RVA #19 WINTER 2014

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RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

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JELLOWSTONE

RVA #19 WINTER 2014 WWW.RVAMAG.COM FOUNDERS R. Anthony Harris, Jeremy Parker PUBLISHER R. Anthony Harris PRESIDENT John Reinhold EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andrew Necci CREATIVE DIRECTOR R. Anthony Harris ADVERTISING John Reinhold, Josh Lingerfelt, Ronny Lopez EDITORIAL ASST. Brad Kutner RVAMAG.COM & GAYRVA.COM Brad Kutner STAFF PHOTGRAPHER Todd Raviotta WRITERS Andrew Necci, Shannon Cleary, Doug Nunnally, Brad Kutner, Kyle Shearin, Black Liquid, Cody Endres, Tyler Spindle PHOTOGRAPHY Todd Raviotta, Joey Wharton, Nick Ghobashi INTERNS Sky Andersen, Claire Donnelly, Taylor Gleason, Calyssa Kremer, Andrew Seymour, Will Young GENERAL INFORMATION e: hello@rvamag.com EDITORIAL INFORMATION e: andrew@rvamag.com DISTRIBUTION e: hello@rvamag.com ADVERTISING p: 804.214.6350 e: john@rvamag.com e: advertising@rvamag.com SUBMISSION POLICY RVA welcomes submissions but cannot be held responsible for unsolicited material. Send all submissions to hello@rvamag.Com. All submissions property of Inkwell Design LLC. The entire content is a copyright of Inkwell Design LLC and cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without written authorization of the publisher.

PRIMAL INSTINCT

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ONLINE Every issue of RVA Magazine can be viewed in its entirety anytime at rvamag.com/magazine.

SOCIAL facebook.com/rvamag twitter.com/@rvamag instagram/rvamag rvamag.tumblr.com SUBSCRIPTION Log onto rvamag.com/magazine to have RVA Magazine sent to your home or office.

DISTRIBUTION Thank you to our distribution partner BioRide, bioriderva.com HEADS UP! The advertising and articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinion and attitudes of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publisher or editors. Reproduction in whole or part without prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. RVA Magazine is published quarterly. Images are subject to being altered from their original format. All material within this magazine is protected. RVA Magazine is a registered trademark of Inkwell Design LLC. RVA Magazine is printed locally by Conquest Graphics.

COVER ART BY Jellowstone by Todd Raviotta

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RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

distributed by our friends at bioride to over 200+ locations in addition to the following listed ESTABLISHMENTS! support your local business!

Carytown Plan 9 Records Agee’s Bicycles New York Deli Portrait House Don’t Look Back Chop Suey Books Heroes & Ghosts Weezie’s Kitchen Ellwoood Thompsons Need Supply Co. World of Mirth Play N Trade Tobacco Club & Gifts Venue Skateboards Broad Street Arts District Gallery 5 1708 Gallery Ghostprint Gallery Turnstyle Velocity Comics Steady Sounds Downtown & Church Hill Pasture Barcode Tobacco Company Bottom’s up Kulture Alamo BBQ Captain Buzzy’s Beanery Legends Plant Zero Manchester Market Frame Nation

RVA MAGAZINE WINTER 2014 CONTENTS

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REUBEN CHAPMAN

36 RICHMOND COMEDY COALITION

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

44 MANIC SEAS

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 WEST END Su Casa The Broadberry En Su Boca Mekong Taboo Buz & Ned’s BBQ Guitar Center

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DAVID FLORES

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DON’T SLEEP Top: InLIght 2014 by Dave Parrish Middle left: Thomas & The Rat #gummi #koolkev Middle right: #RVANYE screenshot @RVAmag Bottom left: Speed Racer Mach 5 in RVA? @RVAmag Bottom right: Bride by David Kenedy Opposite Page: Who the fuck is Richard Perkins?

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RVA On Tap

Stone Brewery Comes to RVA By now you probably know that Stone Brewery-the 10th largest craft brewery in the United States based on volume, voted the “All Time Top Brewery on Planet Earth” by Beer Advocate-is coming to Richmond. They are bringing the full works to RVA--production brewery, retail store, packaging hall, and destination restaurant.

The restaurant will be another one of the famed World Bistro & Garden restaurants and event spaces, which is to be built in 2016 and will take up about four acres. It tentatively appears that the restaurant and brewpub will be right on the river at Nicholson and Dock Street. Only two years away--we can’t wait. stonebrewing.com

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

Original Gravity, New Saison Market We all know and love Saison restaurant for its Store & Brewery If you’re looking to learn about home brewing, or just want to talk beer or cider with an expert, Original Gravity is a great place to know. OG has everything you need in order to make beer, wine, cider, and mead, and they can get you started on all of it, no matter your level of expertise.

They celebrated their third anniversary in 2014, and are in the process of expanding to a bigger spot. With the additional space, owner Tony Ammendolia will be able to house more of the retail operation, and also plans to open a small brewery on site. Ammendolia has a wealth of knowledge to share with you about home brewing and RVA beers, so visit Original Gravity at their new location, 6118 Lakeside Ave, and keep an eye out for Final Gravity Brewing, tentatively arriving in Spring 2015.

amazing food and creative drinks. Hopefully by now you have also checked out their equally amazing market, right beside the restaurant.

Saison Market is a neat gastropub that features breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with a full espresso bar, beer on tap, growler fills, wine, and cocktail/beer supplies for sale in its store. What we love most about this spot is the selection of amazing rare craft beers; plus its village feel, with innovative locally sourced menus and banging burgers. Let’s face it: it’s hard to find quality beers in a market in the downtown area of Richmond.

We were especially impressed with the bottle selection of sour beers and Belgians beers. The beer geek in me grabbed some Hof Ten Dormaal and Modus Operandi, feeling very accomplished in my big score.

facebook.com/originalgravityhomebrew

facebook.com/SaisonMarketrva

Garden Grove in Carytown The latest example of the growing craft beer culture in this town is a new microbrewery moving into the Carytown area. Garden Grove will be Carytown’s first walk-up brewery and will have an initial lineup of beers influenced by the Belgian and British brewing traditions. Coowners Ryan Mitchell and Michael Brant look to continue the rich and ever growing traditions of beer in Richmond VA. Brant, also Garden Grove’s brewmaster, looks to use his culinary, winemaking, and agricultural knowledge in creation of Garden Grove’s selection of brews, while the small size of the brewery should allow for greater ease of adjustments and freedom with experimentation, making for a unique drinking experience right in the heart of Carytown. www.gardengrovebrewing.com 18

RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

An interview with Courtney Mailey of Blue Bee Cider interview by John Reinhold

Can you take us through the process of how One thing I really love about the local craft scene is how you get to know your brewer you make your cider? and get to know what they put into what Cider making is wine making--we just use you’re getting. apples instead of grapes. Each apple we ferment expresses itself differently, just like each grape You know, if we had a house style, it would be you ferment would be a different flavor. We then diversity and surprise. We always want you to take our single variety ferments and blend them get a range of flavors, [so] you’re surprised by at to create different families of flavor that become least one thing that you taste. The surprise factor is always big on our Thursdays--that’s when we our ciders. bring out our more experimental things. We are We just tried some of your current ciders; doing some smoked apples; we are not so sure how thats gonna turn out exactly, but that should can you tell us a little about them? be released in January. Those are the kinds of Our current ciders [are] Charred Ordinary, the experimental things you can expect from us in old fashion tavern style; Mill Race Bramble, which future.

So tell me a little about about yourself. is a raspberry blackberry infusion and has a nice floral note; Hopsap Shandy, a dry hopped cider Visit Blue Bee Cider’s tasting room, located at 212 W. I’m Courtney Mailey, the owner and cider maker so [it’s] very citrus-like; Fanfare, a wild mulberry 6th St, from 5 to 7 on Thursday, and from noon to 7 on at Blue Bee Cider. I’m from an Army family, so infused cider; Aragon 1904, which is similar to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I’m not from anywhere in particular, but I live champagne, so it’s lighter, more fruit forward; here with my husband in Richmond, and plan to then Harvest Ration, our dessert cider. These bluebeecider.com stay. are all in bottles. We also do a small batch draft program, so Thursday nights we try out what we How long has Blue Bee been making cider have made lately. We are releasing a barrel aged in RVA? version of the Charred Ordinary - very salty, very sour and earthy with some brandy in the aroma, We moved into this space in June of 2012, so so there is a lot going on. It’s very still, so not that’s really when the shovel went into the ground many bubbles, but a very authentic old fashioned and we began. colonial cider that’s very limited.

RVA Magazine visited with Blue Bee Cider recently.

They gave us a tour of the facility and a look into the making of their various craft ciders. We happened to be present on a day when they were pressing apples and putting them into the boxes for fermentation. Throughout the tour and visit, we learned a lot about how cider was made and how the craft has been handed down through multiple generations. We highly recommend a visit to try some of their artisan ciders, and learn more about the process of transforming local apples into high-quality craft ciders. Owner Courtney Mailey let us try some of the great ciders Blue Bee has on offer, and gave us the lowdown about Blue Bee’s history.

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PLAYLIST TRACKS WORTH LISTENING TO.

Tommy Boys, “Estate Sale” Tommy Boys, Other People Records

The very first single from Northern California’s Tommy Boys is enough to make me a fan for life. “Estate Sale” combines hooky post-emo pop-punk aspects with the tangled, complex instrumental performances of bands like American Football, while retaining plenty of energy and youthful vitality.

