Weekend Picks: Screaming Females, Lucero, Ryan Bingham, Particle, Cobalt Cranes, Kepone, Brown Sabbath, Diamond Center

Despite the wintry weather on Thursday, it feels like spring is on the way as the concert calendar is starting to busier. The bands are coming back out after hibernation, Friday Cheers has been announcing their shows and it is getting easier to imagine watching bands in shorts and t-shirts under the stars.

Thursday gets underway with RVA's own, DJ Williams Projekt, at The Answer Brewpub. They'll be tapping brews from Maine Beer Co. starting at 4. The band starts at 8 and it's FREE to get in. Here's DJWP when they played with Karl Denson at The Broadberry.

At The Broadberry on Thursday, it's the return of one of the original jamtronica groups, Particle. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with opener Greenhouse Lounge. It's $15 to get in. I caught Particle at the Canal Club when they were in town about a year ago on their first show here in Richmond in a long time. They can still bring the funk and they were really good. Particle keyboardist and leader Steve Molitz played with Phil Lesh & Friends for a while and recently played a Phil & Friends show at Phil's Terrapin Crossroads concert venue in CA. Here they are at the Catskill Chill festival in 2013.



Friday, The Southern Belles are at The Camel for their usual First Friday show. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with openers The Get Right Band. It's $7 in advance, $10 at the door. After this show, the Belles head out on a tour that starts in my old stomping grounds of Allentown, PA, and will also take them to KY, CO, MT, and KS. Spread the word, boys, spread the word! Here's the show they did at The Camel on 1/2/15:



Country rock band Everwilde will be at Sine' Irish Pub Friday night. It was announced today that one of the founding members of the band, Shawn Drudge (drummer), and his cousin, Adam (guitar), left the band so you can see how the new guys are working out at their first show on Friday. The band will start at 9 and I believe it's FREE to get in. Here's Everwilde's "Trucker Man":

Friday night at Strange Matter, it's a psychedelic grunge fest with Cobalt Cranes (from Los Angeles), The Diamond Center (RVA) and Manzara. Kyle & Brandi of Diamond Center will be relocating to Austin TX soon so this will be the last time they play Strange Matter as an RVA band. I'm sure they'll be back to play in the future when they'll be just another Austin band (albeit a great one), but they'll always be an RVA band to us. Here's Cobalt Cranes latest music video, "Flowers on Your Grave":



You will get another chance to see The Diamond Center on Saturday when they play at Hardywood Craft Brewery for the Black Vinyl Stout release to celebrate Plan 9 vinyl passion over the decades. Beers at tapped at 2. From 2 - 4:30 you can bring your favorite, weirdest, or rarest vinyl for special guest DJs from WRIR to spin. Bring your story about the record and tell it and you may win a gift certificate. At 4:45, Hotel X (world music/jazz) will perform. The Diamond Center will be on from 5:50 to 6:35. White Laces (dreamy, atmospheric indie-pop from Richmond) will be on from 6:35 - 7:40. Legendary Richmond punk rockers, Kepone, will close the show from 8 - 8:50. Here's Kepone at last year's GWAR-B-Q:



Indie rockers Screaming Females will be at Strange Matter Sunday. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show. Doors open at 8 and openers include Downtown Boys, Fat Spirit, and Cherry Pits. Screaming Females have a new album out called "Rose Mountain" and here's the first single, "Hopeless":

Tuesday night, Richmond's greatest Black Sabbath tribute band, Brown Sabbath, will be at The Broadberry. Doors open at 8, it's only $5 to get in. Channel 43 and Deep Vinyl Groove open. Here's some footage of Brown Sabbath from a few years ago at The Republic (language NSFW):

Wednesday night at The National, alt-country-rock acts Ryan Bingham & Lucero will perform. Tix are $20 in advance, $23 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 7:30 with Twin Forks. A lot of the shows on this tour have been selling out so get your tickets now. You'll dig these guys is you like Johnny Cash, Drive-By Truckers, The Replacements, Neil Young, The Blasters, or Springsteen. Here's Lucero's brand new video, "Women & Work":



That's it for this week. Next weekend gets even crazier with a whole bunch of St. Patty's Day festivals. We'll leave you with some classic Neil Young and Crazy Horse from 1991 when Neil earned his nickname, The Godfather of Grunge. Have a great weekend! I may see you at Hardywood on Saturday and Brown Sabbath on Tuesday.



