RVA Shows You Must See This Week: February 5 – February 11
FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, February 8, 6 PM
The Rock Show In Memory of Nick Rockefeller, feat. Heavy Is the Head, Inurvah, LCTR, Fit Check, Bend The Knee, Wyrewitch @ The Canal Club – $13 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s been a year since Heavy Is The Head guitarist Nick Rockefeller passed away. Having been forced to stay at home and undergo treatments for the cancer he’d been fighting for years, he insisted the rest of the band head out on a tour they’d already booked. And then while they were gone, he passed away. It was a terrible, tragic loss, not just for the band but for everyone who knew Nick and everyone in the Richmond music community. Universally regarded as both an incredibly talented musician and a great guy, Nick’s loss has been deeply felt over the past year. Fortunately for us all, Heavy Is the Head have found it in them to carry on without their former bandmate, and have found a way to turn their heartbreak into inspiration. They’ll be releasing their new EP, For Your Loss, in March, and the title track, which you can hear on streaming services now, shows that they remain the sort of hard-hitting mosh powerhouse they always were.
They’ve also found a way to continue to remember Nick with this show, held at the Canal Club almost exactly a year after Nick passed on. It’s a benefit for Cruising For Cancer, which is entirely appropriate under the circumstances. It’ll feature a headlining set from the 2025 version of Heavy Is the Head, which will mix old and new material and demonstrate to all comers that, regardless of all they’ve been through, they remain resilient and at the top of their game, musically speaking. They’ll be joined toward the top of this bill by some relative newcomers in the Richmond heavy music scene, Inurvah, who have been around for less than a year and only have one single out, but sound incredibly assured and powerful based on that single 3.5-minute sample of their sound. It seems that they are slightly closer to the death metal side of things than Heavy Is the Head, with a little less hardcore and metalcore mixed into their musical sauce. However, if you’re able to appreciate one of these bands, there’s no way you won’t dig both. So expect good things when these guys hit the stage.
There are a whole bunch of other great bands on this bill too — indeed, this promises to be a slightly overstuffed evening of metallic hardcore goodness. LCTR (pronounced “Locator” — I had to google that) are probably the filthiest, most brutal death-metal-core group on this bill, mixing technical musicianship together with outright gnarly levels of low-end to crush your fucking skull. You’ll love it, I promise. In contrast to what LCTR is bringing, Fit Check have what’s probably the most conventional hardcore sound on this bill, though they remain incredibly heavy and full of furious chugging rage — plus a tiny bit of snotty punk attitude to up the fun quotient a bit. These folks are getting a buzz locally — come to this show and find out why. Bend The Knee — who to my mind need more recognition than they’re currently getting on the local scene — bring a technical yet chaotic approach to metallic hardcore, with just a touch of djent mixed in, plus plenty of political conscience. It’s the kind of thing we need more of in this day and age. Opening the whole thing up will be a set from Wyrewitch, who came together from the ashes of Hewolf and brings a groove-oriented classic heavy metal sound that’ll get things started exactly right. Come to this show, send one up to our dear departed friend, and help contribute to a cause that hopes to prevent anyone else from going out the way he did. It’s the right thing to do.
Wednesday, February 5, 8 PM
Woman Crush Wednesday, feat. Alex J. Dimas, Lilah Moons, Artschool @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
If it hasn’t become clear to everyone else as it has to me over the past several years, let me lay it out right now in black and white: the best way to get attention to local artists you feel aren’t getting enough love is to start a monthly showcase on a relatively slow day of the week. That’s the model that Bri Bevan’s been working from over the last five-plus years with Woman Crush Wednesday (and, for the record, the model the Out Of Your Head Records guys work from with their Second Mondays series at Artspace), and it’s been very successful at making the Camel the perennial go-to on the first Wednesday of every month. There might be nothing else going on that night, but since it’s the first Wednesday of the month, you always know there’ll be at least one good show to go to. And who doesn’t love that kind of guarantee?
This edition of Woman Crush Wednesday is, if possible, even more essential than most, as it is headlined by Alex J. Dimas. This local singer-songwriter makes beautiful pop music that’s full of emotion and demonstrates world-class levels of talent — you can tell that from just one listen to her debut EP from last year, Alma Mia. Her tunes manage to create a great deal of atmosphere even though she works from a rather minimalist instrumental palette, so even if her set at this show is just her and a guitar, it’s still bound to be amazing. Singer-songwriter Lilah Moons will make an effective pairing with Dimas, as her more acoustically-driven sound is nonetheless very emotionally aligned with what Dimas is up to. There’s a certain amount of twang in the mix with Moons, but if anything, that just spices it up. Meanwhile, what’ll really spice up this relatively melodic show will be the presence of Richmond’s own youthful punk rock trio, Artschool, whose latest single, “I Didn’t Vote In Rafah,” certainly is a lot closer to the feel of a typical Woman Crush Wednesday artist than you’d expect from their previous three-chord punk records. Maybe they’ll just give us a full set of acoustic tunes on this Wednesday night. That said, I love the idea of them shaking things up a bit on a wild Wednesday in February. Come to this show and watch the fireworks.
