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RVA #11 WINTER 2012 WWW.RVAMAG.COM
FOUNDER R. Anthony Harris, Jeremy Parker PUBLISHER R. Anthony Harris VICE PRESIDENT John Reinhold EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andrew Necci CREATIVE DIRECTOR Snake Anthony SALES MANAGER Dan Anderson ADVERTISING TEAM Rachel Whaley, Teddy Gregson EDITORIAL ASST. Addison Herron-Wheeler RVAMAG.COM Andrew Necci, April Kelly WRITERS Andrew Necci, Shannon Cleary, Kristina Headrick, S. Preston Duncan, Graham Scala, Chad Brown, Addison Herron-Wheeler, Dan Anderson PHOTOGRAPHY Sarah Walor, Charles Anthony Lynch Andrew Reilly, Shawn Brackbill, Sara Padgett, Travis Shin, Andrew St. Clair, Brian Hamelman, Joe Unander, Samuel Lunsford GENERAL INFORMATION e: hello@rvamag.com EDITORIAL INFORMATION e: andrew@rvamag.com DISTRIBUTION e: hello@rvamag.com ADVERTISING John Reinhold p: 276.732.3410 e: john@rvamag.com Dan Anderson p: 804.335.8661 e: dan@rvamag.com Rachel Whaley p: 804.337.6183 e: rachel@gayrva.com Teddy Gregson p: 540.226.9777 e: teddy@rvamag.com SUBMISSION POLICY RVA welcomes submissions but cannot be held responsible for unsolicited material. Send all submissions to hello@rvamag.Com. All submissions property of Inkwell Design LLC. The entire content is a copyright of Inkwell Design LLC and cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without written authorization of the publisher. ONLINE Every issue of RVA magazine can be viewed in its entirety anytime at rvamag.com/magazine. SOCIAL facebook.com/rvamag twitter.com/@rvamag instagram/rvamag rvamag.tumblr.com majormajor.me SUBSCRIPTION Log onto rvamag.com/magazine to have RVA Magazine sent to your home or office. HEADS UP! The advertising and articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinion and attitudes of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publisher or editors. Reproduction in whole or part without prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. RVA Magazine is published quarterly. Images are subject to being altered from their original format. All material within this magazine is protected. RVA Magazine is a registered trademark of Inkwell Design LLC.
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RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
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LAMB OF GOD UPDATE BY ANDREW NECCI Photo by Travis shin
Resolution was greeted upon its release earlier this year to the band’s longevity. The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts, sold more in its first week than any previous Lamb Of God album, and receiving nearly universal critical acclaim. All of this was quite a pleasant surprise for Adler. “To have that kind of continued success is pretty unprecedented for a metal band that I’m familiar with, other than obviously Metallica. So I think we’re beginning to get into some pretty good company as far as that goes.” The fact that there’s been no backlash to speak of is another pleasant surprise. “When you get to a certain point in your career, especially when you continue to do well, as we have, everybody wants to beat you up,” he said. “You become the target. Instead of the underdog that everybody loves, you’re kind of the bad guy that everybody wants to see fail.” The fact that Lamb Of God hasn’t been forced into this role is something Adler attributes to the deliberate pace with which they built their career. “We didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s been a pretty slow burn. There wasn’t any one particular standout moment that made the band what it is today.”
When we last spoke with Chris Adler, drummer of Lamb Of God, things were going very well with the band. They were about to release their seventh album, Resolution, and had big plans for a year filled with touring and performances all over the world. Since then, a lot has happened to the band, with the lion’s share of attention and discussion focusing on the arrest of vocalist Randy Blythe in Prague, Czech Republic on June 28. Charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of a fan following a Lamb Of God concert in Prague on May 24, 2010, Blythe and the band have categorically denied the validity of the charges from the moment they were made public. Nonetheless, Blythe was forced to remain behind bars in Prague for over a month before he was released on bail, and he still must return to the Czech Republic in January 2013 to formally stand trial. When we recently got back in touch with Chris Adler to talk about the tour Lamb Of God is currently on, and what the band has coming up in the near future, we assumed he was probably sick to death of talking about Randy’s ongoing legal situation. However, he brought up the subject before we did, and had a better attitude about the situation than we ever could have expected. “We’re coming to this with a renewed sense of how lucky we are, and how fortunate we are to be doing what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s beautiful to be back onstage again.”
tallic hardcore stalwarts Hatebreed and titans of Swedish metal In Flames, as well as up-andcoming groups like England’s Sylosis and American supergroup Hellyeah (which features former members of Pantera, Damageplan, and Mudvayne, among others). Discussion of the American tour quickly led us to the subject of returning to Europe. “We want to get back to Europe,” Adler assured me. “I don’t know that Randy’s gonna be first in line to go back to Prague, but we definitely want to.” He also expressed regret at the consequences of having to cut their previous European tour short. “It’s a real trickle-down effect when something like that happens. It’s not just the promoters and the band losing a little bit of money. The people on the buses, the crew and their families--everybody really starts to suffer. Then we had to cancel our summer tour. So those bands, those crews, those production elements that were lined up and rented, all suffered.”
Unfortunately, the continued effect of the band’s legal troubles make returning to Europe impossible for the time being. “Right now, we’re literally not allowed to leave [the United States],” Adler explained. “Randy has a trial set for January in Prague. He’s intending to return to face the charges. He’s facing everything head-on and with a clear mind, and obviously we’re very proud of him. [But] until that process comes to some sort of end, we can’t leave. As soon as it Once Blythe was released and allowed to return is decided, our thoughts are that Randy will be a home, the band got right to work booking a full free man, we’ll be able to travel again, and we’ll US tour. In the interest of making the show as be right back at it.” awesome as possible, they put a lot of thought into exactly who they wanted to bring along on Fan support in general has been a big part of tour with them, and it shows. “I don’t want to Lamb Of God’s last year as a band--a big comfort have a show of three or four bands that sound to the members during the troubled times they exactly like us,” Adler explained. “We’re try- went through this summer. “We’ve been very ing to spread the love a little bit, and put on a surprised by the amount of support that we’ve good show for everybody.” To that end, the tour gotten, and I think it has to do with us having a features several opening acts hand-picked by very grassroots fanbase,” Adler said. He also atLamb Of God--including such legends as me- tributes the excellent reception with which 12
With some time to gain perspective on the album, he’s very happy with the music on Resolution as well. “I feel like the music is as good and as relevant as anything that we have done before. We were able to objectively look back at the catalog and understand where we did something right and where we did something wrong. On this record, we tried to pool all the things we did right, and to improve upon them. I think it offers a lot of different sides of the band, and I’m very proud of it.” Lamb Of God’s current US tour is in full swing, and Adler and the rest of the band consider the Richmond date on the tour to be very important. “It was really important to us to ask the booking agent and the promoters to do a hometown show,” he said. “There’s been so much support for us here--whether it be the fans, the local media, people that really helped out while Randy was locked up, the generosity of the fans that put on benefit shows and did auctions--and I think it’s time that we come home and try to put on a special show for everybody that was there to support us.” Rather than the tour beginning here at home, Lamb Of God actually started this tour in the Southwestern United States, with the RVA date not occurring until nearly a month into the tour. “So we’ve got about a month to fine-tune everything and make sure that nobody gets set on fire before we get to Richmond,” Adler explained. “We’re gonna pull out all the stops. We’re putting more into this particular run of shows, production-wise, than we’ve ever done before. We want people walking out impressed with the show. It should be a fun night for everybody.” And after everything the band has been through over the past year, playing music and having fun has become more important than ever. “Honestly, we didn’t know if we were going to be able to work at all this year, or even past this year,” he admitted. “We’re very fortunate that things have worked out. We do a certain thing fairly well, and we’re gonna keep going as long as we’re having a good time doing it.” lamb-of-god.com RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
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James Justin BY S. PRESTON DUNCAN
towards the bandwagon crowd with fanciful notions of popularity and no soul to enforce them. That being said, the album is, to me, slightly overproduced. It’s a notably clean recording, and I just want to hear a little more creak in the floorboards. These are songs that should be recorded in makeshift studios along riverbanks. It’s a small complaint, and doesn’t really diminish my appreciation of the release at all. In some ways, it actually allows their sound to capture an essence of Wilco, one of Burkes’ biggest influences, and one arguably more prominent than that of Avett Brothers, who seem to be perpetually associated with JJ&Co in the media. I don’t know why [journalists] always [compare us to] The Avett Brothers, other than instrumentation. The Avett Brothers made banjos and roots songwriting popular again. It’s always been popular and cool to a lot of people, but they’ve broken barriers as far as genres go. But Jeff Tweedy[of Wilco] and Neil Young are my biggest influences.
There is a particular and unnamed sensation that accompanies the realization that a band you’ve enjoyed for a while hadn’t really discovered themselves yet, all those times you saw them before. It’s a sharp breath pushing their past performances into the periphery of memory, to be regarded as a soft search of the great sonic something, a feeling out of unlit possibilities, a melodic hand sliding down the tight coiled strings of identity. What was once certitude of virtuosity, in hindsight, is suddenly revealed to be another delusion of expectation. You’d feel duped if it didn’t feel so damn good. For fans of James Justin & Co, Places is that moment. For the uninitiated, it is an opportunity to alleviate your thirsty, neglected ears. With their lineup pared down to three musicians, the new album features a radiant harmony between the songwriting and vocals of James Justin Burke, the banjo pickin’ and vocals of Bailey Horsley, and Tom Propst’s upright bass and vocals. It’s an album of unexpected musical twists, shifts that rush up on you like a wave you didn’t see coming, right out past where your feet touch the bottom. The songwriting is genuine, in that the messages feel timeless and poignant, without any indication that they were forced to be so. These are songs that flirt with the slow burn of Southern gothic desolation, and then plunge into the type of giddy innocence endemic among pop love songs--but you know, lovably. It never dips into the shallows of easy clichés, nor strains at the worn leather of worldweary Americana seniority. Their music, much like the musicians themselves, is at a crossroads in life, a place of evolution. They have the strength to be effectively honest about their middle-ground wisdom, which, paradoxically, endows their music with a sense of wisdom beyond their years. They split the hills between traditional country and indie Americana like a motorcycle speeding through the landscapes they invoke. It’s a masterfully made wine that you know, regardless of how great it is now, will age very, very well. You can tell these guys have found their rhythm. 14
Unlike Wilco, who seem destined to reside in the most enormously populated epicenters of underground music, sidestepping slightly the boggy canals of radio fame while retaining a huge following of unassailable devotion, JJ&Co may be able to use Places to get their foot in the door of Nashville radio. Not that it’s clear that’s what they’re going for. But with country music and culture enjoying bizarre amounts of mainstream popularity, and indie Americana acts dragging their uprights into the blinding spotlight of perennial fame, it’s a good time to pick a banjo. Especially if your appeal traverses that blurry line between hipster Americana and stadium country without falling into the regrettable realms of either genre. We encourage people to come talk to us. Some of them will say “you remind me of the Zac Brown Band” and some will say “you remind me of Del McCoury” or Dwight Yoakam. You have your indie kids, and your pop James Justin Burke: It’s all songwriting. The songs, all country crowd, and the alternative scene, all together in of them come from different inspirations, but you can a melting pot at our shows, and it’s so great to see them hear that it’s JJ&Co in all of them. With just banjo and collaborate this energy. We try to return it to them. upright bass, it’s much more dynamic, more punctual. Style wise, we were heavier, a little more rock n’ roll In other words, they’re a Richmond band, in the best sense. Their musical sensibilities echo the audiowhen we started, but now it’s a trimmed beauty. cultural landscape of a town where subcultures The focus has changed, and that goes back to me down- comfortable invoking Del McCoury, Wilco, Mumsizing the instrumentation. When you have drums and ford and Sons, or Zac Brown commingle on comkeys and a lot of electricity on stage, it’s easy to jam and mon ground. And I get it. Not just because I think get lost in that heavy sonic thing. But when you break Zac Brown is fucking great--but kind of. it down, you’ve gotta be dynamic to engage the crowd. You’ve gotta write songs like you’ve never written be- It’s hard to put your finger on what makes country fore. And I put that pressure on myself. A lot of people radio, well, country, when they play everything from don’t work well under pressure. I like to put that pres- traditional country to Southern rock to straightforsure on my shoulders, and try to write the best I can, ward pop with an accent. By the same token, it’s and perform the best I can. It’s a service to our fans. We not easy to single out exactly what it is that gives want them to buy Places and be taken to another place. a particular act the street cred required for underAnd it was a very easy album to write when that pres- ground fame. But as an admitted patron of country radio, Jackass Flats shows, barnyard pickin’ sessure was on. sions, and Tim Barry sets, I get the impression that The album as a whole is transfixing, and I love it, but JJ&Co has what it takes to make it on both sides I’m not sure there’s really one song that grabs me of the fence. And while I don’t hear Zac Brown in more than the others. And I don’t know if that’s a there, at all, there is the common sentiment of a good or bad thing. But there’s something to be said songwriting style shaped by landscapes, front porch about finding palpable authenticity in Americana philosophies, and the fires burning in the backyard music right now. It’s become strangely hip, which of inspiration. has endowed the genre with a certain magnetism jamesjustinandco.com RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
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Unholy Thoughts BY addison herron-wheeler photos by charles anthony lynch
In Richmond, hardcore, punk, metal, and crossover bands pop up all the time--incestuously sharing members, recruiting friends, feeding off of past bands and lineups for inspiration, then warping it to make something new and different and fresh. What makes Richmond’s own Unholy Thoughts stand out, despite the fact that they are doing all the aforementioned things, is that they have staying power and truly fresh ideas. They have kept this particular project on the back burner until recently, but the band that is now Unholy Thoughts has been technically in the making for the last five years. Although it is common when surfing the web to turn up reviews calling them crust, and they do undoubtedly play a hard-hitting, groovy brand of hardcore punk that could be labeled as such, they are far from the type of crust band that wears identical bullet belts and black-and-white tshirts and plays nothing but recycled Discharge riffs. Their music can be compared to the loose, rock n’ roll-infused stylings of Annihilation Time and Poison Idea, but with a tinge of Eyehategod-esque sludgieness and a hint of classic 77-style punk that is missing from much modern hardcore. In short, despite their emergence in a scene that produces many clones, they are actually a unique and original band. Recently I caught up with Kenny Ball, bassist and former singer of Government Warning and Southside Stranglers, and guitarist Kevin Guild, formerly of the Southside Stranglers, to talk about their progression as a band, the changes they have undergone since the band’s inception, and the international good reception of the new record. The band has been together in some form or another as far back as the heyday of Government Warning’s local and international success. “When we first started trying to do the band, if my memory serves me, we planned to call it Malignant Youth,” says Kenny of the band’s formation. “It was decided a little later on that name was too reminiscent of Malignus Youth from Arizona. It was Mike Toombs and I. That was around the time Mikey and I were doing Government Warning and about to disband End it Quick. We just wanted 16
to play something heavier that derived its strength from more of a crushing mid-tempo pace rather than the blazing fast speeds we were used to. We were listening to a lot of Violent Minds and developing a taste for the old, heavy UK sound. It dawned on me much later that I was heavily influenced by Dayglo Abortions as well. I just wanted something much darker and Mike was with that, too.”
