Rva 17 web by RVA Magazine

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RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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RICHMOND MURAL PROJECT

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RVA MAGAZINE Summer 2014 CONTENTS CHROMEO

AVERS

IRON REAGAN

VCU Area ALB tech Strange Matter Lamplighter VCU Kulture 821 Cafe Fan Guitar & Ukulele Ipanema Empire The Village VCU BrandCenter Mojo’s Rumors Museum District VMFA Banditos Black Hand Coffee The Franklin Inn Cleveland Market Patterson Express

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RVA Magazine is printed locally by Conquest Graphics.

RON ENGLISH

COVER ART BY RON ENGLISH

The Hold Steady

The Fan Bellytimber Commerical Taphouse FW Sullivan’s Lady Nawlins Foo Dog Cask Cafe Harvest Market Star-lite Lounge Fan Noodle Bar Deep Grooves Capitol Mac Katra Gala Sticky Rice Joe’s Inn Strawberry Street Market Little Mexico The Camel Lamplighter Balliceaux Helen’s Metro Grill Y & H Mercantile Hardywood Park Brewery Magpie WEST END Su Casa The Broadberry En Su Boca Mekong Taboo Buz & Ned’s BBQ Guitar Center

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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DON’T SLEEP This page: Top: Skrillex at Friday Cheers (Photo: Todd Raviotta) Center left: Hoody Weather plurnt (@iAmAmirHasan) Center right: J Roddy Walston at Firday Cheers (@roundisfunny) Bottom left: Artist Jonathan Hirsch at the World Cup Brazil (@jonathanhirsch_) Bottom right: Hardywood Crowe’s Cream A Rita #Crowefest (@rvamag)

Opposite page: Top: Phil The Thrill at the Broadberry #epicfest2014 (photo by Marc Cheatham) Center Left: Kleos Jansport, Artik Phreeze, and Supa Soop at #epicfest2014 (@cheatsmwc) Center Middle: Micah “Bam-Bamm” White with Raekwon of Wu Tang Clan at The Hippodrome (@cheatsmwc) Center Right: Radio B and the crew at #epicfest2014 (@cheatsmwc) Bottom Left: Foiie & Villain at Epic Fest 2013 #throwback (@cheatsmwc) Bottom Middle: Goldin at Epic Fest 2014 (@i_shine_u_shine) Bottom Right: Octavion X at The Lair #epicfest2014 #SLAPDASHRVA (@envyevents1) RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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THE LATEST IN Richmond BREW NEWS | CHECK RVAMAG.com/rvaontap for daily updates

The Answer Is Coming! It’s no secret that Mekong has been a top spot for beer in RVA for quite a while. It has even been voted as CraftBeer.com’s Best Beer Bar In America two years in a row! But now the Vietnamese restaurant with the amazing beer selection is preparing to branch out. The Answer, named for Mekong’s legendary slogan, “Beer Is The Answer,” is Mekong owner An Bui’s forthcoming brewpub, restaurant, and bar. Opening soon at 6008 W. Broad St, in the same row of shops that contains Mekong, The Answer will be a “beer-only” hotspot featuring special beer selections from “Chief Beer Officer” An. An has enlisted Brandon Tolbert as his head brewer, and they plan to have a variety of beers that will be produced in-house and available only at The Answer and Mekong. The Answer will feature 12,000 total square feet of space, and the downstairs is particularly huge, with plenty of room for two bars and a big stage for musical performances. Eventually the plan is for the upstairs area to be converted into a speakeasy, complete with membership and special passwords required to get in. The Answer looks to be RVA’s next big beer stop, building on this city’s extensive brewing legacy and furthering Richmond’s reputation as a mecca of craft beer! Keep an eye on all the developments with The Answer at facebook.com/theanswerbrewpub

Ardent Craft Ales Ardent Craft Ales began as a three-person co-op run out of a Church Hill garage. Locals Tom Sullivan and Paul Karns joined with Kevin O’Leary, formerly of Massachusetts’ Cambridge Brewing Company, to form a community-oriented beer-brewing co-op that attracted tons of attention within the community. The steadily growing interest and variety of distinct and popular brew styles the group created led to investor interest and an eventual transition into the business world. As of June 2014, Ardent is operating as a brewery and taproom in Scott’s Addition. Go see them at 3200 W. Leigh St! ardentcraftales.com

Triple Crossing Brewing Company Triple Crossing Brewing Company was formed by Brewmaster Jeremy Wirtes, who grew up around homebrewing and developed his love of fine beers during a three-year residence in Germany. Adam Worcester was originally Wirtes’s apprentice, while Scott Jones was a friend of Worcester’s who, like Worcester, had strong connections to Richmond. When the three decided to go into business together brewing beer, RVA was a natural choice. In April of this year, they opened a tasting room at 113 S. Foushee St in the heart of downtown, complete with a patio and a bar’s eye view of the brewing process. www.triplecrossingbeer.com

Isley Brewing Company Isley Brewing Company can also be found in Scott’s Addition, which is a fitting location in which to find owner and lifelong Richmonder Mike Isley, a former plumber who decided a few years ago that he was ready to try something new. At that point, he hooked up with Josh Stamps, who had done some time with a brewery in Midlothian as well as working with local brewer Madison Hill. The two joined forces in the effort to bring more high-quality craft beer to RVA, and their appearance on the local scene is certainly a welcome one! You can quaff their offerings at their tasting room, located at 1715 Summit Lane. www.isleybrewingcompany.com

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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PLAYLIST TRACKS WORTH LISTENING TO.

The Milkstains, “Harold’s Lament” Gored Kicked Beaten, Bad Grrrl Records

RVA’s beloved and cherished Milkstains just celebrated their 10th year as a band together, and show no signs of stopping anytime soon. The garage-surf rock trio just released their second EP in less than a year, and the record finds the Stains throwing some western flavor into their sound. The standout opener, “Harold’s Lament” takes their usual uptempo energy and slows it way down for a mirage-filled crawl through a desert of Tex-Mex guitars and maracas. It packs some serious melodic punch. --Alex Criqui

Vic Mensa, “Down On My Luck” single only, vicmensa.com

While Mensa was blurring the line between dance, hip-hop, and R&B long before he started hanging out with Disclosure, their influence here cannot be ignored. However, it’s Mensa’s musical maturity that makes this song infinitely better and more enjoyable than anything off of Disclosure’s debut. The amazing lyrical flow comes off effortless, like a quotidian mantra, while the music provides the perfect energy to drive that lyrical stream. Chicago’s SAVEMONEY army is definitely making waves, but Mensa proves here that he’s the one to keep your eye on. --Doug Nunnally

Hypercolor, “100 Hands” Resonate, hypercolor.bandcamp.com

If you want the perfect soundtrack to your summer, Hypercolor’s “100 Hands” should easily qualify. Ethereal, lush, remarkable, and adventurous are words that naturally come to mind when describing the band, but this track takes these ideas even further. “100 Hands” is a collision of abrupt rhythm changes and hushed vocals. Nothing feels out of place. I can’t wait to stare at sunsets with this track blasting in the background. --Shannon Cleary

Ruby the Hatchet, “Eliminator”

The Eliminator EP, thehatchet.bandcamp.com

Ruby the Hatchet’s stoner doom metal takes a lengthy excursion on nine-minute “Eliminator.” The Philly dark and roll band employs a building instrumental presence, the wailing of vocalist Jillian Taylor, and the heaviness of Sabbath for a murky stoner love fest. Best enjoyed by candlelight with plenty of “incense.” --Sarah Moore Lindsey

You Blew It!, “House Address”

Keep Doing What You’re Doing, Topshelf Records

“Remember those nights in Richmond? ...I’ve always felt fine singing in your basement.” On their new album, Florida’s You Blew It! pay tribute to a beloved RVA house-show venue (I can’t tell you where it is, but if you’ve been there, you know what’s up). The song’s elegaic melodies and tangled lead guitar lines are a beautiful backdrop for its conflicted, heartfelt lyrics, but for local residents, “House Address” mainly exists a helpful reminder that the things we do are important, and reach well beyond this city’s borders. --Andrew Necci

STUDIO NEWS RVA rapper Black Liquid has returned to the studio after a nearly two-year break. Needing to build up some inspiration after an extremely prolific period (16 releases in less than four years), the rapper found that inspiration in the work of Fiona Apple. His as-yet-untitled new project, which he calls “my most personal project yet,” is a full-length album based entirely on Apple’s music, featuring production from Lord Slugg, Sleaze, Ant The Symbol, and DJ Gringo. The album was recorded in Liq’s home studio, The Red Room, with post-production, mixing, and mastering handled by Yung Yankee at Charged-Up Enterprises Studio. The release will hit the internet on September 22--look for details at blackliq.com. With crowdfunding becoming the new norm for artists with fans but no label, it’s no surprise to see the new album by local singer/pianist Anousheh released as the result of a Kickstarter campaign. Anousheh’s been slowly rebuilding her career for years since chronic illness and a gonowhere record deal prevented her from following up on her Grammynominated work with Deep Dish in the mid-2000s. In the wake of Kickstarter success, she went into the studio with her new backing band (featuring members of David Shultz & The Skyline) and producer Josh Quarles. We can expect a beautiful synthesis of electro-pop and indie singer/songwriter sounds from the album, expected to come out in November 2014. RVA punks Asylum, who describe their music as “MotorCharge” (Motorhead plus Discharge),recently spent a relatively brief amount of time at Minimum Wage Studios laying down their first EP. They cranked out six songs in two days to be released on a vinyl 7 inch EP by RVA labels Vinyl Conflict and Grave Mistake, which have collaborated on a few other records by RVA punk bands recently (Barge, Cretins, Devil’s Hand, etc). The Asylum EP is at the pressing plant now, and the band hopes to have it available for sale by September’s RVA Punx Picnic. No official record release shows are currently planned, but they’ll be playing a bunch in August and September, so keep an eye on the merch table. Way Shape Or Form’s Troy Gatrell has been hard at work in his home studio putting together a new EP, to be simply entitled EP2. Other than some guitar tracks by WSOF member Will Hooper, the entire EP is the work of Gatrell, who plays guitars, bass, drums, synths, and various percussion. After a heavily vocal-oriented album in 2012’s Person Place Or Thing, Gatrell has chosen to move back towards the instrumental aspects of WSOF’s sound, and only 2 of the EP’s 7 songs are expected to feature vocals. Look for EP2 on Way Shape Or Form’s Bandcamp page August 29.

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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HOAX HUNTERS by

The music of Hoax Hunters is fascinatingly hard to define in terms of genre. Their songs are a modern throwback to the sensibilities of east coast hardcore while engaging the ideals of persuasive indie rock from the eighties and nineties. The tunes feel like outbursts and require little to no time to get the message across. Hoax Hunters founder PJ Sykes is a student of these eras, but he is also an active participant in making sure their memory doesn’t fall to the wayside. Sykes has been active within the Richmond music community for several years. His name may be mainly associated with his work as a photographer, but music has always remained on his mind. “My last band, A New Dawn Fades, was wrapping up, and photography started picking up. Music just got put on hold for a little while,” Sykes recalls. His photography showcases regional and national acts and provided a delicate emphasis on framing a live performance. An image of Lambchop is a fascinating demonstration of the energy that was channeled during their live performances, while an image of Mermaid Skeletons in a hallway at a house show indicates the preparation needed for an ensemble to take the stage.