Thursday, February 6, 7 PM
Coast To Coast: A Benefit Show for Victims of the LA Wildfires, feat. Enforced, Dimension Six, Private Hell, Vigil @ Bandito’s – $20
Here’s another benefit show happening this week, and it’s for just as important a cause. Personally, I found the news clips depicting huge amounts of southern California burning down just as stressful while it was going on as the ascendance into fascist authoritarian power tripping chaos that Donald Trump and his buddy Elon Musk were getting into at the same time. Our country is backsliding into dictatorship and at the same time, one of the greatest cities in the world is burning down at the same time. Could it possibly get any worse? Well, one thing we’ve discovered over the weeks since is that yes, even if the fires are 100% contained, things can certainly get worse on a variety of levels (anyone looking to do anything at all to turn the tide on this, hit me up, I’m ready to pitch in however I can). But we’ve also discovered that people all over the country and the world will step up even in the midst of untold personal and political crises to help take care of those who find themselves in desperate straits due to climate change and shitty circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I am really glad to know that.
I’m also glad to see that a bunch of Richmond metallic hardcore bands have jumped on board and decided to lend their formidable talents to the cause. At the top of this bill — which exists entirely to raise money for folks who’ve been displaced by the LA Wildfires — are the almighty Enforced. This local ensemble rose from relatively humble origins in the mid-2010s Richmond hardcore scene to become some of the most consistent and powerful purveyors of ripping, thrashy, heavy hardcore currently going. Their fall 2024 EP, A Leap Into The Dark, shows that they’ve still got the goods, and since we don’t get to see them dish out their killer riffage in more intimate local spaces all that often anymore, this Bandito’s show is a great opportunity to enjoy Enforced the way we used to back before the whole country knew their name. Not that the other three bands on this bill won’t do their level best to steal the show. Virginia hardcore maniacs Dimension Six are in an ideal position to do so, bringing an incredibly tough and hard-hitting take on hardcore to the stage that’s sure to impress everyone in attendance. Richmonders Private Hell have an old-school speed metal sound that’s sure to make fans of prime-era Slayer incredibly excited, leavened with just enough mosh violence to keep the hardcore elements of their sound undeniably present. And local thrashers Vigil will get this one started with a bone-crunching thrashcore attack that’ll set a high standard for the rest of this show to live up to. Even if this wasn’t for a good cause, it would be an unmissable cavalcade of awesomeness. Now that it is a benefit, you have no possible excuse. Be there. Stand up and be counted.
Friday, February 7, 9 PM
Erin & The Wildfire, Tyler Meacham @ The Camel – $12 (order tickets HERE)
The Camel’s been doing their once-a-month-for-a-year First Friday residences for several years now, and they’re always a lot of fun because they offer us plenty of chances to see a beloved local band stretch out and get creative. When you know you’ll be playing a place once a month for a year, you know that you’ll have to keep things interesting to ensure that the last show in the series is as well-attended as the first. Erin & the Wildfire seem to understand the assignment where this is concerned, as this is only the second of their 12 First Friday 2025 appearances at the Camel, and they’re already throwing everyone a curveball with the action-figure-themed release show for their brand new single, “Everybody Else.” Indeed, they’ve hinted that this will be the program for the entire year — not only engaging in costume changes aplenty but releasing a whole passel of new material over the course of 2025, always timed to coincide with that month’s First Friday residency show. Get stoked for that one, y’all.
As far as this time around goes, I haven’t heard the new track — it will be released only hours before this show kicks off — but I have greatly enjoyed recent Erin & The Wildfire singles with their increased pop quotient and incredibly catchy choruses. I fully expect “Everybody Else” to hit the same sweet spot, maybe even attaining an even higher peak of talent than we’ve previously seen from this band. All of that being said, this show won’t truly be everything it can be unless Erin & The Wildfire go on stage in the bright pastel-patterned workout wear that adorns all of their “action figures” from the “Everybody Else” promotional material, so hopefully this quartet rises to the occasion. Local singer-songwriter Tyler Meacham will definitely rise to the occasion with her own opening set, sure to be emotionally powerful in much the same way her latest EP, Sad Girl Summer, was. You’ll smile and dance, but you’ll also feel all the feels — which, to be fair, is true of this entire evening. Make sure you’re there for it.