The introspective lyrics (“Things I say that I don’t mean are catching up with me”) are just icing on the cake. This one sends me reaching for the repeat button every time; can’t wait for the full album in January. --Andrew Necci

AlunaGeorge, “Supernatural” Supernatural, Island Records

Last summer, AlunaGeorge released Body Music, a surprisingly well-realized, addictive debut album. Since then, the duo’s name has graced collaborations with producers such as Bauuer and Rustie, offering tantalizingly small slices of Aluna Francis’ silky vocal delivery. Finally, a genuine article of their own creation has arrived in the form of a snappy, relentless four on the floor dance beat, punchy keyboard bass, skillfully manipulated vocal samples, and Francis’ signature breathy singing making up the whipped cream atop this pop confection. --Cody Endres

Ex Cops, “Modern World” Daggers, Downtown Records

In previous eras, this song would have dominated the radio and been looked at years later with fond nostalgia. While it’s doubtful it will crack the corporate airwaves today, it’s still pop music at its absolute best--triumphant, opulent, sweet, and just damn catchy. For those wanting ear candy with a deeper meaning than the vapid Billboard songs of today, the spotless victory Amalie Bruun commands on the chorus alone will keep you coming back for more. --Doug Nunnally

Atmosphere, “Camera Thief”

Southsiders, Rhymesayers

The opening track on Atmosphere’s latest album shows what making honest records is all about: reflection. The beat, which Ant calls his “10 year baby,” is a masterful mix of subtlety and simplicity that builds slowly, evoking the complexity and profundity brought to the track by Slug’s lyrics. No extra words, no attempts to rhyme a bunch of stuff for the sake of being “lyrical,” just the straight up truth as he sees it. Like a camera you’ve got to seize the moment; and like a thief, make it your own. --Black Liquid

Lady God, “Nervous Talk”

Lady God Presents the Pebbles, self-released

Lady God have arrived and are set to become stalwarts of the local scene.

The teases found in “Nervous Talk” are promising, and feel as if they’re a commentary on the music scene as a whole. This is where several years of musical strides have led; to inspire a garage rock gem like this, which isn’t so far out of the realm of whimsical reckless abandon. With a whole slate of material scheduled to be released in the near future, I’m sure we will be hearing about Lady God throughout 2015. --Shannon Cleary

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STUDIO NEWS Shy, Low has been in the studio recently, working with longtime producer Allen Bergendahl of Viking Recording on their second full-length album. The band laid down six songs during their most recent sessions in October. This instrumental post-rock quartet has been known for their epic-length symphonies of sound, and they’re working on an even more overtly symphonic sound for their next album. “The most significant aspect of this record is our experimentation with string arrangements,” they told RVA Mag. “We are still working on the arrangements, but we cannot wait to share them with everyone.” A music box filtered through guitarist Zak Bryant’s guitar effects is another intriguing detail that will make an appearance on the album, which you can expect to hear sometime in spring 2015. Entitled Hiraeth, it will be released by Seattle-based label Spartan Records, who previously released the band’s Binary Opposition EP. This winter will see the recording of local alt-country band Horsehead’s fifth LP. It’ll feature their first recordings since adding keyboardist Ben Willson to their lineup, and should feature around 11 songs--though that number may be revised upward at some point.

As singer/guitarist Jon C. Brown notes, “Before going into the studio, I get into a good head space for writing a couple more.” While the band has had success with previous recordings at Snake Oil Studios, this time they’re looking for a different environment. “We’ve worked so well with Dan-O [Deckelman] in the past, but he’s transitioning into some other things right now,” says Brown.

“I’m a little excited at the prospect of trying something new.” The band will be laying down tracks mostly live, with as few overdubs as possible, and plans to budget about four days for the sessions. “Our second record we made in two days, so four could seem luxurious,” says Brown. Look for the results to hit the streets sometime next summer as a joint release between the band and the Emerald City Sounds label.

Spacebomb Studios has recently been visited by James Wallace And The Naked Light, who have been working since May on a followup to their first album, More Strange News From Another Star. With frontman Wallace commuting back and forth between his hometown of RVA and his current residence in Nashville, he reports that the album has “turned out to be a pretty expansive endeavor.” While the recent recordings are not intended for release on Spacebomb Records, Wallace has been working with members of the Spacebomb team on the album--as he did on his debut. The Spacebomb sessions ended a couple of months ago, but Wallace reports that work on the album continues. “I still haven’t seen the light at the end of the tunnel,” he says. “The most I can say is that it will be longer in length than the last one.” Look for the eventual results of these sessions to be released sometime next year.

RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

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JELLOWSTONE

by Andrew Necci & R. Anthony Harris | photos by Todd Raviotta Jellowstone. It’s not a national park located in Wyoming; nor is it the fictional home of Yogi Bear. Instead, it’s a house on a quiet street in the near West End, which appears totally unassuming from the outside. However, within these walls lies an extremely productive sound factory. The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and producer Devonne Harris, Jellowstone Studio is not only the house he shares with his bandmates in Butcher Brown; it‘s also recently become the nerve center for a local label of the same name, founded by Harris in collaboration with No BS! Brass Band leader Reggie Pace. Still less than a year old, Jellowstone has released five albums featuring over a dozen local artists--and they show no signs of slowing down.

“It was something I’d been thinking about doing forever,” Pace says of the label. Indeed, he and Harris have a shared musical history dating back to a time long before Jellowstone existed. “When I met Devonne, he was in high school,” says Pace, a fact Harris confirms. “I had to get permission from my mom to stay out past curfew,” Harris says, laughing. “[I’d] go play these gigs and come back at 2 in the morning. Then go to school at like 6:30.” Even at this time in his life, Harris was a seasoned musician, having started playing drums when he was just a baby. “When I was three years old, my mom got me one of those kiddie drumsets,” he relates. He went through multiple toy kits before graduating to a real drum set.

Before long, Harris started learning keyboards as well. “My mom took me to church when I was eight years old, and after the service all the musicians were there jamming,” he explains.

“That was the first time I had heard an organ as a kid, and I still remember. Just the sound of it, the whole soul sound; because I heard it all over the records that my mom had in the house growing up. I was like, ‘So that’s what makes that noise!’”

He also spent his teenage years putting together his studio setup. “I was buying gear as I was growing up,” he explains. “Once I came to VCU, it was really therapeutic for me to come back home on weekends and just record.” Harris met fellow drummer Corey Fonville at a VCU Jazz Day event when both were still in high school. The two stayed in touch while Fonville was attending college at the University Of The Pacific’s Brubeck Institute. “Back when MySpace was popular, he had a killin’ music page,” Fonville says. “I discovered all his music, and I was always infatuated with it... And I was like, ‘hopefully one day we can create some music together.’” Harris is somewhat embarrassed by this praise. “Most of the stuff that [Corey] was showing to people was recorded at my mom’s house,” he says. “They 26

were like, ‘I haven’t heard anything that sounds like this!’ And I was like, ‘I just wish I had better gear.’”

“At first, we’d just record at the house. Then one day, we decided to be a band, take it a little more serious.”

Regardless of Harris’s self-effacement, his early sonic explorations paved the way for everything that’s followed. And from the beginning, he was seeking a particular sound. “My dad was a record DJ, so there were just different records in my house all the time,” he explains. “The whole hiss and pop sound--I grew up with that as a foundation of what music was. So if I hear something clean, it doesn’t really speak to me.” This crate-digging appeal vibed well with hip hop, though as a child he had a hard time tracking the genre down. “I would go hang out with my cousins, and they’d play the music videos. My mom wouldn’t let me watch all of that,” he explains, laughing. “I remember seeing the Lil Kim ‘Crush On You’ video for the first time. I was like, ‘Yo, my mom won’t let me listen to this? This is fresh!’”

The Georgia Avenue house was certainly usable as a space for recording and rehearsing, but the first word that comes to mind for Harris, Askey, and Randazzo when describing their previous residence is “cramped.” “We had everything in the living room, including all the mixers and recording gear,” says Harris. “We would be recording, and I’d be in this little corner,” Fonville chimes in. Clearly, a better space was needed.

When he discovered the work of RVA beatmaker Ohbliv, it all fell into place. “I was recording 30 second tracks, putting them on my computer, and looping it,” he explains. “I heard Ohbliv--some of his drum hits were on, some were off, but it still had the whole swagger. Once I heard that, I’m [thinking] man, I need to figure out something.”

The eventual result was his beatmaking alter ego, DJ Harrison, whose Stashboxx was the first singleartist release on Jellowstone Records. While its funky instrumental grooves certainly show the influence of Ohbliv, as well as legendary hip hop producers like J Dilla, Madlib, and MF Doom, what sets Stashboxx apart is the small print underneath the credits: “No samples were used on this record.”

“That’s the whole trip I was getting accustomed to,” Harris explains. “Making the loop sound as much like a sample as possible, whether it’s the instruments I’m playing, or the sound palette I’m recording to.” The result has the same warm, soulful groove that many hip hop beats display, but put together from scratch by one person.

Harris’s time at VCU led him to meet quite a few other musicians. Guitarist Keith Askey and bassist Andrew Randazzo were two members of the loose-knit crew, and ended up becoming Harris’s roommates when he moved out of his mother’s house into a house on Georgia Ave. in Randolph. It was during their time at this house that Butcher Brown first came together.

The initial lineup featured Harris on keyboards, Askey on guitar, Fonville--who’d graduated from the Brubeck Institute and returned to Virginia-on drums, and a bass player named Chris Smith.

“It started as this production thing,” says Fonville.

This was when the group located the house that became Jellowstone Studios, which constituted an immediate improvement on their previous digs.

“This house sounds so much better than the old house,” says Randazzo. “The carpet and the low ceilings and the wood floors--it just caters to our sound.” Plus, admits Fonville, “It would have been impossible to do half the stuff we’re doing here at that old house.”

About a year after the crew moved into Jellowstone, Chris Smith moved to California.

Randazzo was the natural option to take over the bass position for Butcher Brown. He joined just in time to play on the band’s debut album, All Purpose Music, released by Jellowstone in October.

Butcher Brown focused on making the album a complete musical statement, solidifying the sound they’d created on their inital EPs. “If you go back and listen to that stuff, there wasn’t really much structure to the songs,” Fonville says. “All Purpose Music is more of a concept. You can tell we took a little more time with that.” As for the concept in question, Fonville says, “It’s pulling from a lot of influences that I grew up on, from my parents’ collection. A lot of fusion stuff, rock stuff, R&B, those influences.” Indeed, All Purpose Music does hark back to the funky, groovy days of the 70s, from the cover painting by local artist Eliza Childress to the wah-wah guitars and syncopated beats of instrumental tunes like “Forest Green” and “Powhatan.” No BS! Brass Band’s Marcus Tenney plays tenor sax on many of the album’s tracks, and Reggie Pace plays percussion on almost all of them.

