RVA Shows You Must See This Week: November 5 – November 11
FEATURED SHOW
Friday, November 7, 7 PM
Destruct, Loud Night, Canaries, Massacre System, Subversas @ Studio Two Three – $10
Studio Two Three has been getting a lot done since moving to their latest location across the river in the Blackwell neighborhood. From frequent film screenings to regular community organizing events, there’s been plenty going on over there. And while they don’t put on musical events too often, and have done very few in the new space, it’s always worth keeping an eye out — because when Studio Two Three hosts a show, it’s gonna be good music in support of a good cause. That’s definitely true in this case, as this show, which brings together five Richmond-based hardcore punk bands, kicks off a new season of “benefit shows and radical raffles,” as they put it on social media. This time around, the beneficiary is Gaza Soup Kitchen, and considering the absolutely abysmal state of human rights and quality of life for folks attempting to survive in Gaza, I can’t think of any other causes that are more important right now.
And for that reason, I’m glad to see such a stellar level of talent brought in for this show. All of these homegrown bands have a lot to recommend them, especially if you’re a lover of raw no-frills old-school hardcore punk. Destruct, our headliners, recently toured the US with legendary Japanese crust-core ensemble Life and the outstandingly named New York D-beat group No Fucker. Said tour was somewhat in support of the split LP Life and Destruct released last year, entitled To Stop the Conflict (so you know these guys have a strong understanding of what’s politically important in our fucked modern world). That album finds Destruct bashing out some blazing-fast, blown-out-to-fuck, raw and ripping D-beat-inspired hardcore. It’s so fucking great, and their live performances of these tunes tend to inspire absolute chaos, so expect Studio Two Three to be a wild place to be this Friday night when Destruct end the night in a blaze of noise glory.
Locals Loud Night have just as strong a reputation for hard, fast hardcore punk, though these folks take a more metallic approach to what they do, which has been demonstrated on recent splits with Fredag Den 13:E and Taifun. There’s some strong D-beat influence here as well, but while Destruct pull from the noise-punk of the early Discharge EPs, Loud Night seem to pull from the more metallic yet still ferocious Never Again era. There’s some definite Motorhead influence stirred in there as well, and that always spices up the musical stew in the most delightful way possible. Canaries are a bit of a standout on the bill, as they play a somewhat lo-fi/punk-inspired take on shoegaze that makes me think of early My Bloody Valentine, especially the You Made Me Realise and Feed Me With Your Kiss EPs. Always delightful. As for our final two bands, I’ve only heard a live video of Massacre System that was filmed from the back of the room at a dark house show, and I’ve only seen still photos of Subversas (makes me feel like I’m back in the 90s all over again), but both bands seem to hold true to that raw and raging D-beat/crust energy brought by the more well-known bands on the bill. Expect plenty of all-black outfits and steel-toed boots at this show. Limber up for the circle pit.
Wednesday, November 5, 7 PM
Woman Crush Wednesday, feat. Mary Jennings, Jenna Kole, Bri Bevan @ The Camel – $12 (order tickets HERE)
It’s the first Wednesday of the month once again, and as always, we can count on Bri Bevan and her Woman Crush Wednesday events to bring us new and delightful sounds from up-and-coming female musicians from locally and around the region. This time around, Mary Jennings is at the top of the list, and while I haven’t previously heard her name, I must admit I was suitably impressed when I checked out her latest EP, Pyrotechnicolor. The electro-tinged alternative tunes she delivers on this EP are gripping and enjoyable, harking back to some of my 90s faves like Tori Amos and Sarah MacLachlan, and Jennings’s powerful voice is a particular strength on these songs. I can imagine that her performance tonight will provide a strong and powerful end to an evening of excellent sounds.
Two other artists are performing on this bill, and both are veterans of Woman Crush Wednesday, going pretty much back to the beginning. Jenna Kole, who also fronts local band Apologizer, notorious for their once-a-year live performances, is bringing her quietly intense indie-folk sounds to the Camel’s stage tonight, just as she did at WCWs past, going all the way back to the pre-pandemic era when the event was still held at Lickinghole Creek. As for Bri Bevan, while she doesn’t play WCW all that often, she’s at every event, as she founded this monthly series and keeps it running through her continued hard work. The fact that she’s kept this whole thing going for over half a decade now is noteworthy enough, but her delicate, lovely tunes are well worth a listen in their own right, so she doubly deserves this rare showcase at her own event. Come out tonight and be regaled by sounds you might not here elsewhere, but will be glad to have in your life.