Saturday, February 8, 7 PM
Misc., Twin Films, XK Scenario, Paradiso @ The Camel – $12 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Signs that I’m getting old are everywhere in today’s pop culture landscape — which is only appropriate for a woman who’ll be 50 the next time she has a birthday, but still, it’s a good bit disconcerting. Hot young Richmond quartet Misc. have definitely been making me feel my own cultural displacement over the past year or so, as they energetically work to revive a genre from my youth that I never thought I’d hear again: rapcore. That’s right, on this teenage band’s debut LP, Sounds Like Whisk, they dive deep into a sound that was all the rage back in 1993 or so. That year, I was in college, Rage Against The Machine and 311 were scoring early hits, and many since-forgotten rapcore upstarts like Downset and Shootyz Groove were all over the place. It was a strange time in music history, one that ended quickly and has largely eluded the history books. However, as musical eras worth reviving go, it’s probably more promising than I would have thought — if for no other reason than that all of those rapcore bands back in the day had a pretty strong political consciousness.
Misc. themselves are actually only vaguely political, but the similarly musically inclined XK Scenario, who are coming down to RVA from DC for this show, definitely bring a good deal of political awareness through their own music, and where Misc. do land on the funkier, catchier end of the rapcore spectrum, these DC folks hit hard, hollering about their struggles in classic Rage fashion. The fact that this show brings together two different approaches to the rapcore revival might surprise some of my fellow oldsters, but if you still break out your old 24-7 Spyz tapes every now and then, you should definitely give both of these bands a chance. Once you let go of the idea that this style of music should be a “guilty pleasure,” you quickly realize that it’s just a whole lot of fun. Misc. and XK Scenario are joined on this bill by two other fun bands as well. The first is Twin Films, whose quirky but catchy approach to melodic indie rock is always worth tuning into. The title of their latest EP, My Tongue, Made White With Mint, should give you a little bit of an idea of how weirdly charming these folks actually are. As for openers Paradiso, this alternative metal ensemble focuses on the heavy and gets things started on a properly aggressive note. Hard not to love that.
Sunday, February 9, 7 PM
Polarview, Expiration Date, Claudia’s Symptoms, All You Have @ Antarctica – $10
As an old-school fan of the genre that later came to be known as screamo, I have a vested interest in keeping up with everything bands within that genre are up to — especially local ones. That being said, it’s been somewhat hard to keep track of what’s been developing in the local scene over the last few years, at least for a little old lady like myself; I’m old and married and don’t get out much, so a lot of times I don’t know where these bands are even playing. That makes sense to me; a decade ago when I still had a band and was active in the whole Swamp Fest/Haunted Mansion scene (IYKYK), we mostly played in basements and DIY venues, the kinds of places we couldn’t tell local journalists about because letting the word get out might mean getting the spot shut down. But since I’m on the other side of the equation now, it sorta makes me sad. Fortunately, this is one screamo show I’ve been given the all-clear to write about, even though the venue, Antarctica, is not a spot that usually shows up on my radar. If you plug the address into Google street view, you’ll find a nondescript warehouse-looking spot over on Southside — one I’d never have known was there. Now that I know about it, I’ve gotta share it with y’all — if for no other reason than that there’s an incredible show happening over there this Sunday night.
At the top of the bill is Polarview, who’ll be headed down to Richmond from their native land of Baltimore to wow us all with killer post-hardcore melodies and guitar-crunch crescendos. For a show I’m contextualizing as “screamo,” these guy are definitely closer to the heavy-melody end of the spectrum, but that doesn’t mean screamo kids won’t flip over their sound. Their latest EP, Inventory, is full of rad tunes that are sure to win over whoever manages to find their way to Antarctica for this one. DC’s Expiration Date are definitely closer to what you’d expect from screamo, with a frantic, noisy sound that still somehow incorporates quite a bit of melody. If Elements of Need and early Portraits of Past aren’t totally obscure reference points for anyone under 45, well, those of you who like shit like that will flip over Expiration Date. As for our two local acts on this bill, Claudia’s Symptoms have a very memorable name (which I can’t swear isn’t a reference to something or other that just goes right over my head) and an incredibly raw and urgent sound that makes me think of classic early Level Plane bands like Lickgoldensky or the almighty Get Fucked (again with the references that may mean nothing to anyone under 40… my bad). I think their first EP, which sounds less than stellar to say the least, is a total blast, and I bet this band goes way harder in a live situation. Openers All You Have are very new and only have one song released thus far, but that song is on a Middle-Man Records compilation, and that’s a powerful sign of quality right there. Not quite as raw as Claudia’s Symptoms, there’s nonetheless a lot of frantic nervous energy in their sound, and the guitar players clearly know their way around their instruments. I expect greatness from all four of these bands, frankly, and if you can find your way down to Antarctica this Sunday night, you’ll be able to enjoy it without freezing to death. Get stoked.