Shortly after the release of their second demo, Eric was replaced by Danny Hash on drums, and Alan Lawson joined as a second guitarist, giving Unholy Thoughts the lineup they have today. Government Warning and the Southside Stranglers both disbanded, and they suddenly found themselves with much more time to focus on Unholy Thoughts. They decided to hunker down and release a full-length album, entitled The Attic. They also continued to play shows and build up more of a following locally and internationally. Soon they were picked up by Even Worse Records in the Netherlands. “We already had a big European following,” says Kevin, “and Even Worse contacted us and wanted to put out a pressing of 500 vinyl records in Europe.” “We got that hookup from our friends at Vinyl Conflict, but they went under shortly after,” adds Kenny. “Then Tim from [local label] Forcefield Records approached us and we signed with them, too.” Now that Unholy Thoughts are a part of the Forcefield family, they have been playing even more shows, such as the Forcefield Records showcase at Strange Matter on October 12th.
He and Mike decided to join up with Kevin and another friend, Paul Ballard, to form proto-Unholy Thoughts. At the time, Mike was doing vocals and the rest of the lineup was fluctuating and sketchy. “That first show at Nara was a mess,” Kenny admits. “In my own opinion, we sucked. I think we were just smoking way too much pot at practice. After that show we took a pretty significant hiatus because Paul disappeared and things weren’t really moving forward in the way we wanted them to. Mike, Kev, and I started Southside Stranglers in the meantime. After that we lured Ricky [Olson, their current vocalist] away from DC (after living there for all of ten hours or so) and added Eric Hancock on the drums. We started to make some progress and ended up So what’s next for Unholy Thoughts? While they playing our next show in August of 2010.” adapt a nonchalant attitude and claim that everyAfter this, they began to play some more local thing is up in the air, it seems that they have more shows and produced their first semi-official record- plans in the works than many bands. “We are gonna ing, although it was done by a friend on lo-fidelity go do some weekends in November up and down equipment and not regarded as a serious effort by the East Coast due to a short leash provided by anyone in the band. “The first demo was a six-song, the long arm of the law,” says Kenny. “We’re workfour-track demo in our old storage unit space, re- ing out some new songs ever-so-slowly, and we’re corded in 2008 I believe, which became two songs gonna hopefully make another 12 inch when we due to time and effort shortage,” says Kenny. “It was have enough shit. Ideally next summer when we a big pile of shit that was barely heard by anyone. don’t have piss tests and all the fun shit, we’ll set I don’t think anyone even has a copy of that any- out for some actual road time. I wouldn’t mind trymore. The only song I remember having done was ing to check out some other countries too, maybe called ‘Methadonia,’ which later became the song sneak on up to Canada for a little bit, who knows. “Tradition” that is on the LP. After we started on At this point, anything and everything sounds too the second lineup with Eric Hancock on drums, we ambitious.” recorded the 2010 demo, which we called Sleep. I remember distinctly that the first three songs Mike unholythoughts.bandcamp.com and I worked out were what are now called ‘In Living Color,’ ‘Black and Red,’ and ‘Whiskey, Weed, Girls and Speed.’” RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
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Eternal Summers by shannon cleary PHOTO : Joe Unander
While it is not actually the vanished island community of early United States history, Roanoke, Virginia has long been a sort of cultural lost colony. It’s no wonder that, in recent years, the city has taken on a majestic quality. The bands that make up the Roanoke-based musical confederation known as The Magic Twig Community--including The Sad Cobras, The Young Sinclairs, The Missionaries and Eternal Summers--are a testament to this fact. With this year’s release of their second album, Correct Behavior, Eternal Summers have grown beyond the boundaries of their close-knit hometown scene, while still finding a way to stay true to their origins. The easy birth of Eternal Summers was due in large part to the enthusiasm of guitarist Nicole Yun and drummer Daniel Cundiff, who quickly discovered a lo-fi aesthetic that set them apart from their peers. “We decided early on that it made more sense to really focus on the impact we could pull off in our songs,”Yun explains. “We could have just played loudly, and that would have probably been cool. Yet it seemed more fascinating to take the quiet parts and make them quieter. That way, we could really make louder moments resonate through a particular song, and leave a lasting impression.” This technique is prevalent on their first full-length Silver, released in 2010 on Kanine Records. “Running High” and “Pogo” are strong examples. “Running High” relies heavily on giving the space between notes and chords as strong of a focus as Yun’s vocals. “Pogo,” on the other hand, is a bit more straightforward in its upbeat tempo, while still reflecting their initial intentions. 18
One particular instrument deserves a big part of the credit for the way the early Eternal Summers sound developed. The Parker Nitefly guitar is known for its ability to bring both strong low and clear high tones. Yun’s use of this particular guitar allowed Eternal Summers to achieve the lowend that would typically be supplied by a bass and perform as a bassless duo without leaving any sonic elements missing from their songs. However, the unfortunate theft of Yun’s Parker Nitefly while the group was on tour changed everything, and helped shape how their sound would develop in the future. Yun replaced the Parker Nitefly with a Fender Telecaster, but it wasn’t the same. There was definitely something missing. This is what led bassist Jonathan Woods to come into the fold. “We were never married to the idea of being a two-piece, and I had already played in a few bands with Jonathan,” Cundiff says. “He seemed like an ideal fit.” Yun’s transition to playing a Fender Telecaster helped her to make her guitar hero dreams come true. “With Jonathan there, it’s a whole new idea as far as how I can approach a song,” she explains. “It lets me focus on riffs and solos in a way that I would have never really considered before. As a result, I feel like I have gotten better as a guitarist, and we as a band are better for it as well.” The inclusion of Woods also helped the band to have a different perspective in regards to their older songs. “It was never an issue of songs not being fun to play live,” Cundiff explains. “Nicole and I wouldn’t have done this band if that
were ever an issue. Having Jonathan in the mix definitely helps us work on the older songs a bit differently. Whether that means making them faster or building intensity in new ways, there will probably always be songs from the earlier records that we will play or bring back.” After a few tours with Brooklyn indie-folk heroes Woods, Eternal Summers were ready to return to familiar Roanoke studio Mystic Fortress in order to record Correct Behavior with engineer Joe Lunsford. “Working with Joe and Mystic Fortress feels like home to us,” Yun mentions. “For Correct Behavior, it felt natural for us to potentially take more chances. We are a three-piece now, and these songs weren’t too far removed from what Daniel and I were writing before. They were definitely different enough that maybe there was something that we had to acknowledge there.” While the band still decided to record to analog tape, the biggest change was the mastering process. The tapes for Correct Behavior were sent to Sune Rose Wagner of The Ravonettes and producer Alonzo Vargas for mastering. The band felt nervous at first, but when they heard the results, everything was to their immense satisfaction. “I was in Korea when I had a chance to hear the final touches and I couldn’t believe it,” Yun recalls. “It sounded bigger and grander than I could have ever imagined. It definitely made the record.” When listening to Correct Behavior, it’s easy to spot how important a record this is for Eternal Summers. This is a band figuring out a proper balance between two different eras of their RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
PHOTO : andrew st. clair
PHOTO : brian hamelman
PHOTO : samuel lunsford
existence. “Wonder” and “You Kill” add more momentum to the up-tempo numbers from Silver, as well as showcasing Yun’s harmonious vocals reaching epic heights. “Millions” displays Yun’s growth as a guitarist with a stronger understanding of her craft through the inclusion of varied effects. One song in particular that sticks out is “Good As You,” a slow jam that escalates when it hits each chorus, and feels like the perfect middle ground for the band. “With that song, I can see how someone might say that it reminds them the most of our older material,” Yun says. “It definitely works in the slower build and focuses on some of the isolated energy that we tried to pull off on Silver. It’s also one of the first songs that we had written for Correct Behavior.” It’s an absolutely remarkable standout from a quality release that is filled to the brim with beautiful, lush surroundings and clever throwbacks to sounds from the eighties and nineties. Since its release, Eternal Summers have been on tour nonstop, hitting destinations around the country and garnering rave reviews for Correct Behavior, even having “Millions” remixed by Toronto artist Teen. One might wonder if all of the touring that Eternal Summers does is a means of escaping Roanoke, but Cundiff is quick to defend the city, and clarify their continued desire to call Roanoke home. “Some might see what we are doing as a way of getting away from here. I don’t see it that way. The laid back feel and the lack of competition amongst all of the bands is always going to be comforting. Everyone just plays to play and it’s easy to find people that are creative with desires of starting bands. It was that way when a lot of the early Magic Twig stuff was getting underway, and remains the same now. If anything, it’s a nice breather to come home to Roanoke after spending a good amount of time away from here.” Eternal Summers are only a small part of the Roanoke music community, but their efforts as a band are bringing attention to the entire city. The possibility of opening for a Jenny Lewis solo tour is just one hint of what is still on the horizon for the band, as they continue to enjoy an excellent rapport and develop a stimulating creative output that rivals the biggest names in the music world. eternalsummers.bandcamp.com
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“if you’re going to ask me to pay and come see your show, it needs to be because you think you’re doing something great,” he says. “For the last 6 years, we’ve just toured our hearts out teaching people how to love and experience rock and roll.”
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As the lights dim and the house music slowly becomes awkward silence, the opening band appears from behind the curtain. As usual, you’ve never heard of them; and by the looks of things, you probably don’t want to. There are four of them; a bass player and guitarist who could be picked out a lineup of generic local band members, a drummer who has an eerie resemblance to Ryan Gosling, and a lead singer who looks like he just left the set of Sons of Anarchy, complete with unkempt hair that hasn’t seen shampoo in days and a jean jacket that perfectly walks the line between horribly cliche and incredibly badass. They take their respective positions, with the singer sitting down to a piano that has obviously been to hell and back, perhaps as recently as yesterday. You roll your eyes. The band in question is the only thing that stands between you and the band you actually paid to see. While they may look like a bunch of mangled misfits, they prefer to be called J. Roddy Walston and the Business. And the show they’re about to put on will make you completely forget about the party you originally came for. While the aforementioned scenario is completely
The rock and roll of which Walston speaks is authentic -- a piano driven soul and gospel concoction that will make you dance around the living room in your underwear while taking shots of Jameson for breakfast. If Steven Tyler sang for the Ramones and Lionel Richie kept pace with infectious piano licks that made you close your eyes and grit your teeth, you’d have your average J Roddy Walston and the Business song. And in a fabricated music age dominated by bleep and bloop, they may just be some of the purest tunes modern rock and roll still has to offer.
That somebody was Heather Hawkins, a member of the Vagrant community. She passed the catchy tunes onto Kevin Augunas, who at the time was wrapping up production on the latest offering from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Augunas took an immediate liking to The Business, eventually producing their 2010 self-titled record. Building on the potential displayed on Hail Mega Boys, it was polished, complete with layered musical elements and heavier themes. It was a record that screamed, “If we’re going to party, it is going to be a really fucking intelligent party.”
“When we started playing festivals, I really noticed it,” Walston recalls, discussing the impressive festival circuit the band has conquered over the last year and a half--which includes everything from Austin City Limits to Lollapalooza. “With the exception of a few headliners, there isn’t really a rock and roll circuit anymore.”
But just because you throw an intelligent party doesn’t mean anybody is actually going to show up. After years of paying their dues, getting noticed by a prominent indie label, and creating the record that should have made them a household name, J Roddy Walston and the Business had nothing to show for it. And the band had finally reached the end of their rope.