Thursday, November 6, 7 PM
Night Cap, Fai Laci @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – $25.40 (order tickets HERE)
It’s interesting to be a woman who grew up in the 80s and to live in the modern musical era. It never takes very long before I hear a band and think “oh wow, back when I was 7 years old in 1983 and obsessed with Casey Kasem’s American Top 40, this band could have had a single show up at #35 and I wouldn’t have known the difference.” Other than the modern production, which avoids all that gated drum stuff with aplomb, Night Cap could at times slot right in alongside The Outfield and Corey Hart. However, at other moments on their new album, It’s Happening, they evoke the 00s Pitchfork pop of groups like The Dismemberment Plan or Phoenix. The result is sure to delight listeners coming from a variety of perspectives, and the most important of those perspectives is loving to dance.
Night Cap isn’t exactly what you’d think of when you think of the phrase “dance music,” but they definitely put together some delicate indie pop melodies backed with the kind of thick groove that makes it impossible not to move when the choruses kick in. Boston band Fai Laci, who will open this gig, have a similar tendency, though their tendency toward laid-back guitar strumming also makes one think of early 70s Laurel Canyon sway a la The Byrds or even Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The combination of these two bands is sure to present an evening pushing everyone to dance. You too will succumb to the urges. And it will be the best thing to happen to you all day.
Friday, November 7, 5 PM
Young Widows, Dumb Waiter, Sub Shop @ Gallery 5 – Free!
First Fridays are always a big amazing time at Gallery 5, which tends to present some of the most intriguing and unusual art to be found anywhere in the Arts District on these nights. That’s true this time as well, as Gallery 5 presents a new edition of River City Rails, an invitation-only exhibition of work that transforms model trains into unorthodox art. This edition features over 50 different artists, and will be absolutely worth exploring in detail when you arrive at the Gallery this Friday night. But the real big news for music lovers is the fact that Young Widows are headlining the musical program for the evening. This Louisville noise-rock/post-hardcore trio has always been an intriguing and intense listen, starting out on a more straightforwardly heavy tip but getting more and more dynamic and outright unique as they’ve continued on over the course of their career.
This year saw Young Widows release Power Sucker, their first new album in 11 years, which both shows that they’ve still got the power and intensity that always made them such a gripping listen and demonstrates that they continue to take their sound in creative new directions and into unexplored territory. Their new material pulls in elements of everything from Shellac to Led Zeppelin to Afghan Whigs, plus a whole lot of other elements I’m sure I just haven’t teased out yet. Repeated listens constantly find new delights, and if their live performances in the modern era are anything like their classic sets at Strange Matter and Gallery 5 in the past, they’ll be blowing minds throughout the evening. Richmond jazz-metal veterans Dumb Waiter are also on the bill, and while it’s been a few years since this combo has released a new full-length, they have been back in the studio recently, so we’ll all have some new music to look forward to soon — and will perhaps get a tease of some new tracks on this very night! Openers Sub Shop bring together members of outstanding bands from Richmond’s past, including Brainworms, Large Margin, Field Day, and Flechette, in order to bash out some excellent high-energy post-hardcore in the classic mid-90s DC fashion. This whole evening will be outstanding.
Saturday, November 8, 7 PM
Fit Check, Omit All, False Sense, Gist, Captain Caveman @ Bandito’s – $15
Rival Booking likes to keep things heavy, and they love to bring in brutal, amazing bands who haven’t previously made it to Richmond, and have them blow all of our local minds. That’s definitely what’s going on at this Saturday night shindig at Bandito’s, as three of the five bands on this bill hail from parts beyond our parochial borders. Philadelphians Omit All are the closest to the top of the bill (though I suspect local heroes Fit Check will close the evening out — more on them in a bit), and they come to town in support of their latest LP, 2024’s The Big Cull. This record is full of big, heavy grooves that pack an absolutely brutal punch while also spotlighting intricate guitar leads that intertwine throughout their songs and create a fascinating backdrop for the pounding that this band is always eager to dish out.
Another of the bands coming from regions adjacent to our own for this show is False Sense, a West Virginia-based band from the wilds of Appalachia. You can imagine that this group has had to deal with quite a bit of backwards bullshit, being intelligent, critically thinking people from the place they come from. This seems the most likely explanation for the fact that the first two songs on their latest EP, Clenched Fist, are entitled “We’re Not Here to Cancel You…” and “…We’re Here To Kill You,” respectively. That’s a message I can get behind. The music is extremely passionate, intense metallic hardcore with the ability to switch on a dime from high-speed fury to punishing breakdowns. All of it hits you hard as fuck. Baltimoreans Gist round out the list of out-of-town talents on this bill, and they dish out some scathing, intense metallic hardcore full of powerful riffs on their latest EP, Working Relationship. These folks will hit hard and take no prisoners — that’s a promise. The same is true of the evening’s closer, Fit Check, who have a lot of love from the local hardcore scene right now — it only takes one listen to understand why. They keep the tempos speedy and the vocals aggressive and confrontational. This is 2025 hardcore at its best, and it’s happening right here in Richmond? We are so lucky. Finally, Captain Caveman gets things started with some primitive, noisy hardcore punk. Perfect way to start off an excellent evening of amazing music. Get stoked.