Pace’s assocation with Devonne Harris had continued throughout the days when Harris was attending VCU and forming Butcher Brown.

Several years ago, spurred by Pace’s desire to be in a band with both Harris and former No BS! Brass Band trombonist Reggie Chapman, the three began playing together under the name Trio Of Justice. “Chapman was learning tuba, and I had this idea in which I wanted to stretch how things felt,” Pace says. “Free jazz [pushes] RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

the boundaries of what people would call music or song form. My idea was, why don’t we take something people do recognize, and stretch how it was perceived?”

Trio Of Justice’s debut album, Pookie’s March, was released by Jellowstone in October, and is the most jazz-based album on the label thus far.

However, Pace sees the project as pulling from many other sources besides jazz. “I was thinking about it closer to punk rock,” he says. “Let’s get experimental, but how Bad Brains would do it. So we’ll do phrases that can’t be counted out, they’re just elastic. And there are times when you just go batshit crazy.” Indeed, songs like “All Bets Are Off” might start from a complex brass rhythm, but what makes listening to Trio Of Justice so much fun is waiting for them to start slipping off the rails--only to right themselves at the last second and swing back into a perfect jazz groove.

So how’d all this talent and creativity get focused into becoming a record label? By all accounts, that was Reggie Pace’s doing. “Every band I’ve ever been a part of creatively was releasing stuff and having actual output,” Pace says. “I just wanted to make a network that came together.”

Butcher Brown, No BS! Brass Band, DJ Harrison, and Trio Of Justice were all well underway, and several other projects involving Pace and Harris, either separately together, were starting to take off. “We were coming up with different projects and said, ‘Well, let’s just do ‘em all,’” says Pace.

“The idea was, ‘Let’s be in-house [production] for the label’--like a new-school version of Motown.”

Pace had previously played in Fight The Big Bull with Matthew E. White, and he admits that seeing White’s success with Spacebomb helped galvanize his intentions. “Matt’s self-starter attitude inspired me,” says Pace. “Our labels’ mission statements are very different, but the idea that somebody I knew could do that--I knew it was a lot of work and he had help, but that was inspiring.” Pace felt that the creative environment around Jellowstone would be a plentiful wellspring for material that the label could release.

Since then, things have been happening quickly for Jellowstone. In June, they kicked off the label’s official operations with the release of the

Jellowstone Booster Pack, a bargain-priced digital compilation featuring material from a dozen different Jellowstone-affiliated artists. The sampler promised exciting things to come from the label, but no one could have expected them to deliver so quickly. DJ Harrison’s Stashboxx dropped a month after the sampler, with Butcher Brown’s All Purpose Music and Trio Of Justice’s Pookie’s March following three months later.

Harris to lay them down on tape. A mutual level of respect and admiration clearly drives the collaborative relationship between the two.

“Devonne is a mad genius scientist child prodigy,” says Strawbridge. “He can play every instrument except for horns, but he could probably even do that shit too.” When asked what it’s like to work with Strawbridge, Harris enthuses, “It’s amazing.

It’s incredible.”

Then, in November, Pace Cadets became the first of the new Jellowstone projects to release their own album with the arrival of VIRGINIAUPINYA. As is obvious from their name, this group is Reggie Pace’s creation. His goal was to make a hip hop record that was separate from the current state of the genre. “All the hip hop records coming out right now sound the same,” he laments. For Pace Cadets, he got together with Marcus Tenney and Devonne Harris to make something different. “We pushed out all my favorite types of hip hop,” Pace says. “So it’s Beastie Boys-sounding, then there’s laid-back Slum Village-y stuff, and then there’s some acid-jazz.” Harris picks up the thread.

“Sometimes it’ll be a preconceived track from a library that I have. Reggie will take notes of the ones he likes, and we’ll send that to Marcus,” he explains. “Then sometimes we’ll just record stuff here--I’ll play a drumbeat, or Reggie will play the MPC, or do some beatboxing, and we’ll just record overtop of that. It’s a really collaborative effort all around.”

Kings intentionally harks back to an earlier time in the history of R&B. “Perfect (1985)” sounds like an outtake from 1999, but has an additional layer of bass fuzz that recalls the worn-out tape sounds of Sly & The Family Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On. Both Strawbridge and Harris are united in their love for the results. “Fuck it, I’ll say it--it’s a classic record,” says Strawbridge.

“We’re just trying to bring back the element of music that made everybody wanna get up and jam,” agrees Harris. Current plans have the Kings album kicking off Jellowstone Season Two, coming Spring 2015.

Together, Pace considers these first five releases

by Jellowstone to constitute “Season One.” “That’s us making a splash,” he says. “This is just the beginning. We just thought that was a big statement.” But make no mistake, the Jellowstone productivity rate will not slow down now that the first season is over. “We’ll probably do two or three seasons a year,” Pace says. “We’ll probably have another season of releases around spring [2015], then maybe something else towards the fall. Because we have so many projects.”

One of the projects people can look forward to next spring is Kings, the vehicle for the creative energies of Kelli Strawbridge. Best known around town as the frontman for popular James Brown tribute act The Big Payback, Strawbridge has plenty of original musical ideas he wants to express, and he’s been getting together with

What else is planned for Jellowstone’s future? A lot. Harris mentions plans for an indie rock record as the next DJ Harrison project, as well as a solo album by Photosynthesizers singer Sam Reed.

Pace references a planned album by Arizal, which he describes as “Scott Burton’s solo guitar pieces, and me and Devonne making the world around those.” He also hopes to reissue older albums by bands he’s part of that never got their due when they were first released, such as Glows In The Dark’s Research And Development EP and some older albums by No BS! Brass Band.

But what the Jellowstone crew really wants is for Richmond residents look at the label like any other local business. “We’re working like a startup,” Pace says. “We’ll always be doing shows in town, to grow it as part of the community.

That’s the only way we can break the shackles of what’s happening economically, is that people be more involved in what they buy, and know where it came from.” Jellowstone comes from RVA, a town with a rich musical legacy--one that they are adding to with each new release they put out.

Supporting your local community is always a plus, but it’s even easier to do when it involves music this good. jellowstone.bandcamp.com

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Everything Under The Sun With David Flores

intro by Andrew Necci | interview by R. Anthony Harris As part of the Richmond Mural Project, David Flores came to RVA with his partner in crime, Olivia Bevilacqua, to paint the town. From the start of his career in the 90s with Shorty’s Skateboards to his recent work creating iconic stained-glassstyle murals around the world, Flores has received many accolades in the skateboard, street art, and design worlds. He’s left his mark deep in many underground cultures, and in turn has influenced the mainstream of current culture. His work as part of the Richmond Mural Project indicated both underground and mainstream influences; his giant painting featuring Snoopy and Woodstock, Charles M. Schulz’s universally-recognized characters from the Peanuts comic strip, now dominates the downtown landscape. It was fun sitting down and asking him about it all, from his earliest work to the way he views his legacy. We covered a lot, and had to go a bit off script to do it, but sometimes leaving the beaten path is the best way to have a great coversation.

What’s been your impression of Richmond?

It’s really old and really segregated. There is a lot of separation between races here. That’s what I am trying to do with my little bird. Trying to bring 28

everyone together on the same playing field, as far as the art is concerned. Everything else, that’s not up to me. Viewing art should be free, everyone should have the opportunity. But my first impression--it’s really cool. It’s quaint, it’s old. You can tell there is a lot of history. If the rocks could talk... it’s not like that in LA. There is old stuff there, but everything is so temporary.

When do you think the transition from “graffiti” to “street art” happened? Blu and Os Gemeos were the originators of street art…

Os Gemeos were graffiti kids, break dancers, hip hop heads turned muralists--but they are street art to me. I don’t do street art, I do murals, because I don’t have a past of graffiti or tagging. [For me], it came straight out of skateboards, to paintings, to fucking walls... It just went bigger, bigger, bigger, BIGGER! “Now, what is the biggest canvas I can find? Oh, its a wall.” It birthed out of wanting to see my art big.

I love doing [murals] so much, it’s a totally different realm. It’s totally trendy right now, but the kids are just so excited about something new that is going on in the world, and technology has a lot to do with it. Being able to reproduce your work, being able to

project it, having lifts so you can go up and down - that’s new. We didn’t have that in the nineties.

There is not really an excuse now--If you want to do something in America you can do it.

If you don’t do it then you are either are either lazy or scared. [laughs] You are lazy or you are scared. We are out here, definitely not lazy. We are not scared to get up and on a roof. [Olivia] climbs out on god knows what kind of angles, on ledges and everything else.

I’m holding her by her belt loop while she fills that last little spot in. Totally committed.

What’s the highest you could go without getting nervous? Nine stories? Ten stories?

[Laughs] Tell the truth Dave...

It’s all relative. It could be two stories but [if] it’s super windy and I am on a lift, I’m going to be sketched out. It all depends on the situation. I could be eight stories [up] but on some firm shit, [and] I will be fine. You know what I mean? Let me put it this way. We are in New York City on 60 foot booms, one of them might have been 80--the ones with the big off road tires, the big heavy ones--and up in the RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

air four stories and it was windy. I didn’t trust that boom at all. [laughs] I was turning around all slow, turning the knob real slow.

Don’t they give you a belt or something when you 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.

Oh yeah, I think anybody would. You bring up a good point--obviously, if you are belted to it, you are going to fall together.

If you can get away from it and have a soft landing somewhere, it’s possible. It could hang up on a tree, and then it stops falling and you can go for that “oh fuck, now there’s my chance” moment, and you jump out and grab a branch.

[Laughs] You just glide off like a squirrel.

[Laughs] It’s like, “Splat!” And then you just hold on and wait for someone to come get you.

While yelling out, “Olivia!”

I don’t want to go down with it. You will get fucking smashed.

When did you know you were going to do art for a career? High school? Middle school?

