FEATURE SHOW
Thursday, July 18 – Sunday, July 21
Commonmwealth of Notions Presents - Volume 3
Thursday, July 18 10 p.m.
Wolf//Goat, Sea of Storms, Clair Morgan, Zac Hryciak and The Jungle Beat @ Strange Matter - $5/18+
Friday, July 19, 10:30 p.m.
The Diamond Center (pictured above), DJ sets by WRIR DJs Paul Ginder & Jamie Lay, and Revolt of The Apes @ Balliceaux - $5/21+
Saturday, July 20, 4pm.
Baby Help Me Forget, Warren Hixson, Navi, Tungs, Adah, Way Shape or Form, Herro Sugar, Lobo Marino, Dumb Waiter, Dave Watkins @ Gallery 5 - $10 (Proceeds will also support Gallery 5) / All Ages
Sunday, July 21, 10pm.
Heavy Midgets, Hoax Hunters, Tyrannosaurus Awesome @ Bandito’s - Free/21+
Welcome to the event of the year. WRIR & Commonwealth of Notions Presents: Volume 3 is going to be a weekend, not night, of miracles. WRIR and Shannon Cleary have done it again and have put together a marvelous four day, four venue collage of the sound of Richmond. There has been a ton of words written about this event, so I won’t tie up your eyes with even more. But this is a four day excursion that, if you miss any of it, you're simply missing out on everything.
Wednesday, July 17, 10 p.m.
Ttotals, Growwing Pains, Hot Dolphin, Ancient River, Astral Gunk, projections by Lord Candy Dish @ Strange Matter - $7/18+
Ttotals triumphantly returns to Richmond. This Nashville duo is a close encounter of the powerful psychedelic orgasm kind. What this two-man crew does to conjure up a memorable sound is unprecedented. The drums and guitars achieve a symmetry of beauty, to be cascaded by destiny on every travel through the eardrums. A ride from Ttotals is the thrill of a lifetime, where undefined sound is the pinnacle. Ttotals’ drummer Marty Linville does double duty, conjuring up wicked emotional beats and loops as well as bashing sticks, while Brian Miles just might be the nastiest guitarist this side of the Mississippi. Come to the other side of your consciousness and come to a Ttotals show.
What's more, Detroit’s Growwing Pains come to a Grace St. stage with their self described anxiety garage rock - which is approved by the new Jesus (Kirk Cameron), by the way. After a listen to these lads, your only anxiety will come from not shaking what you got. Need more garage psych from this show? Well, look no further--Astral Gunk is a high riser and worth waiting to go outside and smoke that cigarette for. And don’t forget Florida psych veterans Ancient River--another powerful duo.
Local darlings of spitfire rock, Hot Dolphin, open this evening up. And holy Hanover tomatoes! Lord Candy Dish with his mind exploding projections is back!
Thursday, July 18, 8 p.m.
Giraffes? Giraffes!, Goddard, New Turks, Guise, Navi @ Gallery 5 - $5/All Ages.
Chalk up this show as another great get for Gallery 5. Massachusetts’ Giraffes? Giraffes! is a tripindicular psychedelic math rock band that flirts with all out electrifying experimentation. Comprised of just two men of music, Giraffes? Giraffes! can see over everything thanks to Joseph Andreoli on guitar, loops, and his wild blue yonder effects. Then there’s Kenneth Topham on percussion, glockenspiel, bells, pots, pans, and anything else that gets you in a tizzy. Watch out for this duo, as they will shake Richmond like a tree.
Fellow Massachusetts residents Goddard join in the fray with their drop to your knees math rock. The local support will be delivered to you by the awesome power of grunge personified from New Turks. Then there’s Guise, oh my Guise. This experimental rock project is a band a lot of folks are chatting about. After one listen, I can see, or should I say hear, why.
Rounding out the local support is more than likely the most underrated band in Richmond. Yes, I’m talking about Navi. This tornado of a duo will encompass surf, experimental, prog, math, and garage rock, then sin it into a tangled web we all just cannot get out of, no matter how hard we try.
Friday, July 19, 8 p.m.
Jonathan Byrd @ Ashland Coffee & Tea - $10/18+
North Carolina’s folk singer and outlaw songwriter Jonathan Byrd comes to Ashland tonight with quality narratives about life, love, and death in America. That’s a topic that’s getting a lot of attention lately. I bet Byrd’s songs are a current diary of the day to day. Byrd does it his way, just himself, a guitar, you and your whiskey. That’s all you need right? Byrd is worth a trip up 95; his flat-picking is mesmerizing and has everyone in the Americana and folk circles listening. He’ll catch your ear with his traditional guitar styles and scintillating aura.
Saturday, July 20, 6 p.m.
Vinyl Conflict Presents Red Dons, Roman Holiday, Slugz, The Haverchucks @ Strange Matter - $7/All Ages.