Sunday, November 9, 7 PM
Genre Is Death, Stephanie, VV, Heavy Mistress @ Gallery 5 – $10 in advance, $12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Look, everyone loves a great pop melody, a great dance groove, a killer hook. But sometimes it’s even better to hear a harsh, noisy repetition that locks in atonally and just pokes and jabs at you, irritating you into some kind of herky-jerky flailing across the dance floor. It’s the kind of thing you don’t even realize you’re enjoying until you pick up on how frantically you’re moving to the music. That’s the kind of flailing staccato groove New York group Genre Is Death locks into, setting their bottom-of-the-line drum machine to start pounding, then dishing out some gothic postpunk noise of the type that got tagged No Wave back in the early 80s. Would this band have sounded at home on a bill with Lydia Lunch or the Bush Tetras back in 1982? It seems likely, but I also think they would have fit right in with the (mostly forgotten, more’s the pity) raw postpunk demolition of late 00s rippers Neon Blud.
That said, there’s a gothic edge here too — one that will appear to folks who love The Wipers and the first Christian Death LP. It all adds up to a pretty tremendous sound — one that should definitely draw you out to Gallery 5 on a Sunday night. Each element of that sound will vibe well with a different one of the artists that support Genre Is Death on this bill. First up is Stephanie, the harsh, lo-fi synth project of local filmmaker Ken Hicks, responsible for the 2024 film Mom, I’m On Drugs. Stephanie’s dark, moody tunes for the film’s soundtrack sound like 80s pop tunes beamed across a crackly interstellar connection from a darker, spookier universe. Driven post-punk trio VV emphasize the intense rhythmic drive of their music, chanting hypnotically over clanging, pounding, flailing grooves that are noisy and complex, at times wrong-footing the listener into tripping over their own feet while trying to dance. It’s a good thing, actually. Heavy Mistress will start things off with a powerful wall of intense, arrhythmic noise, designed to make you feel like you’re losing touch with gravity. Again, when you get dizzy, it’s actually a good thing. This is a night for the freaks, and I know who reads my column, so I expect to see all of you there.
Monday, November 10, 8 PM
OOYH Second Mondays presents: AACM (Association For The Advancement of Creative Musicians) 60th Anniversary Concert, feat. Nicole Mitchell, JoVia Armstrong @ Artspace – $20
I’m always excited when the Second Mondays events presented by Out Of Your Head Records at Artspace roll around once again, because they always bring entirely new sounds to local ears, and spotlight the work of avant-garde musicians from both locally and far beyond Richmond’s borders. Recent events have found some of the leading lights of our local avant-jazz scene taking the spotlight, so it’s only fair that this time around, we go further afield, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians with a duo performance by AACM musicians Nicole Mitchell and JoVia Armstrong. The AACM is a non-profit dedicated to the encouragement of musicians from genres that don’t typically receive as much popular attention, providing support for jazz, avant-garde, classical, and world music styles, as well as many others that aren’t as easily categorized.
The two performers who will take the spotlight on this night both have strong associations with AACM, as Armstrong is a longtime member and Mitchell was once the organization’s first female president. Mitchell, who is primarily a flutist but also plays electronic instruments, has long led the Black Earth Ensemble, and has engaged in a variety of intercultural collaborations as part of her work with that group. She is currently a professor of music at UVa, where Armstrong is an assistant professor. Armstrong is a percussionist and sound artist who also works with a variety of sounds and genres, and has collaborated with artists everywhere on the spectrum from mainstream R&B to avant-garde and world musicians. Armstrong and Mitchell worked together in 2023 on Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Sway, but I would not expect to hear anything at this performance that these two musicians have done before. It hasn’t been specified either way, but if this event’s typical mission is in force on this very special night, I think we can certainly expect to see a fair amount of improvisation. That said, I don’t think there’s really any way to know unless you’re there when Mitchell and Armstrong kick off their set. You can certainly expect great things, things that sound nothing like anything else happening in town on that or any other evening. And that alone is reason enough to make sure you’re there. After all, it’s Monday night — what better things could you possibly have to do?
