs take a powerful lyrical stance in opposition to patriarchy and toxic masculinity, among other evils that are unfortunately ascendant in the world today. Faim’s passionate delivery in the studio is matched by their energetic, intense live performances, and you’re going to want to make it down to The Camel this Sunday night to see it for yourself — especially considering their current tour is slated to be their final tour as a band. You literally won’t get another chance to experience what Faim has to offer.
As for the other bands on the bill: first and foremost, Fallfiftyfeet, who hail from the border-straddling West Virginia/Ohio city of Wheeling, are bringing plenty of brutal hardcore rage of their own to this show. Their 2022 EP Lonely If You Go is a lean, mean slab of heavyosity that promises a positively headcrushing live performance when they hit the stage. These two bands are excellently paired with two of the best chaotic hardcore bands Richmond has to offer at the moment. First, there’s Black Matter Device, whose absolute whirlwind of furious noise is sure to knock you right out of your shoes. Flesh Machine, who focus more on distorted midtempo grooves, will kick things off with some intense raging noise of their own. Every minute of this show is going to be gold. You gotta be there.
Monday, April 3, 7:30 PM
Meridian Brothers, Miramar @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – $20 (order tickets HERE)
All right, for those of you who want something besides constant heaviness, this show is for you. Meridian Brothers are coming from a completely different perspective, specifically that of Colombian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Eblis Alvarez, leader of Meridian Brothers. At least on record, he’s pretty much the only member of Meridian Brothers, though you wouldn’t know it by reading the liner notes. The latest Meridian Brothers album, released last summer, is a collaboration with an obscure Colombian salsa band called El Grupo Renacimiento. The (pretty open) secret, though, is that El Grupo Renacimiento don’t actually exist. Indeed, once you look into the “collaboration” that birthed the latest Meridian Brothers album, you’ll see that the whole backstory gets pretty sci-fi pretty quickly. As the story goes, a member of Grupo Renacimiento reached out to Alvarez for collaborative help after he was transformed into a robot with a connection to the internet that he couldn’t shut off.
The album that results from this significant backstory is a strong and engaging salsa album that’s perfect for dancing the night away. However, it has more depth than your average Latin American dance album, mixing science fiction elements and commentary on the control technology has over our lives today with a psychedelic brand of salsa dura — hardcore salsa. If you dig what legendary Richmond ensemble Bio Ritmo has been up to over the past several decades, you’ll find a lot to love in the music of Meridian Brothers. And you’ll also appreciate the local openers on this bill: Miramar, a group featuring members of Bio Ritmo, who delve into the rich Latin American tradition of romantic music known as bolero. Their evocative take on this genre often features backing from classical strings, but the focus is always the vocals, provided by band founder Rei Alvarez and jazz vocalist Laura Ann Singh. Miramar doesn’t have that much in common with Meridian Brothers on a strictly musical level, but when it comes to their Latin American musical foundations and serious approach to the intricacies of their craft, they’re a perfect pair.
Tuesday, April 4, 7 PM
Mane, Cassidy Snider & The Wranglers, FLKL @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
The arrival of Paige Court, the singer professionally known as Mane, at the Camel this Tuesday night brings together several of my interests. For one, Mane is from Australia, and if you’ve been reading this column for a while, you know I’m kinda in love with the place (and counting the days until the next Supercars race). What’s more, Mane writes directly about her experiences as a member of the LGBTQ community in her songs, and I am always here for anyone doing that. Her latest single, “Breathing Again,” talks about recovery from trauma, something I know way too much about. And of course, the most important fact about Mane — her music is really, really good.
“Breathing Again,” which represents a long-awaited followup to her 2020 EP, Coping Mechanisms, is a great place to start, full of powerful vocal crescendos and heart-wrenching melodies. However, the aforementioned EP shows a fuller picture of what Mane is about, from powerful anthems like opening track “My People,” which commemorates the importance of chosen families and a supportive community, to more introspective tunes like “Fucking Around,” a moody rocker about the many pitfalls daily life throws out in front of us all. The complete picture painted is one of a talented singer-songwriter with a powerful voice and some important things to say, plus a strong gift for melodic indie songcraft. There’s a lot to appreciate here, and on a dull early spring Tuesday night, Mane’s set is sure to be a highlight. Don’t miss it, or the appearances of talented local openers Cassidy Snider & The Wranglers and FLKL, both of whom you should know very well by now. Go to this show. Thank me later.
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
Still accepting commissions, so if anyone needs press releases, band bios, or even actual articles written, you should hit me up! Also, consider supporting my Patreon, where I’m documenting my progress on two different novels and writing about music of all types. patreon.com/marilyndrewnecci