As for his own band, Walston has whittled a description down to caveman terms. “There’s a primal element to our band, like monkeys beating on drums with a bunch of sticks,” he says, laughing. But while the last 18 months have been good to J
“We took on 2011 with the mentality that we may never make another record, because things just aren’t working out in our favor. So let’s go out our way,” Roddy says. “So we decided to just throw a bunch of party shows.”
J. RODDY WALSTON BY CHAD BROWN PHOTOS BY andrew reilly
fictional, it’s one that Jonathan Walston -- the biker gang lookalike occupying the piano -- has experienced far too many times. “We’ve had to create our own audience in every city,” Walston tells me when we meet for tacos and tequila. “It’s been difficult. Town to town, we’ve had to teach each city how to be our crowd; five, ten, one hundred people at a time.” It may sound like a sob story, but it’s accurate if nothing else; as he sips on his tequila, the crustyyet-fashionable lead singer fondly recalls playing to a handful of fans who were way more interested in what beer was on tap than the band about to take the stage. And in an internet age that has produced hipsters known for standing at shows with their arms folded, wearing a blank stare that demands to be entertained but refuses to help their own cause, J. Roddy Walston is doing their best to turn up the volume and dust off the dancing shoes. “I believe in the mentality that if you’re going to ask me to pay and come see your show, it needs to be because you think you’re doing something great,” he says. “For the last 6 years, we’ve just toured our hearts out teaching people how to love and experience rock and roll.” CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY
Roddy Walston and his Business, the monkeys and their drum almost didn’t make it out of 2011 alive. For years, the band sent hopeful Myspace messages to promoters in an effort to book basement shows, and begged friends of friends to let them sleep on their floor. They toured relentlessly, keeping their road crew light in order to keep costs low. “We’ve seen so many bands make a little bit of money and next thing you know, they’re touring with their rap entourage,” Roddy says. “It’s just not a good situation.” In 2007, the band released their first full length, Hail Mega Boys, which Roddy describes as a collection of songs he worked on solo and finally decided to put a band behind. “With that record, we just wanted to make a party record,” he says. “It was fast and furious and we thought, ‘Ok, this is fun.’” The party continued on the road until 2009, when somebody finally took notice of the catchy tunes that were backed up by a live show that took on a life of its own. After a slew of shows with Murder by Death and the Hold Steady, both of which are signed to Vagrant Records, somebody finally started to pay attention.
By “party shows,” the piano man is referring to a move that, in hindsight, may have saved the band he had worked so hard to create, establish, and keep. “Tours were crappy, people just weren’t paying attention, and we were worn out,” he recalls. “We made a great record, we put on great shows, and still nobody cared. It was frustrating.” So in the spring of 2011, after a full year of grueling tour in support of their Vagrant debut, the band decided to put their best foot forward, playing weekly residency shows for a month straight in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. “The press wasn’t writing about us; so that didn’t work,” he said. “What worked was somebody seeing us and wanting to bring their friends next time we were in town. So we decided to pick a few key cities and set up camp once a week to see what happened.” The result was a word of mouth relay race that normally begins with a rave review from Pitchfork or Brooklyn Vegan. Only this time, the word of mouth was taking place because a band was doing exactly what they get paid to do--go out and impress whatever lucky music fans decided to wander into their show. “We dedicated ourselves to those cities for a month at a time, determined to
21 special thanks to brandon crowe for getting this together. roll tide!
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RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
show those people how to enjoy the party we wanted to throw,” Roddy recalls. “We put our hands on the steering wheel and decided to take it to the limit. After that, the pieces started falling into place.” The pieces came in the form of high-profile tours and opening band slots, which included the likes of Shooter Jennings, Deer Tick, and the Drive-By Truckers. The icing on top of a delicious change of pace, however, was a last minute phone call in the fall of 2011 asking if the band had plans for Halloween. “We had just finished a stint on the West Coast when we got a call asking if we wanted to open for Weezer,” Roddy, who considers Pinkerton to be one of the best party records of all time, remembers. “We drove 18 hours straight to open that show. It was awesome.” But while the band was graduating from house shows to House of Blues, another important adjustment was brewing behind the scenes. After spending most of their professional career in Baltimore, two of the four band members made the move to Richmond in an effort to settle down and have a place to call home when they weren’t on tour. “When we moved to Baltimore, we didn’t have anything established anywhere else, so Baltimore became where we were from,” Roddy explained. “Moving to Richmond, I went out of my way to meet the people and the musicians here in an effort to understand how Richmond works.” Walston, who is no stranger to the River City, remembers passing through in the early 2000’s, only to experience a city that had deep roots in a violent hardcore scene and wasn’t afraid to make that fact painfully obvious. “I used to pass through, and my friends would play in town and get beat up for no reason,” he said. “We passed through on tour, but if a Richmond show got canceled, it wasn’t the end of the world. It’s hard to convince your band to keep playing a city that continually gave them black eyes after the show.” Now that he’s lived here for a few years and befriended local musicians such as The Trillions and Matthew E. White, Walston has no problem admitting that the aforementioned shiners have been exchanged for fresh scallops. “I think Richmond has the potential to be an unbelievably amazing place -- the restaurants that have popped up even since I’ve been here are just incredible. There’s no denying the fact that Richmond has heavily evolved over the last decade. That’s pretty obvious.” But above all, Roddy seems genuinely excited to befriend the community that made Strike Anywhere and GWAR common names. “This place has that Avail mentality,” he says. “Once they love you, they will always love you. And I’m really excited to be a part of a community like that.” The community in question is one that is known for being rowdy, wild, and consuming more Jameson than any other city its size should ever try to tackle. And while I didn’t double check with him to make sure, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what The Business is looking for. jroddywalstonandthebusiness.com
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Few, if any, Richmond musicians have a legacy like that of Fun Size frontman James Menefee. As a promising young lad in a budding scene, his early ventures into music found immediate acclaim. Where the 90s-era Richmond music scene was concerned, Fun Size weren’t just any band. For many in the city, Fun Size was one of the greatest things to ever happen to Richmond music. It took the four members to places no one could have even imagined. And just when you thought they were about to venture even further, it was over. Now, more than twelve years later, Fun Size are together once more, and with better heads on their shoulders, they might be able to give it the shot that they earned long ago. 24
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An introduction to punk rock can happen in several ways. Some have an older sibling who acts as a resource, while others learn about it from friends. The latter was the case for Menefee, and his gateway was none other than Fun Size drummer Allen Skillman. “I have known Allen since I was four,” Menefee explains. “He grew up across the street from me and had moved around a bit before finally returning back to the area. When he did, he had all of these records from bands like Screeching Weasel, Face to Face, Descendents, All, that kind of stuff. It was this So-Cal punk that I was immediately drawn to.” This was the fuel needed for Fun Size to take shape, which happened when
most of the members were just twelve years old. For the most part, they were just trying to figure out how to play their instruments. “By the time we put out our first record, I was fifteen,” Menefee reminisces. “It felt like there weren’t any poppunk bands in Richmond at the time. It helped us to try to discover how we could create our own scene, and the time period seemed instrumental to this. We were all a little more open, less jaded.” After developing a fanbase in Richmond, Fun Size wanted to go on tour. With no real help or assistance, Menefee had to reach out for advice from someone. There was one obvious candidate that RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
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INTERVIEW BY Shannon Cleary PHOTOS BY Sarah Walor
outing. However, the mistakes and disasters were learning exercises for everyone involved, and if not for these experiences, what came next may have never occurred. They were offered the chance to tour with Discount that fall, and the low-level buzz surrounding the band helped put touring into perspective. “After that winter, we decided to tour on the weekends and spend the summers on full-fledged tours,” says Menefee. This also led to their relationship with Vinnie Fiorello of Fueled By Ramen. “I had sent Vinnie The first tour took place the day after Menefee a couple demos. This is right when Fueled By Ragraduated from high school in the summer of men started. He wanted to put out a seven-inch. 1996. Fun Size didn’t fare too well on their first We were determined to tour on this release, and it set the tide for everything thereafter.” would prove to be integral. “We had decided we all wanted to go on tour, and the only person I knew that could guide me on this was Tim Barry,” Menefee recalls. “So I knocked on his door, and he showed me maps. He illustrated how to set up an itinerary, how I could set up connections in each town, make phone calls and see if my band could play. It was as if he were like, ‘Go forth, my child, and spread your pop-punk love with the universe.’”
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The release of this seven-inch and the subsequent tour in the summer of 1997 would lead to great things for Fun Size. After their first month long tour led them to Gainesville, members of Less Than Jake caught their performance, which encouraged Fiorello to approach the band about recording a full-length. “They were more or less like if you want to do a full-length, we’ll put it out,” Menefee says. “And I got really excited because we had all of these songs we had written over the course of three years, and we could finally have it all documented. Nothing would go unaccounted for and we could record everything.” 25
After Fueled By Ramen released this LP, entitled Glad To See You’re Not Dead, Fun Size started picking up steam. “Everything started to come a bit easier and people were taking notice,” Menefee says. “I was in college at the time and we were receiving mail from all around the country. In-between classes, I would try to respond to as much of the mail as possible. I would go to pay phones and book tours. It was a pretty monumental time for us.” Unfortunately, this kind of hyperactivity can become detrimental to a band’s mental state. Fun Size had done so much since their preteen origins. Now, at nineteen, as they were becoming adults with new responsibilities in their personal lives, they were signed to Fueled by Ramen and touring rampantly. “The record dropped in May of 1998 and we spent a summer on the road,” Menefee explains. “When we got home, we were really exhausted and burned out. What we needed was someone that may have been older, wiser, and in the industry to tell us that this was just kind of what happens. You need to straighten up and get through this hump. Every band goes through this, [but] we didn’t see it that way. We weren’t getting any new songs written and priorities were becoming skewed. Finding time to be a band was becoming more difficult. And it was annoying, because we were actually doing the best we were ever doing, and I couldn’t see that then.” One particular incident involving a missed touring opportunity ended the band for Menefee. Fiorello made a last minute call to the band about jumping on a few dates of a tour featuring Snuff, Less Than Jake, and Discount. “Vinnie wanted us to meet them in Atlanta to join this tour,” Menefee relates. “I called everyone in the band. Everyone couldn’t do it because of work or other reasons, and the call I made back to Vinnie was the final push in ending the band. He couldn’t believe that we weren’t able to jump on board. I realized then that I needed to be in a band that could just be on the road. That was enough for me to try and figure out where Fun Size was going.”
so bad that I was willing to sacrifice everything. Then we got signed by MCA in 2002 and it was all happening. I might have not seen it the right way, but I thought Fun Size didn’t work because we didn’t work hard enough for it. So when we signed to MCA, I was convinced we had made it, and it definitely built us up.”
Unforutnately, though, the label folded soon after signing River City High. They did their best to carry on, but were never really able to recover from the letdown. A brief opportunity that arose from an appearance in an MTV contest seemed a possible savior for River City High, but at this point they were not the same band that people had become introduced to through their early Even as Fun Size played their last shows over the releases on Doghouse Records. “There was this next few months, Menefee was noticing new fac- three year lapse where no one really got to see es in the crowd. It made him realize that although the evolution of the band from pop-punk to this the breakup was going to have to happen, this bar rock sound,” Menefee explains. “The inspimay have not been the right time to do it. “Our ration behind it was a push from the label that last show was huge and it really bummed me out,” led us to believe that pop-punk was dead. We he says. “I did realize that this had to be done, be- wanted to keep moving forward, and our music cause not everyone’s head was in the same place. started to change as a result.” This gap in time That’s what I mean when [I say] I wish someone confused most people, making it difficult for River had stepped in, because it could have saved the City High to regain the momentum that they had band to have that outside perspective and push to started with, and eventually led to the demise of persevere, in spite of the rough patches.” Instead, the band. before the members had even reached their twenOnce River City High was done, Menefee needed ties, this was the end of Fun Size. to take some time to himself. The dynamics of the Menefee spent the next seven years with the music scene were changing locally and nationgroup River City High. For better or worse, the ally. “I came home to Richmond and that’s when experience left him with several lessons regard- screamo started to take over,” he explains. “There ing the music industry that he would have never were these kids with flat-ironed hair screaming learned otherwise. While Fun Size’s early devel- for five minutes and it made no sense to me. It opment proceeded at a snail’s pace, River City was also troubling to spend seven years on the High was the complete opposite. When they road with River City High and feel like everything formed, Menefee wanted to hit the ground run- [in Richmond] was foreign territory. From 1995 ning. In some respects, it worked out in his favor. to 1999, I was at every show. I practically lived “River City High’s whole story can be pegged to- at Twisters and Metro. At this point, I felt like a wards my desire to tour constantly,” he says. “We stranger to this town and its music. I didn’t underhit the road hard for three years. Everyone around stand the new bands and they didn’t know who I me wondered what I was doing. I wanted a deal was. I felt like a dinosaur, and that felt terrible. It might sound whiny but it was the way I felt at the 26
time. I was ready to move on, to maybe start doing something new.” This change in his thought process helped inspire his songwriting in his next group, Long Arms. He needed a dynamic change musically and this was the perfect outlet. “I never stopped writing songs, but I did approach songwriting somewhat differently,” he explains. Long Arms is certainly a softer approach for Menefee. He had previously existed in the world of pop-punk and straight-up rock, but this project allowed him to harness a bit more folk into the proceedings, and see if there was a place where the two could meet. “Some people might construe Long Arms as being like ‘old man rock,’ but to me it’s just another idea and a way to express that,” he says. “If it’s honest and it comes from a solid grounding, you can’t really deny that.” Prior to our interview, the band had recently played a successful gig at The National, and this brought up the topic of Long Arms’ continuing existence. “With this two-pile thought process, these days it seems like I will write a song and it either fits for Long Arms or it fits for Fun Size. As long as that remains to be the case, I don’t see why either band can’t co-exist with the other one.” The idea of getting Fun Size back together emerged from a gathering in support of a friend in need. Dan Duggins suffered a massive stroke in April of 2010. Without health insurance, he was accumulating bills in massive amounts. People began to set up benefits to help Duggins pay his bills, and one particular benefit promoter sent out a request to Menefee to see if Fun Size would consider reuniting. The band agreed to do it. “Getting ready for that show really put us all into the mindset of giving this another try,” Menefee says. “Enough time had passed, and I think we all felt like we could learn from mistakes of our youth.” The show was a great success, and provided the perfect means for Fun Size to envision a second life. RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
As the band was figuring out what their next move should be, a few differences arose. Original guitarist Orice Collins was initially on board, until a minor dispute arose regarding the direction this new Fun Size era would take. “I love Orice to death and we wanted him to be on board for this next stage of the band,” Menefee explains. “The only issue was that I felt like we were better off keeping the sound of Fun Size a more succinct idea, as opposed to engaging more variety and having a new record sound a bit off the wall. It’s not that I wanted to pigeonhole the new album and have it feel limited. I figured we are reintroducing ourselves to a new generation and we might be better off trying to create a solid foundation of what our sound is.”
