RVA Shows You Must See This Week: October 15 – October 21
FEATURED SHOW
Friday, October 17, 9 PM
Dead Billionaires, Rikki Rakki, Flora & The Fauna @ The Camel – $12 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
This is certainly the right era for a band called Dead Billionaires. As income inequality skyrockets and recent political developments make day to day life more difficult than ever for average working people, it’s hard not to look at the people who can afford to do shit like run a better space program than the US government, buy and sell significant chunks of the planet, and pay an entire US state to vote a certain way in an election, and think that we all might be a bit better off if they went on to their great reward. The Richmond rock n’ roll trio Dead Billionaires certainly agrees, and while their band name might lead you to expect some sort of angry political punk full of warmed-over Discharge riffs, these local folks have something quite a bit more entertaining and original to offer.
The latest slice of Dead Billionaires rock n’ roll brilliance arrives in the world this very week, in the shape of the band’s new EP, More! When I first heard the record’s name, I thought the full title might be More Dead Billionaires, in the spirit of the second Monkees album, More Of The Monkees. At this point, I’m not so sure that implication is intended, but it’s fun to think of it that way. After all, I always enjoy more Dead Billionaires, whether it’s an album name or not. This EP’s songs follow in the tradition of excellent previous Dead Billionaires releases, mixing a heartland rock feel with a power-pop songwriting structure and a political consciousness grounded in the history and culture of the band’s hometown, Richmond VA. The many singalong choruses on here hit that much harder when you’re singing along with references to driving past the tobacco processing plants south of the city. These guys have the topical consciousness of classic folk music of the 60s, and the iconoclastic optimism of classic punk rock. They too believe another, better world is possible — and part of the way we get there is by making and listening to better music that’s more grounded in our actual lives.
Dancing to a set of Dead Billionaires’ Bruce Springsteen/Elvis Costello-ish class conscious rock n’ roll is going to be the perfect way to end a work week that always feels a bit too long, and what’s sure to sweeten the pot even more is the duo of brilliant local ensembles they’ve picked out as openers. Of course anyone who knows Dead Billionaires from around the local scene should know these other two bands as well — both of them are good enough and buzzed-about enough to headline the Camel themselves on another night. All the same, if there are any of you out there who haven’t caught these groups yet, you should definitely use this opportunity to get familiar. Rikki Rakki released a delightful EP of their own earlier this year, Sing Cicadas!, which finds them in a mellow, contemplative mood, drilling down even further into what makes their twangy take on guitar-driven indie rock so delightfully catchy. As for Flora And The Fauna, they’ve still only got a couple of singles out, but their brilliant sound has garnered them attention around all facets of the local scene. Their XTC-style hook-laden power-pop tunes swing back and forth from quiet, moody intensity into jubilant delight and anthemic celebration. And at every point in the journey, you can’t help but be charmed by every second. That’s what the whole night will be like. You know you wanna be there.
Wednesday, October 15, 6 PM
Cannibal Corpse, Municipal Waste, Full Of Hell, Fulci @ The National – $43-$120 (order tickets HERE)
Back in the early 90s when I first heard of them, it would have felt ludicrous to imagine a time when Cannibal Corpse would be described as pioneering elder statesman. However, over 30 years later, one has to acknowledge the truth of it immediately. Cannibal Corpse was one of the most important bands to come out of the early 90s death metal scene, which set the tone for huge swaths of the metal genre. Most of the biggest metal bands in the world today took some influence from Cannibal Corpse, and the bands who play death metal in the year 2025 are particularly indebted to them. In light of all that, it’s kind of wild to check out the most recent Cannibal Corpse album, 2023’s Chaos Horrific (their 16th album!), and realize that they remain every bit as incredible an example of a brutal, technical, yet always anthemic death metal band as can be found anywhere in the death metal world. Maybe it’s due to the eternal consistency of the band’s co-founding members, bassist Alex Webster and drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, or the sheer brilliance of (relatively) more recently acquired members like brilliant vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, or legendary lead guitarist Erik Rutan (previously of Morbid Angel and Hate Eternal). But regardless of the factors that go into it, there’s no denying the result: even 35 years after Cannibal Corpse’s 1990 debut LP, Eaten Back To Life, they remain hugely relevant even as they continue to ascend further into legendary status.