I remember thinking, “If nothing happens with this, at least I will get a job at somewhere good from doing my own thing.” That was my mentality back in the day. If it fails, it will at least land me in some big corporation design firm and I will be all right.

But it didn’t--I have been doing my own thing the whole time instead.

So you didn’t want to work for another company?

Well, I had to at first. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I like doing my own thing.

You got started working with Shorty’s?

I met Tony [Buyalos, owner of Shorty’s Skateboards] when I moved to Santa Barbara. That was 1991. I was a hired hand in the skateboard world. All I was doing was skateboarding, hanging out, and having a good time. I wasn’t thinking about the future. Still not worried about it. I am a worried person, but it’s not any one particular thing, it’s all of it all together.

Am I saying too much? [laughs] Is he, Olivia? I don’t think he is.

Did I just say too much? [all laugh] Do you remember your first wall?

I did one in San Francisco. It was a small wall, and I don’t have a photo of it. I have been doing bigger stuff for awhile. It was a natural progression since 2010, pushing four years. At some point, it was the next thing that I hadn’t done yet.

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What has your year been like this year?

In January, we were doing a lot of murals in LA until April. Then New York. In LA, we put up six or more projects, starting with Dali in The Water, the [Nelson] Mandela [Foundation] piece, then coming back from Japan. I have a book coming out this year.

Does all this work give you any anxiety?

This anxiety of failing, and something going wrong.

That is still an anxiety point for me. Not being able to finish [a piece], or it looking stupid kind of thing. Putting yourself in the public eye to fuck up miserably. [laughs] Then you can’t hide it, right? If it’s messed up…

It can be anything. You can be painting and not know you are fucking up until later on.

Must be strange to have people that are really excited about you being there, and having to put on a show.

do stuff for the World Cup, which would be coming out now. I would be a McDonalds artist right now.

I had to say no, even though the money was good.

Then I saw they used someone that looked like me and it was pretty generic. It didn’t matter who the artist was in the end.

The people that asked me, I didn’t like it. I just thought it was too much. When I see someone doing something with Billabong or RUCA, that’s even too much, you know what I mean? For me, that is the cutoff. Then you see people on Verizon, and I’m like, “Ehhhh…” Then it isn’t high end anymore. It’s whatever now. You lost it. You could have been like Bentley, but you ended up Ford Bronco. You got the money, but you don’t have the respect. When you don’t have the money anymore … … you gotta do another McDonalds project.

You have to do more McDonalds, and soon you are all Mickey D’d up. Yeah, that’s the road.

Wearing the Ronald McDonald dancing, thinking, “Where am I?”

outfit,

If no one else is going to do it, I will do it. Don’t act like your shit don’t stink.

I would rather go the way we are now on our own merit. On our own dime, basically.

Is street art too trendy? Is the bubble going to pop?

Do you think about legacy at all? I wouldn’t be surprised 20 years from now, cracking open an art history book and seeing a few of the guys from this era in there. Does it matter?

Here is the thing: I thought the whole new art disobedience happening back in ‘02 was the end. I was thinking, “How is this going to keep going?” It kept going, and I kept going with it.

At one point you did a wall with Shepard Fairey. Is that when you started getting recognized for murals?

Probably. I think it was going to happen anyways, because my shit was strong. You can see my work from 3 blocks away. Strong images, strong economically, strong colors... Whether I did it with Shepard or not, it doesn’t matter.

Why did you pick Snoopy for the Richmond wall?

I didn’t, it kind of picked me to be honest with you.

[It’s a] long low wall; Snoopy kept coming back to me. “Hey, use me and you can put a Woodstock at the end of it.” Plus, I wanted to keep it simple as far as the workload. We have been working so much, so a giant downtown piece and stencil throw-ups around town was good. Richmond is “big-little” and laid back. It’s been relaxing, and I am stoked that they let me paint what I wanted to paint.

How big can you go from here? A plane has already been done. Would you ever do a tank? You could go to Norfolk and paint a battleship; a David Flores piece riding into the Middle East.

I don’t want to do any military stuff. That’s the scary thing sometimes. [I] get asked to do stuff for big companies that... I don’t know what they are on, but they offer you a lot of money, and it’s this sellyour-soul moment all the time. [laughs] Like, one after the other, and I have to sometimes be like, “No, no…”

You will see it. That’s about it. I don’t think more about it than that. It doesn’t matter, I won’t be alive.

Art is a continuing thought; it’s not something to just to be had, but something to hold and not dismiss quickly.

Do you feel your stained-glass technique is evolving? Is that something you are going to do forever?

I will do it forever, and I’ll do something else with it as well. It will always be something I do, because I love when it is all painted, or on a computer finished, I did that graphic, and I get so happy that it can be printed on a skateboard or go up on a wall.

Talking about the art and the graphics, everything visual. That is something to think about. Why is this shit going on? Why are you doing it like this?

Why is this big wall going up? There are certain [elements] to it--like the Woodstock thing. It’s the big Snoopy. It’s something that everyone can relate to - so BOOM, got you. Got your attention. Why do I keep seeing Woodstocks in all these different sorts of neighborhoods that are not all on the same societal tier? Well….

Art as a way to connect these different communities, get them talking.

Get them saying, “We have one in our neighborhood.” If I don’t finish them all, I will come back to do all 13. That’s how important it is to me to do them all, to do all 13. It doesn’t have to happen now. It’s not now or never, dude! More [like]--we got it started. Let’s take it next year and evolve it into something else. davidfloresart.com

What’s the strangest request you’ve gotten for a project?

People are like, “Paint my garage!” And I’m like, “No.” McDonalds asked me about 6 months ago to 29

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RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

REUBEN CHAPMAN

intro by Andrew Necci | interview by R. Anthony Harris If you’re wondering who the next big name in Richmond fashion photography will be, look no further than Reuben Chapman. Originally from Charlottesville, he got serious about his photography while attending VCU, and received invaluable help breaking into the business from his manager, Octavion X of Slapdash-the company who brings you Epic Fest each year, among other things. As he discusses in the interview below, Chapman’s career has taken off since he hooked up with Slapdash, and these days he travels all over the country shooting for a variety of clients, including Saks Fifth Avenue and MAC Cosmetics. He also has relationships with a variety of RVA-based clothing lines, including Need Supply Co, Dreamers Clothing, and Sophisticated Ignorance. And as you’d expect from any photographer managed by Slapdash, he’s photographed some of RVA’s leading hip hop artists, from Nickelus F to Chance Fischer. You’ll be hearing this man’s name a good bit more in the future, so allow us to introduce you to Reuben Chapman.

How did you end up in Richmond?

I’m from Charlottesville, Virginia, which is an hour away or so. I used to play soccer for the Richmond Strikers, out there near Short Pump, so I knew the area. Once I graduated from high school, I decided that VCU was a good fit for me.

Not too far away, not too close. Overall I felt like it was a good location and a good environment for me.

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How’d you get into photography?

I’ve been taking pictures for a long time, even back in elementary school days. But I didn’t completely understand what I was doing at that moment. When I got more of a grasp of life in general and the cool things about it, then I started to get more and more into it. High school came around, and it was something I knew that I had a passion for. VCU is definitely a place that offers a good kind of environment to explore and express yourself, but I didn’t really have the business concept--the fact that you can really turn it into something.

When did that click for you, when you wanted to be a full-time photographer?

Octavion X is a big reason why I have made so much progress in such a short time. The biggest thing is that he opened my eyes to some roads that I didn’t even know existed, and things that I found enjoyment in. Then it just kinda clicked.

He said, “Well, they said they would pay you this,” for my work. I was kinda blown away by it, so then it just kept building and, next thing you know, we’re on a flight to L.A. to do some stuff here and there. It’s gone up pretty quickly.

You seem to travel a lot. That’s gotta be one of the perks of the job, right?

Yeah, traveling is definitely a very important aspect for my work, but it’s also something that I love to do in general. [When] I was younger, I spent some time in Germany, Hong Kong, the

Philippines. I’m a very sociable kind of guy, so I love meeting new people, interacting with them.

So traveling is something I’m very happy that I can tie into what I love to do.

What do you look for when you shoot models? Because some of it is paid gigs, and some you’re just doing because you want to do it. Is there a certain look you’re looking for? Are there photographers you’re inspired by?

Two photographers that I really look up to and admire: one is Terry Richardson; and the other is Marcus Hyde, who came out of Richmond.

Those two guys definitely focused me, and I was able to see what a good product is. Now in terms of what I look for, I try to be as outside the box as possible. And that’s difficult when doing paid gigs, because a lot of times, they’re the ones that are paying, but [they] don’t necessarily have that artistic kind of thing. Sometimes the two clash in terms of what I feel like would be a good picture and be a selling point for them--but they may not have [seen that] yet. That kind of back and forth. I really like to get genuine, unique characteristics in people. Not just physical, [but] their way of life outside of modeling. I think that brings a lot to the table that other people may or may not have.

How would you describe your work to someone who hasn’t seen it?

Filled with emotion. I try to be so different that I’m able to put in my little influence [in] here

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and there. But you could get two [of my] photos that look completely different if you don’t know what you’re looking for, the little pieces that I bring to the table. I think the diversity that I bring is one thing that helps me stand out.

I see on your website that you have relationships at this point with Saks Fifth Avenue and MAC Cosmetics. How did you hook up with these companies? What sort of work are you doing for them?

The work that I have done for Saks Fifth Avenue has been more of a branding effort than anything.

It started with their interest in marketing to a wider crowd. My grungy yet elegant touch brought me into the picture. It is still an ongoing process, but I am grateful for the opportunities that have come from this relationship. MAC Cosmetics has used several of my photos for their campaigns. I was able to hook up with these companies by networking and knowing the right people. Having someone like Octavion on my side is a big help when it comes to networking.

His knowledge of the industry and relentless work ethic has gotten me opportunities that I would have never even imagined.

How’d you get linked up with Octavion X and Cain McCoy of Slapdash?