The new record fits in perfectly with Fun Size’s late nineties output, but feels more realized. The melodies are stronger and the instrumentation is tighter. This is the perfect spot for a group like Fun Size to pick up where they left off. Songs like “Her So Called Life” and “Difference” provide obvious examples of how far Menefee has come as a songwriter. The years spent away made the heart grow fonder, and the album is an honest testament to his unapologetic love for the pop-punk genre. One big difference between this release and their past work is guitarist Brian Owen’s presence as the lead singer on three tracks. There’s a vital contrast between Owen and Menefee’s approaches to songwriting; each of their takes is complimented by the presence of the other. Perhaps in the past, the band was perAfter Collins’ departure, the band was without a ceived as Menefee’s, but when Owen brought in lead guitarist. Pedro Aida, a local producer who’d a few songs for preliminary practices, it wasn’t an recorded Long Arms’ 2010 debut LP and con- issue at all. “Brian is one of my best friends and tributed some guitar playing as well, came up as to have him sing lead on a few songs is obvious to potential candidate. Menefee threw out an offer me,” Menefee says. “It seems to me that it makes to Aida to sit for a few practices with Fun Size, Fun Size seem more well-rounded.” but Aida had something else in mind. “I initially went to Pedro and asked if he wanted to maybe The first single from the album is “End of The sit in for a few shows. His instant response was Road,” and it is an amalgam of two distinct eras that if you let me come to practice and play with of Fun Size. There are hooks aplenty as well as you guys, I’m going to want to be a part of this. a slight heaviness that is unfamiliar but doesn’t I knew how good Pedro was and it seemed like feel out of place. The video, directed by Dave a no-brainer to have him be a part of Fun Size.” O’Dell, refers sentimentally to the group’s early With the band’s lineup complete, it was now time years. The band performs in a room with flyers to get to work on recording their new full length for shows that Fun Size played in the 90s pasted Since Last We Spoke. onto every surface. The video is a reminder that you can always come back home--and sometimes CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY
home is the band that reminds you why you fell in love with music in the first place. With a new record in the can, Fun Size’s future is wide open. It’s all just a matter of what cards they decide to play next. Menefee is optimistic as to where Fun Size is headed. “We aren’t the same kids that were barely twenty so many years ago. We all chose to pick this back up again because it seemed unfinished. There was something more that we could accomplish, and there were songs we felt like writing. I will always believe that if you let something emerge from an honest, genuine place, people will take notice. We wouldn’t try to start this up again if we weren’t all convinced that this is the place that we were all coming from. We’re all on the same page and we can’t wait to bring Fun Size back to life.” With a past as storied as Menefee’s, it’s impressive that he has continued to pursue this dream. In light of how close he came to success, only to be turned away, one can’t help but hope that Fun Size will break through and finally achieve widespread fame for their deliberate, dynamic take on the pop-punk genre. Their legacy is a homegrown inspiration to anyone that never wants to settle for less than the best.
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2012 has been an eventful year for Richmond’s own Matthew E. White. With an opening slot on the Mountain Goats’ nationwide tour, a budding record label, and the release of his critically acclaimed first solo album, White’s career is poised for the advances most musicians dream of. Released August 16th, White’s album Big Inner concludes years of musical and personal maturation for the multiinstrumental singer, songwriter, and producer. The most accurate description of Big Inner is that of a musical atonement; it leaves you feeling both deeply moved and refreshed. Take, for example, the song “Gone Away.” In his soft, mellow way, White sings the lines, “He will break your kingdom down, He will tear your kingdom down.” At its zenith, the song develops into pure gospel. A full choir surfaces to pick up the intensity of lyrics that could be taken religiously or symbolically. There’s a sense of a modern day expiation of sins. White’s lyrics, in true gospel fashion, effuse the hope of redemption, and in my case, provide a light the end of the tunnel for someone with too many hang-ups. Powerful horn arrangements and a choir swathe White’s breathy vocals with soul. Upon first listen, it was hard to reconcile the sage, prophetic image formed in my head by the music with the fact that a 29 year old had composed and performed it.
MATTHEW E. WHITE INTERVIEW BY Kristina Headrick PHOTOS BY Shawn Brackbill and Sara Padgett
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White’s most recent success makes it easy to overlook how many years it took for him to reach the point where a record like Big Inner could come together. To White, this solo project is the beginning of something much bigger: Spacebomb Records. A collective headed by White and three other Richmond musicians-Pinson Chanselle, Cameron Ralston, and Trey Pollard--Spacebomb plans to serve as much more than a record label. As White explains below, Spacebomb has a vision, and Big Inner is merely its first realization. White’s sincerity comes across in conversation just as it does on the album, as he manages to own the rare disposition in which talent and ambition converge with humility. I couldn’t help but feel inspired by my chat with White, as he related a lot of lessons about his previous musical projects and the trials he faced. Read on to find out about the future of Spacebomb Records, how one orchestrates a 32 piece musical performance, and why Big Inner couldn’t have been made anywhere but in Richmond. You’re originally from Virginia Beach, but have lived in Richmond since college. How has living here shaped your career and more specifically, your sound? I really think, especially with this record, it couldn’t have been made anywhere else. This record is basically acoustic, but may not come RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
“The soulful influence, stylistically, is just gospel music. That genre has meant a lot to me as a musical genre. It really influenced American music more than people realize. There’s so much that comes straight from gospel tradition that’s gotten reused in soul music. I have spent a serious amount of time listening to gospel.”
across that way. The only thing electric is the bass. When dealing with 30 or 40 musicians, as I was for the making of Big Inner, it really matters who they are. Thousands of people can do the same thing on the synthesizer, but when you have vocalists, strings and horn players, the actual sound is very dependent on who is playing. These people are Richmond people. It’s not like I’m hiring out of towners, going to Nashville, etc. Everyone on the record is from Richmond. The sounds you’re hearing are the are the sounds of Richmond playing music. I’ve been forming relationships over past years through Patchwork Collective and Fight the Big Bull to get people to believe in and trust in a project like this. To get that many people in the studio, the relationships are what really make it work. Big Inner is so Richmond-centered. We did everything here. What has your life been like since the release of Big Inner? I heard your song on NPR’s World Cafe Live the other day and definitely felt a twinge of pride hearing a local artist. What was it like getting that sort of national press for the first time? It’s been cool. It’s always good to feel like your work is being well received. Most things that have come out have been positive. The scope of things now is bigger with NPR, Pitchfork, and the New York Times. I have been teaching music CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY
lessons to families in the West End--that’s what I still do. It’s kind of surreal to go to these houses and be able to say, “Hey your music teacher is in Rolling Stone.” Other than that, not that much has changed yet. I’m still doing what I do and trying to make it work, I just have a lot more going on. That said, if you get in the habit of deriving your self worth as a musician from reviews, it’s not good for your creative musical future. You don’t want to wake up and read a bad review and have that mess with your day. The success of the record is based on the fact that I was making this in a bubble to some extent. I want to keep my habits as far as making music and writing goes. It’s important to not deal with the press much in any other way than to enjoy it. I don’t want it to infiltrate my process. At Hopscotch Festival, you played with a 32 piece band under the name “One Incantation Under God.” The influence of gospel pops through a lot on the album, both in subtle ways and as in “Brazos,” where you and an accompanying choir sing “Jesus Christ is our lord, Jesus Christ, he is your friend.” What was the influence for that type of call and response gospel style? The soulful influence, stylistically, is just gospel music. That genre has meant a lot to me as a musical genre. It really influenced American music more than people realize. There’s so much
that comes straight from gospel tradition that’s gotten reused in soul music. I have spent a serious amount of time listening to gospel. There’s also where gospel went: into soul and then 60s and 70s R & B. So if i’m using those influences, a lot of that goes back to gospel tradition. As far as the “One Incantation Under God” reference, it was just phrase I came up with that I thought was clever. No particular loaded meaning, no story. I just had to figure out some names of things. When I recorded the record I didn’t have any, and suddenly had to figure out all these names! It was going to be this big thing, for months just brainstorming names. I had all these phrases and ideas. The Festival wanted to name the performance because it was a onetime affair, it was a special performance. All 32 of us are from from Richmond except Phil Cook of Megafaun. Let’s talk more about Hopscotch, a festival I’ve seen described as SXSW before it got huge. You got to play alongside some big names. Did you walk away from it with a different perspective for your own band? No. I barely saw anything at Hopscotch. I saw a show on Thursday, went to a day party on Friday, but had to go to bed early for a video shoot Saturday. So yeah, I saw very little music 29
at the festival [laughs]. I’m friends with Grayson [Currin], who curates the festival. I think the way he approaches the curatorial aspect of the festival is special. It’s really well thought out, a pretty heavy musical statement from a curator. He takes the festival and makes an artistic statement out of it. What he’s asking people to be in and do--I think that’s really special. No other festival has asked me to do what I did-that 30 person thing was the curator’s idea. He said, “We’ll give you a platform and the money to make this happen.” He could have easily said “Your touring band is six people, want to play at a place like Strange Matter for 200 bucks?” Yet he takes risks with his curation, artistic and financial. The show went great, but had a lot risk attached to it. It could have gone horribly. He could have gotten an email two days before saying the band wasn’t together, people got wedding gigs and had to bail, and just--sorry. But Grayson is very courageous and imaginative. That’s the type of thing I like to be a part of.
arrangements and was musical director. It was a really wonderful experience. That’s where Reggie met Justin, and why he’s in Bon Iver. That was the beginning of a lot of stuff.
You’ve played alongside Megafaun quite a bit. One of the members, Phil Cook, played keys on Big Inner. Tell me more about your relationship with them. I met Megafun playing at a record store 2006. We played first and then they played, and it was like watching my long lost family perform. [I thought,] “Who are these people? Their musical values are exactly the same as mine.” We started talking and their reference points were so similar. I have weird ones to begin with, and so does Phil, especially. But we’re really all on the same page. We hit it off, played shows together here and there. We would always talk about trying to get a chance to work together and then the Sounds of the South thing came up. Phil and I spent a lot of time working note by note together. There was a really steady path to us meeting them Tell me more about the Sounds of the South. and finding a way to work together, and then me bringing him on my project. Joe, the drummer of When was that? In 2010 Megafaun was asked to/came up with Megafaun, recorded for Spacebomb. His project the idea to reinterpret [ethnomusicologist] Alan is yet to be released. Phil will in the future record Lomax’s Sounds of the South. Megafaun asked a a solo record for us. We’re coming from such a bunch of people, including Justin Vernon and similar place, it’s easy and special to work with Sharon Van Etten to do it. I wrote most of the them. 30
Tell me more about how Spacebomb is coming together. I noticed you’re working with Natalie Prass, a musician from Nashville. Do you see a perhaps distinctly Southeastern group of musicians coming together with Spacebomb, and also through events like Hopscotch? The Spacebomb community isn’t limited by EastCoast or the South, though I do feel the core members of Spacebomb’s reference points are very similar, and we’ve grown as musicians in similar paths. There are strong ties to American music, but not so much Southern. I think the bigger thing is I have very little European music influences. From punk or indie or jazz, European music has been a big influence on a lot of people, but for whatever reason it hasn’t been to me. It’s not on purpose, it’s just where we are coming from. Even with jazz, I’m primarily more influenced by American jazz musicians. The songwriters I like are American writers. I like Atlantic records, Motown, and 70s LA stuff. There’s been very little David Bowie, U2, Morrissey, any sort of European punk rock to influence me. That’s a whole side of the independent music world I’ve had very little exposure to. The one thing about Big Inner that’s interesting is that there’s zero punk rock influence. I’m not trying to avoid that, it’s just something that hasn’t been [present] for me. Older people really like this record--my parents and my parents’ friends. People in their 50s like it. It’s not loud [music]. RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
“Everyone on the record is from Richmond. The sounds you’re hearing are the are the sounds of Richmond playing music. I’ve been forming relationships over past years through Patchwork Collective and Fight the Big Bull to get people to believe in and trust in a project like this. To get that many people in the studio, the relationships are what really make it work. Big Inner is so Richmondcentered. We did everything here.”
