RVA Shows You Must See This Week: October 2 – October 8
FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, October 5, 7 PM
Ten Pound Snail, Girlspit, Sunflower’d, Hotspit @ The Broadberry – $10 (order tickets HERE)
One of the major local success stories of the 2020s has been Ten Pound Snail, a band that had barely gotten its start when the pandemic shut down live music for around a year and a half. Since everything got back into action about three years ago, this trio has been very busy, bringing us first their excellent debut album, Tabula Rasa, back in 2023, and now, only about a year and a half later, following it up with the even more audaciously brilliant Revolving Door, which came out just in time for me to be able to listen to it in full while putting this writeup together. Gotta love that.
It’s also out just in time for one humdinger of a record release celebration, which will occur this Saturday at The Broadberry. And while not everything about Revolving Door will be new to those who’ve been following Ten Pound Snail’s rise for a while (four of the album’s 14 songs were released as advance singles over the past year or so), it truly is a remarkable leap forward regardless of how much of it is new to you. Not content to rest on the musical territory they carved out in their first couple of years as a band, Ten Pound Snail have continued to push themselves into ever more epic feats of intriguing psychedelia, soaring into space on some of their newest songs in a manner that will please fans of Pink Floyd, Tame Impala, The Mars Volta, and everything in between.
This is the kind of music that, as amazing as it sounds through headphones in a darkened room, will sound a thousand times more incredible when you hear it being played live at top volume while you frolic amidst a crowd of your friends and fellow music fans. That’s exactly what you’ll be able to do at The Broadberry this Saturday night, where Ten Pound Snail celebrates the release of Revolving Door at the top of a formidable bill featuring some of the most excellent musical talent Richmond has to offer. The upbeat queer electro-punk of Girlspit will be a particular highlight, but so will the heavy alternative rock rhythms of Sunflower’d, and last but certainly not least, the emotionally driven slowcore haze of Hotspit. Indeed, this show will be an absolute triumph from beginning to end, and you’re definitely not going to want to miss a second of it.
Wednesday, October 2, 7 PM
Woman Crush Wednesday, feat. Apologizer, Griefcat, Skyler Foley @ The Camel – $7 in advance, $10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Just as Ten Pound Snail have been one of the most important bands to come out of Richmond since we got back to having live music in the world three years ago, Bri Bevan’s Woman Crush Wednesday monthly showcase at The Camel has been an important as a showcase of new talent in the local music scene — and, in particular, talent in the form of female and queer artists who are always going to have a bit more of an uphill climb to get attention than a typical band of straight white boys. The first time I hear about a lot of these female and queer artists is when they appear on a Woman Crush Wednesday bill, and a lot of them have gone on to do some great things in the wake of appearing on the WCW showcase. So it’s certainly always worth spending the first Wednesday of every month over at The Camel.
This time around, our headliners are probably already going to be familiar to you, either from their previous Woman Crush Wednesday appearances or from the members’ other projects. Apologizer brings together two members of Rikki Rakki with Pollen Bomb’s Per Ohlstrom and singer-songwriter Jenna Kole, who celebrates her birthday this fine Wednesday night and gives us all a gift with Apologizer’s headlining performance. While they’ve been around for a while, this band doesn’t really have any recordings out. However, with a musical pedigree like theirs, you don’t really need to hear them beforehand to know that you’re in for a treat. As for DC-area duo Griefcat, this crew has been compared to Tenacious D for mixing genuinely incredible pop-rock songwriting with goofy lyrical content. However, on their new album, Late Stage Capitalism, they demonstrate a political sensibility that takes their humor well beyond the absurdism you might expect from that comparison. Plus, if anything, the songs are even catchier and more memorable. Sorry Jack and Kyle (are you guys even talking to each other these days?). The lineup’s rounded out by Skyler Foley, who brings a fun, positive political sensibility on folk-pop tunes like “You’re Gonna Outlive Mitch McConnell” and “Workout? Yeah, I Sure Hope It Does.” As always, it’s a bill packed with talent, full of names you’ll be hearing more from in the future. Get in on the ground floor now — go to Woman Crush Wednesday tonight.