I knew a couple of their friends from a while ago, and I’ve known Octavion since I came to VCU and everything. But you know, he was doing his own thing. We spoke occasionally, [he] came to my birthday and stuff. But in terms of talking business, it wasn’t until a couple years ago where we really just sat down and said, “Hey, I think

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we can really make a run for it.” And at that time, I really didn’t know the connects that were available between both of them. Now it’s like, within a couple days we could get 10-15 emails out of nowhere. That was one of those things that I learned as I interacted with them.

What keeps you in Richmond these days?

What do you like about the city?

Richmond’s a very cool place. It’s so unique, and it offers a place for people to express themselves that other places don’t really offer. I think there are so many identities here, so many different lanes, you can really pick your way through things. And I think it’s a great place to figure out what you want to do. Great people, great food, great environment. Even outside of the university, [Octavion and Cain have] opened another realm of [the local] environment. Being around them, I learn more about the culture.

I know Slapdash do really good videos.

Do you ever help out on that, or want to work on those in the future?

I’ve done some videos before, and have assistantdirected and done some creative direction on other videos. I got the pleasure of working on Noleac Yahsin’s “Par.T” music video, directed and shot by Devyn Symone. I really try to stay out of shooting music videos as much as possible but I love being involved in the creative direction aspect. Devyn’s an amazing videographer and working with her was so much fun.

But personally, I really want to reach the ceiling in terms of photography at the moment. In all

honesty, I’ll never reach where I want to be, to say that I can put photography down and go into video. I think the overall production of the videos and things like that, whether it’s documentaries or blogs or music videos or whatever, I love helping out with those. But in terms of me shooting them, not yet.

What projects do you have coming up?

What are you excited about doing over the rest of the year?

I’m doing some stuff. Chance Fischer’s coming out with some stuff next year that we’re starting to work on now--a huge project. We’re talking months of work. It will be a combination of photography as well as the overall creative direction. Chance Fischer is such a talented, unique individual that I want to make sure that his project reflects that. So that’s big. I’m excited about that. There are some clothing lines and stuff that I’m doing right now. I’m doing some stuff with VCU’s Ink Magazine, which always puts out good stuff, so I’m excited about that. We’re headed up to New York in a little bit, and then back out to L.A. There’s a ton of companies out there that I’m doing stuff with. I really wish I could say [more] now, but that’s pretty much it. We just came out with a poster collection, some images from Los Angeles as well as VCU’s Fall Block. It’s just kind of an experimental thing to see where those go. But yet again, it’s a marketing tool, and I think they look pretty cool.

The future collections will be more selective and be related in some way or another. They will be available in local stores but the released date has not been determined yet. reubencphotography.co RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

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RICHMOND COMEDY COALITION

by Shannon Cleary Picture a stage in a tiny storefront that used to offer bargain prices on furniture. In front of it sits an audience of 60 individuals, eager to see what journey awaits them. As anticipation reaches its apex, a team of seasoned improvisers run on stage, and the adventure begins. Longform improvisational comedy is unusual, but the Richmond Comedy Coalition have spent years developing their own version of it, eventually giving it a permanent home in the form of the Coalition Theater. Richmond is all the more prosperous as a result.

In 2009, the theater that hosted ComedySportz had just closed. The loss of one of the most beloved local venues for the form made this era a sad time for long-form improv in Richmond, but the appetite for this creative outlet never diminished. The collective enthusiasm of David Pijor, Katie Holcomb, Matt Newman and Aaron Grant pushed them towards new endeavors.

Although their former improv home had ceased to exist, they were ready to create something of their own. “We started out as comedy nomads.

We were free to do what we wanted with our insane ideas. This is liberating but also harder to accomplish,” recalls Grant. “We decided to call ourselves The Richmond Comedy Coalition as a way of developing an umbrella for all of our projects to exist under. It also sounds a bit more legit,” Pijor says.

Early performances took place at Art6, in the heart of the downtown Arts District. “We were at the mercy of whatever art exhibit was displayed,” Grant mentions. “In our first year, there were some pretty interesting pieces on display. My favorite would be giant pieces of cardboard formed into what looked like hobo cocoons, hovering from the ceiling over the CHECK RVAMAG.COM DAILY.

audience’s heads.” These early performances created sparks of excitement for their new endeavor. “[By] our third performance, our audience had easily tripled or quadrupled in size. I remember looking around and wondering what had changed,” Pijor says.

One possibility is that Richmond audiences were beginning to discover the beauty of long-form improvisational comedy. Coalition improviser and instructor Jim Zarling explains it this way: “Long form improv, when you’re doing it great, it is unbelievable. You make such strong emotional connections with the people you’re on stage with. You’re all seeing the same things, and you can’t even explain it afterwards.” The bonds created during experiences like this unite all of the Coalition’s performers, from the founders to the most recent initiates.

“Before we start each show, we take a moment to look each other in the eyes, and genuinely say, ‘I’ve got your back’,” explains performer/ educator Summer McCarley. “I’ve been performing with some of these people for almost four years now, and I feel like that statement holds true in and out of shows. We can play any way we want, from pretending to be a pissed off tween to a billionaire cheesecake company heir to a rotting jack-o-lantern and everyone around you will be like, ‘OK, that’s this character, let’s party.’ It doesn’t matter the height, weight, age, race, or gender, you can play any character you want. And that’s a super fun, liberating experience.” The results of this approach are fueled by deep commitment to the performance, which enriches the humor and draws comedyloving audiences from all walks of life--many of whom are eventually inspired to become performers themselves.

After some time putting on performances at Art6, the Coalition eventually moved their performances to Gallery 5. “It seemed to work towards our advantage,” Newman says.

“Amanda Robinson allowed us to have two nights a month there. With that residency, we began developing some of the events that we have become known for.” One of the many events that the Coalition began at this time was Richmond Famous, an evening focused on a Richmonder of some repute. The subject at hand discusses themselves and their endeavors, followed by an improv performance. Guests have included Nathaniel Rappole (Gull), Andrew Cothern (RVA Playlist), GayRVA founder Kevin Clay, the group behind WRIR’s The Total Football Show, Jennifer Lemons (The Check Out Girl), and many others. One of the most incredible moments in the Coalition’s history occurred when Marc Cheatham of The Cheats Movement proposed to his girlfriend during his own Richmond Famous event.

“One of the great things about the Richmond Famous events is that we get to reach out to so many different audiences,” Holcomb says. “[Depending] on whomever is our guest that night, we are more than likely going to have new faces that have little to no idea what it is that we do, and that drives us to really excel.” Improv teacher Patrick Gantz remembers Young House Love and No BS! Brass Band’s appearances at Richmond Famous as two of the best shows the Coalition have hosted. “The Richmond Famous shows are always well attended, but these two shows were particularly packed. When the energy in the room is that high, it’s impossible to have a bad show. And these were GREAT shows. John Petersik of Young House Love is also an alumnus of my college improv group, The Whethermen, 37

so we had John do some scenes with us, which the audience loved. And the No BS guys ended the show with an impromptu jam session which set the crowd hooting and dancing.”

The Coalition have had some memorable one-off presentations as well. In 2010, Chris Gethard, host of a monthly live talk/variety show at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City, started a Kickstarter. “One of the premiums was that he would do one of his shows in your city for $500. We were immediately sold,” says Holcomb. The Coalition made the pledge, booking Gethard for a performance at Gallery 5 that took place in January 2011. Wanting to involve some of the city’s unique artistic elements in his local performance, Gethard got in contact with GWAR and planned a visit to the Slave Pit. “He received a thong from Balsac The Jaws of Death and felt inspired to wear it at the show while encouraging audience members to pour Bloody Marys all over him,” Holcomb relates. “[It] was just amazing to be around someone who we all really admire, and be a part of something that could only really happen in Richmond.”

A couple of years into their existence, the Coalition began to creating spaces for potential students to learn the ebb and flow of improvisational comedy. “We floated around a bit all throughout Richmond when we began offering classes,” Newman recalls. “After ComedySportz shutdown, there was definitely a niche to be filled,” Pijor says. “There were many people that wanted to learn exactly what went into the thought process of performing in this capacity.” The very first student to signup was Robert Sobecke. “I remember signing up for classes at 6:30 in the morning, as I was overwhelmed with anxiety that the classes would fill up almost immediately,” he says. “After attending any session I could get my hands on, I went through the audition process and eventually got on my first house team, Karate Practice. It felt like [going from] doing karaoke [to] getting to front a band [featuring] my idols.”

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The Coalition’s reputation eventually extended beyond Richmond. “[People] felt that spaces for this [comedic form] were long dormant,” Newman says. “To see us working to create that encouraged them to be involved.” Word getting around the state eventually attracted the attention of Charlottesville comedian Jim Zarling. “I had been doing improv in Charlottesville since 2003, and really didn’t enjoy it,” Zarling says. “I saw a RCC show and really enjoyed their approach.

When auditions were announced, it was a real no-brainer.” Zarling is one of many that have gone on to become teachers and coaches through the infrastructure that the Coalition has developed.

Each individual brings a very specific voice into the group. This multiplicity of viewpoints is only one of the many benefits Coalition classes impart to their students. “Whenever a class begins, I tend to tell the group that they will most likely leave here with a set of new best friends,” Holcomb says. “There is a newfound strength that most of our students acquire through these programs.

They build confidence in working with others, learning how to escape the fear of failure and just [take] risks,” Pijor adds. “The one thing that I try to push students to understand is that it’s all about emotion, and being honest with that.

The laughs will come along, but the honesty of it all is the strongest suit,” Newman says.

“Long form improv is unbelievably challenging, thrilling, emotionally draining and rewarding,” says Zarling. “If you’re reading this, you should probably sign up for a class.”

As their popularity continued to grow, the Coalition began to look towards the future and a way to obtain a space of their own. “We were pretty much utilizing whatever space we could get our hands on for classes,” Newman recollects.

The group hoped for something better, and soon found it in the space at 8 W. Broad St. Once they signed a lease, they launched a successful crowdfunding campaign, bringing in nearly $27,000 to help cover longterm costs. “We were one of the first improv theaters to generate that much revenue through a crowdsourcing campaign

and it is still unbelievable to us,” Newman says.

