The Greater The Risk, Farewell Fighter, T-Division, and No Hands
Thursday, February 3 at Strange Matter
I'm sure every band would love to play every show to a sellout crowd. That's not going to happen every time, though, and the show Thursday night at Strange Matter was not one of those times. Fortunately, though, all four bands played to receptive and enthusiastic crowds, which helped make the underattended show feel a lot more welcoming. After all, if you can't play to a packed house, a small but devoted crowd can go a long way towards making up for the empty spaces.
T-Division started out the night with an energetic set. Their music is hard to categorize, and I think this is a lot of what keeps them on the outskirts of the Richmond scene, playing to relatively small crowds. It's a shame, though, because they have a lot to offer. Their music combines the energy of uptempo hardcore with a sped-up melodic sense that descends from the poppier side of the punk spectrum. The resulting sound is a strange mix of pop-punk and hardcore that doesn't even seem to straddle the boundary between the two genres (the way an "easycore" band like Set Your Goals does) so much as it snatches random elements from both genres and rolls them up together into a completely new style. In fact, while the previous description is true for the songs from their EP, A Problem For Your Solution (which I reviewed last summer), it probably still doesn't do justice to the wealth of new material that made up the bulk of their set Thursday night. One song that stood out to me was constructed around a melodic bassline that reminded me of something Lifetime might write. At other times the new material displayed a harsher edge than anything they have previously released. Rather than honing in on a formula, as bands sometimes do, T-Division seem to be expanding their sonic palette. Which is good, from the perspective of someone who looks for bands to be interesting and unpredictable. Unfortunately, it may make it even harder for them to find their place within the Richmond punk and hardcore scene, something that has already been difficult for them. We can only hope that more local kids start to wake up to the things this band has to offer, and soon.
Next on the bill was Nashville's Farewell Fighter, who hit the stage in full-on showbiz mode. Let me admit my bias right now: having grown up in the underground emo/hardcore scene of the 90s, in which bands played in garages and on basement floors while delivering impromptu political manifestos between songs, I often find conventional "rock n' roll entertainment" style stage presences off-putting. However, Farewell Fighter are part of the modern, commercialized emo scene that draws its base from Hot Topic and The Warped Tour, and in that scene, the same showbiz moves that weird me out are standard operating procedure. Nonetheless, it can be hard, when evaluating bands in that scene, for me to set aside my old prejudices and appreciate modern bands on their own terms. Farewell Fighter's stage presence was therefore a bit of a stumbling block for me--they made moves that sometimes seemed like a post-y2k update of the 80s glam-metal era. Substituting nerdy cuteness for the Aquanet and spandex that dominated those days takes some of the edge off, but I'll probably never be comfortable with watching bands strike poses and wink at the girls in the front row. But, having said that, please don't think that I disliked Farewell Fighter's set. For one thing, after a couple of songs, I got used to their stage presence enough that I could chuckle rather than cringe at things like the singer dedicating a song to "our lovely bartender" (actually, this was especially amusing because Strange Matter bartender Lauren had stepped outside for a cigarette, leaving only her bearded coworker Ron behind the bar. I'm sure he enjoyed being called beautiful, though). For another, more important, thing: Farewell Fighter are just a great band. They opened with a short, introductory tune that their singer played by himself, but as soon as that was over and they tore into their first real song of the night, I found my doubts fading away. Their riffing was excellent, the choruses were extremely catchy, and the way their twin-guitar attack combined the perfect amounts of distortion and melody was just incredible. I was never completely able to put their overstated stage moves out of my mind, but by the end of the set I couldn't help but forgive them for all of it. They were just so goddamn good.
The Greater The Risk played next. I'd only previously heard them on a middling-quality youtube video, but it was enough to pique my interest. Thursday night, they totally delivered on all of the potential I'd seen in that video. The Greater The Risk are in the same scene as Farewell Fighter, but I saw quite a bit of difference in the sound of the two bands. Where Farewell Fighter use a lot of thick distortion on their guitars, The Greater The Risk opt for a cleaner, more melodic sound. Their emphasis is less on rocking out than on well-constructed songs and excellent musicianship. If anything, they remind me of underrated Arizona indie band The Format, who had a similar melodic sense and high, clear vocal tones. Guitarist Ashley Drewes was particularly impressive on Thursday night, laying down excellent melodic leads that contrasted nicely with the thicker rhythm and bass guitar parts and added a lot to the catchy energy of their music. By the way, it's refreshing to see a female guitarist playing in an emo band--the genre is incredibly male-dominated, and female musicians shouldn't be the rarity that they are in the emo scene. But the main thing that impresses about Ashley is not her gender but her skill, which is an essential element in making the music of The Greater The Risk as catchy and engaging as it is. I expect big things from this band, and I doubt they'll be playing to half-full clubs for long.
No Hands, a last-minute addition to the bill, were playing their first show, but played last out of the four bands, for reasons beyond my understanding. I was surprised to learn that their drummer was my old friend and former bandmate Mark McDonald, who sang for a band I played bass in back in 1999 and 2000. I was afraid I'd be the only one who stuck around to see his brand new band, but fortunately a dozen or so other people stayed for the whole set. Those who stuck around enjoyed themselves, too. No Hands, a bare-bones power trio, played a simple, rhythmically driven midtempo post-grunge sound that immediately reminded me of 90s-era bands like Local H and The Toadies. It's a style I haven't seen a band attempt in at least a decade, and their catchy yet unadorned riffing was a good, solid version of that sound. Mark in particular was impressive--his drumming was simple but he pounded the hell out of his kit, nearly overpowering the sound coming out of his bandmates' rather small amps. What No Hands did as a band during their set was not too complicated, but indicated an admirable focus and singleness of purpose, and probably speaks well for their future endeavors. I'm sure they'll improve as they get more shows under their belts, but their starting point is already pretty decent.
Despite the stylistic differences between the bands, this was a really enjoyable show on the whole, and I can't help but find it a shame that such a relatively small crowd came out. However, everyone at the show had a great time, and the bands played excellent sets, so ultimately that's all that matters. Next time you hear about one of these bands playing in this area, though, you should really do yourself a favor and go check them out. All four of them are well worth your time.
Words by Andrew Necci
Images courtesy of Brandon Hambright