make it not sound terrible. Not only from an arranging standpoint, but also administrative. I’m thinking, “We have a week in the studio. How do we make it work?” There’s a lot of ripening that has to happen in a community, and in myself, when you’re trying to do it all under your umbrella. Administratively and musically, all those skills have to come together to make a record under your roof and it’s not a cluster fuck/ pain in the ass. It is an age thing, it takes TIME to learn how to write horn arrangements. It’s a Tropicalia was very regional, in the sense it was craft. There a lot of artisan work coming into South Brazilian. At the same time it was pulling this record. Everyone is using their skill set in a in so many different genres so effectively. I little bit of a developed way and then I’m trying think we do that work. We are Virginians, we’re to use all of those skill sets in a way that creates Southern Americans--that’s who we are. It’s not a unified voice. any sort of focal point, we’re bringing in other influences, but we are Virginians. All four of us I’d previously been in a band called The Great Spacebomb musicians were born and raised in White Jenkins, and always thought we could Virginia. I don’t even know what that is--I can’t make an amazing studio album. We never did. In get far enough away from myself. But it is that, my head, I was kind of imagining what my record ended up being. [The Great White Jenkins] just like those Brazilian guys are Brazilian. didn’t have ideas lacking, but [couldn’t] get it You’re 29 and have heaps of musical experience together enough [to] get from point A to point B, but you just decided to release a solo record. Why? from the biggest details to smallest details. My To make a record like that, there are a lot of skill horn arranging maybe was good enough at the sets and relationships that have to build to a time, [but] there’s a difference in having an idea certain level. I’ve gotta get to the place where I and being able to get that idea out and imprint it feel like I can write songs that are honest. Also on the world. gotta get to a place where I can administratively grasp how to get 40 people in the studio and There is a Spacebomb family. There are people who work better in the family than in others. To have Spacebomb mess with your record, you have to have no band and be willing for us to be heavy handed. We bring a lot to the table. With Natalie, it’s worked wonderfully. It’s all about finding the right people, wherever they’re from. It’s not a geographic thing but the core people are bringing a sense of a lot of American music to the table.
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That’s what Big Inner is. You have to come up with ideas, but magnify relationships with all these people onto the record. To actually get all those people into the recording studio enough times to make a record and have everyone be happy and have it work out is tough. That takes all the skills sets I learned through Patchwork Collective and Fight the Big Bull. So I do think it’s an age thing. I couldn’t have made this record when I was 25. I couldn’t have made this particular record that came about from years of work and making relationships. What are your next few months looking like? Any tours planned? I’m going on tour opening for Mountain Goats this fall. A lot of my fall is going to be spent trying to make that work. It’s my first time touring on this level and there are some tricky things to it. Things are growing at a rapid rate. I’m switching from being a person making a living teaching and doing music on the side, [and] now [it’s] reversing. [There’s a] weird inbetween [feeling], like “Where’s my income coming from?” It’s kind of surreal. matthewewhite.com matthewewhite.tumblr.com
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ANGELA BACSKOCKY by Kristina Headrick photos by Sarah Walor
“Nest”, the first line of clothing from Angela Bacskocky’s eponymous fashion design company, is a bit hard to define. Launched last spring, this local start-up is a brave statement. It is also a collaborative effort between Bacskocky and the models who served as her muses, and at heart, it is the unlikely meeting of sticks and stones with a collection of impeccably tailored womenswear. No stranger to making art, Bacskocky spent her late teens and early 20s in an experimental psychedelic rock band. She moved on to a real corporate job which drove her crazy, effectively funneling her straight into art school. Taking classes at VCU and Central St. Martin’s in London, she studied almost every medium of the visual arts. These diverse experiences ultimately provided the backdrop for a collective concept like “Nest” to be born. Using all natural fabrics, Bacskocky and a team of local artists created the first line in what will be an ongoing narrative. This narrative, she hopes, will provide an intimate exposure of the emotional
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subtleties that fall between the cracks when most of us try to describe human existence. “Nest” focuses on isolation and hibernation, and aims to confidently expose our vulnerabilities. The most instinctual and intimate urges are often the hardest for people to put into words. Like her hero, French avant-garde artist Sophie Calle, Bacskocky finds a way to translate those urges into a visual format the rest of us can (attempt to) digest. Historically, many conceptual high fashion lines, such as Alexander McQueen’s, have been called art. Bacskocky spent time working at McQueen’s world-renowned fashion house, an experience that strongly influenced her creative process and the making of her own line. The clothing she creates is inseparable from the underlying themes of her concept, and it seems impossible to deem the multimedia performance with which Bacskocky debuted “Nest” last spring, in which her models built a humanly proportioned nest at Candela Gallery, as unworthy of being called art. I wanted to find out more about Bacskocky’s self-proclaimed aim to “merge the lines between fashion and art.” How would she define and separate the two? She and I spent a lot of time talking about this subject, as well as the experiences that shaped her, and what it’s like to design clothes in Richmond.
RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
Who are your favorite fashion designers? At the end of the day I’m really classic and tailored and minimal, and those are who I respect: classic French designers who use the colors I like and the really minimal tailored lines that I like. Alexander McQueen was obviously my favorite but he’s the rock star. It’s not the same. Chloe, Celine, and Burberry are what I like for wearability, then McQueen and Victor and Rolfe for the art of it. I’d rather be compared to Sophie Calle or other conceptual artists than to designers, that gets me more excited. My real hero is Sophie Calle, who intimately exposes herself through her work. But Chloe, etc, those are clothes I would like to wear. So you would rather be compared to conceptual artists than to fashion designers? Do you consider what you did with “Nest” to be performance art? The performance was one aspect of it, but I would consider it a group piece, as opposed to just a fashion line. With the things I wanted to do with it, the clothing ends up being a costume, a byproduct-which I think is a really exciting marketable byproduct. I’m not above that at all! Going through art school, that was something I always struggled with. I took fine arts classes and design classes. There is such a battle between those two worlds. In critiques, other students might say, “This looks like something you could buy at the store,” and I would say, “What’s wrong with that? That sounds good! I’m going to make money.”
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That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a good thought-out concept. It gets me excited and keeps me going. But I love functional design and art. I love furniture and dishes, and the things we use in our home every day, and knowing that [it] comes from a greater concept. Whether items traditionally crafted by women, quilts, for example, are considered art is an age-old debate. A lot of these items are what you termed functional design. Do you consider them art? People would argue that it’s craft, and that’s the struggle. There are those stupid rules about art. For example, someone can be a great sculptor, but if they’re sculpting portraits or very specific things, it’s considered craft. He’s still making something! There’s still a concept behind it. If the purpose is utilitarian, how can it be cool too? It’s considered craft. I realized more recently I want to be a skilled craftsman. I get excited when I read articles about people who are the best in their field. Why be mediocre? I like the idea of being really skilled at this one specific thing, even if it’s not “fine art.” So what did you study in college? I studied art at VCU. I had all these extra spaces to take fine arts classes so I took a lot of photography and film. That’s really important in all the stuff I do, for the lookbooks. I did study abroad, [once] in Glasgow where we studied architecture, and [once] in London where I took more photography classes, weird textile stuff. The whole time I tried to
broaden as much as I could. I would always say I was a designer because I’m proud of it, and I have to remember that. I read that “Nest” is “an attempt to merge lines between fashion and art.” How and why would you distinguish between the two? Is it based partially on what you’ve said about your peers in art school? Definitely. That’s been my trick the whole time. I wanted to get friends involved who make “legitimate” art. There is no separation. I’m making it so everyone walks away kind of confused as to what they saw. That’s great. I think when we did the “Nest” show at Candela Gallery, we totally accomplished that. It was confusing and odd. We gave no expectation as to what was going to happen. Everyone said they didn’t expect what they saw, which was really good. I feel it was full on performance installation. To me, it looked like a fashion show, but to people who aren’t fashion savvy, it was cool, and that’s what’s important. I think it’s funny you had to explain to your art school friends that fashion and design are art. In the world we live in, you can say almost anything is art. Right. And some designers just draw the pretty clothes they like. The projects I’m working on fall into a story. Nothing I make gets made just because I like it. That’s how you know it’s different-it’s not just me wanting to make a pretty sweater. What happened needed to happen to be part of the dialogue, the story. It all flows, once you know it really well. You can’t bullshit it. I think that’s also why I was able to get such a positive response, because I believed in it so much.
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Are you selling your clothes anywhere outside of Richmond? No. I’d like to. I went to New York, had lots of meetings and tried to get picked up by showrooms there. Oddly, I was met with such a business perspective. They said my stuff wasn’t made for mass production, a bit too individual and handmade. I’ve boxed myself in by making it too conceptual. They said I could come back when I’m going to be more like them. That was a real shock. I thought I was playing by the big boy rules, but all I’ve done is make a niche for myself and I’m not really sure where it fits. I’m lucky that Need is really into it. I’m going to have to be a boutique person for a while, find someone who’s into it that doesn’t have to answer to a corporate buyer. I’m lucky that my stuff is somewhat on trend.
What role, if any, do trends play for you? It’s always funny when you think you’re coming up with something original and you realize everyone else is doing it too. At least then you know you’re on the right path. The colors I chose, the neutral palettes and oxblood, are what’s in right now anyways. We’ll see if I end up doing same thing for spring and next fall, but it usually just happens that way. Trends are based on popular culture, so it makes sense that many designers’ clothes end up having those trends in common, as they’re all responding to the same general cultural trends.
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I’m getting more and more comfortable in Richmond. I never thought I’d be here this long. There’s something nice and cozy and homey about it. I do want to branch out to other markets, but I see no reason to leave my studio space right now. Plus there are so many artists here who want to help me
Why Richmond? I am here. I have a house here. I bought [it] when I moved here in 2005 to go to school. I thought when I bought the house that I’d be able to sell it and start a business. Then the housing market changed drastically in about 2009. I had a terrible breakup, got really depressed. I worked at Anthropologie doing the visual stuff for about a year, got complacent, and that’s where I went crazy. That’s when i came up with the whole “Nest” idea. Now I’ve sort of established
At first I was in the textile and print design department. We were on the top floor in this big warehouse space. They spared no expense. You could take about two weeks and work on something and if it didn’t work out, oh well! I’m not sure there’s One of the notable things about your background is anywhere in New York, or maybe anywhere else at that you spent time interning at McQueen, one of the all, that’s creative like the atmosphere of McQueen. That’s probably why I’m doing what I’m doing now. biggest names in fashion. Tell me more about that. It was awesome! I went to London and wanted to I got really lucky and wasn’t working in the most go to Central St. Martins because that’s where Mc- commercial fashion house. Those are all just tryQueen went. So I went to McQueen just obsessed ing to make money. McQueen wasn’t even trying to with him. I applied right away and didn’t get [the make money [laughs]. He was trying to do what he job] because I was in school and they wanted me wanted. There was no pressure, no rush. to be working full time. Eventually I dropped out of Central St. Martins, mostly because I ran out of So how many people worked on Nest? money and I just hated it at the time. The second I Six or seven, and for “Ghost,” the next collection, dropped out they hired me right away. It was gru- it’s a different six or seven. At McQueen we had eling--13 hour days, 7 days a week. I learned later all this artistic freedom, but he essentially had the [that] you could just say no and not come in, but veto power and came up with the larger concept. That’s what I try to do as well. I send out frantic, none of the other kids did. long emails with a lot of links and images and say, out. People contact me all the time wanting to be involved. Also there are all of these beautiful people, so I never have a hard time finding models. And there are tons of awesome photographers.
myself, and I do like it. I have this great warehouse space in Scott’s Addition that i can be creative in. It’s massive, and I wouldn’t be able to have [it] in New York. I’m living cheaply while I’m doing my startup. Also I can get a nice little following here.
“This is my concept, what do you think? You come up with something and tell me what you want to do with this.” I give them freedom. I like more collaboration. Usually at crunch time I give them more tasks, but I want them to come up with their own thoughts. I want more people on the random creative side, and I definitely am working with painters and sculptors, people who don’t think design-wise, to see what they come up with for the concept. I just help hone in the story. Your website says, “The female form is followed closely, being hugged and protected by her garments, with gentle folds of fabric allowing generous space for her to hide away.” So the inspiration for “Nest” seems very feminine and very primal. Tell me more about that. I never think of it that way but I’m glad that you do. It is feminine. Even the way I typically use the word nest makes it feminine. I’ll often say women are always building their own nests, as opposed to RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
For “Nest” you only made womenswear. Do you plan to only make clothes for women? No. When I was in London for that year, I worked for a tailor and studied menswear. It’s more challenging than to me than women’s. After that I came back And yeah, it’s super primal. Isolation. I can’t stress here worn out and wanted to make dresses. You that word enough. It’s genderless in that I think ev- don’t realize how much you want to until you’ve only erybody has the tendency to feel good about what’s done menswear for awhile. It’s easier for me to focus going on when they keep to themselves, maybe to on concept and just do pretty clothes for girls. I rean unhealthy level. It’s easier than getting hurt. I ally want to get back to menswear. I know so many would say that sometimes I hide because I feel like guys that would be all about it. It’s always gotten me the predator. I feel like I’m actually being hurtful if excited to dress men. I like looking at men’s clothes. I’m out there talking to people, so it’s better if I’m So, for next fall the idea is to do a unisex line. It will be more about ambiguous dressing. just hiding. men. Next fall gender issues are going to be hugely explored, so femininity is something I’m thinking about a lot lately. I often think there’s a crossover with gender stuff.