Shannon Cleary photos Mick Anders

shouted vocals. In many ways, the song explains Sykes’ aspirations for this band. “A lot of what I write about isn’t your typical boy meets girl kind of stuff. It just doesn’t seem relevant to me. I think about things in a much larger sense, and even if I write about something that could be construed as arbitrary; there is a personal meaning behind it,” he says. There is a sense of importance to the idea of uncovering a hoax, and that idea is represented not just in the band’s namesake song but several of their tunes. “Glitterbomb,” an ode to the act of publicly showering someone with glitter, takes its name from an act commonly performed against political candidates who oppose same-sex Sykes’ attention to detail, indicated in his marriage. photography, eventually emerged as a renewed desire to make music. “I reached this point where “In The Background” is an even more curious I thought about things I wanted to do in my last tale. Years ago, Richmond natives White Laces band and how I could pursue those. One of those performed at Lynchburg’s Rivermont Pizza. ideas was writing songs that I could potentially The show’s controversial outcome resulted in a play guitar and sing simultaneously. Which I great deal of discussion, and this Hoax Hunters know sounds like it wouldn’t be a challenge, but song further chronicles the experience. “That coming from a weird instrumental duo, it certainly particular song is just about being a band and finding yourself [turned into] background noise. was,” Sykes says. You go there with the intentions of performing, Hoax Hunters began with a demo for the song but [when] you get commanded to turn down that eventually gave the project its name, a quick your amp and just be further ignored, [you end jaunt that blazes by with furious guitars and up] feeling like you don’t really belong,” Sykes says. Another facet of Sykes’ participation in the local scene is through his label, Cherub Records. “I started the label as a way to put out music I was excited by, but it also proved to be a strong asset. If you submitted music to promoters or media outlets out of town, they were more likely to take notice if it was being sent from a label as opposed to just some random person,” Sykes explains. Through his efforts chronicling music through Cherub Records, he has released records by Graceland Grave Robbers, Baby Help Me Forget, Timothy Bailey and the Humans, and Kids Techno, as well as his own personal projects.

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

Beginning the group by making solo demos, Sykes soon began searching for musicians to round out the line-up. To call it a journey would be an understatement. “There have been several different versions of Hoax Hunters, but I think that’s kind of a cool thing. You may have a record or a demo or a seven-inch that represents that moment of the band, but when you go see us live, it’s completely different depending on who is on stage performing these songs,” Sykes says. The list of bandmates that Sykes has commandeered for this project include former and current members of bands like The Color Kittens, The Diamond Center, Hot Dolphin, Baby Help Me Forget, Flechette, The Snowy Owls, Tyrannosaurus Awesome, Canary Oh Canary and several others. Considering the reputation Sykes had garnered over the years as an active participant in the local scene, it’s not that shocking that he was able to draw from an all-star rotating lineup of bandmates to help flesh out the Hoax Hunters material. The moment that solidified the band as a unit came with the release of a split with The Snowy Owls for Record Store Day 2013. At the time, Hoax Hunters’ lineup featured Tim Falen on bass and James O’Neill on drums. “The two of them joining the band is funny, because I didn’t know them all that well. We became good friends and probably better musicians as a result of our involvement in Hoax Hunters,” Sykes recalls. The split featured the tune “Orbit,” which was the first CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY

was just giving him a chance to play bass. When he joined Hoax Hunters, that was a big part of it. He didn’t really want another band where he would be the drummer, and I’m glad Hoax Hunters could be that band for him. Even if only The band’s first album provides a look at their temporarily.” Ben Nicastro replaced Falen in the entire history. “We put out an EP before the group. “Ben seemed like the best choice, and it seven-inch, but that feels more like a demo at just fit smoothly,” Sykes says. this point. [Almost] all of those songs appear on this full-length anyway,” Sykes says. Entering In the coming months, Hoax Hunters will see the the studio earlier this year, they worked with release of Comfort & Safety by Raleigh’s Negative engineer Allen Bergendahl for this concoction Fun Records, in collaboration with Sykes’ own of tunes, and the finished product is a strong label. “We are working with some really great statement indicating what makes Hoax Hunters people that want to make the record have the a true outlier in this city. “Breathe” is the band at best run it can. We’re all really excited to see their most melodic, yet it still has the crashing, what happens for the rest of the year,” Sykes says. chaotic aspect that can elevates the best Hoax Despite his past difficulties with maintaining a Hunters tunes. “Six/Five” is one of the strongest steady lineup for the band, Sykes has never let tracks on the record with it’s disjointed rhythm that deter his efforts. “This started as me writing and showered influences throughout. Even the songs at home, and has become something of earlier tracks like “Hoax Hunters” and “Riskless a chameleon in many ways,” Sykes says. “I like Business” feel fresh as performed by this lineup. the idea of having that separation between what you hear on record and what you see live. For as During the recording process, Falen reached a long as this band is around, it’s exciting to think point where his available time for the band was of what experience someone will have when they reduced, and he had to depart. “Tim leaving listen to a Hoax Hunters record. It’s what excites was under the best of terms. He made himself me as a music fan.” available to record his parts for the album, and I totally understood,” says Sykes. Better known for facebook.com/hoaxhunters his drumming in local bands The Diamond Center and Hot Dolphin, Falen had taken on a different instrument in Hoax Hunters, and Sykes was glad to have given him the opportunity. “What I liked glimpse at this version of the band. With a solid rhythm section locked in, Sykes was able to focus on musical ideas that would eventually become their debut full-length, Comfort & Safety.

at Russlemania, I said, ‘Hey, maybe we should play some music together.’” “We tried to keep the name Dirty Dawgs,” says Divine, referring to their Russlemania team name. “Spelled like D.I.R.T.Y D.A.W.G.S,” says Martin. The guys insist on using D.I.R.T.Y D.A.W.G.S as an acronym, although none of them will explain what it stands for. “We can’t tell people that,” says Taylor. Natural Child’s roots are rumored to have begun with Martin, Taylor, and Murray jamming without the intention of starting a band, but that’s apparently not true. Natural Child started with a dumpster and a glisten of kindness.

“How’s your first night of tour going?” “Dog, I’m in a hot tub,” says Martin. “It’s actually our fourth night of tour, but our first night with Black Lips,” says Taylor. “So far we’ve been bowling, went to South of the Border, [are] chillin’ in a hot tub. Played a lot of arcade games, played a lot of skee ball. We’ve been eating for free!! Played a lot of basketball.” The guys describe this particular tour as a vacation. “[The National] is about seven times the size of everywhere we’ve played in Richmond, so that’s kind of weird,” says Taylor. “And there’s a gigantic hot tub, so that’s pretty good right there. I love playin – fuck, what’s that place with the arcade games?” “Strange Matter.” “I love playin’ Strange Matter!”

NATURAL CHILD

Natural Child has certainly tightened up the screws over the years. Whereas their debut album, 1971, was more of a sloppy garage rock record, everything they’ve put out on Burger, including Dancin’ With Wolves, sounds more like the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed and Beggars Banquet. Or, as one of my friends so poignantly put it, CCR on a shit-ton of speed. Dancin’ With Wolves was a record of firsts for Natural Child. Not only did the band expand from three to five members, but they also recorded the album under water. “It’s actually not hard to rent a small submarine that’s the size of this hot tub,” said Taylor. “What’s hard is hanging out in it for eight hours,” said Divine. “Luke got really claustrophobic at one point and started screaming,” added Taylor. “We ended up using it on the album,” Martin said.

Emilie von Unwerth

I am wasted in a hot tub with Natural Child, the wonderfully wild, hilariously sleazy currentlyfive-piece-but-originally-three-piece Southern blues-rock outfit from Nashville, who just finished their first show with tourmates Black Lips.

“What the fuck! It should be, like, 99 degrees!” “No way, man.” “Turn it down, turn it down, man.” “Do not turn it down. This is not too hot.” “This is regular hot tub temperature.” “Yeah, this is standard hot tub temp.”

The guys killed it, as they always do, playing straight up, no bullshit rock & roll inspired by the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, and pretty much every great rock outfit in the 60s and 70s. Natural Child is a band born too late, and thank fucking god they were. With songs like “Firewater Liquor,” “Laid Paid and Strange,” “8 AM,” and “She Got A Mind,” these guys are rowdy, self-assured, musicians who make some of the best rock rock & roll in the US right now.

Getting an intoxicated Natural Child member to honestly answer questions about band formation and their new record, Dancin’ With Wolves, proves damn near impossible. Everyone’s just too drunk and these dudes are just too irreverent, a fact unsurprising to anyone even slightly familiar with the band. Aside from being great musicians, these dudes are fucking funny, each member spouting off beer-through-the-nose-inducing one-liners every few minutes.

Zack Martin (drums), Wes Taylor (bass) Benny Divine (keyboard), and I all sit on the ledge of a giant hot tub, while Seth Murray (guitar) flops around in the 104-degree water in his red briefs. The conversation begins with Luke Schneider (pedal steel) walking in to discover the water temperature, a number he finds despicably high.

Active since 2009, Natural Child began as a trio consisting of Murray, Taylor, and Martin. They’ve recorded singles and EPs on Infinity Cat, Almost Ready, Jeffrey Drag, and Suicide Squeeze. Their first full length, released by Nashville label Infinity Cat, was packed with odes to booze, bud, and butts. They’ve since moved to Burger for their last three LPs.

For their newest record, Dancin’ [not Dances, they’re “not tryina’ get sued, here”] With Wolves, the guys brought fellow Nashvillian Schneider on to play pedal steel and New Orleans-native Divine to tickle the keys. When asked what prompted them to add two more bodies to the band, the guys say they had no choice. “[Benny and Luke] just kind of made their way in,” Taylor and Murray explain. “Well, me and Wes had a tag team match,” says Murray. It was called Russlemania. “It’s this backyard wrestling tournament that we have every year in Mobile, Alabama,” says Taylor. “That’s where we met Ross and Dru,” Martin chimes in. Ross and Dru are Schneider and Divine, respectively. “There was one move where he [a vague reference that could have been about anyone in the room, or not in the room] picked me up by my feet and made me flip twice and then I kicked people in the face,” says Taylor. “We got a lawsuit out of that... So we kind of came up with [the idea to add them to the band] there. After we won the tag team tournament

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

“2007, there was this man. They found him naked and beaten in a dumpster outside of a Burger King,” says Taylor. “Yeah, they found me at the Burger King,” says Martin. “They named me BK because I had amnesia and I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t remember my social security number. And, so, Wes and I started jammin’ together. That’s really how it started… You guys found me and I found my new self and became the drummer of this band.” Heartwarming shit right there. At this point, Murray throws his briefs – I think it was his briefs. Could have been a shirt, but I remember it as his briefs – against the wall, in the vein of an Italian mama testing her spaghetti for readiness.

Natural Child, a band of dudes known for their country lifestyle and “let’s get fucked up” mentality have – erm – matured a bit over the years. \ “Our first couple tours we were just Robotripping and we were just doing it all,” says Murray, who has retrieved his briefs from the wall. “We were taking poppers, huffing gas,” says Taylor. “We would just do anything we could to get fucked up.”

“If you turn it up really loud in between track eight and track nine, you can hear Luke screaming. Thirty feet under water,” revealed Taylor.

In fact, the first time I met Natural Child was in 2011 when I lived in Harrisonburg. That night, the guys collectively chugged all of my friend’s NyQuil. “You know, I believe we did that,” says Taylor. “But I don’t remember it.”