Speaking of legendary status, at least one of the opening bands on this death metal extravaganza at The National has attained that in their own right. I speak, of course, about Richmond crossover-thrash heroes Municipal Waste, who have been mixing hardcore and metal riffs into a blender with a whole bunch of Kool-Aid and bottom-shelf liquor to make an incredibly potent party-thrash punch for somewhere around a quarter century by now. Their pedal-to-the-metal tuneage has always had a real skate-and-destroy vibe, as if their cassettes are the ones your friends will pop into the jam box when they go to the skate park and start doing 360 flips off the 10 foot vert ramp. And yet, they avoid becoming too self-consciously retro, instead continuing to improve upon their sound and finding new ways to approach their tried-and-true sound. On top of all that, they put on one hell of a live show, so expect everything to go absolutely crazy when they’re onstage tonight. As for Baltimore grind maniacs Full Of Hell, they’re never afraid to push the limits of the short-fast-n-loud genre they’ve made their home in, whether with experimental collaborative side projects or their own slabs of hectic, creative takes on high-speed metallic hardcore. Recent material finds them cutting away the frills to let it rip hot n’ heavy, so expect their set to blow by you at lightning-quick speeds and leave you with road rash. Gore-death band Fulci, who take their name from the Italian film director responsible for gorefests like Zombie and The Beyond, hit hard in classic Exhumed-style fashion and ensure that the evening starts with something truly powerful. Mosh hard, children.
Thursday, October 16, 7 PM
Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Dunkirk Riots @ Ember Music Hall – $28.15 (order tickets HERE)
In hindsight, it was probably a mistake to wait this long to check out Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band. I’ve been seeing their name on show flyers for at least a decade now, and based on the promise built into said name, I assumed they were some huge ensemble band — the sort that plays ska, or swing-revival stuff. As it turns out, that couldn’t have been much further from the truth; in fact, Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band is a stripped-down trio. The majority of the sound they make comes from Rev. Peyton himself, who plays hundred-year-old resonator guitars and sings in a classic blues-shouting style. He’s backed by Breezy Peyton, who plays a washboard by scraping it with thimbles on her fingers, and Jacob Powell, who plays a tiny drum kit. The sound they generate isn’t too far from the kind of thing you could hear on any classic 78 RPM disc from the early days of commercial recordings, back when blues from the Deep South and folk music from the Appalachian diaspora constituted some of the best and most vital sounds being carved into wax.
Rev. Peyton and his Big Damn Band may not quite be on the same level as legends of that era like Charlie Patton or Blind Willie Johnson, but a lot of that is just because it’s impossible for an artist to feel as spooky and otherworldly in a modern time when everyone’s got a cell phone and a connection to the internet. Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band certainly generate those spooky, otherworldly moments as part of their music, thanks to the Reverend’s piercing, affecting vocals, the spontaneous nature of the tiny musical ensemble’s group sound, and the many moments where all three members of this group catch a stray thought or musical phrase and leap into parts unknown for the briefest of seconds before settling back into their powerful, stomping groove. Openers Dunkirk Riots, hailing from just down I-64 in Norfolk, take a similar approach to a completely different part of the world, reviving a Celtic folk sound for a modern punk era and electrified musical context. Fans of The Pogues will find a lot to love here, so if that’s you, definitely show up on time for this one.
Friday, October 17, 7 PM
Tony Molina, Jeanines, Lightheaded, Star Sign @ Cobra Cabana – $20
When I first got into the rock n’ roll underground back in the very early 90s, there was one guy who stood out as the slacker king of hook-laden lo-fi masterpieces that felt as tossed-off as they were brilliant. That guy was Robert Pollard, leader of Guided By Voices. Bob Pollard and GBV are still out there doing their thing even today, but these days there’s a new king of lo-fi indie slacker anthems, and that guy is Tony Molina. Getting his start as the frontman for California indie-rock group Ovens, Tony really grabbed a lot of people’s attention with his 2013 solo debut, Dissed And Dismissed. Freed from the format limitations of a consistent band, his music became more creative even as it become more slack. He filled albums full of 90-second pop anthems that drew on everything from his Beatles and Kinks LPs to his background in West Coast hardcore bands, veering from delightful acoustic pop melodies into chunky guitars and top-speed blast beats. The overall impression is of a massively stoned lo-fi pop genius who spends almost as much time listening to his unbalanced washing machine thump as he does to classic Brian Wilson/Paul McCartney type stuff.