Thursday, October 3, 7 PM
Mopar Stars, K9, Blue Spring, Canaries @ Cobra Cabana – $10?
As a person who co-owns a 1980 Dodge Aspen and a 1985 Plymouth Fury (plus a 1994 Jeep Cherokee, which… sorta counts?), I’m definitely excited for any band with the word “Mopar” in the name, even before I hear a single note of their music. Thankfully, I wasn’t even close to let down when I actually checked out the sounds of Philadelphia’s Mopar Stars. On their new EP, Burning Questions, they bring a fuzzy punk guitar sound and some driving uptempo tunes, but then combine them with absolutely gorgeous vocal melodies and some super-catchy choruses to create something that’s damn near the platonic ideal of the power-pop genre. Whether you’re driving a five-year-old Dart or a 1971 Challenger (and if you do have one of those, can I borrow a hundred bucks?), this band will sound tremendous when you roll the windows down and blast them out of your car stereo while you’re speeding down a sunny back road somewhere.
And yeah, they’ll sound even better than that when they take the stage at Cobra Cabana this Thursday night. Their songs have the perfect ingredients for danceability, especially when they’re played at top volume. These guys are gonna win over anyone who loves Superdrag or the Doughboys, and really anyone who likes catchy tunes played on loud, crunchy guitars. Support will come from Richmond sextet K9, whose loose, jangly take on fast, catchy punk rock will get everyone on their feet and pogoing around the Cobra Cabana patio. Fellow locals Canaries will offer some strong support of their own, tapping into a similar power-pop vein as Mopar Stars, only with a subtle inclination toward shoegaze haziness — which is never a bad thing. As for the final band on this bill, Blue Spring, I know absolutely nothing… but it’s not like that matters. At worst, you can just chill and eat a Snake Plissken burger during their set. And that’s not a bad alternative at all.
Friday, October 4, 8 PM
Dysrhythmia, Dumb Waiter, Unit @ Cobra Cabana – $12 (order tickets HERE)
Instrumental metal trio Dysrhythmia have a long and storied history, and I for one have been following them for pretty much all of it. Their blazing, complex riffage is so intense and dynamic that sometimes you forget that these guys don’t have a singer — and when it does occur to you, you don’t miss the vocals. In that way, they’re comparable to Don Caballero, or legendary Richmond instrumental band Breadwinner — vocals would just clutter up the sound. It’s no surprise when you examine the pedigree of the members; guitarist Kevin Hufnagel has played with Canadian tech-death legends Gorguts and experimental metal powerhouse Vaura, while bassist Colin Marston is known for his tenure with Krallice and his wielding of the impressively bizarre Warr guitar with Behold The Arctopus — another fascinatingly complex instrumental trio.
Dysrhythmia have been around for over a quarter-century at this point, but their new album, Coffin Of Conviction, proves that they’ve come nowhere close to running out of ideas, and are sure to regale all comers to Cobra Cabana this Friday night with an overstuffed rolodex of alchemical riff majesty. This, of course, makes local instrumental quartet Dumb Waiter the perfect companion on this triple bill of real ultimate power. The inclusion of Tristan Brennis on saxophone adds an experimental jazz element to what Dumb Waiter does, but there’s still a ton of heavy metal mixed into their bebop, and the resulting concoction always hits your ears perfectly. Starting off the evening is Unit, a six-piece group that has come together out of the ashes of metallic hardcore band Buzzard Dust and taken the remnants of their previous group’s sound into a decidedly more experimental direction. Expect greatness from this show; I guarantee you won’t be left wanting.
