RVA Magazine presents Strange Daze: Richmond 1980-89. This new RVA Photo Book is a document of the Richmond punk and hardcore scene in the 1980s, as photographed by the people who were there. This free special edition book features hundreds of photos capturing the music, the flyers, the kids and the chaos of the RVA punk underground. Richmond has always had a great music scene, and this era was no exception. See the local bands who first put Richmond's hardcore scene on the map: White Cross, Honor Role, Graven Image, Unseen Force, Absence of Malice, and others; as well as a special section documenting the great touring bands of the day who stopped off in Richmond: Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, GBH, Broken Bones, and Toxic Reasons, just to name a few. Plus a special look at the earliest days of GWAR, some crazy stories about the most unforgettable characters of the era, and more! It's all inside this brand new photo book, which is available tonight at Empire, located at 727 W. Broad St., starting at 6 PM! Copies will be available all evening, so come by to get one of your very own!
Here are just a few of the images you'll find within its pages:
Red Cross, Shafer Court, 1981. Photo Courtesy Frank Gresham
Members of the Exploited in the bathroom at Hardtimes, 1984. Photo: Thurston Howes
Dead Kennedys at the Mosque Ballroom, 1983. Photo: Cindy Hicks
Dwain Curd of Sordid Doctrine, 1987. Photo: Adrienne Ownby
Dennis' Problem at the Pyramid, 1988. Photo: Ethan Isenberg
Unseen Force at PB Kelly's, 1985. Photo: Chris Stoddard
We did tons of research and compiled hundreds and hundreds of photos for this book--more than we could use, in fact. In light of our great excess of outtakes, we've started a tumblr account on which we'll be posting photos that didn't make it into the book. Check it out HERE. There are only a few posts up as of now, but we'll be adding to it regularly over the months to come, so follow us! We've also created a soundtrack of sorts for this book, featuring 15 songs by 13 of the Richmond punk/hardcore bands that are in the book. You can find a download link for that mix HERE. And even if you haven't been able to locate a physical copy of this issue, you should still be able to view it on our website, at rvamag.com/magazine. Check it out!