I don’t know about you, but I find the thought of a bizarre stoner pop genius making weird records full of musical mood swings and unpredictable turns far more interesting than some highly polished “musical genius” who plays stadium shows in a glittery bodysuit. Unlike you-know-who, it’s impossible to predict what Tony Molina will play during his set at Cobra Cabana this Friday night, and that’s one of the best parts of the whole thing. All of the tunes he busts out for you are likely to be toe-tappingly catchy and heartwarming in their beauty, even as they contain an unmistakable undercurrent of punk rawness. And he’ll probably manage to play more songs than you ever thought you’d hear during one set — you know, because his songs are all so short. This performance will be a treat, guaranteed. Molina and his band are joined on this tour by the Jeanines, whose jangly indie-pop sugar-sweetness will certainly feel evocative for folks who loved bands like Heavenly and Tiger Trap back in the day — or maybe Veronica Falls and Joanna Gruesome more recently. Lightheaded are also along for the ride, and they mix the 90s twee-pop sound with a more authentically garage-rock-derived lo-fi punch. Richmond newcomers Star Sign, who released their debut EP only a few months ago, are more of a jangly indie-rock type project with some definite Teenage Fanclub leanings. Gotta love the hell outta that. Go to this show, it’s gonna be delightful.
Saturday, October 18, 7 PM
Cobranniversary, feat. Kontravoid, Nickelus F, Black Button, Mike Simonetti @ Cobra Cabana – $15 (order tickets HERE)
It might just be due to what a weird effect the COVID pandemic lockdowns had on everyone’s lives over the past five years, but it simultaneously seems like Cobra Cabana has been here for way shorter and way longer than its actual 7 years in the Carver neighborhood of Richmond. The important thing about this celebration of Cobra Cabana’s seventh anniversary isn’t really how many years it’s been, though — it’s the fact that we have Cobra Cabana in this city at all. That’s a real cause for celebration, a moment to give thanks for Snake Plisskin burgers and Gay-Fil-A sandwiches and lots of amazing shows out on the patio at this amazing spot. Cobra Cabana has become an important part of the Richmond, Virginia cultural ecosystem for a variety of reasons, and we’re lucky to have it. And of course, the main we can show it is by coming out to this Saturday’s Cobranniversary party, where we can all eat, drink, and be merry with the Cobra crew and a selection of killer musical outfits.
The first of those is Kontravoid, a Los Angeles electronic project that pulls from classic dancefloor bangers, 80s synth-pop magic, and spooky darkwave vibes to generate a dark, hypnotic mood that’s sure to get you dancing. These folks would surely fit right in on a goth-industrial bill over at Fallout, but the other artists playing with them at this Cobra Cabana celebration are from very different musical places, and the very fact that such an eclectic bill exists is a testament to how wide-ranging Cobra Cabana’s musical tastes really are. They’ve also got a set coming from Nickelus F, the widely acknowledged genius of Richmond hip hop, who demonstrates all over again with each new release just how brilliant he really is — even while maintaining an image as a somewhat unbalanced loose cannon of a person. It may or may not be true, but it certainly makes for some amazing lyrics, so why sweat it? Richmond old-school hardcore band Black Button also gives us a set on this bill, one that is likely to be raw, wild, and unhinged — especially if the content of their messy, lo-fi latest single, Your Past Ends, is anything to go by. These folks may record in some pretty no-frills spaces, but they’ll make sure you hear what they’re bringing to the stage. The bill is rounded out with a DJ set from Mike Simonetti, who makes techno music these days but is still the guy who owned Troubleman Unlimited Records if you ask me. This should be a lot of fun. Be there and let Cobra Cabana know that you recognize and appreciate the valuable contribution they make to our scene.
Sunday, October 19, 7 PM
The Golden Grass, Hagstone, Sinister Haze @ Cobra Cabana – $15
It’s only a day later, and yet the vibe is completely different at Cobra Cabana — which is always a plus! Gotta love a venue that brings you completely different sounds from one day to the next, thereby ensuring you’ll never get bored. This time around, New York power trio The Golden Grass is coming through, and these boys look like they just stepped straight out of the 70s. They sound like it, too — their latest album, 2023’s Life Is Much Stranger, has a strong boogie-rock appeal with a hard n’ heavy crunch to it, almost as if you just put on a classic Deep Purple record that featured Black Oak Arkansas collaborating on every song. It’s not stoner rock by any means, but it’s definitely the sort of rock that stoners like; these guys would fit right in on the soundtrack to Dazed And Confused, for example.
