RVA Shows You Must See This Week: November 19 – November 25
FEATURED SHOW
Thursday, November 20, 7 PM
Sundials, Doll Baby, All Away Lou @ The Camel – $12 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
One interesting thing that happens more and more often in punk and hardcore these days: bands never really break up. Oh, they play shows less and less often, and sometimes years go by without them even having practiced. They almost never make any more records. But they remain a going concern, and every now and then, when they get a wild hair, they play a show. Maybe they even book a tour, or suddenly release a new record 11 years after their last one came out. Nothing like that is happening with long-dormant Richmond melodic punk band Sundials, but they are randomly playing their first show in six years this Thursday night at The Camel, and whether you’re a veteran RVA punk who followed their entire career or a youngblood who never had a chance to see them the first time around, this is exciting news either way.
If you’re unfamiliar with Sundials, they’re a band you should definitely get familiar with. Between 2009 and 2016, they were quite active in the American DIY pop-punk scene that revolves around the Fest in Gainesville, displaying a certain amount of influence from classic Fest-adjacent bands like Jawbreaker and Hot Water Music, but also bringing in a emotional rock n’ roll guitar sound that felt almost Lemonheads-ish, as well as a Dismemberment Plan-ish indie vibe. The end result was a collection of hooky tunes with a swing and a punch that made them stand out from a lot of other bands in a similar musical space, while still clearly having musical connections to the best of those bands. They released two excellent LPs and a bevy of shorter-form releases, splitting releases with heavyweights of the era like Spraynard and Caves, and putting records out on top-shelf labels like Asian Man, Art Of The Underground, and uh, Topshelf. And the final release of their original run, the six-song EP Kick (2014), was probably the best release they ever did. To the extent that Sundials ended, they ended on a high note.
But what’s really delightful is that they didn’t actually end at all — because here they are, playing another show in their hometown, at a venue they’ve played many times before, with old Richmond friends Doll Baby and longtime running buddy Lou Hanman’s latest project, All Away Lou. Doll Baby’s twangy, emotional take on melodic punk rock n’ roll is a beloved taste here in Richmond, and certainly anyone who is excited to see Sundials should also be stoked to see them (and vice versa). All Away Lou finds UK expatriate and former Caves bandleader Lou Hanman, who now makes her home in Philadelphia, leading a star-powered combo (featuring Mikey Erg on drums) and playing some catchy emo-punk tunes with more than a tinge of classic UK indie pop (think Heavenly and Boyracer) mixed in. They’ve made a really great impression on Richmond audiences in previous trips to the city, but as with Sundials, it’s been a few years. So if you’ve never seen this quartet before, you owe it to yourself to show up on time and ready to rock to this one.
Wednesday, November 19, 7 PM
Warren Campbell from Dead Billionaires @ Plan 9 Music – Free!
Editor’s Note:
Doug here dropping in just to plug The Auricular‘s monthly showcase at Plan 9 Music featuring Warren Campbell from Dead Billionaires. This site has talked a LOT about Warren and his band over the years, most recently in this review of their new EP, More!, but all you really need to know is that this is punk spirit at its purest, delivered in some of the sharpest musical packages around. Don’t miss it!
Now back to your regularly scheduled column…
Wednesday, November 19, 7 PM
Rosette presents: Derrick Skye is… So Hot Right Now @ Artspace Richmond – $18 in advance, $20 at the door (order tickets HERE)
I have been an appreciator of the work local string quartet Rosette has been doing to bring classical music forms into modern cultural spaces, and remind us all that this sort of music wasn’t only made multiple centuries ago, ever since I first encountered them. Featuring folks who have played in both local indie-rock groups and the Richmond Symphony, this string quartet is taking modern classical music to the places where fans of modern music can be found, and showing all comers that string quartet music can be a living, breathing, 21st century art form. Their ongoing series of So Hot Right Now events, in which they bring the work of a currently active composer to a variety of performance spaces over the course of a month, is a great way for Richmonders to discover new classical music and have a great night out hearing sounds you never thought you’d hear in the sorts of spaces where they show up.