“RUSSLEMANIA SEVEN AUGUST 13th, MOBILE, ALABAMA,” shouts Taylor. “Russlemaniiiaaaaaaaaa!!! Dru and Ross, Dirty Dawgs,” hollers Martin. “Do y’all wanna start Russlemania early?” asks Taylor.

These days, they still get fucked up; they just “do that slowly, and focus more on playing.” CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY

Renegades, these guys. Murray and Divine exit the hot tub. Turns out 104 degrees is a bit high; apparently 100 degrees is considered safe for a healthy adult. Everyone else quickly follows. As we dry off, conversation drifts back to Russlemania.

naturalchild.bandcamp.com 23

up missing artists they really want to see. Do you we wrote and recorded with him. The double remember the last time this happened to you? guitar attack is a big, defining part of this record and its sound, so I think in some Oh, of course. My good friends Trampled ways it’s because of that. I also think Nick By Turtles, who are from Minneapolis, were Raskulinecz, the producer, is known for making playing at the exact same time as us in big, rock records. Atlanta at Shaky Knees Festival. There’s only a few stages, and we were on at the same So where did the album’s title come from? time. It happens all the time, you know? Either someone you know or someone you want to Well, teeth dreams are anxiety. You know, see, you just don’t because of that. There’s dreams where your teeth are falling out, which been countless acts I’ve missed that I would are dreams supposedly about money woes have just as soon wanted to watch. It is cool or lack of confidence. I was asking myself a because you do run into a lot of artists at question a lot: “Do we live in anxious times, or catering, so there can be a big family reunion is anxiety just part of the human condition?” feeling to those things. I did get to catch I kept thinking about all of these things and Violent Femmes at Shaky Knees though, and I met a doctor who said that over half of his that was something I was really excited to see. patients as a general practitioner come in for The first kind of club concert I ever went to anxiety. That’s the most common thing people was the Violent Femmes and they were playing enter his office for. There was a recent New right after us in Atlanta. It was just really cool York Times column on anxiety too. So do we to see, especially after all these years. live in particularly anxious times or are we just more aware of it? In the latter case, are we So talk to me about the genesis of Teeth Dreams. nurturing it?

THE HOLD STEADY by

Last September, Fall Line Fest made its grand debut in Richmond with a weekend full of great music, art, and food. The only thing missing that first year though was that big name that would get everyone absolutely buzzing. This year, the powers that be have rectified that problem by landing The Hold Steady as a headliner. One of the most critically acclaimed bands of the past fifteen years, the Brooklynbased band has been going strong for over a decade now and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. With the release of Teeth Dreams, their sixth and most ambitious album to date, the band has proven that even as they approach middle age, they still have a lot left to offer the music world.

Doug Nunnally photo Rich Tarbell

Do you remember the first time you played in Richmond?

I believe that it would be with the Drive-By Truckers. No, wait. It was Art Brut, on the Boys & Girls In America tour at Toad’s Place [on November 19th, 2007]. That was the first show we played. We also played The NorVa in Norfolk for Stay Positive, and then we’ve done Charlottesville and Virginia Beach. I think that’s all of Virginia we’ve done. We actually have some good friends who live in Charlottesville and we had a day off from touring there a few weeks ago, so we were able to hang out with them for a while. We also just toured with Tim Barry of Avail from Richmond, so now we have another friend from the area. For Fall Line Fest, having The Hold Steady Virginia’s nice, but the bus is moving so quick is definitely a huge feather in their cap. The that we usually don’t get as much time to look wealth of the band’s catalogue, coupled around as we want to. with their reputation for breathtaking performances, means Richmond is in for one You talked about visiting friends. How important of the best shows of the year. Craig Finn, the is it for you to be able to do that while you’re on band’s loquacious front man, recently sat the road? down with us to talk about… well, pretty much everything going on with him these days. Oh, I think it’s very important. I do. I think it’s healthy. For me, I think it’s nice to connect Now, you’ve famously played in all fifty states. with people outside of the tour. Old friends, you know? I think it’s grounding in some way. 24

I always try if I can to squeeze in dinner with a friend or some time to hang away from the venue. I think it’s kind of helpful from a mental state when you’re doing all the travelling we do, so you don’t go crazy. Now, you’re going to be headlining Fall Line Fest in Richmond this September. You guys are veterans of the festival circuit by this point, so what are some of your favorite festivals to play at? Well, we just did one in Atlanta called Shaky Knees that was excellent, but I’m a real big fan of Lollapalooza in Chicago. I tend to like the ones that you don’t have to get out to the middle of nowhere for. I feel like there’s a comfort in being able to see the festival, but then going to your hotel, rather than ones that are more removed from the city. I just like the ones in or near a city better. A lot of them are going to be determined by the artists, though. Another one that is great actually is in the Gorge in Washington, called Sasquatch! Festival. That’s probably the most beautiful setting we’ve ever played. I know a lot of other artists sometimes complain about their set times at festivals since they end RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

Well, we’d been writing to make a record for a while. We were just writing and writing and writing. At some point, we just lost sight of whether we had it or not and we ended up questioning ourselves a lot. We found ourselves writing a lot of songs; far more than we needed to. At one point, the producer came in and said, “Guys, you’re absolutely ready to make this record. Let’s do it.” From there, it just happened pretty quickly. We were writing for quite a while though. There were four years between Teeth Dreams and Heaven Is Whenever, which is a ton for us because we did five records in our first seven years before that. It was a sprawling effort, and then we just kind of pared it down and made the record at the end. In that four years between this album and the last, you released your solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes. How did making that record influence this one? The main thing that it did was allow me to be quiet. The solo record was a little quieter and felt a little different. It got something out of my system and I was very excited to do something that was more based on the storytelling and quiet aesthetic. It allowed me to come back to The Hold Steady and be really excited to make a big, loud record. I think we made our biggest and loudest record this time out, even though it’s our sixth record and I’m 42 years old. I’m kind of proud ourselves in that regard. At a certain age, I think people just expect you to bring in the mandolin and a string section, and we just did the opposite.

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Any acts like there you’re competitive with? Yeah. I don’t know if I’d explain it exactly like that, but the Drive-By Truckers were a band that really influenced us when we started The Hold Steady. Then we ended up becoming friends with them and playing shows with them. We actually have some coming up. They are a big influence, but also some kind of peer, I feel. I’m still a big fan though, and I’ll get just about anything they release. Any thoughts to some collaborations with DriveBy Truckers mastermind Patterson Hood then?

Get an answer? Ehhhhh, I would say it requires further rumination. A lot of the songs, because they write the music first, seemed tense and claustrophobic, so I kind of wanted to dive into that theme of anxiety, for better or worse. But I don’t think I answered it. You’ve always had a wide range of influences for your work. What were you listening to this time around? Mostly guitar rock, like Thin Lizzy and The Replacements, who were my favorite band. Led Zeppelin too. You know, good, hard rock. We were listening to a lot of records when we were making the record, like Zeppelin and Rush, a fair amount in the studio. Just pure guitar rock from our youth. It really helped shape what we wanted to do. Now, you were one of the first names in rock music to openly credit hip hop as an influence. Is hip hop still an influence to you today? Lyrically, of course. I think there’s just something about hip hop. Obviously, the lyrics are very, very important and they tell a story usually or at least comment on a story. There’s also this sort of competitive nature to it. [Rappers] want to be the best, and they want their lyrics to be the most inventive and creative. I don’t write any music in The Hold Steady, so I’m solely the lyricist, and I just relate in that way.

Competitiveness used to run in rock music like it did in hip hop music. Bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys were always trying to one up the other one. Do you think this is missing from rock I think it naturally happened. We had been music today? touring with Steve Selvidge on guitar after the last record, but this was the first record It’s hard to say or even know. I certainly don’t Did that loud rock sound come naturally or was it something you guys actively tried to achieve?

feel it’s the same at all, though. I think it’s more because of the way radio is now and singles are released. You couldn’t have this dialogue going back and forth as easily as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles did. I think everyone on their own level is privately competitive though. Artists still push themselves to want to be the best they can be. It probably isn’t as much fun for the media that that back and forth doesn’t exist as much.

I haven’t, you know? I did an acoustic tour with Patterson and Will Johnson over in Europe, which was a lot of fun. The band keeps us all pretty busy though, and there’s plenty of music around there. I hope to be very busy with The Hold Steady all year so I haven’t really thought much outside of that. Wrapping up on a different topic. The Hold Steady is a great band name, but have you ever thought of any cool names since you formed the band? At the bar, I think I’m always coming up with band names, but I never remember. There’s nothing that stuck with me that I liked better than The Hold Steady. I think all people into music, especially in bands, are constantly coming up with cool or quirky band names. My friend has this sort of game of making fake jam bands. The one I came up with was Lush Vegetation. That’s my fantasy jam band, which I’m sure someone will steal now. But we’re always coming up with things like that. What’s the last cool band name you heard? You know, I’m really partial to The Donkeys. They aren’t really a new band, but I really like them and the name. There’s a lot of simplicity to that band name that I really dig. It’s super obvious, but it’s also that a donkey is a fantastic image for a band. Well, thanks for your time. We here in Richmond are definitely looking forward to seeing you in Richmond this September for Fall Line Fest. Me too! I heard it’s a great festival so I’m really excited. Hopefully I can catch some acts or maybe an art show or food panel. theholdsteady.net 25

R. Anthony Harris photos TIM SACCENTI

Chromeo Start with catchy bass lines, add elaborate stage shows and girl loving hooks, and you’ve got the band that’s ripping through the chart this year: Chromeo. Their 2004 debut, She’s In Control, set the table for the next decade of dance music, with their 80s influenced tracks being played in clubs around the world. Their rise has continued with their newest record, White Women, which hit #11 on the Billboard album charts, powered by infectious singles “Come Alive” and “Jealous (I Ain’t With It).” This year, Chromeo have taken their fame to new heights and onto the covers of almost every music mag in the country. In-between their set at Coachella this year and their recent night at The National, during which they worked Richmond into a dance party frenzy, the more vocal half of the duo, Dave1, took a moment to talk with me about touring, playing huge festivals--and of course, women.

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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How’s the tour going?

That’d be cool, right? That’d be so cool. I mean, who knows--one day, right? With this It’s good! Good, really good so far. We’re doing new album, we’re definitely reaching out to a college show in Chicago right now, and then collaborators more and more so… so yeah. You tomorrow we go back to New York. never know; I mean, I hope so. And if not Andre, somebody else, you know. There’s so many That sounds exciting. I came out to Coachella people we wanna work with. that first weekend and caught your set. Yeah? Anybody high on that list? Yeah, that was pretty big! I’d love to work with Future. I would love to work How was it playing in front of that many people? with Maxwell. We’re going to work with Haim, we just never made it in time for the record. We were shitting ourselves. Not gonna lie to But we’re probably going to do something with you. those girls cause we’re friends. But yeah, Haim are like super high on the list of people who I Yeah, you probably got a lot of nerves before you want to work with. Todd East, that would be went up there, huh? great. Blood Orange would be great. You know, a bunch of people. A lot of nerves, yeah. You know what it is, though? I’m cool with playing in front of a big Were there any bands you were hoping to see at crowd. That’s not a problem. There’s two things Coachella? that make it tough for Coachella. Number one is you have 20 minutes to change over. We just saw whoever was on on Friday because So basically, to bring your whole equipment we left the next day. In both cases, we had a onstage. And we’ve got a pretty elaborate show the next day. light show, and it takes a lot to get that to work. That’s not easy in 20 minutes. And then I caught your little brother [A-Trak] with Duck secondly, the crowd was so far away from us. Sauce [duo featuring A-Trak and Armand Van They were almost 50 feet away from us. When Helden]. That was so nuts. Is it crazy to see your I was doing the call and response, it would take brother doing such big things at the same time forever to hear the echo of the crowd back to you guys are blowing up? me, because they’re so far it came at a delay. It was kinda crazy, but it’s all good. It was just a Yeah, I designed that show [and] worked on wonderful experience. A total blessing. We’re [it] a lot with him. So it’s a lot of work too, but so happy we got to do this. it’s great. It’s great to be doing that together, and I feel like the Duck Sauce show was really I know you’re a hip-hop fan. How was it playing refreshing in an EDM context, the context that right before OutKast? it was almost more like a musical. It was cool! I mean, you know, obviously like everybody else… Aquemini, ATLiens, but even like their older shit like “Hootie Hoo,” I’ve been a fan since day one. So… it was dope. But at the same time, it’s also heartbreaking sometimes, cause like--I mean, it’s hard for me to say this but I think sometimes you could tell… I don’t know what you think, but couldn’t you tell that they’re not really close anymore, when you were looking at the show?