“We did spend a great deal of time to build a reputation around the city, and that assisted in garnering that support, but none of us could have possibly imagined that enormous of an outpour.” This success has continued, and the Coalition Theater recently celebrated its oneyear anniversary.

For a glimpse at the Coalition’s future, one place to look is the recently created monthly live late-night talk show RVA Tonight with Beau Cribbs. The show’s more structured format gives the group a chance to move away from purely improvisational performances into pre-written sketch comedy. “We tailor the program towards having monologues, commercials, bits and what have you, but to do an hour of sketch comedy would just be so incredible,” Newman enthuses.

“We have created this really great space for longform improv and I think there is still a lot we can do within that train of thought, but we would love to move further towards sketch comedy.

Encourage our students, as well as ourselves, to write with that in mind,” Pijor says.

The evolution of Richmond Comedy Coalition over the past five years has involved quite a few different phases. Beginning with a core group of individuals cultivating their own space for a particular brand of performance that they loved, the spirit of creative discovery that fuels improv comedy in general and the Coalition in particular has helped propel the group to achieve every goal they’ve set for themselves thus far. “When I look back to five years ago when we started this whole thing and reflect, it seems so crazy to me,” Newman says. “It makes me even more excited as to where the next five years will have in store for all of us.” One thing we can all be sure of--the exuberant performing spirit and abundance of laughs on display will continue to result in Coalition performances that exceed all expectations. rvacomedy.com

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Jacob Eveland | by Andrew Necci & R. Anthony Harris Jacob Eveland’s art paints a beautiful picture of an alternate reality filled with enchanted animals and unique heirlooms--and sometimes, that picture is several stories tall. Eveland, who graduated from VCU last May with a degree in Communication Arts, recently joined many other local and non-local artists who’ve brought their work to Richmond’s streets, creating a monochromatic mural on the side of Highpoint Gallery, located at 3300 W. Broad St in Scott’s Addition. This is just the tip of the iceberg where Eveland’s art is concerned, though; his smaller prints of animal heads in various situations have appeared in recent solo shows at New Normal Apparel and The Camel, among others. During the latter exhibition, Eveland sold through all of the pieces he had on display, so his work is definitely drawing some attention in the local art world. He also enjoys working with other artists in a collaborative artistic space--he’s currently based in a group studio called Bonfire RVA, which is located at 316 Brook Rd and holds open studio nights on most First Fridays. We caught up with Jacob recently at Highpoint Gallery to find out where he’s coming from. He had a lot to tell us.

surrounded by fences with barbed wire at the top, but luckily that wasn’t my day to day.

illegal items. I had a realization that I needed to know who he was and accept him back into my life. Once I got his side of the story, he wasn’t When did you first decide you wanted to this crazy evil wild person that everyone said be an artist? What inspired you in your he was. He was just my dad, who was put in a early days? rough situation. The graphic novel will have an ornamental, classical novelty due to the fact I For as long as I can remember I have been am inspired by antiques and I almost spent every making things. I would draw random things and day till I was 12 years old in my grandparents make small comics when I was young, but Legos antique shop. I have a strong love for animals. were my life. It was my escape from my parents’ My sister worked at St. Louis zoo, and she’s a divorce when I was five, and after that it became bio major who always had like ten animals in the a regular practice of therapy to draw and make house. So, there’s a lot of love for making all of things. When I reached my freshman year of that stuff work together. high school I did a piece of a 1969 Dodge Super Bee. I was able to replicate it better than I ever I’ve seen the animal head illustrations thought I would be able to. It dawned on me that you’ve been doing recently on facebook.

I can do this for the rest of my life. After that I What is the medium in which you’ve been wanted to create my own world pulled from my doing these? How do you display these past, and make something new to escape [my] works when you exhibit them? problems--not knowing my dad, him being in prison half of my life. Ever since then, I have The Fox panels on wood are from my solo show been making my own work, and living off of it Chasing Chaos, [which] I had at New Normal for the most part.

Apparel. I created them when I was a TA for my good friend Matt Lively’s AFO Surface class.

You had mentioned that in school you did He has a project called “The 64 Project.” In this a lot of work with school publications, project you start with one image, then take it You excited to be in Richmond? and you were doing art at the same time. apart and put it together again in 64 variations, to where it doesn’t look like the original. Then Oh, I love Richmond, man. I moved here from I just did like some interviews [for] magazines you take a stencil of the original on the under East St. Louis. I like the place I came from but I like Ink Magazine. I also showed at Ghostprint layer, and experiment with different materials. had to grow from it. I always came to visit here for the Richmond Illustrators Show in 2012. Every single piece has different mediums mixed over the summers and winters to visit family. I And I was part of Society of Illustrators--VCU together, using traditional mediums like acrylic was like, “I hope they have a good arts school. actually flew me up there and put me in a paint [and] non-traditional items like ground Oh, VCU? Never heard of them. I guess it’s hotel. They only accept 200 of the top college cinnamon. This project is by far the biggest because they don’t have a football team.” But illustrators, so it’s a nice pat on the back. eye-opening experience I have had with seeing once I found out I was like, “Dude, this is sweet. how different mediums react with one another. I This is the perfect spot for me.” It’s not too big How would you explain your work? believe every artist should do this project. I have of a city. I know it used to be dangerous, but it’s Matt to thank for showing [it to] me. a lot safer than East St. Louis.

It’s black and white for the most part. I’m experimenting with different mediums, colors…. I have made some modifications to the projectYeah, so I hear. What was your childhood I’m always learning and growing. Overall, [it’s] -I cut out pieces of plywood that I stained, and like there? Were you kept separate from character designs and concepts for a graphic used an adhesive to attached the original fox the harsher aspects of the area growing novel I’m working on. I’m letting it grow over pieces. I took a router to the back of the piece up, or was it something you were aware time. I have been building this story for years to of wood, so you can hang it on the wall. I have of and had to deal with directly? truly understand what I want to say. It’s all based done close to 90 of them. All of the variations on my past--because you can only build from of the Fox represent a part of a story from the I grew up in Lebanon, IL, which is a small town what you know and what you’ve experienced. Chasing Chaos show, where a barter went wrong surrounded by cornfields, about 20 minutes There are all these different animals and symbols, and a fox ate some butterflies that wouldn’t give outside of East St. Louis. I tell people I’m from based on people and things that happened in him a net. The butterflies have a dusting on their that area because when I mention I’m from my past. I first started creating characters not wings, which will put you into a loopy comatose Illinois everyone thinks I’m from Chicago. I knowing who they were, but now each one has state. Each panel illustrates the fox in a different spent a decent amount of time at music venues a background in representing someone or a second of him tripping out. At the show I in [East St. Louis] while in high school, and experience in my past life. installed them on a wall together and each panel ran against the high schools in track and crosscould be purchased separately. country. I was aware of my surroundings--just The story is about not falling into what stayed on the main roads and played it smart. people expect you to become, looking at both Tell us about the mural you did for High It was wild seeing cops with high powered rifles perspectives of a situation, and seeing if you Points Gallery. What does it depict, and in bulletproof vests at some of the track meets, can accept that. It is based on my past with my what inspired the image? because of the fact that a gang fight had broken father, and how he was never there due to the out at the last meet. Some schools are even fact he was in prison or out of state smuggling The mural on High Points Gallery is recreation

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of a piece I did for my solo show, Unraveling Vengeance, at The Camel. The story of that show was a continuation of Chasing Chaos.

The butterflies in the world produce silk from the ends of their wings. At the end of this silk they have small needles so they can crochet you things. You can trade them items so they can make you nets, clothing and more, but in Chasing Chaos, the butterflies started collecting what was owed to them. They got a little overboard, so the animals in this world had to fight back. This is where the woodpeckers come in. They flew out to an area and collected these black rocks that, when broken from the mountain, float and create a dark glow. The butterflies are strongly attracted to these rocks. As the story continues, the woodpeckers went out and collected some of the rocks to fix the bartering system with the butterflies. For High Points Gallery mural, you see the woodpeckers dive-bombing through trees. This is the scene of them delivering the rocks to the butterflies. The murals and solo shows I create are a side story to give you an idea of the characters in this world of the graphic novel I’m working on.

What draws you to painting murals as a form of artistic expression? Do you like murals better than smaller illustrations, or do you see them more as two separate, unrelated mediums?

I find murals to be fun. I get to be outside and not hunched over at my desk. With a mural you get to share a piece of yourself and what you represent. If I had a choice I would paint a 42

mural over sitting at my desk. Each and every wall is a different experience, both prepping it and the application [of the paint].

What else are you inspired by? Or art in general that you’re looking at? Either genre or artist.

There are a lot of artists that I really pull from. A lot of my friends inspire me. When I first moved here, I met Jesse Smith, and we draw every Tuesday. That was like six years ago. I really liked how he was pulling things and foreshortening them, and I was trying to learn how I can get that effect. That really inspired me.

wrap them with cork and do a design on them.

I’m just a maker. I like making a ton of different stuff. I used to work at an auto body shop with my dad, and the work doesn’t stop. But yeah, I wanna teach some classes [at the studio space] one on one. Because everybody in the space is VCU—there’s one VCU grad student, Virginia Wood, and then everyone else is VCU alumni.

Are you excited about anything for the rest of the year? Are there projects you’re working on that you’re stoked on?