Monday, February 10, 7 PM
Keep, Allsalt, Cosmic Strain, Running @ Bandito’s – $15
Monday night’s always a great night to get gazey, especially at Bandito’s, where the nachos flow like salsa-flavored wine and the sound of the Diablo Room is somehow better than that of many venues with much higher budgets. This Monday night finds Richmond shoegaze heroes Keep taking the stage in the company of Floridians Allsalt, with whom they’ll be finishing up a four-show run up the east coast. Those of you who’ve been paying attention to what’s gone on in the guitar-focused areas of the Richmond indie rock scene over the past decade or so are surely aware that Keep have risen to a place atop the heap where Richmond shoegaze is concerned. It’s for good reason, too — 2023 LP Happy In Here is full of the glorious hazed-out reverb that shoegaze fans all love, but also manages to bring us many strong melodies that’ll keep these fuzzed-out songs from disappearing into the mental fog that the genre is sometimes known to induce in listeners. When you listen to these guys, you remember what you’ve heard. And the main thing you remember is how great they are.
I can’t speak with as much familiarity about Allsalt; indeed, if Keep hadn’t booked a tour with this band, I still wouldn’t have heard of them. That said, at first impression they have a lot to offer. They focus more on heaviness with their brand of shoegaze melody, reminding me at times of Nothing, though at others their concentration on catchy vocal hooks makes me think of Hum. Do these folks have a song as catchy and memorable as “Stars”? Well, I haven’t listened to their entire catalog as yet, but based on what I have heard, it wouldn’t surprise me. Show up and see if you can spot it for yourself during their set. Richmonders Cosmic Strain come to the stage with the most traditional shoegaze sound yet, bringing buried yet lovely vocals and overwhelming guitar riffs covered in tremolo and reverb. A real treat for the old-school heads who still want more bands to sound like My Bloody Valentine (fair, tbh). Openers Running will bring programmed beats, classic analog synth sounds, and Disco Inferno-style guitar leads (man, I’m just hitting all the obscure middle-aged person reference points tonight, aren’t I?) into a sound that is, at heart, classic indie pop in the vein of early 90s British bands like Heavenly or St. Christopher. It’s surprising to hear how much these folks do within these sonic limitations; their two-song demo is undeniably catchy as hell. In fact, you can expect to be tapping your toes in delight throughout this show. What more could anyone ask for?
Tuesday, February 11, 6 PM
The Potluck: Steve Bassett, Daniel Clarke, Stewart Myers, Dusty Ray Simmons, Willie Williams @ Reveler Experiences – $10 (order tickets HERE)
I can’t say I entirely know what to expect from this Tuesday night throwdown at Reveler. While The Potluck are organized enough to have a band name for their endeavors, they aren’t the sort of ensemble that go into performances with a whole lot of advance planning. That’s by design, of course — for veteran musicians like these, part of the fun is just getting together and finding out what you’ll do on the fly once you’re all onstage playing. They love to invite talented friends along to jam with them, and to hit the stage with no setlist planned, and just jump into whatever song the spirit moves them to play. So yeah, I can’t tell you exactly who you’ll see from song to song throughout The Potluck’s two-hour set Tuesday night at Reveler — I can only tell you that whatever you hear will be exciting and enjoyable.
The reason I feel so confident of all this is because of the considerable pedigree these five musicians bring to the table. Organ player Steve Bassett was a regular collaborator of the late, great Robbin Thompson; he and Robbin co-wrote and performed “Sweet Virginia Breeze” back in the late 70s. It’s the official Virginia state song these days — no big deal, right? Pianist Daniel Clarke’s worked with everyone from k.d. lang to The War On Drugs, and is music director for SPARC‘s Live Art program. Bassist Stewart Myers started out with legendary Richmond band Agents Of Good Roots and has since racked up quite a resume as a producer. Drummer Dusty Ray Simmons plays with a variety of local artists and bands including Cris Jacobs, Fear of Music, and Big Payback. Guitarist Willie Williams is involved with Great Southern Reunion, a band formed by former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts (who has since passed on), and has been known to play solo shows, and work with Steve Bassett. See? It all comes full circle. These are incredibly talented musicians who draw from a wide variety of influences and experiences. Their talent and creativity knows no bounds, and for that reason, there are no boundaries on what you could see from The Potluck on any given night. So hey — come see what these folks are about. You’ll be glad you did.
Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): rvamustseeshows@gmail.com
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