I definitely thought it stood out. Yeah, that’s what we try to do. Speaking of collaboration, on your new album, White Women, “Come Alive” is one of my favorite Chromeo tracks. How’d you get up with Toro Y Moi? How’d you get him to work on your track, and how was that collaboration?

the girls become mannequins again, just stuff like that. We’ll add little elements, but in this case the director totally came up with the idea. Speaking of dating and stuff, is it hard to have a normal relationship when you have so many songs about women? They already know all your moves, man. [Laughs] I guess. I’m kind of revealing a bit of my strategy, but I think it’s just funnier to laugh about it. Like usually, if I’m seeing someone, I might tell her, “Oh, listen to this, what do you think?” And like… what we do, you don’t take yourself seriously all the time. It’s kind of just entertaining anyway. People will ask me about like the ballad, like, “Is that about her? Who’s that about, who’s that about?” It’s not about anybody! It’ll be just be one conversation with one person that’ll bring good ideas to my head, it won’t even be about one person necessarily. People are super excited to see you play Richmond again. Have you ever had any time to hang out here? Nope, never, unfortunately. Like the last time we just got in and then we had to leave. It sucks. Touring is not very compatible with tourism, you know what I’m saying? Yeah. How many days are you touring this year? Are you on the road all year? Yes. Starting now, yeah. So Coachella kicked it off for you then? For the year? Correct. You saw the new show, right? With the big filmers behind us? In that present configuration, Coachella was show number five. We had only done four shows before, to warm up for that. As crazy as it sounds. Do you ever get starstruck at all? Have you ever met anybody that just like, woah…

The only one that I’ve met that was like “woah” is Erykah Badu because she’s so much more It was great. I love that kid. I wasn’t friends beautiful in person. I mean, she’s pretty in the And it’s tough, especially being in a duo myself, with him before. We’re friends now, but I pictures, but she’s got this kinda weird, very and you grow up listening to those great duos didn’t know him that well. All these girls kept unique look. But in person, there’s a magnetism like A Tribe Called Quest and OutKast. Then telling me about him. For real! I’d be in like a about her. I mean, for real. And also she’s got they break up, and it’s bittersweet when you restaurant with this girl on a date and one of a really pretty ass. I was definitely spellbound see them together again. his songs would come on and the girl would be when I saw Erykah Badu in person. I wasn’t like “[gasp] Oh my God it’s Toro, oh I love him!” expecting that. But starstruck… I mean like, On that subject, do you ever worry about that I got really, like, jealous. I was like really? Man maybe when I meet Larry David I’ll be a little with your partnership, your duo? Like seeing into I really gotta reach out to this dude. I reached bit starstruck. the future? out to him and he was like, “Yeah, I’m a fan, let’s do it.” So we got together and we did it. What I What’s the best dance album of all time? No, I mean… no. We’re… I don’t wanna… I mean, like about it is he sounds a little bit different on we’re married man. We’re not going anywhere. “Come Alive” than he does on his own music. Uhhhhhh... Daft Punk, Discovery. [Laughs] Like, his voice is a little different, and I felt like we brought that out of him. Good answer. Yeah, you guys definitely seem like you’re one unit, especially on the new album. Watching On the video--did the band come up with the Yeah, that’s my favorite. That’s really my the videos, I feel like I’m being pulled into your concept? It’s like that movie from the 80’s, favorite for dance music. But I’m not going to art project, you know, like, this project you guys Mannequin. lie to you man, I feel like that new Duck Sauce been working on forever. album [Quack] is up there. It’s so conceptual, That’s actually the director who came up with it’s really interesting. You should really take Yeah, definitely, that’s what we want. that. The way it works is like the director will time to listen to it. come up with a concept like that, and we’ll add When I was watching OutKast, after I’d just ideas to it. So I’ll say like okay, let’s do that, but chromeo.net heard you guys, I wondered if it would ever we should add a choreography with P[-Thugg]. possible for you and Andre 3000 to do a collab. You know, like P should be this security guard. You know, when we get caught at the end and 28

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by R. Anthony Harris photos Steve Krandall

IRON REAGAN Don’t call it a side project. Regardless of how many bands the members of Iron Reagan are already famous for (Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse, Darkest Hour, Suppression, Mammoth Grinder, etc), Iron Reagan is a full-time operation--and they’ve proved it with their prolific work rate. They’ve been together for less than two years, but they’re already about to release their second album, The Tyranny Of Will, in September on Relapse Records. It’s hot on the heels of their recent EP, Spoiled Identity, a collection of super-short thrash songs that Decibel Magazine released as a one-sided flexi disc (look it up, kids) back in May. This 13-song, 9-minute EP was just a more severe version of this RVA supergroup’s stock in trade--short, fast, heavy tunes that split the difference between hardcore and metal in the classic fashion that’s been called “crossover” since DRI invented the form back in the 80s. Iron Reagan’s 21st century update on the sound is fresh and exciting, and has quickly gained them fans all over the world. During a brief moment of downtime before they took off on yet another tour, we tracked down singer Tony Foresta and drummer Ryan Parrish to get the scoop on touring exotic locales, finding time to be in multiple bands, and accidentally stealing ideas from GWAR. So how was the first record received? RP: I was amazed. We thought we’d just do a few shows. But it was so well received we started going full steam ahead. TF: I think the positive push behind it from so many unlikely sources made us go, “Oh fuck, we’re onto something.” RP: Tony and I had been wanting to do a band together for 20 years. We had the chance to do it, wrote that record, and now we feel fuckin’ great about it. TF: We just put out an EP about a month ago. RP: Yeah, 13 songs on one side of a 7 inch. It’s on our bandcamp page. TF: It got over 50,000 plays and 20,000 downloads in a week. Do you think being able to kick out a record like that comes from you guys knowing each other for so long? TF: Me and Ryan have a chemistry for being best friends for so long. Me and [guitarist] Phil [Hall] have been in Municipal Waste together for over 10 years. Everything just collided super fast with this record. RP: We didn’t force anything, we just wrote as many songs as we wanted to write. We had a shit-ton of songs. After we did the EP, we started recording the [new] record immediately, because we had the material. Pretty much from September [2012] until like April 30th [2014], we were writing and recording records. We had a demo tape come out, followed by the record Worse Than Dead, then we had a split 12 inch with Exhumed, then the Spoiled Identity EP. Then we did the new record. That’s a lot of output. TF: We probably have a bigger discography than bands that have been around for five years.

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

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RP: And it’s continually growing. When we decide to write songs, we fuckin’ write songs. So how did you guys meet? RP: In Dinwiddie, at Disinterment band practice. [Tony] came out to one of the practices. TF: That was ten years before the Waste was even a thing. I would say 92, 93? RP: Yeah, we were still kids. My whole middle school and high school career was in that band. TF: I was in this band James River Scratch. RP: Yeah, and we played shows together, so we probably met before that, but that was when I said, “Oh hello, I’m Ryan.” What was your favorite stop on tour since you’ve been touring with Iron Reagan? TF: Any show with GWAR was awesome. It was a special thing. That was Dave [Brockie]’s last US tour, and we ended up getting real tight with him. We already were, but we ended up spending a lot of time with those dudes. So you went to Puerto Rico--how were the crowds there? TF: We just did one show, and it was great. They were fuckin’ stoked, and it was fun. We pretty much paid out of pocket to get there, but it was totally worth it. RP: We just sat on the beach for two days. TF: The local bands in Puerto Rico are sick. They ended up taking us to the beach. We just sat around and drank and swam, it was like a little vacation. So yeah, Puerto Rico was really awesome. We did really good in Canada too. Except we might not be able to go back there. [Laughs] Let’s just say we had some... TF & RP in unison: Border problems. TF: They didn’t like what we had in our bags.

RP: They didn’t like who was driving. [laughs] is snowballing. The Waste is at a point in our [Guitarist Mark] Bronzino looked sketchy, so careers now where we just do what we want, and they took advantage of him. it’s fun. It’s just gonna be a big juggling thing. It’s really all about planning your shit ahead of TF: Don’t be drunk when you go through a time. Everyone wants to say “side band” and all border patrol. I was wasted, and we ended up this, but you’re able to do two full-time bands being there for like… as long as you just plan properly. Everybody in Iron Reagan has other bands. Queens Of The RP: Two and a half, three hours? They went Stone Age is the same way, all those dudes are through everything we owned. We were clean. in like 10 bands. Were they disappointed?

RP: I think, musically, no matter what happens, as long as Iron Reagan wants to exist, it will. RP: I think they were. They really wanted to When it starts to feel like we have to do it, bust us. They were certain we were lying. that’s when it just isn’t worth it anymore. It’s definitely a different experience being in Iron TF: We got to the Vancouver show three Reagan for me, because everything’s so on hours late. We walked in while GWAR was point and everybody’s got each other’s backs. soundchecking, and the whole place just slow- As long as everyone feels the same way, I don’t clapped. [Laughs] The whole band was just see us stopping for any reason. looking at us like, “Good to see you could make Towards the end of your time in Darkest Hour, it, guys.” did it feel like a job? Between Darkest Hour and Municipal Waste, you’ve been to a lot of places. Is there any place RP: It definitely felt like no one’s heart was in it you haven’t toured that you’d like to go? anymore. I was still in it because… sometimes, when you’re been in something for a long time, RP: Thailand. I’ve been to the Philippines, but you feel like you have nowhere else to go. So I’ve never played Thailand. I would love to do when it all ended, it was a little frightening. that. [But] since we started Iron Reagan, I haven’t looked back. It feels great. And I don’t dislike TF: I’ve been offered there, but it just never anyone in [Darkest Hour], I just don’t think we works out. were connecting on any level anymore. It was a good time for us to part ways. RP: I’m surprised the Waste hasn’t gone there. With the name Iron Reagan, is there a more TF: We [Municipal Waste] were supposed socially conscious spin, or political bent to the to do a festival there but it got cancelled. music? It’s crazy out there. With places like that or South America, you never know what’s gonna TF: Yeah, more than any band I’ve ever been in. happen. I was in Greece one time not too long [But] I have to write songs that either have a ago, and there were soldiers on every corner little bit of humor or sarcasm in them. with tanks and shit. I’m like, “What is going on?” They were like, “The government’s about RP: We go back and forth. It’s a blend. You’ve to collapse. We’re gonna get you the fuck out gotta have a sense of humor, but you can be socially aware and still have that sense of of here as soon as your show’s over.” humor. It’s possible. It’s like Bill Maher--he’s a Where would you like to see Iron Reagan in a genius, but he’s an idiot. It’s the same thing. couple years? Would you like to continue it as a side project? TF: I think my life’s just gonna be a busy thing for the next couple of years. This band

RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

wants stuff.” The crossover bands back in the day were more demanding and wanted more money [than punk bands]. He says like the TF: Yeah, it’s a bummer. Which is cool, you crossover and metal bands now are coming know--I think that’s fine, bands like His Hero from these punk backgrounds. It’s weird Is Gone, who are really heavy and dark. But our how it really is crossing over now. Punks are music isn’t super dark. It’s more upbeat, but it playing metal and actually writing better metal songs now. definitely has a message to it. You don’t wanna beat people over the head with stuff all the time.