Tuesday, November 11, 7 PM
Black Flag @ Ember Music Hall – $34.90-$61.90 (order tickets HERE)
OR
Militarie Gun, Liquid Mike, Public Opinion @ Cobra Cabana – $20 in advance, $25 at the door (order tickets HERE)
I had to give this one a whole lot of thought, and in the end, the best compromise I could find was this one — sending you recommendations for both, and letting you make your own choice. Because see, if we’re talking about hardcore as it exists in 2025, Militarie Gun is a no-brainer as a recommendation. This band writes tough yet catchy melodic hardcore anthems beyond compare, with plenty of heavy rock muscle and powerful vocal chops. Many of their songs will get stuck in your head all day at the slightest provocation (I remember one grueling Hallmark shift back when I was still in retail hell where the only thing that got me through was having their song “Do It Faster” stuck in my head the whole time), and their brand-new third album, God Save The Gun, finds them getting to simultaneous new levels in muscular riff power and anthemic catchiness. As a hardcore kid who cares about the viability of our scene today and well into the future, I cannot pick against Militarie Gun, by any means.
On the other hand, Black Flag is playing across town. Black fucking Flag. The band I spent many years calling my favorite band of all time. The band whose logo almost became my only tattoo (I still don’t have any). They’ve always been a bit polarizing, despite being one of the three to five bands who indubitably invented the American hardcore genre; their later material got slower, longer, weirder, and at times took side trips into angst-ridden poetry and/or lengthy, complicated instrumentals. And that’s all before founder, guitarist, only constant member, and notoriously egotistical asshole Greg Ginn reformed the band in 2011 with Jealous Again-era singer Ron Reyes as a fuck-you to the tribute act Flag, which featured four other former Black Flag members. Their comeback album, What The…, completely failed to touch their legacy, Reyes was out within a year, and they became notorious for having revolving-door lineups and headlining jam band festivals (which makes sense because everyone knows Ginn is way more into jam bands than hardcore).
So after all that… why the hell should I send you to see them, over a decade after their ill-fated reformation? Well, because Ginn’s latest lineup, featuring three energetic young musicians who are clearly having the time of their lives playing these legendary songs, are actually a blast to see live. I watched them on YouTube doing a set chock-full of classic Black Flag anthems, featuring no instrumentals and a minimum of post-My War songs, in Sofia, Bulgaria earlier this year, and they were frankly amazing. The rhythm section plays with energy and power, and singer Max Zanelly perfectly channels Dez Cadena with her throaty roar and energetic stage prescence. Look, Ginn is a dick (and he knows it), and I certainly don’t expect this band to ever make a decent record again. But if you want to have a blast slamming it up to classics like “Depression,” “Nervous Breakdown,” and “Revenge,” you could do a whole hell of a lot worse than seeing what passes for the real deal in 2025 — especially since Ginn ruling the band with an iron fist means they’ll definitely get the songs right. All of that said, if you’d still rather see Militarie Gun, I completely get it, and will admit you’re making the objectively correct decision. Just… don’t ask me to snub my favorite band of all time. I can’t do it.
Tuesday, November 11, 7:30 PM
Madison Turner @ Shockoe Sessions – $15
One more extra special quick thing for you, because you’ve been so good and you deserve a treat! Madison Turner is playing Shockoe Sessions this Tuesday night with her full band, and if you’re not excited by either of the two shows I already told you about, or if you haven’t the time, the money, or the energy to get out of the house that night, you can always tune in to Shockoe Sessions on YouTube and rock out with Madison and co. Her current musical era is somewhat of an against-all-odds revival, as she had never intended to make another album after 2018’s all too accurately titled A Comprehensive Guide To Burning Out. However, an unexpected request from Say-10 Records for a new album led Madison to pulling together a new band, featuring longtime rhythm section Jake Morley and Ryan Clatterbuck along with several other friends, to bring about this summer’s amazing return, Curtsy When You Land.
Featuring some of the best songs Madison’s ever written, Curtsy When You Land is full of catchy anthems that take an irreverent lyrical approach to the themes of struggle and stagnation that Madison’s been working through for most of her career (but who can say they’re dealing with anything different, really?). The music combines her loves of punk, ska, alt-rock, folk, and indie into an effervescent blast of tunefulness — one she and the rest of her band will bring to the Shockoe Sessions studio this Tuesday night, to show all of you why her music was too good to stop being in the world. Tune in from your living room to the YouTube stream if you want, but if you can scrape up a few bucks and want to be part of an exclusive audience right there in studio, order yourself a ticket and brighten up your Tuesday night. You’ll be glad you did.
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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