This particular performance is one of six taking place this month featuring the work of Los Angeles-based composer Derrick Skye, who attempts to integrate musical practices from cultures across the world into his music. He studies everything from West African drumming to Hindustani classical music, and his voracious appetite for music from around the world fuels his insatiable creative spirit. Rosette will be playing two of Skye’s longer works: “As I Heard When I Was Young” is inspired by the music Skye heard as a young person growing up in the Black church, combined with several different West African musical traditions. “American Mirror” is a reflection on the importance of cultural collaboration in American society, and mingles musical traditions from West Africa, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, all places atop the open harmonies of Appalachian music and drones that are drawn from Indian classical music as well as a variety of other sources. Yeni Nostalji double bassist Ayça Kartari will swell Rosette’s ranks to a quintet for part of this moving performance, which is sure to evoke all sorts of emotions in you that you never thought you’d feel outside a fancy-schmancy concert hall. Thank goodness classical music can still be by the people and for the people. Come to this performance, and bask in the sound.
Thursday, November 20, 7 PM
Bleed Out, Salem Trials, Lay Waste, Buck Goose @ Bandito’s – $15 (order tickets HERE)
When Rival Booking is involved, you know the show is gonna be independent and DIY. But you also know it’s going to be heavy as holy motherfuck. So if you steeled yourself for some truly brutal metallic hardcore, deathcore, or full-on metal as soon as you the flyer above, you made the right decision, because that’s exactly the sort of thing you’re going to get from this Thursday night shindig over at Bandito’s. Bleed Out are our headliners, and while this band may be brutal and powerful as all hell, they add an unexpected and welcome additional layer thanks to vocalist Lexi. Not only does her high, tormented shriek add a level of emotional struggle to the band’s pounding riffs, the unabashedly queer-positive and politically-inspired lyrics she sings make clear that this band isn’t just brutality for the sake of it — there’s a vital, important message here. And delivered overtop of such a powerful musical backing, it only hits that much harder.
Bleed Out are joined on this bill by Canadian brutality merchants Salem Trials, who have thus far mainly just released singles, but seem with every new tune they drop to be aiming to one-up all of their previous work. From the apocalyptic roar of their vocals to the pounding fury of their riffs and rhythms, this band is bringing maximum heavyosity at all times. They pair perfectly with local up-and-comers Bleed Out, and give this show a full spectrum of high-end and low-end rage. Meanwhile, Harrisonburg-based grinders Lay Waste amp up the speed without sacrificing one bit of the brutality, letting the blastbeats rip over classic death metal riffage like some unholy cross of Nasum and Morbid Angel. Recently formed Richmond metal band Buck Goose, who are not to be confused with either fellow Virginia band Buck Gooter or the playground game Duck Duck Goose, will open this one up and get the pit started in fine fashion.
Friday, November 21, 7 PM
Wieuca, Twin Films, Knifing Around @ Gallery 5 – $12 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
The evolution of Athens, Georgia band Wieuca has been an interesting one to chart over the course of their first four albums. While I have generally found bands to start out at the heaviest and noisiest point they’ll ever reach, and steadily move towards melody and accessibility (not always to their advantage), Wieuca has steadily integrated more fuzz and noise into their psychedelic pop sound, all but replacing the indie tendencies of their earliest work with shoegaze fuzz, punk energy, and synth-electronic bounce by the release of last year’s Truth Management LP. That album was the first I ever heard by the band, and I was immediately impressed, finding it a significant improvement over their previous work once I dug backwards and explored it. Their new single, “The Whole World’s Bitch,” goes even farther than Truth Management did, delivering a moshed-up punk song that repurposes their early jangle and shoegaze fuzz into unrepentant hardcore punk crunch.