RP: And they’re just cooler, being cool dudes to everybody. Metal’s all about putting people on pedestals. I was in a metal band for a long time, and I saw it all the time. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I think people I definitely got that kind of vibe from the last are realizing they can just play aggressive video [for “Mini-Lights”]. awesome music and not be looked upon as a god, just as a normal person. And metal fans TF: I really love that video... I wish he’d shaved are kind of accepting that. his head. Every time I watch that, I’m like, “He should’ve committed, man.” [laughs] But they Do you consider yourselves a metal band? were really cool dudes to put that together for us. We did that on the GWAR tour. We did a lot TF: Yeah, I’d say a crossover band. I don’t of stuff on that tour. [laughs] We were mixing think there are enough crossover bands. It’s the record in the van. Phil was editing tracks on punk, it’s metal, it’s got punk vocals… the ProTools on a laptop, in the van while driving to new record definitely has more of a metal shows on that tour. edge to it. RP: And the political stuff that is involved is not telling you how to feel, it’s just saying how we feel. It’s just explaining--”This is how I see this point of view from my eyes.”

RP: We’d get together and go sit in the van and improve certain mixes… it was crazy.

RP: But it’s still got moments that are pretty punk.

TF: In the time off we had, between all those I think you guys need a giant Iron Reagan, like insane tours, we were recording 24 songs for Spinal Tap had a miniature Stonehenge. an album. TF: We played New Years’ Eve, and GWAR RP: I recorded 40 tracks in two days. And we was gonna come out with the Reaganator. wrote Spoiled Identity on top of that. We wrote RP: It was an old character they had for live 20 songs for that [EP] and only used 13. [shows]. A machine that had torpedo arms, TF: We cut a lot of shit. We want it to sound or something like that. a certain way. We’re all very obsessive as far as songwriting goes. I’ll go home and spend a TF: But then, Ghoul kinda did that too. We played with them in Oakland in April and couple hours a day trying to write lyrics. they came out on stage with this huge Do you think the metal and punk scenes are as fourteen foot tall Ronald Reagan. We were all good as ever? Where are things at? playing, going, “Holy shit, this is amazing!” It was funny, because Mark Bronzino was TF: My buddy Ron, who plays in Final Conflict, headbanging so hard he never saw it. After went on this rant when we were riding around the show, we were like, “Did you fucking in Austin the other day. He’s like, “It seems see that giant Ronald Reagan come on stage like the metal bands are punker than the punk with us?” And he was like, “What are you bands nowadays.” As far as bigger bands that talking about?” [laughs] You know how the are doing stuff, he said, “Every time I deal with South Park guys had that joke about, “The punk bands, they’re all whiny, and everybody Simpsons already did it”? I run into that a CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY

lot, but with GWAR. Even ideas you just said, like “Get a giant Ronald Reagan!” It’s like, “No, GWAR did that.” RP: We had an intro on the last tour, of the presidential song [hums “Hail To The Chief”]. And as we were doing that, Dave goes, “Hey, GWAR did that already, you realize that?” [laughs] We were like, “Fuck! Our intro is fucking GWAR-ed! God damn it!” You kind of all grew up under the shadow of Reagan. Does Iron Reagan actually have anything to do with your thoughts about Reagan and growing up in that era? TF: A little bit. In my brain I always thought Reagan was kind of a menacing character. RP: He was a deceptive person. Ollie North, just look that up. Read all about it, and you can see exactly how fucked up Ronald Reagan was. [laughs] TF: [With] the vision of that, the imagery, and the style of music we play, Iron Reagan just seemed like the perfect band name for the kind of shit we were doing. And you had that band name for years before you had the band going? TF: Yeah. RP: But it has a sense of humor to it too. That’s why it works so well for the band. Because it’s kind of serious, but Iron Reagan sounds like Iron Maiden—it’s funny. I love the name. And at first, Tony was like, “I don’t know if I want to use it,” so we tried so hard to be called something else. TF: We were gonna be called Cursed Cross, but everybody said it sounds too much like Kriss Kross [laughs]. RP: It looks cool written down, but when we say, “Hi, we’re Cursed Cross,” everybody would go, “Jump! Jump!” That’s a joke we would never live down. ironreagan.bandcamp.com

AVERS

by SHANNON CLEARY photos Sarah Walor

With the sun setting over Brown’s Island, the collective known as Avers waits in the wings. With a knowing look, the band takes to the stage amid roaring applause from the Friday Cheers crowd. As the set begins, a wave of psychedelic euphoria spins through the air. The Avers experience has begun; an experience that stems from the shared longings of each participant to see how far they could take their ideas. Every participant is equally important, and their shared participation in Avers is what prompted Richmond to rave about them from the outset. When anyone talks about music 34

in Richmond these days, Avers is bound to come up--and rightfully so. Montrose Recording is a legend in its own right. This creative hub evokes a particular air of awe in all of the musicians that have come in contact with it; language alone is insufficient to convey the magic of the Montrose studio atmosphere. In light of this fact, it’s no surprise that Avers’ story begins in this place, with a meeting between Montrose co-owner/Hypercolor guitarist Adrian Olsen and fellow RVA musician James Mason

about collaborating on music. They wanted to do something that was different than what they had done in the past--something that could grow into a monstrous phenomenon. “Mason Brothers were taking a bit of a break and I started writing these songs that wouldn’t fit in that project,” Mason recalls. After catching a set from local Led Zeppelin cover band Zep Replica, Mason felt inspired and reached out to the band’s guitarist, Charlie Glenn, immediately. “I talked to Charlie briefly about taking the style of the RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

riffs played in that band, and create something of our own,” says Mason. Glenn was busy with working on a new full-length by his main project, The Trillions, but this didn’t deter Mason. “After that conversation with Charlie, I met Adrian, and that’s when things started to take off,” Mason says. As soon as Mason showed up at Montrose to discuss this potential project, he felt invigorated. “I stepped foot into Montrose and could just feel this energy instantaneously,” he recalls. “I started CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY

explaining what I wanted to work towards, this more psychedelic project, and Adrian was pretty much on board.” After this meeting, the next two members to join were Alexandra Spalding and James Lloyd Hodges. “I mentioned this to Alex and she was into it. James had told me his friend JL showed some interest too and we started pulling things together,” Olsen says.

with one another due to their involvement in Richmond group Hypercolor. This was the first time the four had played together, though. “Adrian and I had tried to jam a long time ago and it ended horribly,” Hodges jokes. “But this time was different. We all were locked in and it just came naturally to all of us to write music together.” Avers began with Young Sinclairs’ Joe Lunsford taking on the role of drummer. His presence was Hodges was at this point on a short break from chronicled on their debut full-length, Empty Light. Farm Vegas. He had collaborated with Mason in the past. Olsen and Spalding were quite familiar 35

Glenn would soon re-enter the picture as The Trillions began working on their full-length at Montrose. “Montrose is just a dream and working with Adrian is great. He showed me some of the stuff that Avers was working on and I immediately wanted in on it,” Glenn says. Around the same time, the band found themselves in need of a drummer due to some scheduling difficulties on Lunsford’s part. The search ended quickly, as The Head and the Heart’s Tyler Williams had a similar experience to Glenn. “I was at Montrose one night and I found myself excited by what they were all working on,” WIlliams says. In light of Williams’ high-profile connections instigating much of Avers’ early attention, he also adds, ”Even though I joined towards the end, I wasn’t asked to join due to my other band. I want to play music, and during my off time from Head and the Heart, I want to remain active. Avers was my solution to that.”

song’s needs. We’ve been doing this long enough that we are informed to how this can work and how it can go terribly wrong,” Hodges says. “Lucky for us, we only have it go terribly wrong in the privacy of our practice sessions,” Spalding jokes.

One of the factors that sets Avers apart from several other outfits in Richmond is the place that they call home. With Montrose at their disposal, the band has found the luxury of recording songs as they are written to be a wonderful asset. “We will be writing something and we have this rolling excitement that makes [us] point at Adrian. [We] know [we] need to get it down on tape before it gets lost,” Mason says. The band operates under a simple rule: when a song is brought to the space, it can’t be finished. “It’s something we exist under as our credo. It’s like: bring a lyric, a riff, a rhythm, whatever--but we finish it together,” Olsen says. “That’s pretty much how a song like ‘Evil’ came together,” Spalding says. “I brought it to Montrose towards the tail end of recording, and it became a full-fledged song over the course of that day.” Spalding does feel guilty from time to time regarding the way this has influenced her other songwriting projects. “Because of how Avers operates, I will sometimes work on something for Hypercolor and leave it unfinished. [I] laugh at how I can’t just do that for everything I work on musically,” she jokes.

In theory, Empty Light should probably feel like a mixed bag. In light of its creation through sporadic recording sessions held over a number of months, it could have easily ended up that way. Yet the charismatic personalities of each Avers member lend themselves towards developing an identity that shines through each and every song on the album. This charisma, evident on songs released months in advance of the full album, generated a buzz around the band that escalated quickly as they worked towards finishing the record.

The band found inspirational experiences outside of Montrose as well, notably a visit to a home owned by Mason’s family, located an hour out from the Maritime Forest coastline. “This was a house that has belonged to my family for years. That house represents a retreat for my family and in that sense, I wanted to take the band there,” Mason explains. “I had been recently married, and James mentioned going to this beach house. I spent more time at that beach house than I even did on my honeymoon with my awesome wife, who was totally cool with me going with Avers for this retreat,” Hodges says. Mason feels the house is ingrained with a history that can’t help but inform the experiences people have there. “I felt like a lot of what makes Avers what we are was even further realized due to that trip. It brought all of us even closer and made this all make sense,” he says.

The first song the band worked on was “Mercy.” Spearheaded by Mason, work on this song initially brought the members together. “That song means a lot to me; it’s definitely what informed my desire to want to even do Avers,” Mason adds. Other tracks like “The Only One” hearken back to Olsen’s early songwriting tricks with unknown former bands like The Razorektors. The aforementioned “Evil” has a lurking spookiness to it that might not feel so out of place in Hypercolor, but adds a haunting feel to Spalding’s already incredible voice.