Do you think Richmond has a burgeoning fashion scene? I don’t think it necessarily does currently. There is one on the rise. I’m really excited about other friends of mine who are doing and making things here. I think it’s great that Britt Sebastian is doing production here, that Ledbury is doing production here. There’s definitely a lot of jewelry and smaller accessories designers here. So there’s no reason it can’t be an emerging scene, but we definitely need to all come together. Same thing I always say with music--no one band has a movement on their own. In the art world you can’t have a movement without a couple of people doing it. If we don’t band together, it’s not going to happen, and I’m all about collaboration. So I’m going to keep on that and see if we can make Richmond cool. Otherwise we’ll just be individuals in this pond.
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So what’s next? Next season will be called “Ghost.” It will be more vulnerable. I want to concentrate on sentiment and obsession in human relationships. This line will be soft and feminine and frail. My collections are an ongoing revolving story, a continuous cycle of emotions that fluctuate from passive to aggressive with the seasons. The details will change, but the same characters are battling the same demons again and again. angelabacskocky.com Look for pieces from Bacskocky’s collection at Need Supply Co., and at the Bizarre Market at Chop Suey around Christmas time. She also does special orders and sells limited accessories on Etsy.
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JOSIAH MARROQUIN Apparently Virginia Beach has some things going for it. The whole scene is either obscenely weird or weirdly obscene, and while the boys and girls from the Tidewater are drinking a tripped out Kool-Aid, a talented triangle is capturing it all. Along with Richard Perkins (whom we profiled in Issue #5) and John Sebastian Vitale (who appeared in Issue #7), Josiah Marroquin is the third point in that triangle. Collectively, Perkins, Vitale, and Marroquin form an intensely creative team that is spreading a message of abstract abandon through their films, photos, words, and art. I caught up with Josiah..
Where are you from? I’m originally from the small town of Goshen, Indiana, [which has] a population of about 50,000. I’ve also lived in Iowa, Puerto Rico, and finally in 2000, I moved with my parents to Virginia Beach. How did you get into photography? My freshman year of college I went back to Indiana and lived in a house with 7 other guys, mostly artists. Having that creative community kind of pushed me to cultivate my creativity. The next year I came back to Virginia and started shooting on a shitty 2MP camera I got for Christmas.
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BY R. ANTHONY HARRIS MAIN PHOTO BY RICHARD PERKINS
Where do your design sensibilities come from? I’m a self-taught designer. I started on CS3 making film posters, DVD artwork, and web graphics for filmmakers while I attended school at Regent University as a cinema television major. I guess my influences for design come from my love of the 40s-60s, and the advertising of the time. I also have an obsession with science, space, and technology, so naturally I began mixing the past and the future. I really like the music videos you are doing. How is that going? My real passion is filmmaking. It’s actually going really well as of this year. I began working with Abraham Vilchez-Moran, who is a Director/Editor and co-founder of Illusive Media, along with Shomi Patwary who is now working for KarmaLoop TV in Manhattan. The majority of my new work is music videos. A couple of weeks ago I went up to NYC to shoot five live sessions during the CMJ Music Festival, and [to] shoot a music video for Sydney Wayser. The live sessions were shot at Degraw Sound in Brooklyn and included The Jezebels, The Luyas, Teen Daze, Daughter, and Indians. These sessions will be out soon on a music blog out of Brooklyn called The Wild Honey Pie. Next month, Abe and I are planning on collaborating with that blog again to shoot another live session with the band Stars.
Your collaborators Richard Perkins and John Sebastian Vitale have gotten some shine of late for all the stuff they are developing. How is it working with those guys? Working on all this stuff has to lead to some funny situations... Working with Richard and John has definitely been interesting. We all have vastly different aesthetics, which is why I think the work we did together has such a unique look. One of the reasons I love the filmmaking is that it is the most collaborative medium. Richard has a way of expressing youth and capturing the chaos of life. John is a very methodical yet abstract artist. He was mainly the brains behind the concept for Magick Margaritasville. What was the experience of making Magick Margaritasville like? Do you plan to do any more collaboration with Perkins and Vitale in the near future? Originally Perkins asked me if I wanted to help shoot this project where half would be shot in HD and the other half on VHS. I met Vitale shortly after that. First day of shooting, I walked into Perkins’ apartment and the floor was covered in sleeping bodies (models), beer cans, and goth wardrobe. We all piled into Vitale’s station wagon and drove out to the suburbs of Suffolk. The other locations included a parking lot next to P-town thrift, a Suffolk neighborhood park, and a kids’ baseball diamond. We had some scheduling issues with the cast so day two of RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
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shooting ended up happening four or five months later with two new cast members. Perkins, Vitale, and I plan to do another project together in the near future. What projects do you have coming up? I’m currently working with Charles Rasputin along with Perkins on an art zine in Hampton roads called Haunted In The Daylight. The first edition was released last month at the Fantastic Planet Halloween event. The zine consists of literature, photography, and art from local artists. Next month I’m going back up to Brooklyn to shoot a live session of the band Stars, for The Wild Honey Pie music blog. We are also in the pre-production phase for more live sessions during South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin Texas. Also, I’m collaborating with Kayce McGehee (music artist) on artwork for her new album that’s coming out soon. Abe and I are working on a sci-fi short film for 2013. I plan to move to San Francisco sometime in 2013 to work with a few friends and focus more on the filmmaking medium. josiahmarroquin.com
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RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
NAPALM DEATH interview by Graham Scala
photos COURTESY OF CenturyMedia Some facets of Napalm Death’s existence could seem ironic – they’ve encouraged peace, understanding, and fellowship amongst mankind using some of the most confrontational, visceral music recorded. Some elements seem paradoxical - they’ve established a singular aesthetic by never making two albums that sound exactly alike. Some are exercises in various forms of extremity – they hold the Guiness Book Of World Records title for shortest song ever recorded (the 1.316 second “You Suffer”) and have existed for over thirty years with a lineup that, by the second side of their first album, featured no original members. Regardless, they have produced a body of work possessing a remarkable consistency, never sacrificing either their artistic or ideological integrity. The band released Utilitarian, their 15th full-length, earlier this year and are about to embark on a tour with Municipal Waste and Exhumed. I managed to get a few questions in with their frontman, Barney Greenway. Utilitarianstrikes me as one of the most succinct, direct titles Napalm has employed in some time. How does utilitarianism factor into your creative process? I didn’t want to make it into some kind of analysis of philosophical theory. That would be pretty tedious. I did want to use word association because, if you look at the Napalm album titles, we’ve always used wordplay. The utilitarian thing was more about examining the whole process of living in a natural way, and to ask the question of whether it’s worth it CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY
to live with ethical considerations. Because you do ask yourself that at points. That’s the heart of it. Was there any concern that espousing such an idea could be taken the wrong way? I’m not the most wellversed in philosophy, but seems like utilitarianism, in its original form, holding the happiness of the majority as its primary end, could be utilized to justify much of the oppression and exploitation that Napalm Death has always decried. Absolutely. That’s one of the things I found quite fascinating about it, that it’s endorsed by people across the spectrum. It’s used by animal rights advocates and humanitarians, but also those with no problem stepping over people to get where they need to go. Obviously the only thing I can do is explain what the significance of it was. I certainly don’t have any truck with the sort of people in the latter category. You have to be aware that nothing, especially in the band situation, is ever immune to criticism. Life isn’t perfect, bands aren’t perfect, so it is as it is. The socially conscious elements that Napalm has always embraced seem like something of a rarity within heavy music at this point and, when they are present, often seem somewhat dispirited and apocalyptic. Despite an endless supply of oppression and degradation, how do you avoid presenting a defeatist attitude when writing? I’m just trying to present reality. It all depends where you come from, but I’m coming from a humane
perspective. I consider myself to be a very baselevel humanitarian. To me that means human rights and dignity, but also rights for other sentient beings. So whenever we speak about stuff there’s always going to be an unsavory element to it, because that’s the way the world is. Unfortunately, not everybody thinks or acts in humane terms. But hopefully there’s the positive aspect too, in that you can stand up as a human being who’s trying to live in a humane way. I always try to be positive, but I do recognize that life has its positives and negatives and you can’t brush either off. You can’t escape negativity; it is as it is, can, and should be. Utilitarian was promoted with the “Occupy Napalm” campaign. What about the Occupy movement resonated with the band to the extent that this would be employed? I may not have been everywhere they were staged, but I consider myself to stand in solidarity. Let’s not forget that they weren’t the only people who promote that sort of thing. For many years there have been lots of movements who were perhaps a bit more fringe because they were fragmented, so they didn’t have that kind of numbers or coverage. We haven’t been afforded them, but we have as human beings the same rights as any others. And if that involves challenging the higher echelons of power, we should be able to do that. Of course, people like hanging on to their power, so they smear people involved with things like the Occupy Movement, who are within their rights to challenge authority and point out what’s not acceptable. And the organs of the state are being used against them. You have the right to resist that as a human being. People always quote laws, but let’s not forget that laws are a man-made entity and they suit some people more than others, so some 41
balance is needed. And hopefully people like the Occupy Movement will continue to challenge the upper echelons of power. Because we all know what can happen when power gets out of control. There have been other artists that received some negative attention for trying to utilize Occupy imagery for their own promotions. Was there any backlash when you employed it? If people feel negatively, that’s fine. I know what my intentions were and what the band’s intentions were. I would say that Napalm has always been a band that’s active – coming back to this word again – ethically. That’s not to say we have more rights than other people, but if we were going to take flack then so be it. But it was done more to show solidarity than anything. From the start, Napalm claimed some fairly diverse influences – old hardcore and metal but also Swans, Joy Division, etc. In recent years, however, it seems like the mark that these artists have made is considerably more noticeable in your music than on the early albums, especially in the variety of textures and songwriting approaches employed. Has there been a more conscious attempt to bring these influences to the forefront or has that been a part of a more organic evolution? It certainly hasn’t been forced, but it did get to the point where we felt that we could do so much with some of those influences. We didn’t want them to sit on the sidelines so much. Consider something like From Enslavement To Obliteration, where the opening track was Swans style but the rest of the album was two hundred miles per hour. Swans have been a big influence on Mick and Shane but it’s not immediately obvious there. We felt that the styles we were using were too good to be fringe. That doesn’t mean we’re going to alter our attack as a band to suit those influences. It’s all about wrapping everything together so that it works, but you can still hear the traditional Napalm sound. So now that we’ve incorporated it into our normal attack, you’ll hear something that’s influenced by Swans, something that would’ve been slow, painful, and depressing, but the way we’ve done it is to play it at two hundred miles an hour. We were unsure, because we thought it might sound a bit shitty, but it worked. Has it been difficult as a vocalist to tackle some of these different approaches you’re taking? Surprisingly not. Honestly, I always thought I was a bit of a one-trick pony. I can do really gruff or really shrieky, but I’ve surprised myself. I hope it doesn’t sound arrogant, but when I put my mind to it I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do, that I can make it happen. You’ve done a variety of appearances on albums by younger bands lately – SSS, Extortion, and Withered come to mind. What do you look for in bands with whom you collaborate? My first checkpoint for a band I don’t really know about are the lyrics. I couldn’t bring myself to endorse something that was sexist or racist or anything like that. It’s not in my makeup. I wouldn’t associate myself with that outside of music, so I’m certainly not going to do it with a band. After that, I don’t know. I’ve been lucky that the bands who’ve contacted me are really great. Extortion really nail the 80s fast hardcore sound but still have some freshness. I thought Withered had an interesting take on the whole gloomy, downbeat style. The latest thing I’ve been on is by Liquorbox, which is basically a bluegrass/country sort of thing. That was really different for me. Me and country music have 42
mine and was saying he could get us a gig in North Korea. It would’ve had to be in a border town in case we needed to escape. Because obviously the authorities couldn’t know about it, and we might need to get away quickly. And he was serious. I don’t know about doing it, but it would be quite a coup. Your upcoming tour features both Exhumed and Municipal Waste, each of whom stands in fairly stark contrast to what you do--the former being gorier and the latter considerably lighter-hearted. Is there any sort of balance you like to strike with the bands with whom you tour? The good thing about being in Napalm is that we get asked to do a wide variety of stuff. One thing we’d like to do is make a Napalm/Converge tour happen [the two bands recently released a split EP]-that would be wonderful. And then we get asked to do death metal tours, so we get the whole of the spectrum. And there’s no question that you get different people out at different kinds of gigs, and it’s nice to not preach to the converted all the time. But even on a death metal tour, that’s not going to stop me from saying what I think needs to be said, never been obvious bedfellows but I thought it was endorsing a lifestyle I feel I need to endorse. So great. More than anything, I get a kick out of seeing whoever hears it, it won’t change our approach. people happy and being able to help them out. If it helps them along and they’re nice people, I’m more Has that variety ever been a problem, perhaps in terms of sharing the stage with people whose than happy to contribute. worldviews are antithetical to your own, or crowds You did a brief spot in an episode of [British television that haven’t been receptive? drama] Skins, which seems like something of an I’ve never cared, to be honest. One thing I learned unlikely place for your music. How did that come from the UK hardcore scene before it went down the shitter is that people used to get very suspicious about? It was something we had to think about for a while. of so-called outsiders coming in to populate their We’ve done a lot of TV because Napalm’s kind of a scene. But if you’re going to talk about wide-ranging go-to band if somebody needs a lot of noise. But at ethical issues, what’s the point in just telling it to the first we didn’t know if it would be a sort of parody or people who’ve heard you a hundred times before? full of stereotypes and cliches. In the original script, That’s no disrespect to them, they’ve always been they were trying to present the band as like a Guns there as a support base. You have to be prepared for N’ Roses rock and roll excess type thing. The guy a little challenge, and we need to go out and endorse was a Napalm fan actually, but I had to tell him that what we consider to be important, regardless of if we were going to present our music we wanted to where. do it with a more DIY attitude to show that bands can have a bit of humility. And he rewrote the script On several legs of the tour you’re also going to have to work with that. Originally I even had an acting Attitude Adjustment and Dayglo Abortions opening, part but they took it out, probably because I couldn’t each a band Napalm has claimed as an influence and act my way out of a paper bag. [laughs] It was a covered. Do you feel like you have some responsibility worthwhile experience though. Skins definitely does to your predecessors to help expose them to people the disaffected youth thing in quite a respectful way. who might not have otherwise given them a chance? I don’t know if it’s a responsibility exactly. But that Over the course of Napalm’s existence, you’ve played period in the 80s when most of those bands were shows in some fairly out of the way places, whether most active remains an incredible time in terms of that was South Africa as apartheid was ending, Russia the music’s vibrancy. Those underground demos, as the USSR was falling apart, or more recently your bedroom demos in a lot of cases, the independent shows in Nepal, Siberia, and Morocco. What does it releases were absolutely indispensable. I can’t mean to you to be able to reach audiences that most speak more highly of them. They mean so much to me and to the other guys. But it’s not a responsibility bands aren’t able to? It’s a privilege and an honor that people consider really--I’m just extremely happy to see those bands, us to have sufficient appeal to invite us to their if only for a few gigs. countries. We’ll always do the European and U.S touring circuits, those are the main places that Are there any such bands you haven’t had a chance to people go. But it’s easy, even though I still love what I share a stage with that you’d like to? do, to become somewhat jaded doing that. So going I did hear a rumor, though I think it was one started elsewhere keeps you on your toes, especially when just to get me going, that Los Crudos were going to the resources they have are different from what get together to play a couple of the shows. My head we’re used to. It gives you an appreciation and helps would’ve popped. [laughs] If you want to talk about with not taking things for granted, not assuming that primal, gut feeling that music can have, that’s one of your bands right there. But aside from that, the things will be laid out on a plate for you. obvious ones. Siege from Boston. Minor Threat back Is there anywhere you haven’t been yet that you in the day. If Negative Approach could get on the shows – they were pivotal, no question. especially want to? There’s lots of places. I’d like to play Pakistan or India. We’ve played all over Russia, but it would be great to play a place like Kazakhstan. Actually, this is a true story, though I can’t say it would’ve happened necessarily. Some guy got in touch with a friend of RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