Well, I’m leaving soon to go out to St. Louis. I have a potential mural out there. But I’m going back for the first time in probably six years. I’m Who are your collaborators in the Bonfire gonna sell some of my work downtown and see RVA space? What’s the space’s overall the first mural I did out there. That’s where I mission? grew up so that what fostered everything. I gave a lecture in Varina and that was fun. The kids I found the space, then called up some friends. were really cool and I did a little art demo. But It’s a thousand square feet, and there are four what’s coming up? I have a lot of projects I can’t artists who share the space. Since beginning talk about. I’m just prepping. Hopefully more in July 2014, Virginia Wood, Kristian Barber, murals in the future, because they are so much Amelia Langford, and I have inhabited the fun. space. The space has a wood shop. We would like to eventually have open art nights, where Jacob Eveland’s work can be seen in the New Normal anyone can come by, watch demos, have model Apparel Artists Of The Year Group Show, beginning drawing sessions, and draw with us while we on Friday December 5, 2014 at 6 PM. New Normal project a movie. We have an open studio during Apparel is located at 212 E. Clay St. Eveland will also First Fridays, except for December and January. be participating in the Functional Art Movement group show, opening February 6, 2015 at 9WG Studios, So you have a workshop in the back? located at 9 W. Grace St. Yeah, we’ve got a saw and everything, so we can make panels. I’m gonna make some lamps soon,

jacobeveland.com

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THOSE MANIC SEAS

by Doug Nunnally | photos by Joey Wharton There are a plethora of factors that go into making a band successful, but when you really start the discussion of what makes a band prosper, you’ll find yourself circling around three tangible attributes associated with a truly great band. The first is obviously pure musical talent, followed closely by true uniqueness that sets them apart from the pack. The final, and oftentimes most overlooked, attribute is a tough work ethic, driving the band no matter what happens. Plenty of Richmond bands have these qualities in varying amounts, but no band currently exemplifies all three of them more than Those Manic Seas.

Their indeed-unique lead singer, Kilroy The Stillness--a towering mannequin delivering his vocals from the screen of a television that sits atop his shoulders--has become the element for which they’re best known. However, anyone who has seen this band live knows the closeknit quintet has talent and backs it up with an insane work ethic. For example, take a typical rehearsal day. Drummer Daniel Medley toils away custom-fitting a new trailer he purchased off Cragislist to make their gigs that much easier.

The rest of the members fuel up on tacos and intently discuss ways to improve their songs, talking with such focus that they nearly forget to swallow. When the time comes to play, the band crams into an intimate top-floor room that most moody teenagers would complain about for being too modest. The close confines surely drive the band, even if some members are dangerously close to getting knocked out by a bass headstock.

In the background as the band rehearses restlessly is a large whiteboard full of working song titles and abbreviations, all surrounded by incomplete thoughts hastily added before they were lost forever. That frenzied writing makes up the band’s upcoming eleven-song debut album, due out in the spring on Angry Pirate Records. Despite that spring release, the band still has some ground to cover to finish their first LP. “The record’s about halfway done, and has really been an arduous process because of scheduling,” bassist Todd Baker explained. “We could have gotten the record done if we didn’t have day jobs, but once we got everyone in the same location, it was really straightforward and ideas started flowing.” The schedule wasn’t the only hard part in Baker’s eyes, as he expounded upon what most musicians go through with each

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new release. “Trying to capture that sound and those feelings was just as hard, and that’s what’s most important: capturing that energy and portraying what we do live. We had to find that groove for each song, but you just have to get there with some hard work. No song is the same.

One song might take a crazy amount of takes, while the next one only takes one.”

For those who’ve been following the band over the years, it’s easy to understand why Baker says that no Those Manic Seas song is the same. It’s something guitarist Chris Westfall was also eager to talk about. “I know I started out wanting the songs to be straightforward,” he laid out. “Later on, it became apparent that there’s not a sound we have. I want to develop an identity, but I don’t want to let genres or influences scare me away from trying something new. This led to us having such a large spectrum of songs.”

When prompted more about the songwriting process, Medley hunched forward to detail it.

“No song is written the same way as another. It always starts off with someone [having] a wellrounded idea they like. And we’ll go piece by piece from there in a completely different way than we did the last song. I’ve always said, when someone says we sound like this or that band, that’s when I’ll change how we write a song. I want to evolve and change. I don’t ever want to get to a point where someone says, ‘Oh, they sound like The Killers.’ That’s not what I’m aiming for at all.”

As the topic of the record’s theme came up, Baker was quick to chime in. “Change and loss make up the theme, really. So much has been lost and gained.” That somber yet optimistic thought accurately sums up a band who’s gone through a lot of lineup changes in their career so far. While constant lineup changes often mean death for groups (locally or not), Those Manic Seas have turned it around into a grand step forward. In under six months, the band went from searching for a guitarist by offering free beer to having two equally talented guitarists eager to add their own personal style into the mix. “We’ve never been a five piece,” identified Medley, “but we’ve always liked the idea of a five piece, to add that extra bit. We’ll be adding some stuff like synths, but we’re also going to keep it open-ended so we can have some surprises later on.” Guitarist Drew Rollo added that while the expanded lineup

is fun, it’s not as easy as it seems. “We’re still figuring it out. The only thing we know is that we have two lead guitars, not a rhythm and lead. We don’t want to just stack upon each other. It’s not as cut and dried as that, but we definitely want each guitar to be its own identity.”

Unlike other bands, Those Manic Seas are pretty candid about their influences on the record, mostly because no single artist influences their whole sound. “We all listen to different sounds, and none of us really push a band on someone else,” Medley clarified. “We just let our individual influences come through in our playing and see where it takes us.” Those individual influences are astounding: Medley cites Mutemath, Grouplove, and Band Of Horses as inspirations, while Westfall is eager to discuss Gorillaz, Little Dragon, and even local band The Trillions. Rollo gushes over Warpaint and the post-metal scene, and Kilroy finds inspiration in a static frontman, such as James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

On the other hand, Baker’s influence seems to touch on a much bigger idea. “I’m a huge fan of Broken Social Scene,” he exclaimed. “I love how big they sound, and I like to capture that feeling. We have a lot of space in our songs. All of our instruments are very big for that. We get up there and it’s just five parts, but it sounds big. We could be a lot more than a five piece.”

That thought really resonated with the rest of the band--even Kilroy silently approved--and it’s definitely true. While the band could have more members, or have a lot more going on in each song, it’s important to keep it stripped down in order to make the spaces in the songs stand out. The musical world would definitely be better off if more bands embraced the “less is more” concept, and Those Manic Seas takes that concept seriously in both songwriting and live performances.

“We like short sets,” Baker detailed. “We like to leave people wanting more. Less is always more.

My favorite compliment is ‘I wish you guys had played more.’ I’d rather that happen than see people start walking out, checking their watch, or pull[ing] out their phones. If I look out and I see someone is on their phone while I’m playing, it lights a fire in me and I play a lot harder.”

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The band’s live show is definitely one of the stronger ones in Richmond. It’s not just in the pure spectacle of Kilroy’s stature; it’s in the infectious energy that flows from each member of the band and latches on to the entire audience from the first snare hit. As they discussed the way they approach live shows, the band’s “five dollar” concept quickly became the focus of the conversation. While the concept can be explained as simply as “you could have spent that five dollars on anything,” Daniel Medley went into detail about how it really shapes their live shows.

“There’s so much going on around town, especially on the weekend, and people have a lot of options. So we need to give people as much reason to come to our shows as they can,” he stated. “It’s all about value. There’s so many bands that I’ve seen, and while they were good, I could have stayed home and listened to their record and had the same reaction. We want to be more than musicians; we want to be entertainers. I want to create an emotion. [I]

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want people to experience it, and go home with a story. ‘I went and saw this band with a different type of lead singer. They played some great songs and then they brought a cymbal out into the crowd and I ended up with a drumstick.’ We want our set to be a manic ride, and we want to force the audience to challenge their relationship with the band during live shows.”

The band’s always looking for new ways to improve, whether through vigorous rehearsals or just by finding new ways of getting their name out there. They are quick to extol the virtues of Instagram, and eager to test the waters with SnapChat. Even a forum like Reddit has proven worthwhile, as a post made in the subreddit entitled “We Are The Music Makers” led to fans from different states ordering vinyl records. There are even aspirations of doing a documentary on next year’s tour, perhaps in an episodic fashion.

The group has also tried out guerrilla marketing lately. “We rented a projector and drove around the city projecting this subliminal type video

on walls of the city outside of bars,” Baker explained. “People were taking videos and pictures, so it was definitely getting attention. It brought out a lot of people to the next show, and was pretty good for us, even if it made a lot of people mad.” Baker considers the band’s home base in a relatively small city like Richmond an advantage. “Richmond is a great testing ground for new ideas,” he indicated. “People are still a lot more open to things, even if the scene can be stuck in their ways too much. No BS! [Brass Band] playing in an auto shop recently worked.

And even My Darling Fury set up in an alleyway on First Fridays for a killer set.”

Despite the band’s remarkable talent, unparalleled creativity, and definite hard work, it seems as if the group is under-appreciated in Richmond’s thriving music scene, oftentimes left as an afterthought when listing some of the top bands in the area. “People like who they like,” alleged Baker. “But it’s also because we sound so different, and a lot of what we do is different than everyone else.”

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Medley wasn’t quite sold on being underappreciated in the city, but did agree that the band doesn’t really fit into Richmond a lot of times.

Giving his view on the Richmond scene, Medley described, “It’s not big enough for how cliquey it can be. A lot of local bands will continue to play with their friends and their friends’ bands, and it’s hard to break into those pockets.” Medley finds the segmentation frustrating, as it can prevent bands from reaching the wider spectrum of the city’s music scene. ”You’re getting all of these good bands that are playing with the same bands over and over, and you end up playing to the same people.”

goes back to the ‘who do you know?’ thought.”

The band is not above using what connections they can make, but the connections they really want to make are with new fans. “We’re always looking for the next band to play with, because their fans have probably never seen us, and it’s a good chance to wow a new pocket of people.”

Of course, it’s ultimately going to be hard for a band to not have its detractors with a lead singer such as Kilroy. “The Richmond audience are just fantastic people, but they do tend to be cynical and skeptical at first,” Baker noticed. “People who go to shows are very critical. When we’re setting up and they see our singer is different, we definitely get those looks. They’re thinking too much about it though, because once we get going, everyone seems to really get into it and overcome their doubts--which is something we definitely strive for.”