With the record soon to be released, Avers began preparing their live set--which, surprisingly enough, did not match up very closely with the material on Empty Light. “Despite ‘Mercy’ being one of the first songs we worked on, it didn’t really fit live,” Mason says. Meanwhile, the band had continued writing after finishing the album, “so we had material that we could have in the sets that wasn’t even going to be on the record,” Hodges says. As they gradually built their set, though, one important factor came to their attention that had nothing to do with the set--they all wanted a dedicated sound engineer who could capture and do justice to their best performances. This was how Patrick Ball became the seventh member of Avers. “When we approached Patrick about doing this, we didn’t want him to feel confined in any way,” Olsen says. “We wanted him to take risks and do things that he might not naturally do in most of his typical sound gigs.” Ball, easily one of the most talented live sound engineers in the city, was an obvious candidate for this position. “I spend a lot of time on the road doing sound, and when Avers approached me, I didn’t know what my availability was going to be like,” Ball says. “What ended up happening was that Avers gigs were happening when I had breaks from being on the road, and it just worked out naturally.” Ball is also a remarkable musician, who writes under the moniker Patrick Bates and has contributed to the project Autocue. “When I do sound for Avers, I don’t think I approach it as a sound guy. I approach it as a musician, and use that as my template for how I operate during their live shows.”

Their associations to The Head and The Heart, The Trillions, Farm Vegas, Mason Brothers, Hypercolor and many others could lend themselves to that term. However, the band sees it differently. “There may have been a slight design as to how we initially began when it was just the four of us,” Mason says. “But we never put this band together to serve the purpose that a term like supergroup might refer to.” After the retreat, work continued on Empty Spalding also found the logic of that term to be Light. The ten-track record is an artifact of time, confounding. “It seemed like being referred to as representing different days in the lives of the that just added a preceding notion of what our songwriters that brought these songs to life. “I like intentions were for this project,” she says. “We that we all end up playing different things. Charlie Avers’ first shows were out of town. They used started just like any other band has started.” might end up with the most variety in his role as these shows as a means of fine-tuning their set Hodges also adds, “It just so happens we have an auxiliary guy, but there are songs where Alex before their Richmond debut in December of all had a bit of past recognition for our efforts just sings, and songs where James just bangs on a 2013. Once in the public eye, they often found tambourine,” Olsen says. “We know to play to the themselves tagged with the term “supergroup.” 36

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as working musicians.” Given their continued success in the live environment, as well as the rave reviews Empty Light has received, Avers have quickly distinguished themselves as having merits beyond those implied by their connections to other bands.

Alex and Adrian postpone plans for Hypercolor,” Glenn says. The group is still continuing to write songs and already have a second record finished. “It’s like in baseball terminology--we are on a hot streak, and it hasn’t really let up yet,” Mason says. In 2015, The Head and The Heart will be taking a bit of a break, which should allow time for Avers The future for Avers couldn’t be brighter. “We do to pursue a few more opportunities. “We’ve [have to] work around Tyler’s schedule for his already done a lot of great stuff as it is; I think other band, but that hasn’t prevented us from 2015 should be awesome,” Hodges says. continuing to work on this,” Olsen says. In light of their respective other projects, the fact that Outside of the connections all of the members Avers abides by a looser schedule makes the of Avers have already developed, their creative project easier for its members to fit in smoothly network continues to expand. “Even with bringing with the rest of their creative working lives. “By no Patrick in, we have continued to collaborate with means is Avers just a side project, but I wouldn’t our close friends. Our friend Sarah Blake is doing want The Trillions to fall to the wayside, or have all of the artwork for Avers. We went to high

school together and I hadn’t spoken to her in ten years. I reached out to her, sent her some tracks and asked if she would want to do the artwork, and she was way into it,” Olsen says. “Sarah puts a lot of thought into the process of how she develops the art that represents Avers. She has a whole theory behind what Empty Light means and what that represents. It’s always awesome to work with people like that,” Spalding adds. In the coming months, Empty Light will see a proper release on vinyl, and the band will continue to tour as often as possible. Avers are one of the greatest treasures that this city has unearthed in recent years and their legend is already reaching unheard-of magnitudes. ww.avers.bandcamp.com

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The Richmond Mural Project 2014 brought an outstanding collection of national and international muralists to Richmond, VA for the 3rd year in a row. Now with close to 70 murals created for this project, the town is quickly being recognized worldwide as a hub for creativity and street art. All eyes are slowly turning our way. Thank you to Art Whino for curating a great showcase; The City Of Richmond, Altria, Venture Richmond and the sponsors for their continued support; the people of Richmond for a community that appreciates the art and culture in all its forms. We are all looking forward to what the next year will bring.

RICHMOND MURAL PROJECT interviews by

R. ANTHONY HARRIS photos MARC SCHMIDT & JORDAN AHERN

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DAVID FLORES | CALIFORNIA The following is a small part of a much larger It’s all relative. It could be two stories, but [if] interview. Read the full interview with David Flores it’s super windy and I am on a lift, I’m going to be sketched out. It all depends on the situation. I in the next issue of RVA Magazine, out in the fall. could be eight stories [up] but on some firm shit, We are not scared to get up and on a roof. [Partner [and] I will be fine. You know what I mean? Let me Olivia Bevilacqua] climbs out on god knows what put it this way. We are in New York City on 60 foot kind of angles, on ledges and everything else. I’m booms, one of them might have been 80--the ones holding her by her belt loop while she fills that last with the big off-road tires, the big heavy ones-and up in the air four stories and it was windy. I little spot in. Totally committed. didn’t trust that boom at all. [laughs] I was turning Whats the highest you could go without getting around all slow, turning the knob real slow. nervous? Nine stories? Ten stories? [Laughs] Tell Don’t they give you a belt or something when you the truth Dave... are that high?

What difference does that make? What’s that going to do? If you are in the thing when it falls... I am going to try to get out if I can. I mean if it’s falling, I’m going to try for the grass. I am going to try to jump as soon as I can. [laughs] Obviously you have had time to think about this… He already has a plan. I would jump in a tree if it would save my life. www.davidfloresart.com

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MEGGS | AUSTRALIA

Ekundayo | CALIFORNIA I know family was a big inspiration and a reason for an outlet for your work. Do you feel like you’ve moved past a lot of that, or is ot still wrapped up in what you do, and you have to do the work to get it You’re in Oregon Hill right now. People have been out? Do you feel like you’re getting through all that coming out and just checking out the work. It stuff, seeing success in your work? probably is a great feeling right now--inspiring the Definitely. I think stuff that happens to us at a young kids with this camel. age, whatever it may be, has a strong impact. I feel Yeah, The Traveler. That’s what this piece is all like I’m learning how to channel that even more into about. Traveling the lands and planting seeds a positive light, and I’m very grateful for the things that happened when I was younger. It allowed me along the way creating new growth as you go. to see things in a certain way, and it gives me my special twist. It’s definitely in everything I do, and The following is a small part of a much larger interview. Read the full interview with Ekundayo on RVAmag.com in August.

The following is a small part of a much larger interview. Read the full interview with Meggs in the next issue of RVA Magazine, out in the fall.

it’ll continue to be in everything I do, everything I create. As long as I grow in everything, it’s what’s at the core of my point of view. Ideas change, images change, but I think the heart and soul of what I’m about is definitely like my name. “Sorrow becomes joy”--that’s what I represent, and I’m living proof of that. I went through the sorrow and I’m going through the joy, just like everybody goes through little sorrows and joys all throughout life. It’s all the ebb and flow of how we live. It’s a little bitter, a little sweet, a little sad, but I like to think at the end of the day it’s still all good, no matter what happens.

What does your family think of your work? Have they been supportive, or scared? [laughs] Probably both. My parents are pretty good like that. My dad’s a schoolteacher but he’s always been a little bit creatively inclined. They are definitely supportive. I think that they might have freaked out a little bit if they knew how a prospective sale was going to do. Anything I’ve done illegally, they’re like, “We don’t want to know anything about it. You’re not doing that kind of thing anymore, are you?” But I feel like the direction of my work and the way that it’s going and the stuff that it’s allowed me to achieve, the

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opportunities…they’re really stoked on it. I think that they can see now that it’s a lot bigger thing for me than just a hobby or a side project. It’s hard for making a living financially, so they freaked out about that at first. Because it’s not, in their minds perhaps, really a job. Leaving a job for the prospect of graphic design work like I was doing, to make art--kind of no security in it. They realize now that this is me, and that it’s a life. Despite the money, my mind is made up by the fact that I can do stuff like this. I probably have a better lifestyle than a lot of people that make more money than me. That’s the trade off, from how I look at it. I want to financially be making a living off art, but at the same time, it’s more rewarding, and I think that they get that. www.houseofmeggs.com 45

ONUR & WES21 | SWITERLAND The following is a small part of a much larger on the wall exactly. We came here very prepared. We have fixed sketches, but there are still some interview. Read the full interview with free parts on the wall. We try to interpret [the Onur & Wes21 on RVAmag.com in August. sketch] in a new way on the wall. How do you decide on what you’re going to do for There’ve been a lot of recent discussions about a mural? What’s the inspiration behind this one? drones, and of course, cameras everywhere in America. Did that play a part in the piece? Onur: It was a long way to that sketch. Wes21: Yes exactly. We first saw the wall and Wes21: In Europe there was a big wave… then we had some-that Edward Snowden thing about observing Onur: Brainstorming. Wes21: Two or three ideas; we were working on it. everything. Maybe for guys like you in the States, it’s not something new. But for us in Then we selected the best theme. Onur: We didn’t want to make just something Europe, it’s kind of a new thing--getting observed that looks nice. We would like to say something everywhere. And we would like to show it to the 46

Smitheone | Mexico people in a friendly nice way. Not in a dark way, like, [to] make people afraid of something. Onur: We show the circle, its a Doom Loop. That’s the title of the piece. Is it a part of a bigger series or just by itself? Wes21: I think the walls we do together [are] kind of a series. Because he does his own work and me too, and sometimes we meet and we follow that series of putting things together and mixing styles. WES21 - www.facebook.com/wes21.schwarzmaler Onur - www.onur.ch RVA MAGAZINE 17 Summer 2014

The following is a small part of a much larger You said you were in a rougher part of Mexico interview. Read the full interview with Smitheone City. How was your work received in your neighborhood? on RVAmag.com right now. You’re from Mexico City--is what you do big Always it’s a pleasure in my city because you down there? Are you a part of a group of can recognize all of the people are so grateful. It’s like an offering. They give me food and muralists? water, and [say], “Thank you so much.” It’s like Yeah, they have a lot of things happening right a kind of connection with people. They are all now. But right now, these kind of muralists are talking about this wall. And the kids, when they doing [murals] in other ways. Not political go to school, they see that you know. It starts ones, just aesthetic ones. Only colors. In some something in kids’ little minds. parts, this is a good thing, but I think we need to be doing something much better with a message. We are doing a lot of things to push more of a message. CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY

Is that important for you, to be a positive influence on kids in the community? Of course, of course. I grew up in a city that I think is most dangerous in Mexico [laughs]. I saw bombs and attacks, and in some way, those things started something in my mind. When I see these pieces on the wall, it’s like, “Okay, I can do something more,” so I think that I want to. I hope that I start these [ideas] in the young kids. www.smitheone.tumblr.com

Everybody’s really nice to you guys? Sepe: Yeah, people are helpful, and it really surprised us somehow that everybody is really into it. Really interested in what we are doing, want to talk about it, ask questions... So why are so many great muralists coming out of Poland? There are 6 or 7 of you that we’ve had here in the last couple years. Chazme: Because all these guys drink too much, I think. [laughs] [Laughs] Best answer ever! Sepe: [laughs] Chazme: “Oohhhh give me some beer!” [laughs] “I’m not scared of fun!! Give me bigger!”