Until recently, Napalm had only done a few split records, but with the recent Converge split and the upcoming Melvins split it seems like the frequency is increasing. What motivated the uptick, and how do you determine who would make a good complement to what you do? It’s pretty simple really. We sat down and realized we were only doing album-tour-album-tour, and doing that is great, but we needed to do some other fun stuff. The Converge split came together quickly but I must hold my hands up and say that I’m dragging my heels a bit with the Melvins tracks. We’ve got one finished and I’ve got another one to do. So that one’s a little delayed and I’ll take full blame for that, so people can shoot me if they expected it any time soon. [laughs] But it will happen, and hats off to Shane for really hammering these things home. Any final thoughts for the readers? I’d just like to thank everybody for the support. It’s amazing to me that we’re still able to come to the States despite the periods where the sort of thing that we do had some question marks around it. But we’ve always been pleasantly surprised and the appreciation of what we do is humbling. We’ll always try to make our shows something that people will remember. napalmdeath.org
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Eliza Mary Childress Silcox by ANDREW NECCI
Sara GossetT
Eliza Childress, Mary Silcox, and Sara Gossett are three young artists who’ve been engaged in a variety of creative works around RVA for several years now. In recent months, they have been joining forces on a regular basis to put on collaborative all-vinyl DJ nights at Balliceaux and other local venues. Knowing that the three of them are all hard at work on a variety of artistic and musical endeavors, both together and separately, I figured getting them to sit down with me for a group interview would be a fascinating experience. I was definitely correct in that assumption, but the most important thing I learned from our conversation was that Eliza, Mary, and Sara see themselves not just as peers and collaborators but as supportive friends who want to help each other, and the community of young artists in Richmond as a whole, grow and succeed. What follows is but a short sample of our 90-minute conversation, which ranged from the connections between art and music to the artistic significance of dreams.
space in my mind, and let, almost like--I’m throwing this out there--God, in a sense, take over, then I’m good. For the most part I want something that’s gonna ease my mind. I actually listen to a lot of classical music when painting. It depends on my mood, but for long term painting, like if I’m in my studio for 8 hours a day, I’m gonna be listening to jazz or something like Bach, something that gets me into a meditative zone. Sara Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of soundtracks. A lot of the films I haven’t even seen, but cinematic music allows you to get into this... Eliza You create your own world. Sara Yes, exactly. They are trying to tell the story through music, and it allows you to get into this fantastical world, in whatever [art] you’re doing. Most of what I do is really abstract stuff. It’s not really trying to tell a story, necessarily. But [music] still allows you to get into this mood, and that can be really important.
You guys have been doing a DJ night together for a few months--how did that start? Mary Rei [Alvarez of Bio Ritmo, aka DJ Rattan] and I would play records together. I never thought about DJing until one day he was like, “Hey, you know, you should do this!” So we did a few nights together and that was great, I enjoyed that, but there’s something special about spinning with ladies. We have a different aesthetic when it comes to putting everything together. And so, [Rei] was like, “You, Sara, and Eliza.” He said, “I think that y’all would make a really good team.” He called it, from the very beginning. Sara I had been DJing for a while, but there was some time where I was like, “I’m tired of this.” You have some bad nights, and you’re just like, “This is not worth it. It’s barely paying to fund my vinyl habit as it is.” I got really jaded. [But] it’s really been a nice, fun time DJing with them. Eliza I thought it was just gonna be a one-off, with you guys, and then you were like, “Do you wanna come back next month?” I think I got... oh, I shouldn’t 44 44
say this in the interview. [laughs] I think I got fairly intoxicated that evening, and I was like, “They aren’t gonna want me back!” [all laugh] Sara But we had so much fun! Eliza I had a blast. But I was so nervous, because y’all were like, “We’ll each play a record, and we’ll play records back to back all night.” And I had never done that before, so I was really nervous. But I think we bring a lot of the same sounding stuff, so it works together. Mary We all balance each other out really well, you know? How do you feel DJing relates to art? What’s the connection between art and music? Sara I think a lot of people that are musicians are also artists, or vice versa. There are a lot of connections between those two things, and I know some of us play instruments, but playing records is another way to tap into that musicality. And you know, paint certain colors with sound. Eliza I personally can’t play any instruments. And I want to one day, but I’m just not gifted in that sense. Music has always been my biggest inspiration. I remember when I was four years old, all I wanted to do was listen to music. It was my life. Ever since then it’s been a struggle for me, because I want to be able to create sounds, but the only way that I can right now is to find music that just blows my mind. How do you think the music you listen to influences the paintings you do and the art you create? Eliza I have to listen to something with a beat, because when I’m painting, the beat takes over my body, and all of my brushstrokes follow the beat of the song. It doesn’t matter what the beat is, so long as there’s like a heavy bassline, or a sick drumbeat, that’s what all of my linework follows. That’s how I stay in the zone. If I’m listening to nothing, I will not be able to concentrate. I don’t know if it’s the same way for you guys. Mary Yeah, pretty similar. As long as I’m listening to something that allows me to get into that quiet
Mary, you mentioned being in your studio for 8 hours. Is that a regular thing for you? How long does the creative process take for you to achieve something that you’re finished with? Mary That’s definitely, on a good week, a regular thing. I’ll wait tables three days a week, but other than that, I go to work at the studio every day. And it just depends. On a good day, maybe I’ll have built up my canvas for hours, and then once I get into that trancelike state, if it’s even possible... It’s similar to when you’re meditating. People will sit and sit and sit trying to quiet their mind, and it won’t ever happen. Then there’s one day where you just have 30 seconds where you are in complete and utter bliss. In the same way, when painting, it’ll be so shitty, you know? I’ll just be pissed off. “Why can’t I even paint this fucking nose? I’ve tried for the past three hours and I can’t paint a nose.” But then something will happen, and that trance state, or that godlike quality that I keep bringing up, or that blissful state will enter in, and something will come out. And it may have taken ten minutes, and it will be a masterpiece. | RVA Magazine | RVAmag.com RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
by Eliza Childress
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by MARY WILCOX
That makes me curious about another thing that I was wondering. Eliza, I know you’re freelance, and Mary, you were saying you work as a waitress three days a week and paint the rest of the time. Sara, I’m not sure what you’re doing now. Sara I work in an office. Monday through Friday. Mary We’re trying to convince her to quit her office job. [laughs] I’m really curious about the financial implications of making art--how sustainable you’ve found it. Sara I can’t really speak to that too much, obviously, because I work, but I can say that I think this is probably as good of a place as most places in the country to try to live your dream. Because the cost of living here, while it has risen in the past several years, compared to other cities in the country, is still relatively low. If you want to go for something, you might as well [in Richmond]. Mary My boyfriend just recently quit all his other jobs in kitchens and whatnot and is solely doing artwork. And he always says to me, “If you love it, it will survive.” I think that’s true. I’m not impractical, and that’s why I still have a waitressing job, but I also think that you have the power to create your own destiny. If you want to be an artist and that’s what your passion is, and what you want to share with the world, then you have to do it! And you can make it happen. It might be hard. You might have to go to other cities to try to find clients or have shows, and you might have to write a lot of emails, or do things you don’t want to do, but that’s tough! That’s what it takes. Eliza It beats having a real job. So what’s been your experience with getting shows and clients? Eliza I’ve emailed galleries, but that was before I’d gotten any press. I don’t know if it would be different now. Honestly, all of the publicity that I’ve had in the past year and a half hasn’t done that much for me. All of my clients are still from out of town. I’ve had to make a shitload of sacrifices working as a freelancer. I don’t go out to eat, I don’t really do anything. But the only art shows I seem to be able to get in this town are in unconventional spaces-which I really like, because as much fun as it would be to have a stale white wall to work with, and put paint all over, I like to be in a place that feels like my own home. But it’s kind of frustrating also, because the galleries, that’s what brings you good money to live off of. Mary I think house shows are the way to go. I started selling art in high school. My mom’s an interior designer. I just took down all of the art in my mom’s house, in the living room and dining room, then replaced it with all of my art and invited all her clients over. I really like that you can see something hung up in your house with a plant next to it, or a light, or trinkets, or however you’re gonna place it, instead of just on a bare wall. Sara I think it’s more difficult when you’re younger, because people don’t have the disposable income to spend on a piece of art, really. I completely understand, because I cannot really afford to buy someone’s original art, either. I just think that for the most part, our peers who would really appreciate our art can’t afford it. And that makes it harder. Mary I think it’s important to tap into different markets. I had one art show in Richmond at some wealthy lady’s house, and she invited all of her friends--I didn’t know anyone there. And it was 46 46
great--people were really into it. I think that maybe alongside each other, discussed their ideas for inwe just need to work together a little bit more. dividual projects, and built their own gallery space. I want to get something like that going, because I Do you feel like the art scene in Richmond is geared feel like if we all came together then we would be towards older people? able to use each other’s resources, and tap into avEliza If you want to make money, then yes, you have enues that we have never explored before. It would to tap into the older crowd. But with us, it’s probably be really cool, to have 15 people and have a massive harder because we make a younger style of art. group show. Mary I’ve had a hard time tapping into the younger crowd with artwork. Just this year, I’ve finally started Eliza, you had pieces in the PLF’s Visions art show at to share my artwork with friends, whereas before, Gallery 5 in October. That’s all young artists. I only sold to older people. I’ve actually been more Eliza It is. Gallery 5 is an exceptional venue. It’s intimidated to share my artwork with people around fantastic. They have great events and great shows here. there. They’ll host anything, it doesn’t matter if they Sara There are so many talented people here in think the art is going to sell and bring them a lot of Richmond. And yes, what everyone is doing is spe- revenue. They’re very supportive. cial and unique, but it’s only a slight exaggeration to say everybody’s talented in some way. So it is hard So but for real, how’s selling art going? because we live in a place which has a really good Eliza In my year and a half of freelancing I’ve had art school, and there’s tons of people doing really one hard month, and that was in November of last cool things. year. But past that, things have done really well. I’ve Eliza I’d like to form a monthly art meeting, but it gone on four vacations this year, which is perhaps just hasn’t come together yet. I went to that Klimt irresponsible, but I was still working on art when I exhibit in Venice, and [Klimt and other Austrian was out of town. artists circa 1900] had the Vienna Secession. We obviously couldn’t call it a secession here in Rich- Are you finding ways to expand your reach? mond, but it was just a group of artists from differ- Eliza Oh my god, yeah. I met so many people in Itent backgrounds who got together. It didn’t matter aly. I met a [guy who] calls himself a “video jockey,” if you were an interior designer or an architect, or a VJ.When I go back in the spring, he’s going to do a painter, a jeweler, anything. All of them worked visual projections and I’m gonna bring records over | RVA Magazine | RVAmag.com RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
by SARA GOSSETT
and DJ. We’re gonna set up an art show, so I’m gonna have an art show based around my experiences in Italy. It’ll be all-encompassing, which is what I like events to be. Sara When Greg [Darden] and I used to do our light shows [Cosmic Hum], that was our original plan. We would do light shows and play music as well. We would take turns doing the oil and water projection and then DJing, which as you can imagine, you have to be very careful about. Your hands are covered in oil and food coloring-Eliza And then you go to pick up a record, my god. Sara Yeah. But that was a big objective for us, combining visual and aural. It just became exhausting. [laughs] But it was really fun while we did it, and we might do it again. Mary Back to what you were saying, selling artwork is do-able these days, for sure. I did a painting-a-day project in Mexico. I was going for a yoga retreat, and didn’t have a lot of money. So I sold 5”x7” flat paintings, almost like the size of a postcard, ahead of time. The deal was you gave me $20, and you got a painting in the mail. You didn’t get to choose what it was, it was a surprise. And I sold way more than I even wanted to do. I ended up having to do multiple paintings a day. But I think that’s a good project. The first week I was like, “Damn, why did I do this? I’m tired and now I have to go paint.” Eliza But those are pieces that people are gonna cherish forever. It’s something that’s so real. And you did it for $20, which is in reach for a lot of people. A lot of paintings are multiple hundreds or thousands of dollars. Mary I’ve been doing really small stuff now. I think that’s a really good way to sell art to our friends and our peers, because it’s so non-committal to buy something for $20. Most people can afford $20. And for something small, you don’t have to think about “Where am I going to put this?” Eliza Can I ask a question? Absolutely. Eliza Do dreams affect your illustrations at all? Because it’s something that’s occurring in your mind, and it’s obviously very relevant to what goes on in your day to day life. Does that inspire you? Mary Do my dreams inspire me? Eliza Yeah, do they inspire you enough to where when you’re sitting down at a painting, not even thinking about it, do you ever think, “Oh my god, that happened to me in a dream.” Or something, and it just comes out naturally? How does that relate to your day to day life? Mary I think that every single painting that I do could be tied back into a dream or a dreamlike state. Sara Yeah, totally. I’m a shy person, so you just retreat into your daydreams. And that is just as important. That’s the fantastical element of things. For me, when I listen to music, that happens a lot. You see certain images and colors and it takes you to a fantastical place in your mind, and you translate that into what comes out of your hands, whether it’s writing or painting or drawing or music. Mary And it all can be tied back to the same thing, at least for me. When I was speaking about a bliss-like state, that’s like getting into the unconscious. Letting that seep through. Those are your dreams.