Those Manic Seas may be excellent musicians, but they didn’t grow out of a pre-existing segment of the local scene, so they’ve had to work especially hard to carve out a niche for themselves. “Our favorite place to play is Balliceaux and it was really hard for us to get into there,” Medley commented, “because the Richmond is still a very big part of the band. booking agent is picky, for all the right reasons. Their fantastic music video for their 2013 We mostly got in through a mutual friend so it breakout single “Headache/Heartache”

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perfectly captured the house show feel that Richmond is well-known for, and the local music scene definitely drives the band to get better. “I listen to a lot of The Trillions’ stuff to push me as a guitarist,” Westfall adds. “There are just a ton of talented musicians in Richmond, and it forces us to be better, because we want to be taken seriously with our band structure. I know when I see another band doing well, like White Laces, it just really makes me want to find that next level.”

For those who’ve seen the band lately, it’s pretty safe to say they’ve found that next level. Underappreciated or not, 2015 is shaping up to a big year for Those Manic Seas. With the release of their first album and the promise of their crosscountry tour, even a stone-faced figure such as Kilroy will have a hard time hiding his delight. thosemanicseas.com

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Primal Instinct

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PHOTOS: Nick Ghobashi Makeup:Amber Abramson Model:Alex Cunningham Asst. Stylist: Fana Haile Stylist: Kionna Graham Fashion Coordinator: Marshe Wyche Hair: Kamala Jewelry: all jewelry is authentic Native American made and blessed from Virginia.

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RECORD Reviews

Antemasque

Basmati

Did you love At The Drive In but think the Mars Volta got a bit self-indulgent on their later material?

You’re in luck--Omar and Cedric have returned, fronting a quartet whose self-titled debut gets through 10 songs in 35 minutes and rocks like crazy the whole time. Easily their best work in a decade.

(AN)

(Hand To Mouth/basmatilovesyou. bandcamp.com) Basmati may be one of the more ambitious outfits in town, continually dropping release after release of compelling psychedelic future pop. BAZ proves to be yet another powerful installment in the group’s lush canon of material. And with killer tracks like “Head Womb” and “Yawny,” it’s easy to see why.

(SC)

Although Big K.R.I.T. has crafted all of his own dirty south-flavored instrumentals throughout his short but impressive career, for his second studio album, he chose to collaborate with outside producers. This allowed K.R.I.T. to take more time to construct strong hooks, technically impressive flows, and a fairly unique, holistic experience of an album. (CE)

The Bug

Christi

Flying Lotus

There is a lot of fun to be found on the self-titled debut from Christi. Spunky bursts of surf rock are bound to be a quick sell for most listeners. It’s no wonder they have quickly established themselves as one of Richmond’s favorites after listening to tracks like “Get You (Off My Mind)” and “Popsicle.” (SC)

On his latest release, the always theme-conscious Flying Lotus explores the concepts of death and loss in his own unique genre-hopping way. With some help from heavyweight features like Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, and Herbie Hancock, as well as standby collaborators Thundercat and Niki Randa, FlyLo bounces between freaked-out electro jazz, hip-hop, ambient, and everything in between.

(TS)

Antemasque (Nadie Sound)

Mykki Blanco

Mykki Blanco presents Gay Dog Food (Uno!)

Angels & Devils (Ninja Tune)

With this second album, Michael David Quattlebaum continues to enthusiastically color outside the lines of hip-hop norms as “teenage female rapper” persona Mykki Blanco. Although there are plenty of debaucherously fun raps and ferocious beats packed into the first half hour or so, the latter half hour feels like a bloated, amateurish experiment into sample-based beat-making.

Producer Kevin Martin, AKA The Bug, has over twenty years of music-making experience under his belt. The meticulous nature of this album makes that evident. The first 24 minutes builds icy, dub-infused dread, supplemented with eerie vocal accompaniment, giving way to a simmering closing half, replete with filthy grime instrumentals and contributions from Flow Dan and Death Grips.

(CE)

Foo Fighters

Grouper

With the incredible amount of hype behind it, there was little chance for Richmond’s favorite rock band to hit the mark with their eighth album. This album fails to chart new territory and struggles to capture the identity of the eight cities they recorded in. As a singular collection of songs, there’s nothing inherently bad here, but also nothing inherently good. (DN)

Grouper’s music has always been about creating atmosphere. Though her sound generally revolves around blown-out, reverb-caked guitar and vocal lines layered into a sonic fire blanket, her latest effort is devoid of much of that murkiness. This allows the primarily piano-based compositions to shine, creating a sound that, while simple, has its own special ambience. (CE)

Sonic Highways (RCA)

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BAZ

Ruins (Kranky)

Big K.R.I.T.

Cadillactica (Def Jam/Cinematic)

Christi (christi.bandcamp.com)

Iceage

Plowing Into The Field of Love (Matador)

The Danish punks take a sharp turn from their established sound to explore a plethora of genres within the confines of punk music. The result is a divisive record that’s more mature than their previous records, but equally as scatterbrained, as songs shift inexplicably from a morose ballad to a country punk breakdown. (DN)

Black Water Gold Premium Spirit

(blackwatergold.bandcamp.com) The basis for Black Water Gold’s compositions can be best described as unpredictable. On Premium Spirit, the listener will find comfort in how at ease the band seems in their current incarnation. Justin Black croons through a profound set featuring five of this group’s best chillwave showings yet. (SC)

You’re Dead!

(Warp)

The Jazz June

After The Earthquake (Topshelf)

I welcomed the news of a reunion by this 90s emo band, but their first LP back leaves me wondering what happened while they were gone. The energy, complexity, and eponymous jazz influences that made them great have been subsumed to a bland rock sound that does nothing for me. I guess some bands should stay broken up. (AN)

RVA MAGAZINE 19 | WINTER 2014

Shannon Cleary (SC), Brad Kutner (BK), Andrew Necci (AN), Doug Nunnally (DN), and Tyler Spindle (TS)

Mr. Twin Sister

Panda Bear

Formerly Twin Sister, this group’s reintroduction to the music scene is one of the year’s pleasant surprises. Despite sounding familiar in many ways, the music is borderline unclassifiable, drawing in elements of R&B, disco, dream pop, and too many other subgenres. Whatever it is, the songs are equally well suited to your party playlist and your slow jams. (TS)

A teaser release for the upcoming Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper, this EP previews the sound Noah Lennox has been working on since 2011’s Tomboy.

The somber, almost monastic chants have been replaced with filled out, head bobbing, dreamy tracks overlaid by Lennox’s voice flowing in a more freewheeling, singalong-ready way than when we last heard from him. (TS)

Inspired by an emergency surgery and three month hospital stay, Pharmakon’s new album is body music in its darkest sense. Featuring looped heavy breathing, labored coughing and choking, and guttural screaming over industrial noise, the New York artist explores the body/mind disconnect and the creeping threat that former can drop out at any time, leaving the latter stranded. (TS)

The ska punk legends do their best to emulate their early sound with their shortest record to date, but that timestamp tells more of the musical well drying up than it does of the songs’ urgency. Qualities that were once deemed endearing about Rancid are turned into contrived and hooky formulas, and show a band really grasping at straws. (DN)

Royksopp

Run The Jewels

Vince Staples

The fifth record from these thrash and technical death metal wizards is a doozy. Despite their previous full-lengths being packed with enough instrumental pyrotechnics to make Yngwie Malmsteen sweat, this release further ups the ante with even more jaw-dropping solos, heavier grooves, and more tightly-woven compositions. Lovecraftian lyrics top everything off; “Madness Opus” it is indeed. (CE)

The Norwegian electronic music duo who I usually classify as “car-commercial techno” manage to create some solid hard beats on this double album.

Alongside a few new remixes from their EP released with Robyn earlier this year, “Save Me” and “Compulsion” are powerful, bassy dance tracks which will hopefully grace many dance floors for years to come. (BK)

While the acclaimed rappers of today are exploring new techniques and different genres, Killer Mike & El-P are flourishing by breathing new life into a rap style that was all but written off years ago. Just like the golden age of rap, the lyrics are the focus, with no hooks or catchphrases to distract you from the poetic explosion they’ve created. (DN)

Serving as a counterpoint to the relative mellowing of the LA hip hop scene over the last year (Kendrick loves himself, y’all), Hell Can Wait takes straightforward, pounding beats and pairs them with lyrics about drugs, murder, police brutality-and most of all, hopelessness--through Staples’ laid back matter-of-fact delivery, making the album feel like more like a documentary than a drama. (TS)

Andy Stott

Taylor Swift

Weezer

The Welcome Hips

Mr. Twin Sister (Infinite Best/Twin Group)

Revocation Deathless (Metal Blade)

Faith In Strangers (Modern Love)

Stott returns with his first album since 2012’s dark and brooding Luxury Problems. Faith actually pulls back on the doom and gloom and enters groove territory more often than not. There’s plenty of weird Euro-dub on this record, but ‘Danger’ stands out as the best rump-shaker on this 9 track release.

Just don’t let it blow your subs. (BK)

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Mr. Noah EP (Domino)

The Inevitable End (Dog Triumph)

1989 (Big Machine)

Besides the formulaic lead single, this collection of moody synthpop is a grand leap for Swift. It straddles the fence though, as the music channels the best of Lorde & CHRVCHES, while the lyrics often settle for marketable phrases instead of statements. If you can get over the fact that this is Taylor Swift, you might find a lot to like here. (DN)

Pharmakon

Bestial Burden (Sacred Bones)

Run The Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal)

Everything Will Be Alright In The End (Republic)

There’s no doubt that this is better than Raditude and Hurley, but that’s faint praise for the band behind Pinkerton. While the guitar fuzz seemingly works and there are plenty of risks like the “Futurescope Trilogy” suite, it is still a blurry musical statement that distances the band further away from their early success and more towards a cookie-cutter formula. (DN)

Rancid

...Honor Is All We Know (Hellcat/Epitaph)

Hell Can Wait (Def Jam)

The Deep End

(thewelcomehips.bandcamp.com) After an eclectic set of demos, The Welcome Hips continue to surprise their fanbase with their new EP. Any of these songs could feel right at home beside the likes of The Drums or Wild Nothing. This is The Welcome Hips at their most relaxed, and it’s a delight to listen to. (SC)

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