Robert Proch | POLAND

CHAZME & SEPE | POLAND

The following is a small part of a much larger good to see how the guys are making their own interview. Read the full interview with Robert Proch progress, and it’s all going so good for everyone. on RVAmag.com right now. Are there muralists from around the world that There are so many great muralists coming out of you love looking at? People that you’re following Poland; do you have any ideas why that is? yourself, or taking inspiration from?

The following is a small part of a much larger Who took you guys? interview. Read the full interview with Chazme & Sepe on RVAmag.com in August. Sepe: We met some people three days ago in front of our wall. They told us that they own What do you think of Richmond so far? rafting stuff, and [we] just connected with them.

Yeah, we know each other well. We’ve done many walls, we’ve known each other for many years. Of course, we’ve been painting regular small walls, and at some point, we’ve been just invited to few projects to work together. Right now we are following each other, so already, every one of us had the opportunity to work with each other. [It’s]

[When] it comes to inspiration, I think the biggest influence I’ve got is from my friends, because we’re really close to each other, and we’re following each other very closely. www.proch.madkittens.pl

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And you guys challenge each other, because you see each other work. I was talking to Etam Cru and they were like, “We want nine stories!” I was like, “You would go nine stories?” And they were like, “Yeah!” So I think you guys’ll probably be like, “We want ten stories!” Sepe: We don’t want ten stories. No no no. Chazme: Ten stories are a big… that’s pretty fucking tall.

Sepe: Nice. Each neighborhood is different; each It’s good that you got to see the community instead block is different from the other. We’ve seen a lot of just your wall, you know? Chazme - www.chazme718.blogspot.com of different atmospheres [and] climates in one Sepe - www.sepeusz.blogspot.com city all together. Sepe: This is what we always try to do. So, not only have memories like [the] hotel and wall, but You guys went rafting, right? Was that fun? also have [the] opportunity, have time to meet the other culture, to see the place, to feel the Sepe: Yeah. It was! We did it for the first time and atmosphere of it. it was really interesting.

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RON ENGLISH by

R. Anthony Harris

New York artist Ron English is universally recognized as the godfather of the modern street art movement. His distortions of pop cultural iconography, from fast food logos to Marilyn Monroe and Mickey Mouse, have brought his pointed critique of modern consumer capitalism into the mainstream in striking and unforgettable ways. He’s worked with Super Size Me filmmaker Morgan Spurlock on multiple films, painted album covers for The Dandy Warhols and (uh) Chris Brown, and even designed imagery for the Obama presidential campaign in 2008. The term he coined for his iconoclastic, culture-jamming artwork is “POPaganda,” and his work was chronicled in the 2005 documentary film of the same name by Pedro Carvajal. All of these things make Ron English’s participation in this year’s Richmond Mural Project a true honor for the project and the city--but as English warns in this interview, they may also result in some uncomfortable questions for

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the RMP organizers to answer later. English’s creation, overlooking eastbound commuters on Leigh St downtown, is yet another of his over 100 modified interpretations of Pablo Picasso’s legendary Guernica. This one features enraged fast food mascots waving pieces of meat in the air with malicious intent, centered around a “Have A Nice Day” smiley-face that splits open at the mouth to reveal a grinning skull. It’s an outstanding painting--one that reveals English to have lost none of his edge over the past decades of his artistic career. While he was in town, we sat down with Ron English to discuss a wide range of topics, from Guernica and “Abraham Obama” to his experiences creating public art in the South--and quite a bit more. Here’s but a small sampling of all the ground we covered during the interview; keep an eye on our website in the weeks to come for more excerpts from this fascinating conversation.

What do you think of Richmond so far? Richmond’s very nice. They have a lot of walls here. Looks like this thing can keep expanding for quite awhile without covering mine up. Mine will be the first to get covered up, mark my words. It’s funny--I was thinking everything was going so perfectly, everybody seems so into it, and as soon as I said that the next lady said, “You’re not painting on my building.” It was weird. I guess the tenants presented themselves as the owner because they wanted a mural, and when we showed up at night to paint it, the owner thought we were vandals in the night wrecking her building and went ballistic. So you should never say things are going great, because five seconds later everything falls apart. The Obama/Lincoln image we used for the poster struck a chord with people. Where did the idea to combine those two ideas come from? Well the whole thing happened rather quickly. Obama was still running against Hillary [Clinton] at the time, and they knew that the youth vote was going to be critical, so their staff was looking for ways to get to the youth, right when street art started becoming this huge thing. So they contacted Matt Revelli at Upper Playground, because he was heavily involved in the inception of the street art movement, [and] they said give us an artist, we’ll make prints with him and use those to promote the candidate. The first one was Shepard [Fairey], and the second one was David Choe. I was the third one. They asked me on a Monday, and asked if I could have a piece finished by Friday. I think the talking points for that week were that Obama’s not qualified, he doesn’t have enough experience. That’s when I realized he had the same experience that Lincoln had. You know, he’s a skinny intellectual from Illinois. Also, the whole slavery thing. Slavery doesn’t end the day you do the emancipation proclamation, because you’re talking about people that don’t have any property and don’t have a long term stake in a country, so it’s a very important part of the process for a black man to become president. There were just a million reasons to do it. I submitted the piece, and I was having a party so I sent out a bunch of invitations to the party. I think one of the people I sent that image before it came out sent it to somebody else, and it went viral on the Internet. I don’t know how it happened, it just happened quickly. Then the print came out and sold out in like two seconds. I have a band called The Electric Illuminati, and so [band member Don Goede] called me up and said we have to tour this image. Just go up from city to city and put up the one single image. Like a billboard or something? Billboards, buildings, anywhere we could put it. And I said, “That’s great, I have all this other stuff! I have a billboard of McCain and it says I wanna 52

get erected, it’s a Viagra ad. I have a Republican retirement home, and a lot of stuff against McCain.” I had a whole lot of imagery queued up that I was starting to put out there. And Don said, “No--one image.” I said, “Can we at least do it in different colors?” and he said, “You can do it in different colors.” But you know, he’s smart. McDonald’s doesn’t have a different version of the golden arches. They just focus their message to one singular thing. We don’t need to show how smart we are, or how clever you are; this is more about getting Obama elected. We went to ten cities. We did a legal mural in Baltimore that was sponsored by this gallery, and that night the guy that came to help me, Daniel Lahoda, stayed up all night putting posters up all over. He wreaked havoc. The next day, we were driving back to New York on the 4th of July, so we were in traffic all day long. About an hour and a half into the ride, we get a call from the gallery and the guy was freaking out. He said, “The mayor’s here, all these people on the city council, CNBC is here, CNN’s here. I don’t know what the fuck to do, people are flipping out.” So it made the national news while we were on the road on the way back. What really lit the fire was trashing the neighborhood with a lot of posters. They were really mad about the mural, but because it was legal, they couldn’t be that mad. It doesn’t become a story until somebody breaks the law, so [Lahoda] did me a huge favor [by] doing that, I guess. Maybe the absolute first street art festival ever was in Baltimore [in July 2002]. They built me a billboard to do for the festival, so I did “The King of the Jews For the King of Beers.” I painted it on a big piece of paper that we posted when we got down there. They got nervous, and I said, “Well, I have another one”--the “KISS: Kids On Coke” [image]. And they said, “Fuck it, we’ll do the Jesus one.” That weekend, [people] burned the thing to the ground. They had 200 Christian radio stations saying I was Satan. It blew up, and they were scared because they thought they were gonna lose their funding from the university and everything. They didn’t expect the firestorm that was to come from that billboard.

they tried to get rid of the NEA? First it was Dick Armey, then it was Jesse Helms. They were trying to destroy the NEA, so we put together this art show called the Helms Degenerate Art Show, after the Hitler Degenerate Art Show. We got like a thousand artists. There was no curation-you’re in the show if you wanna be in the show. We did it in 10 venues around New York, but we wanted to do the show in the South. So we went down to South Carolina. There was this gallery that wanted to do it, but finally they said, “We can’t do it, we’re too scared. You’ll come here, make a big statement, make the national news, and then you’ll leave. We’re trapped here.” My friend went down, and they drove him around town and everything was Helms Dry Cleaners, Helms Grocery... They go, “The Helms’ own this town. You cannot fuck with them.” And that’s the thing with small towns--there’s usually some very powerful people that own the town. If they pulled something like that, they’d probably lose their gallery. I’m sure. Richmond’s not a big town--there are definitely some major influences here. That’s the thing when you get to parachute in somewhere, wreak havoc, and then leave; whoever helped you there is stuck. It’s always a weird situation. What was the inspiration for the piece you did here? Well, Shane [Pomajambo of Art Whino] wanted a Guernica. I think he saw the Guernica that I had at the Juxtapoz show in New York. I’ll never do the same thing twice--I’ve done over 100 versions of [Pablo Picasso’s] Guernica, so I just kind of came up with something new. It’s the fat food Guernica. On the left are the Ronald McDonalds, on the right is Bob’s Big Boy. Do you ever come into conflict with corporate sponsors in festivals like this one? Well, they could be awfully mad when I leave town.

I know there’s a statement in there, with the Did you feel like it was going to make that kind of references to corporations, but nothing specific to impact? smoking. No. When we left, everything was fine. Then they had the festival. That’s when everybody saw it and flipped out, so we were gone by the time the shit hit the fan. I didn’t really understand that the South started at Baltimore. In the North, nobody cares, but once you hit the South...

Yeah. What if I’d had a bunch of little kids smoking? That’d be really interesting. That’d be a difficult conversation for us later. [laughs]

Actually I’ve been more tame recently. The thing I actually designed for the wall was a giant brontosaurus painted like a zebra. [Shane] really I did the same billboard in Texas and the same wanted Guernica. thing happened. It made the national news. The South is funny. Do you remember when the big censorship thing happened in 1989? When Do you do a lot of work in the South?