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REVIEWS by ANDREW NECCI
Animal Magazine
Bat For Lashes
The Haunted Man (Parlophone/Capitol)
All We Love We Leave Behind Lights Out (Epitaph) (Nuclear Blast)
Converge
Graveyard
This RVA-based group gives us an underproduced slab of raw, wild hardcore punk with hints of metal and garage rock. Animal Magazine’s passionate fury is not for the weak--if you’re looking for polished production, this isn’t for you--but you’re missing out on a good time if you pass up the chance to hear this record.
The third album by UK singer/songwriter Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes, blindsided me with its brilliance. Its dark, gothic synth-pop displays the hypnotic intensity of Kate Bush and the soulbaring emotional depths of Fiona Apple, yet is entirely unique in today’s musical landscape. Don’t overlook it.
Converge’s eighth LP finds them better and more consistent than ever, further refining the sound they’ve been developing since drummer Ben Koller joined for 2001’s Jane Doe--a noisy, chaotic mixture of metal and hardcore that combines to form a massive steamroller of brutality. This rules.
Graveyard serve up an expert imitation of early 70s proto-metal on this album--think Blue Oyster Cult or Pentagram--and it’s a total blast. Some people are going to tell you to ignore it because its influences are so easily traceable, but fuck those people. Originality is overrated. Fun is what matters.
HIM
Kylesa
Miguel
I’ve never gotten the hype around this long-running Finnish band, and this 20-track singles comp doesn’t really change that. Overproduced, glammed-up goth rock (or gothed-up glam rock?) that’s not catchy enough to work as pop, and only counts as metal if your idea of metal is Hysteria-era Def Leppard. Yawn.
Kylesa’s new LP is actually a remarkably cohesive compilation of B-sides and previously unreleased material. However, the album’s main strength is also its crucial flaw--Kylesa’s monolithic heaviness too often crosses over into outright monotony. Nothing this loud should be this boring, and yet here we are.
Sparse production, creative songwriting, and the combination of soulful singing and talented guitar playing make Miguel something of a 21st century Prince, though his dirty sex songs sound just as reverent as his love ballads. Kaleidoscope Dream is a miracle cure for R&B radio boredom.
Dusted: A Collection (animalmagazine.bandcamp.com)
Herro Sugar
Smoking General Kills Sturgeon (herrosugar.com)
Local teens make good with this 8-song EP, on which they mingle scintillating guitar melodies and catchy pop choruses with a driving rhythm section that keeps things sounding powerful without heavy distortion. If you dig Weezer, Death Cab For Cutie, and early REM, you need to check these guys out.
Pig Destroyer
XX: Two Decades Of Love Metal (Sony)
From The Vaults Vol. 1 (Season Of Mist)
Book Burner (Relapse)
Harmonicraft (Volcom)
Torche
Ty Segall
The first album in five years from this NoVa grind outfit alternates between blistering speed and thick, wellconstructed thrash riffs, and should please both headbangers and circle-pit types. New drummer Adam Jarvis is a whirlwind genius, and J.R. Hayes’ lyrics are as literarily disturbing as ever.
Their stoner-metal past is still audible in this Florida quartet’s pounding drums and crunching guitars, but Harmonicraft is their third straight release that owes a much stronger songwriting debt to pop than metal. Anyone who digs both Cheap Trick and Black Sabbath will find a lot to like here.
San Francisco’s prolific garage-rock wunderkind has done it again with Twins, his third album of 2012. Fans of loud, wild rock n’ roll will get a huge kick out of this LP, with its fired-up tempos and raging guitar overdrive. It’s the musical equivalent of a speeding muscle car--crank it up and let it run right over you.
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Twins (Drag City)
Kaleidoscope Dream (RCA)
Wild Nothing
Nocturne (Captured Tracks)
Blacksburg’s favorite sons completely ignore the sophomore slump with this excellent followup to their 2010 debut. These ethereal pop tunes achieve the perfect balance of treated guitar melodies and dreamy synth washes, over which Jack Tatum drapes his gorgeously sung choruses. No wonder Brooklyn loves these guys.
RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
REVIEWS by DAN ANDERSON
The Beetnix
The Pyramid Effect (soundcloud.com/beetnix) This C-ville duo has been dominating VA stages for over a decade, and The Pyramid Effect is another reminder about why you shouldn’t sleep on The Beetnix. This LP has rare wisdom, dope beats, and profound points, but it’s standout tracks like “As I Am…” that remind me why Waterloo is still one of my favorite rhyme-spitters.
Jo Casino
Black Liquid
The Black Experience (blackliq.com)
Black Liquid kicks game into fifth gear, bringing a more polished sound and aggressive beat selection than previous installments. The content delivery is exactly what one can expect. That being said, evolution is obvious and this MC continues to improve. Creative people tend to move around a lot; it’s interesting to watch Black Liquid moving up.
Carolyn Mark
The Queen of Vancouver Island (Mint)
Dank D
Planet Diesel (dankd.bandcamp.com)
Forward female vocals and countryesque This record is all over the place. Dank D twang might overshadow the lack of has his hand in all but two of the credits, production value for some. If Thelma and and somehow the production value on Louise listened to a little Carolyn Mark, they may have reconsidered the reckless this joint is surprisingly engaging. I wish abandon that lead to their death. However, I knew who produced tracks like “H20,” the massive amount of estrogen currently “Vapor Trails,” and the title track, but the coursing through my veins makes me want bandcamp page is unspecific. Dank D is to drive a Thunderbird over a cliff. crazy--I like it.
John Deluca
Kreator
Machine Gun Mustache
I received this on a CD with nothing written on it. For all I know, John played every instrument on this project. He’s been rumored to drive around in a green car full of instruments. All the Precious Things You Love creates an experimentally hypnotic experience. Well rounded, with so much to offer.
The press release threatened to rip my face off with this record. It’s done no such thing. Nonetheless, Phantom Antichrist is still a cool album. With ten tracks, packed full of thrash metal awesomeness, pandemonious guitar solos, and comprehensibly dark lyrics, Phantom Antichrist is arguably one of Kreator’s best projects of their 30-year career.
This is by far the most interesting album I’ve heard all year. Machine Gun Mustache blends elements of 1950’s Americana with garage rock and Celtic Folk in a manic fashion that engages the listener from start to finish. The average song length is 2 min, keeping the less appealing tracks short enough to make the whole project interesting.
Southern Belles
So Illa
Stomp Status
Sharp As A Knife is one of the best albums to come out of Richmond. That might be arguable, but you can’t deny that The Southern Belles have created something special with their very Kickstarter-funded first record. Upbeat country-blues jams with excellent production from Sound Of Music’s John Morand and Bryan Walthall.
So !lla is determined to make good music, and this release is his best to date. It’s good to see that his recording quality and compositions have considerably improved over a short period of time. Will does his thing over the lion’s share of 18 tracks.
Formed less than two years ago, after a jam session gone right, these four GMU music students have released their second album. Blending Jazz, Funk, Blues, and Rock, in a synchronized and enchanting fashion one will come to expect from Stomp Status, 5440 represents the next step in their musical evolution.
SpaceBound (jocasino.bandcamp.com)
SpaceBound is a reflection of Jo Ca$ino’s youth. It’s fun, naive, and predictable. However, his delivery is charismatic and believable. SpaceBound lacks depth and experience on occasion, but the confident follow-through makes those staggered moments almost unnoticeable. It’s like Kendrick Lamar gave Mac Miller a wedgie, stole his lunch money, and stuffed him in a trashcan.
Sharp as a Knife (thesouthernbelles.bandcamp.com)
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All The Precious Things You Phantom Antichrist Love (thejadeid.bandcamp.com) (Nuclear Blast)
#ForTheFuckOfit (hlgnlife.bandcamp.com)
5440 (self-released)
World’s Gon’ End (Not Cherries Records)
Tearjerker
Hiding (tearjerker.bandcamp.com) This Toronto based band is always adequately adept instrumentally. Less is more this time around, as Tearjerker reaches for perfection with just four songs. Hiding is like finding money in the laundry; your future self will thank you for uncovering this discovery. 51
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| RVA Magazine | RVAmag.com RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012
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Alex “MR MASON JONES” Blanchard September 9, 1983-October 29, 2012
Darrell “Kleph Dollaz” Durant April 27, 1972-August 28, 2012
Many things define life. For some it’s all about accomplishments, respect, tangible things, money, the inevitable “what if”s. But for others, it’s about something more, something bigger. This year we lost two of RVA’s tallest pillars of creativity: Kleph Dollaz and Mr. Mason Jones. One could distinguish these men by their accomplishments. After all, Kleph was known by most for his incredible production. His resume features legendary names such as Talib Kweli, Sean Price, M.O.P., and almost every “known” lyricist right here in Richmond, from Noah-O to Joey Gallo. Not to mention his incredible trio of songstresses The Kleph Notes, his success in the 90’s as one half of the Hip-Hop duo Ill Biskits, and work with the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Richmond. To visit his lab, The Klubhouse, was a honor and rite of passage for any MC--period. Mr. Mason Jones, an amazing artist whose work stood out wherever it appeared, from the canvas that is Richmond to the entire side of a building in DC, gripped spray paint cans with the finesse of Bob Ross painting trees. He also diversified our musical tastes as a DJ, spinning dubstep and hip hop, and is responsible for bringing many people together. He was and is the definition of an artist-both of these men are--but these words and accomplishments do not even come close to encapsulating who they were, what they stood for, and what, in my opinion, they should be remembered for: The Love. That was their true gift--the ability to accept and empower, their willingness to share. It’s ironic that now we must share the pain of losing them, but with that loss comes the opportunity and responsibility to share the power of their inspiration, and to share the power of their challenge to live up to the gold standard they set. To--as Kleph always said and Mason always did-- “Keep It Real.” -by Black Liquid
Rest In Power.
Donations can still be made to the Darrel K Durant Foundation, which benefits The Boys & Girls Club of Metro Richmond. There is an event in the name of Mr. Mason Jones 12/28 at The Camel, feat. his art, DJ J-Nice, and more. 54
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RVA MAGAZINE 11 WINTER 2012