So which Wieuca will you get when they pull up at Gallery 5 this Friday night — the confrontational punks? The emo shoegaze fuzz-pedal rulers? The psychedelic jam-adjacent indie group of their early years? Personally, I think the middle option is likely to show up most often, but the great thing about this set is that it’s likely to shift back and forth between all of these different facets, keeping all segments of the audience dancing and happy throughout. Rockin’ Richmond indie kids Twin Films will join in on the festivities by bringing some musical fun of their own, which should focus on pop melodies and high-energy jangle a la early Aztec Camera. Fellow locals Knifing Around, whose awkward electro-fueled twitch-punk sound generates that uneasy herky-jerk dance that has always been the province of post-punk, will start things off by getting everyone freaking out on the dance floor. It’ll only get better from there — don’t miss a minute.
Saturday, November 22, 8 PM
Kiss Boom Bah, The Lonely Teardrops @ Northside Grille – Free?
Saturday night is a great night to party, and there’s always a party going on at Northside Grille on weekend nights. Trust me — I used to work up the street from there, and I used to wish I still had the energy to stumble down the sidewalk after a long shift shelving retail products and roll up in there to rock it out. Now that I have a desk job, I just might be able to swing that, at least on a Saturday night, and if there’s ever a good night to see what all the Northside Grille fuss is about, it’s this Saturday, when Kiss Boom Bah will be driving down from Philadelphia to rock the place old-school style.
Featuring members of legendary garage combos like Mondo Topless and the GTVs, these folks show just how down for the rock n’ roll party they are on their debut single, which kicks off with an energetic organ-driven cover of the legendary Wailers song “Out Of Our Tree” (those of you who think I’m talking about Bob Marley need to click on this link right away). It’s a great time, and I have to give them extra bonus points for the fact that the also-delightful instrumental B side is called “Marilyn A-Go-Go.” Don’t worry guys, I’ll go-go dance for you anytime. Assuming I’ve got the energy (which is a BIG assumption). Richmond mainstays The Lonely Teardrops, who’ve carried the torch for rockabilly, garage rock, and classic rock n’ roll stomp here in the river city for quite a few years now, will also be on this bill, and their brand of swinging, sassy attitude is sure to kick this whole evening up a couple of notches. Come out to this one and dance the night away. You won’t regret it, even if my guess that this is a free show turns out to be wrong. Carry a few extra bucks with you, and if I turn out to be right, grab an extra drink with it! Either way, you can’t lose.
Sunday, November 23, 7 PM
Kinda Evil, The Milestones, TV Battle Stations, Heavy Friends @ Bandito’s – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Washington DC’s Kinda Evil clearly delight in being the soundtrack to rambunctious rebelliousness. For one thing, there’s their band name — no fans of walking the straight and narrow would ever call their band Kinda Evil. For another, there’s the ample evidence of just what they’re about that can be found on their debut LP, last year’s Hard To Believe. Filled with riffs and attitude drawn from a variety of delinquent genres — hard rock, heavy metal, old-school punk, garage rock — this LP swaggers and snarls in a manner akin to Sheer Mag, The Murder City Devils, and AC/DC all teaming up to take out every repressive parent that ever kept a good kid down when all they wanted to do was dance.
I don’t expect this Sunday night gig at Bandito’s to parallel the plot of Footloose in any way, and thank goodness for that — anyone attempting to shut down the Diablo Room dance floor probably has a fight on their hands. Plenty of great music is here to put paid to any such thoughts, and some of it will come from Richmond ensemble The Milestones, who don’t quite dip into the punk or hard rock buckets, instead delivering catchy, guitar-driven tunes that capture the classic alt-rock spirit of the 90s. They’ve got plenty of killer tunes, and you’ll get to enjoy them all this Sunday night. TV Battle Stations have an intriguingly unusual band name, and grab my attention with a sound on their latest single, “A Fuss,” that I would compare to Big Thief at times, perhaps the Jayhawks at others. The end result is quite a bit of fun, and will brighten up the night before we all have to return to work, so you’ll definitely want to indulge in what they have to offer. Rounding out the bill are Heavy Friends, a band named after the album compiling the best of Jimmy Page’s 60s era works as a studio musician — and I have to hope that’s a reasonably accurate guide to what this band sounds like, because I have not heard their music. I guess we all will this Sunday night, so let’s get ready to rock!