Saturday, October 5, 2:30 PM
French Cassettes, Killer Whale @ The Camel – $14 in advance, $17 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Sometimes a band’s name gives the listener a pretty good idea of what they should expect from the band’s sound. Take French Cassettes, a San Francisco-based ensemble who are playing a Saturday afternoon matinee show at The Camel this weekend. You hear that name and you expect indie-pop, right? Maybe something like Belle And Sebastian, or Peter Bjorn And John? I’m not gonna lie — if these are the guesses you made, you were on the right track. The new album by French Cassettes is called Benzene, but it’s not a drug reference; indeed, the music of this group is too heartwarming and wholesome for an idea like that to hold up at all. The mellow yet emotion-laden sound of French Cassettes is understated, but it hits hard when you give it your attention, bringing a downright Brian Wilson-ish sensibility that’s sure to make a strong impression on you.
In the live environment, you can expect French Cassettes’ subtly powerful tunes to capture your heart and refuse to let go. Before you even fully realize it, you’ll be swaying along with a big smile on your face. After a long week of wage slavery, it’s sure to be a delightful release. New Orleans-based Killer Whale will be providing support on this bill, and their smooth electro-funk sound will offer a strong contrast to French Cassettes’ M.O. Mixing elements of Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs circa Silk Degrees with a bit of a Tom Petty-like mystique, all of which has been run through the mystic energy endemic to the NOLA region, results in a powerful mood that grips the listener and doesn’t let go. The combined powers of these two bands will light up your Saturday afternoon with musical fireworks. Don’t miss the show.
Sunday, October 6, 7 PM
Panopticon, Exulansis, Primeval Well, Dorthia Cottrell @ Cobra Cabana – $20 (order tickets HERE)
I’ve always enjoyed seeing the many different directions that truly devoted practitioners can take the black metal genre. Based around musical extremes — from raw harshness to lush folk beauty — this genre rewards musicians who want to explore the limits of their ideas, and take things farther than most bands ever go. All of the bands on this bill do exactly that (and thankfully without the extreme ideas that sometimes rear their ugly heads within the black metal world), and hearing them do so is sure to be a fascinating musical experience, one that will wrap up your weekend with an evening you won’t soon forget.
At the top of the bill is Panopticon, who are serious about their epic musical statements; on their latest album, The Rime Of Memory, almost all of the songs are between nine and 20 minutes in length. They move from quiet folk introductions and interludes to the harshest of black metal riffage, and then into neo-classical interludes, and somehow all of it makes perfect sense. If you have the attention span to come along on the musical journey Panopticon is taking, they’re a truly rewarding listen, and that’s bound to be twice as true when they’re playing live and loud right in front of you on the Cobra Cabana patio. Not to be outdone, their tourmates in Primeval Well find an entirely new spin on the black metal template by integrating harsh vocals and epic double-time blackened riffs with slide-guitar leads that betray strong influences from Southern rock and outlaw country. It might sound bizarre, but it’s actually one of the best things I’ve heard in a while; Primeval Well’s 2021 LP Talkin’ In Tongues With Mountain Spirits, is the kind of intensely original musical statement that we’d all love to encounter more often. Third in this trio of touring groups with a new spin on the black metal template is Exulansis, an acoustic project that integrates dark folk instrumental pallets with songwriting elements that clearly pull from crust-punk and black metal. It’s quiet, but it’s spooky — something you could say just as easily about Dorthia Cottrell, the local singer-songwriter who opens this powerful bill. Having titled her first LP Death Folk Country, she clearly knows what’s up, and will fit right in on this fascinatingly unorthodox lineup. Get stoked for this one.
Monday, October 7, 7 PM
Turn Cold, Ulamog, Disrotter, Infernal Gaze, Deathmask @ The Camel – $10 in advance, $12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
In recent years, the lines between heavy hardcore and outright death/thrash metal have been getting blurrier and blurrier. As someone who loves tons of music from both sides of that line, I’m certainly not complaining, but one thing that gets weird is being unable to tell exactly which side of the line new bands should fall onto. Take Turn Cold, for example — if you played their music to me and told me they had released their LPs in the late 80s, I’d guess that they were Exodus-style overtly tough East Coast thrash. Knowing that they’re a relatively new band, though, changes the way I hear them completely. With that in mind, I find myself more likely to classify their sound in a post-Power Trip metallic hardcore lane. Which, if you ask me, is just as good.