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Why did you want to do your own version of doing the anti-ads for a couple years at that point. I looked at my wife, “Are they trying to buy me Guernica? Why such an iconic image? off? What the fuck’s going on?” She said, “Just Well originally there was the first Gulf War, and use their money to make your billboards and fuck all my friends went to DC to protest. I was gonna with them.” go, and it occurred to me, “I’ll just be another face in the crowd. What could I do here? I’m in the I had the trompe l’oeil technique that I developed media capital of the world.” So I painted Guernica, in college, so I was putting that on the billboards, a 10x22 foot [billboard], and I wrote “The New and they were putting them up around the country World Order” on top of it in big fluorescent letters. until one of the executives stood underneath the I thought about [how] Pete Seeger will do a song billboard and saw it was all skulls. If you see it and he’ll add new lyrics to old melodies--the folk straight on it looked like weird pattern stuff. They tradition, how art gets made. So I thought, “Well, were trying to get the trip hop kids to smoke, but I’ll reinterpret something.” Because everybody once they saw that, they had realized we fucked already knows what Guernica means. It already them. Then finally, I talked to the guy who hired has that meaning embedded in the image, and me, and he said, “Well, the deal was that I’m a 40-year-old gay man, I have a condo, this is my then it translates to the next image. job. I don’t like selling cigarettes to kids, but I I always think it’s interesting when you can wanted to strike back in some way, so I thought associate yourself with something that iconic. you would know what I was doing and you would Remember the Apple advertising, “think different,” do your thing. Because I can’t do it, but you can.” with Albert Einstein? Do you think street art has gotten too trendy? We did a “think different” with Charles Manson, and yeah, that was too easy. And the funny thing My experience with art is, I went to college and is on the Apple website they posted the picture of tried to show my art in galleries, and everybody said, “We’re not gonna look at your slides, we Charles Manson. don’t care, throw them away.” Or “Why don’t you come back when you’re 30 and maybe we’ll look By accident? at them then.” And you realize there’s actually No, no, no. One of the guys said it was funny. no way into that world. That’s when I started That’s [when] I realized: there is no “they.” Or doing all the billboards. But now there’s a way inif there is an “us” and a “they,” there’s us inside -you can put your art on the streets, and people decide whether you’re good or shitty instantly. they. Do you know what I mean? Now everybody has access, so it’s an incredible There’s a lot of normal people within the machine. moment in history. And I think, Why am I such a fan of baseball? It’s because when I was a kid, I Yeah. If you watch the movie POPaganda, it’s played. At some point, I realized I might play one kind of subtle, but basically everywhere we went, year in college, but I’m not good enough. But I’ve people were secretly helping us. We went to grown to love the sport by participating in the Kinko’s and we’re doing all these big printouts, sport. and when we go up to the counter, the guy says, “I can’t charge you--leave. I can’t risk my job, but It’s the same way with street art. The kids are I’m looking the other way and you’re not gonna doing their street art, and at some point they pay.” A guy called me up and said, “We want you might think, “Fuck it, I’m gonna be an accountant to do ads for Camel cigarettes,” and I had been or something, and might not have what it takes 54

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to go all the way, but I’m a fan. I know who all the street artists are. I’ve made my own street art.” So they’ll be fans for life. They can appreciate it. I swear, when you’re on the lift and you get down and sign all the autographs for the little kids, it’s like you’re buying those fans for life. All my life I wanted art to be popular, and it’s finally popular. It reminds me of what Wu Tang said: they’re for the babies, because all those babies grew up to be hip hop fans. Exactly, and hip hop happened because of access. If I’m a kid in high school, if I rhyme, I’m a rapper. I don’t need a $6000 synthesizer. To rap, you just rap. Street art, you just go out on the street and paint something. Now you’re an artist. You don’t have to have a bunch of special equipment or a Harvard degree. People love sports because that guy’s really good. There’s a specific thing you have to do, you have to get the ball through the hoop. Let’s say Michael Jordan had never got a ball through the hoop his whole career, but he’s considered the greatest basketball player because his dad owns the team, so everybody’s hired to go, “He’s great!” That’s what the art world has been for 100 years. If they don’t look at anybody’s slides, how do they know they have the best artist? They don’t. It’s a very small clique of people, and street art has blown that whole thing apart. Now it’s something more akin to sports, where everybody knows who’s the best person. The artists are way better now. There’s more great artists than there ever has been in the history of the world, and it’s because they opened the doors. Everybody can see, everybody has a chance, and the competition’s huge. I used to run track, and as soon as I’d run against other people, I’d get faster. It’s competition, but it’s good competition. www.popaganda.com

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RECORD Reviews

The Both The Both (SuperEgo)

Hannibal Buress

Live From Chicago (Comedy Central Presents)

Cannabis Corpse

From Wisdom To Baked (Season Of Mist)

Chiodos

Devil (Razor & Tie)

New Turks

Patton Oswalt

New Turks (Hand to Mouth)

Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time (Comedy Central)

This collaboration between Aimee Mann and Ted Leo is a dream come true. Their sensibilities individually might make the fit seem unlikely, but the combination works its magic on The Both. Two of the quirkiest songwriters in indie rock create an alluring debut, and here’s to hoping for future collaborations between the two. (SC)

With tales of Scarlett Johansson and parades in New Orleans, Hannibal Buress is back. It’s been a tremendous year for the comedian, and this new set displays his continued finesse as a stand-up. An easy standout is his bit regarding hip hop artists partying to their pre-recorded material on stage, and how that might apply to the world of comedy. (SC)

These weeded-out jokesters have proven in the past that humor is no obstacle to the creation of top-quality death metal, and it remains true on the first LP from their revamped lineup. Death metal nerds will still dig the joke titles, and blunted or not, you’ll enjoy headbanging to the top quality riffs on this record. (AN)

Reunited with mercurial founding vocalist Craig Owens, Chiodos return to action with their epic emo-prog sound intact, if slightly less metal than it once was. Greater stylistic range leads to some excellent high points, but a couple of missteps allow consistency to suffer. Though not perfect, Devil is still very good and will please longtime fans. (AN)

Richmond bass-drum rock duo New Turks returns with a new EP of fuzzed-out low end assault. Their grinding sound and persistent energy are heavier than ever; vocal cordshredding shouts are front and center, while the drums drive the music with non-stop fills and a booming sound. With track after track of post-hardcore riffing, New Turks never relents. (AC)

Coldplay

Mac DeMarco Salad Days (Captured Tracks)

Everyone Dies In The End

Hail Blackbird

Save the Arcadian

Soft Time

Ghost Stories (Parlophone)

All Things Lead To This (Futurerecordings)

Hail Blackbird EP (hailblackbird.bandcamp.com)

That Bright Tide EP

Patton Oswalt’s reputation as a comedian should be a huge indicator of what to expect on this new record. In one of his best bits, he describes selling out a casino gig, and the unexpected events that followed. Oswalt’s cadence as a comedian has always been great, but this may be his strongest offering yet. (SC)

The Demo (savethearcadian.bandcamp.com) (softtimerva.bandcamp.com)

Quilt

Held in Splendor (Mexican Summer)

Swans

tUnE-yArDs Merrill Garbus has always been to music as Jackson Pollock is to art, and with her new record, the splattering is as focused as possible. While the songs are still as sparse, random, and diverse as her past work, they have a clear-cut direction that her previous work was lacked, making this her most polished effort to date. (DN)

To Be Kind (Young God/Mute)

Long-awaited vinyl release of this full-length debut from local metal/hardcore kids turned instrumental post-rockers. Epic soundscapes tell cinematic stories without words in the manner of Godspeed You Black Emperor, while guitars alternate between beautiful melodies and dissonant noise a la Mogwai. A sonic experience worth exploring. Dive in. (AN)

Here’s the debut EP from RVA progressive rockers Hail Blackbird. Reminiscent of bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Jane’s Addiction, and STP, the rock and roll veers to the dark side. Switching the rhythm up and jamming on some minor chords, Hail Blackbird wrestle through five tracks of hell rock. (SML)

Save the Arcadian’s sophomore release, That Bright Tide, is an upbeat and craftily arranged five track EP. Colorful lyrical imagery and undeniably cheerful melodies create the album’s thematic sunny, aquatic feel. A few well-placed and essential minor notes towards the end help to balance the album, and relieve the risk of overt cheeriness. (DM)

Progressive punk quartet Soft Time has released a demo of four songs recorded at River City Studios by Zach Fichter. The album involves some grungy noise rock that focuses on the grit as well as the jams. Check out “Let Jesus Take the Wheel,” which is a heavy dish of experimental screamo. (SML)

Swans solidify themselves as the best experimental band going today with their best album since reforming in 2010 (and maybe their best album, period). The twohour journey you’ll take when you listen to this record will challenge you, hypnotize you, amaze you, and defy all preconceived notions of what experimental rock is or can be. (DN)

Honeyblood

Michael Jackson

Lightfields

Lobo Marino

Sharon Van Etten

Jack White

White Lung

This Scottish two-piece generates so much beautifully hazy guitar noise on their selftitled debut that you’ll never miss the bass. Honeyblood throw Heavenly, Slowdive, and Honey’s Dead-era JAMC into a blender and serve up the most delicious concoction-one that’s totally worthy of their evocative moniker. (AN)

The second posthumous release from this legendary musician accumulates 20 years’ worth of b-sides with modern production to deliver a record that Jackson fans will enjoy, but is by no means required listening… nor even necessary in 2014. This album doesn’t tarnish his legacy, but with only eight songs, begs the question: how desperate for money is Epic Records? (DN)

Four years in the making, Lightfields finally deliver a proper debut--and it was worth the wait. Junior is a grand assessment of all the rock personas that make up this Richmond outfit. While a number of contemporary influences could be listed, “Backseat” stands out as a testament to a particular adoration for the Americana of icons like Bruce Springsteen. (SC)

I should stop trying to predict which direction Lobo Marino will take next. For City of Light, they explore their fascination with sacred Hindu chants, traveling to India to record a tribute to this tradition. It may have started with a harmonium, but it ended with yet another fantastic Lobo Marino release, displaying their wonderfully eclectic musical personality. (SC)

On her fourth record, Van Etten showcases her best collection of songs yet. Lyrically, she stays with songs that are painfully honest, baring the true, tortured nature of her heart. It’s the developed instrumentation and splendid arrangements here that make this her best yet, as she tip-toes away from the sparse guitar work that defined her previous work. (DN)

White making his most indulgent record yet actually turns out to be a great thing for rock fans of any genre. Whatever word you put in front of your favorite rock style-whether it be garage, alt, or folk--there’s something for you in each song here, making Lazaretto not only fantastic but also a truly timeless album. (DN)

Vancouver’s White Lung make their mark with their third full-length, Deep Fantasy. With massive droning guitars, the group shows off their affection for the heyday of the Northwest’s alternative sound and riot grrrl legacy. White Lung isn’t afraid to throw hooks into their punk-fueled sound; moments recall vintage Hole at their best, while defying simple categorization. (AC)

Junior (DelGato)

City of Light (lobomarino.bandcamp.com)

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Are We There (Jagjaguwar)

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Lazaretto (Third Man/Columbia)

Nothing But the Nuts (redlightrodeo.bandcamp.com)

This 5-song EP will have you clog-hopping and foot-stomping by the first track. With pressing done via Triple Stamp Press, the album is a piece of priceless ephemera as well as a hit disc. Whether performing originals or their take on standards from over the generations, Red Light Rodeo hit all the right notes. (SML)

Mac DeMarco’s second LP of trademark blissed out bedroom pop shines with brilliance. His lo-fi, laid back style echoes the mellow sound of early 70’s rock acts like T-Rex, and delves into the audio saturation of contemporary artists like Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. Salad Days is raw, irreverent, eclectic, and has all the markings of a classic album. (AC)

Xscape (MJJ/Epic)

Red Light Rodeo

Quilt’s first self-titled album quickly became one of my all-time favorites, and my high hopes for this second album have been met entirely. There is an entrancing, captivating, grim, and undeniable truth behind this ghostly psychedelic cowboy music. Held in Splendor steps firmly into the realm of rock and roll, keeping intact the band’s discrete, mysterious beauty. An instant classic. (DM)

The band’s sixth album is by far their worst offering to date as they steer away from grandiose productions into murky, sparse soundscapes. This “concept album” trudges along aimlessly for 40 minutes, leaving you not even caring what the concept actually is. To sum it up, Chris Martin wallowing in selfpity does not lead to a good album. (DN)

Honeyblood (Fat Cat)

Andrew Necci (AN) Doug Nunnally (DN) Shannon Cleary (SC) Sarah Moore Lindsey (SML) Dan mulrooney (DM) Alex Criqui (AC)

Deep Fantasy (Domino)

Nikki Nack (4AD)

The Young Sins

By the Skin of Your Teeth (theyoungsins.bandcamp.com)

The Young Sins’ new album, By the Skin of Your Teeth, comes barreling through the starting line right from track one. The emo/screamo/nu-metal band has plenty of punk characteristics as well as anthemic singalong moments. Check out the rock of “Excuses,” which approaches metal with a heavy and straight edge. (SML)

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