This week a former aquaintance of mine passed away. He was a very talented guitarist and had so much potential to do something pretty great. He had a shed in his parents' backyard where he grew up "shedding" for real. At 28, he was taken too soon, but his passing can truly remind us to take that chance. Take a moment and create a lasting product, something that the world needs to hear.
Photo by Sounds Of RVA
This week is chock-full of gooey music selections from Richmond. First up is Nick Coward and the Last Battle. They have uploaded some songs they recorded back in 2010 at RVA Studios (you know, the place in Northside called "Sami's Grotto?"). Coward and Co. are finishing up their forthcoming record, Thieves, and these little treats are to tide us over until the release date.
photo by Dave Parrish
This past weekend, Dominion Riverrock included music from national acts as well as many local bands. Psychobilly Cadillac recorded its performance and posted it at archive.org. "Out of Mind" was the opener and sounds suspiciously like "Superstitious" in the beginning. Hopefully the band will schedule some upcoming shows, but they will be playing @ Colonial Downs on 7/6, and at the East Coast Surfing Championships on 8/26.
photo by Sounds of RVA via Milkstains' instagram
RVA's surf sweethearts The Milkstains will also be playing at the East Coast Surfing Championships on 8/27. They recently played @ The Camel, and Jamie Lay took a quick video of "Let Us Down."
See The Milkstains on 6/3 @ Cellar Door with Chrome Daddy Disco, The Fooligans, and Broken Pony.
photo by Robert Escue
Imperial Order is a band that's paid its dues on the RVA metal scene. After booking shows at Wonderland and Strange Matter, Imperial Order was added to the Municipal Waste show @ Wonderland THIS WEDNESDAY (5/23) with guests Inter Arma. Wonderland's capacity isn't too big, so make sure you get there early if you want to get in. Imperial Order answered a few probing questions from Sounds of RVA this week:
Are you all from Richmond?
Crystal Cleghorn (bass): Norfolk
Grant Oliver (lead guitar): Northern VA
"Metal Mike" Goetz (rhythm guitar, backing vocals): Mechanicsville
Robley Ball (drums): Hanover
Yancy Lambert (vocals): San Francisco
How did your band get together?
Crystal: I met Metal Mike through a friend of a friend. I had been in a metal band with him several years before, but we never got to play a show or anything. I randomly ran into Mike one day and asked him if he wanted to start another project since we had worked well together before. He said yes and then he said that his former singer Yancy from his old band From Within was also interested in starting a project. I believe the first jam sessions began around July '09. We tried out a few drummers and none worked out. Yancy brought in Robley one day and he blew us away with his skills. Later Robley told us he knew a guitar player named Grant that we could try out to be a second guitar player. He came in and also blew us away. By around Novermber '09 we finally had a full band together. The musical chemistry was amazing and we wrote songs that seemed to really come together naturally. By April '10 we played our first show at Alley Katz. We have been thrashing it up ever since!
Describe the most memorable show you've played.
Crystal: Playing in VA Beach, I was stoked to play in my hometown for the first time. I even spoiled myself by getting a hotel on the strip with a hot tub so I could relax afterwards. The metal scene at the beach is great and they really loved us there. Also I was really excited to play at Strange Matter because I saw my first metal show there, when it was called Twisters.
What are you listening to lately?
Crystal: Testament, Overkill, Slayer, Megadeth, Clutch, Kyuss, High On Fire, Opeth, Mastodon, Hank 3, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, The Zombies, The Animals,The New Animals, Eric Burdon and War, also a lot of random 60s and 70s funk and rock, and old school 70s and 80s rap
Grant: Humble Pie, King Crimson, old country/western music
Mike: Testament, Anthrax, Megadeth, just good ol' metal...
Robley: Iron Maiden, Destruction, Overkill, Queensryche...
Yancy: Anthrax, Alice Cooper, Jungle Rot, Toxic Holocaust, Tim Skold
Where are you doing your recording?
Crystal: At our practice space. We are attempting to do it ourselves since Yancy has a degree in music recording. Hopefully someone will hear it and sign us to a label so we can get a full length professional full album made.
Yancy: Imperial Productions.
What are the positives or negatives about being a female musician in Richmond?
Crystal: Well one of the positives is that I get to break a lot of stereotypes about women musicians. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I'll see a band that has girl in it and I get all bummed out because she's not very good at playing her instrument, and probably only got hired because she was pretty. You see this a lot in popular mainstream music now, and it's really annoying. Fortunately there are a lot of really talented female musicians in Richmond that I have discovered and have become friends with. Seeing the good ones always inspired me to keep trying when I was younger and first starting out playing bass. I like to pass it on and try to be a positive role model to other girls that see me play and want to do what I do. I know they get excited to see a small blonde girl up there rocking out on stage really hard. It's proof you don't have to be the macho man type to play heavy metal. I want to inspire others that being a rock musician can be surprisingly easy with practice and persistence.
What is the best thing about being in a metal band?
Crystal: Playing awesome music with my metal brothers (band members), having beers with my friends, and making new friends,
Grant: Playing something chunky and feeling a high gain amplifier behind you.
Mike: Just playing kickass music. Seeing that crowd head bang or mosh to your song is a good feeling.
Robley: The music.
Yancy: Being able to go crazy on stage with good friends, and write good music.
Do your parents like your band?
Crystal: My dad loves my band, he comes to every show and takes pictures and videotapes our performances. He's awesome and has always supported my music.
Grant: Of course they do.
Mike: No, not really, but they have supported me from day one. They would rather see me play country music. Lol... yeah right.
Robley: Yes they do.
Yancy: Parents love it.
photo by Kris Scofield
Fixtures recently played a house show (@ the House of Judy, 5/19) and Farris Campbell was there to record the song "House of the Silver Wedding." Video editing was done by Blake Melton. The band is about to enter "writing mode" and may not play any shows for a bit, so enjoy.
Finally, So !LLa has dropped a new video called "RunRVA." The chorus is catchy and Richmond gets shout outs left and right. The supernatural tone of the video is pretty cool, with layers of fire and one damn creepy mask flickering throughout. I think the guy might have inhaled the roach at the end though. Ouch!
By Sarah Moore Lindsey (soundsofrva.tumblr.com)
Logo by Joshua Osborne of the Subterranea Collective