The two Richmond-based openers on this bill would definitely fit in well alongside the other bands on the Dazed And Confused soundtrack too, but that’s not to say they all sound the same. For example, Hagstone finds members of Serqet rocking out on some upbeat riffs that have a classic early 80s metal vibe; if these guys had been around when I was 6 years old, they could have been played on the DC101 airwaves of the era alongside The Scorpions, Accept, and early Whitesnake. These days, that isn’t a sound many people are exploring, so you might find something really fresh and delightful to dig into when you catch Hagstone’s set. That’s always cool, right? The bill is rounded out by Sinister Haze, a veteran local stoner band featuring members of Cough and Dry Spell. They haven’t released any new studio recordings since pre-pandemic, but chances are they’re making progress on some new material… and really, even if they aren’t, their classic tunes are perfect fodder for slow-motion headbangs. Either way, you can’t lose. Show up for this one if you know what’s good for you.
Monday, October 20, 7 PM
Rigometrics, Hash the Band @ The Camel – $15.44 in advance, $18.54 day of show (order tickets HERE)
When I was growing up, there was a huge moat dug between the indie scene and the jam-band scene, and no one came within 10 miles of crossing it. But that sort of thing started to change by the early 2010s, when I started to notice that my younger friends who dug Radiohead and Animal Collective were also into Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. And then bands like Tame Impala and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, who seemed to render the whole distinction meaningless at least within their music, came out and had an even bigger influence on quite a few even younger kids. Now it’s 2025, and those younger kids (who most people call Zoomers) have grown up and started their own bands, and quite a few of them incorporate the bouncy musical dynamics and driving energy of indie rock into a funky, groovy, flashy jam-band paradigm.
When I listen to Rigometrics, that’s exactly what I hear; a crew of excited kids finding their own sound by mixing together genres that were unthinkable to find alongside one another in more genre-restricted previous decades. Maybe it’s just that everyone has all the recorded music in history at their fingertips these days, but the kids seem to care less and less what subgenre they might find themselves place in, and just wing it. That’s what Rigometrics is doing, incorporating Queen, P-Funk, King Crimson, Jeff Buckley, and Say Anything into a wild mix that might take you in a variety of different directions over the course of any given five-minute track — but it’ll always keep you dancing. There’s a delightful spontaneous energy to this band’s music that you don’t find in many places, and if they have to blur all sorts of lines between all sorts of sounds to get there, it’s certainly worth it. And your ticket will definitely be worth the price you pay for it to see these guys in action. You won’t be disappointed, I assure you. Charlottesville jam-rockers Hash The Band will open this one up and get everyone moving in preparation for the delightful onslaught of Rigometrics. Get ready.
Tuesday, October 21, 7 PM
Samuel S.C., Show Pony, Megasoma, Meliponines @ The Camel – $15.44 in advance, $18.54 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s such a delight to see Samuel SC carrying on in the year 2025. This early-90s sensation of the post-hardcore scene released three EPs in 1994 and 1995, and were widely heralded to be the next big thing. Unfortunately, before the band could finish their debut LP, they fell apart, and the many fans of their early material were left hanging onto a too-small collection of killer tracks, wondering what might have been. I myself was hugely into Samuel (no S.C. back then), and kept songs like “Empty And Then Some” and “Sideways Looker” in frequent rotation for the next three decades, delighting at their mix of quasi-indie power-pop hooks and anthemic post-hardcore energy. It was wonderful to see them back when 4/5 of the original lineup reformed in 2022 to finish some songs intended for that long-lost debut LP and complete some more as well. High Places was a delightful debut, especially due to its long delay, but what’s been even better in the years since it was released is seeing Samuel S.C. continue, not just picking up where they left off but hitting the road, writing completely new material, and releasing a few more excellent EPs that show they’ve still got everything that made them special back in 1994 running through their veins today.
Right now, Samuel S.C. is on tour in support of their recently released split 10-inch EP with another still-active band from the 90s post-hardcore scene, Pohgoh. Their contributions to it are catchy, energetic, and anthemic, and their entire set at The Camel this Tuesday night is sure to be a blast of effervescent musical emotion. They’ll be joined in their appearance here in Richmond by three relatively new local groups, the first of which is Show Pony. This quartet definitely has some post-hardcore elements to their own driving rock sound, though there are some more esoteric indie leanings and even some power-pop choruses stirred in there. Fellow Richmonders Megasoma bring a more tremolo-inflected guitar vibe to the evening, which makes me think of the American indie rock bands of the early 90s who liked plenty of guitar fuzz and had clearly heard a My Bloody Valentine record or two, but were still far more invested in hooky indie power-pop sounds. Think Drop Nineteens or Antenna, if you remember those groups (if you don’t, you should get on my level, because they rule). Meliponines get the evening started, and while I haven’t heard these guys yet, I can remember seeing the members in a variety of great bands from around the Richmond area in years past, so I’m expecting good things. End your Tuesday on a high note; come to this show.
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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