In the end, though, it doesn’t really matter. What matters about Turn Cold is that they’re heavy, intense, and have a ton of super-catchy riffs at their disposal. They’re sure to get everyone in the place going off once they hit the stage at The Camel Monday night. And the same can certainly be said of the quartet of bands from around the Virginia region who will be opening this show up. Ulamog, who are accompanying Turn Cold on this leg of their tour, have strong elements of Slayer and Overkill to their sound — and are every bit as great as that comparison will lead you to expect. Get ready to bang your head for these guys. As for Richmond’s Disrotter, they land in more of an early-90s-Florida vein of classic death metal — think Morbid Angel jamming with early Cannibal Corpse. It rips, is the point. Infernal Gaze have a harsher, tougher sound, and definitely seem like they want to get a really brutal mosh pit started during their set. Not that that should be a tough task to accomplish; they certainly bring the heavy mosh in outstanding fashion. Richmond newcomers Deathmask get things started with some blazing deathgrind brutality that’s sure to please all the diehard headbangers out there — but then, what bands on this bill could that NOT be said about? Answer: none. Limber up your neck muscles and come prepared for mosh pit carnage.
Tuesday, October 8, 7 PM
BEAT: Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Tony Levin, Danny Carey Play 80s’ King Crimson @ The Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Energy Center – $43-$128 (order tickets HERE)
King Crimson has an incredible history, one that encompasses six distinct eras that add up to over 50 years, total. In all that time, founding lead guitarist Robert Fripp was the only constant member. However, both longtime bassist Tony Levin was in almost every incarnation of the band from 1981 until their final dissolution in 2021, while vocalist/guitarist Adrian Belew led the band for their last six albums, beginning with 1981’s Discipline. It’s Discipline, along with 1982’s Beat and 1984’s Three Of A Perfect Pair, that the quartet known as BEAT will be performing during their epic evening at Dominion Energy Center this Tuesday. In place of Fripp and 80s King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, Belew and Levin have rounded out the BEAT lineup with two widely heralded and incredibly talented players: Danny Carey, best known for his feats of percussion wizardry as the drummer for Tool, and Steve Vai, a legendary lead guitar shredder who, in addition to a downright pyrotechnic solo career, has done time with everyone from Frank Zappa to Public Image Ltd to David Lee Roth.
And really, we could stop the writeup right there. Proper music nerds like myself are already over the moon and turning their furniture upside down to find every last cent they need so they can be at this show. But if you’re less familiar with the work of King Crimson’s 80s lineup than nerds like me are, you might need a little more convincing. Well, here’s what you need to know: on the three albums from which BEAT will be drawing material, the always-proggy King Crimson found a touch of pop sensibility, thanks to Belew, who had previously been playing lead guitar and synth for Talking Heads. With Belew at the helm, the material got catchier and a little more accessible, without losing its multilayered melodic structure or intricate guitar leads. Some will virulently disagree with me on this, but for my money, Discipline, Beat, and Three Of A Perfect Pair represent the peak of King Crimson’s career, and the best place to start with this band’s lengthy, highly varied oeuvre. If you’re a big King Crimson fan who disagrees, I’m not all that surprised (we all have our own favorite eras of the band), but you can’t deny that this is some of their best, most memorable material (even if you do like In The Court Of The Crimson King or Lark’s Tongues In Aspic better). Even if you’re totally unfamiliar with this era of King Crimson, there is no better environment — and no better lineup (that doesn’t include Robert Fripp) — to give you the best possible introduction to it. Take the plunge for this one — you won’t regret it.
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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