Monday, November 24, 7 PM
Swoll, Coaches, Faeble @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Despite being responsible for some true fire back in the early to mid 80s, it felt to me like all of my punk rocker friends quit paying attention to the scene around DC-based indie label Dischord Records at some point during the 90s. Maybe it was the odd reggae-adjacent rock of Rain Like the Sound of Trains, or the cerebral art rock of Smart Went Crazy. Maybe they even stuck around long enough to check out Ian MacKaye’s post-Fugazi project, The Evens. Not many of my friends were around long enough to encounter Smart Went Crazy/Faraquet/Medications main man Devin Ocampo’s mid-2o1os band The Effects, but I myself heard more than enough of them to recognize and respect their creative, original approach. And I definitely noticed the deft, intricate bass work of Matthew Dowling, who is now leading the band Swoll. The group focuses on low-end sounds, bringing Dowling together with keyboardist Ben Schurr and drummer Erik Sleight to create tunes that mix that classic Dischord-adjacent post-hardcore sound with electro-synth melodies and sonic washes.
Swoll are sometimes more moody and R&B-coded than anything else, but those times are quickly contrasted by their heavier songs, which evoke more muscular Dischord bands of previous eras, such as Jawbox and Black Eyes. The resulting mesh of dance-pop textures and post-hardcore riffage is arresting in its immediacy and memorable in its unusual nature. Swoll are definitely going to capture the attention of all who wander through The Camel’s front door this Monday night, and I daresay they will make quite a few new fans in the bargain. You should make sure you’re one of them. Richmond’s own Coaches will act as support on this bill, bringing a delightfully irreverent funkiness to the evening that’s sure to get everyone’s inhibitions lowered at least a little bit. The evening will begin with a set by Faeble, a band about which I know absolutely nothing. No matter! Swoll’s the reason for the season, and they’re more than worth the price of admission on their own. Hit this one up and brighten up the beginning of your new week.
Tuesday, November 25, 8 PM
The Fishtank Improvised Sounds Night, feat. Peni Candra Rini, Andy McGraw, Alan Biller @ Gallery 5 – $10 in advance, $12 at the door (order tickets HERE)
For obvious reasons, I try very hard to be aware of any new developments in the Richmond music scene. However, despite my noblest efforts, this is the first time I have fully caught onto the semi-regular nights of “improvised sounds” that Alan Biller has been presenting on a semi-regular basis around the city for quite a while now. Until recently, they were held at Studio Two Three, but the last few have taken place at Gallery 5, as does this latest edition. Moving to a slightly larger venue is only fitting, especially for this edition of the Fishtank, as straight-up Richmond music royalty joins the roster, in the form of Peni Candra Rini. This Indonesian-born singer and composer is best known locally for her work with Indonesian musical ensemble Gamelan Raga Kusuma, but she has also composed a piece for Kronos Quartet to perform at Carnegie Hall, and has worked with Deerhoof in the past, so she’s clearly a well-rounded individual with musical interests that take her in a variety of different directions.
This bill pairs Rini with Andy McGraw, who is chair of the University of Richmond Department of Music, and a frequent Rini collaborator. What these folks will get up to, especially when further teamed up with jazz/experimental guitarist Alan Biller, aka Wolf In Wool, is anyone’s guess. But there’s a lot to be said for pairing up a few wildly talented musicians and giving them free rein to see what they can come up with, and that’s definitely what’s going on at this Fishtank Improvised Sounds Night. If, like me, you weren’t aware of this ongoing series before this edition of it, now is the time to get on its level and see all of the delightful sounds it will have to offer. After all, if you aren’t there to hear it, you’ll miss whatever comes of this collaboration entirely. Revel in the ephemeral nature of improvised music at this evening of sonic delights.
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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