Bobby Egger and Vinyl Conflict continue to deliver the best in live music to our fair city. Some of the best shows so far in ’13 have come courtesy of the store of stores in Oregon Hill. This one's no exception.
Red Dons is a fierce punk rock band that is gaining steam by the minute. Touring in support of their new three-song EP Notes on the Underground, this quartet is a spiraling-out-of-control belt to the gut. Featuring members of such bands as the Chemicals, the Revisions, Clorox Girls, or my favorite, Scott Baio Army, these guys are beyond seasoned.
Oh my, make room for the strong because moshing, stage diving, and punching lips are in this year. Blood is a good thing. Come to think of it, let's ransack our brains. Society has fallen. Anyway you look at it, it’s a boot party. Punk rock is alive and well, and if it’s from Oregon, it’s serious like a heart attack, which is exactly what you’ll have while taking in the treacherous punk of Red Dons.
Philadelphia's Roman Holiday, the garage punk of Slugz, and the pop power-punk of the Haverchucks provide support for this night of a thousand punk stars. [Local bands subject to change]
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Saturday, July 20, 9 p.m.
Sounds of RVA Showcase featuring Sea of Storms, Everyone Dies in the End (pictured above), Time Machines @ Bogart’s in the Fan - $5/21+
The lovely music blog Sounds of RVA has been showcasing some lights-out, fantastically beautiful local music these past couple of months and tonight is no different. Sea of Storms is a belligerent perfection to the hardcore garage sound. Brandon Peck’s guitar/vocals, John Martin’s bass, and Chris Brown’s (not that fool from Tappahannock) percussion is a trio worth taking notice. This band is full of professionals, and your head will split as you watch the ecstasy pour out from the stage. Get out from behind that nuisance of a divider at the Bogart’s bar and get up close to the stage. Sea of Storms rocks and the storm will take you away.
If folks can just hold on for a few more minutes, Everyone Dies in the End will be worth the extra breath. This concoction of ambient drone rock married to shoegaze is a fancy spirit to soar to the heavens with.
And, if you’re not quite ready to die in the end, then by all means get back to your past with Time Machines. Time Machines behold the perfect flux capacitor with their post-hardcore space rock. Hold on to the clock, as this band’s lightning will strike soon enough.
Sunday, July 21, 7 p.m.
Stay Sweet presents Restorations, Signals Midwest, Run Forever, Close Talker, You'll Live @ The Camel - $7/All Ages.
Holy e-cigarettes! This is a wing-dinger of a show. Philadelphia’s Restorations, off the SideOneDummy label, comes to a city with too much craft beer to give us a potpourri of postpunk shoegaze that will spellbind our souls. The other delirious band on this bill is Cleveland’s Signals Midwest. This marvelous indie punk band is a real show stopper, so get ready to live. Run Forever, also coming to us from the rust belt, is everything but rust. This is a great pop punk band that will have you cheering for more. Florida’s You’ll live will supply the emo rock tonight, while local support comes to you this evening across from Close Talker, and their end-all pop punk.
Monday, July 22, 10 p.m.
Mincemeat or Tenspeed, Mutwawa, Unguent, Some Pepper @ Strange Matter - $6/18+
The next big thing just might be Mincemeat or Tenspeed. This is David Harms of Philadelphia’s experimental noise project. Centered on nothing but effects pedals and a mixer, Mincemeat or Tenspeed continues to flourish in the noise and experimentation world. His performances are beginning to attract not only a legion of fans, but national press. See him, or should I say experience him, while you still can. Getting up close is mandatory. The weirdness will undoubtedly turn into matrimonies of effects united with rhythmic and melodic adjustments. Hello rainbows and Refrigerator Perry’s.
Remember Dick Neff? Well, Dick Neff, also from Philly, is now Unguent, and let the thorough process of scrambling begin. This guy is a synth lord now, so say hello to the hallucinations. And yes, E might equal MC squared, but subject yourself to Some Pepper and grasp the best rhythmic harsh noise your brain can take.
Mutwawa, who I’m getting ready to go see as I write this, is the local support. Let me just say this with all my heart and passion – if Gary and Jason can’t get your body moving, then take a loaded gun, put it to your head and pull the trigger.
Tuesday, July 23, 8 p.m.
Turbo Fruits, Heavy Midgets, Houdan the Mystic @ Gallery 5– $5/All Ages
Turbo Fruits are a delicious delicacy of garage rock from Nashville. What’s up with all these Nashville bands in Richmond this week? It’s okay, the bands kick ass and stand with all the talent we got around here. Joining Turbo Fruits are some short fat people that will transfix the inner sanctums of our endearing wants and needs for pure psychedelic garage hop music. These ladies and gents can move a room, and their new music is spectacular. It for sure will be on display for your ears tonight.
Houdan the Mystic, not to be confused with that game in the movie Big, that made Tom Hanks big, is a bevy of math, indie, and psychedelic rock. Oh the trifecta!
By John Lewis Morgan (onewayrichmond.com)