Tonight in RVA: The Wailers, Rusted Root, PAWS; Late Night Pick: Veruca Salt

The Innsbrook season starts tonight (OK, maybe it started earlier, but not with anyone interesting) with The Wailers and Rusted Root. This may be the best show at Innsbrook this year as they trot out their usual calendar of mostly pop country acts that all sound alike and bands that haven't done anything interesting in 20 - 40 years. How did this concert series get voted the Best in Richmond in the latest Style? For tonight's show, gates open at 5 PM and Rusted Root will take the stage at 6:20. Saw Rusted Root on Brown's Island a few years ago and they put on real good show and they are still out there making new music and not resting on their laurels. Saw the Wailers a few years ago and they were good too, with the singer finding his own groove and not trying to be a Bob Marley imitator. Both bands will make you dance and you gotta like that. Tickets are $15 for GA lawn. Gold Circle ranges from $24 to $79(!) depending if you want Reserved, Preferred or Platinum. (This Gold Circle crap is another reason I'm not a fan of Innsbrook.) Here's Rusted Root doing "Monkey Pants":



Over at Strange Matter, it's an all ages early show with doors opening at 5 PM, show starting at 6 and they'll be done by 9 (cover $8) for garage punk band PAWS, Postitive No and Herro Sugar. Here's the press blurb for PAWS:

The band formed in the ashes of a briefly (but passionately) lived “Violent Femme-esque”, Glasgow based band called “A Copenhagen Hope”. After the departure of one of it’s founding members (Nick Anderson) the remaining three friends (Phillip Taylor, Josh Swinney and Matthew Scott) formed PAWS.

After their first show in 2010 opening for Dum Dum Girls in Glasgow on a sold out bill, the band began to establish a strong presence in Glasgow and the surrounding areas by playing almost weekly at times. The trio self recorded and released the majority of their early writings on a small bedroom run cassette tape label that Phillip had started called Cath Records. As well as those releases, the band released their debut 7” vinyl in 2011 on Edinburgh Based indie label Gerry Loves Records. In the beggining of 2012 PAWS signed with Brighton/Brooklyn based FatCat Records. Their first release for the label was their “Misled Youth EP” in May of that year. In October their debut full length album “Cokefloat!” was released. The LP was recorded by ex Test Icicle, Rory Attwell on the boat/studio “Lightship95” docked in London’s Trinity Buoy Wharf.

A relentless touring schedule throughout their first three years has seen PAWS tour the UK, Europe, USA and gather a strong and loyal fan base wherever they go. The band have toured with Japandroids, Bleached, We Are Scientists, The Cribs and have also previously been invited to open shows for The Breeders, Fucked Up, Mates Of State, No Age, Wavves, Ty Segall and many others. Spin Magazine placed the band in at number four on their “Top 50 Best Acts at SXSW Festival 2013”

In spring 2013 Matthew departed from the band to pursue other interests and Ryan Drever (No Island/Garden Of Elks) was added to complete the PAWS puzzle.

2014 will see the release of their sophomore album for FatCat Records which will be recorded in New York.

Here's a short performance PAWS did on KEXP last November:


A band that PAWS probably like, classic 90's grunge band, Veruca Salt, will be on Conan tonight on TBS at 11 PM. The original members of VS are back together and they release a couple new tunes on a Record Store Day EP last month. They start a tour in June that brings them to Black Cat in DC on 7/21. This was their biggest hit, from 1994, this is "Seether":