Tony Jordan

Weekend Picks: Bleachers, Walk the Moon, Carbon Leaf, Bio Ritmo, DJ Williams Projekt, Skydog, Brown Sabbath, Everwilde

Country-rock band Everwilde did a fine job opening for Delta Saints at The National last week and they'll be at one of their regular spots, Uptown Alley, Friday night. The band gets underway at 8:30 and goes until 11:30 and it's $5 to get in. They'll also be raffling off a holiday prize pack of a signed guitar, t-shirt and CD. Also, if you bring a new, unwrapped toy for the charity Mason's Toy Box, you'll get a $5 game card. Here's Everwilde doing "This Time":



Saturday, Hardywood  busts out their new Christmas Morning brew which is their Gingerbread Stout conditioned on locally roasted Brazilian and Sumatran coffee beans. The beer gets tapped at 2 PM, music starts at 4 PM with square dancing with the Cary Street Ramblers. At 6:30, Loversville brings the classic country. And at 8:00, Andy Vaughan and The Driveline end the night with their Country Honky Tonk Americana Rock. Here's Andy Vaughan and The Driveline with "Sam's Place":



Local boys done good, Carbon Leaf, do their now annual Holiday time homecoming show at The National. Tix are $16 in advance, $20 at the door. Doors open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8:30 with opener Chamomille & Whiskey. The band may still be looking for a few Forest Rangers. Here's the ad:

Looking for a few Tree Committee volunteers to help set up and tear down the Christmas pines at our annual holiday show at The National this Saturday, Dec. 13th in Richmond, VA. Helpers get a ticket to the show! Please indicate if you can work between 2-5pm for set up and/or 11pm-12am for tear down. Email Jay or Holly at info@carbonleaf.com

Here they are doing a song from the great Muppet Christmas special, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas:


Ever wonder what would have happened if Black Sabbath had opened for the Allman Brothers Band? If you did, then you should go see the Skydog (Allman Brothers tribute band)/Brown Sabbath (Black Sabbath tribute band) show at The Broadberry on Saturday night. It's $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with Brown Sabbath. We'll join Skydog here in the middle of "Jessica":



Salsa sensation Bio Ritmo is at The Camel on Saturday night. Doors open at 8 and the show will start shortly thereafter. It's $7 to get in. The NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert Bio Ritmo did a couple months ago is already up to over 21,000 views. Congratulation, Bio Ritmo!



Tuesday night at Broadberry it's ladies night with DJ Williams Projekt. The doors open at 8, show starts at 9 and it's $7 to get in, but ladies get in for free before 11 PM. Here they are at the Little Gem Saloon in New Orleans in May with Scott Frock sitting in on trumpet:

Wednesday at The National it's night #1 of XL102's Miracle on Broad St with Bleachers, Walk the Moon and Prinze George. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30, tix are $25 in advance, $28 day of show. Here's Bleachers at the Made In America fest Labor Day weekend in Philly:



And here's Walk the Moon with their latest single "Shut Up and Dance":

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Umphrey's McGee, The xx, Tegan & Sara, Cat Power, Brown Sabbath

The weather may be getting colder, but the concert scene is heating up! OK, that's pretty cheesy, but it's true. The national acts are finally hitting the road again and stopping in Richmond.

Things start with indie folk pop duo, and twin sisters, Tegan and Sara at The National on Friday night. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. There is no opening act so get there on time. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Their new album "Hearthrob" comes out on January 28, but you can hear it tomorrow when it streams on the Rolling Stone site starting at 9 AM. I'm sure you'll hear a number of new songs from that album at the show. Here's the first single from the album, "Closer":



Over at the Camel on Friday night, local jam band Former Champions will play with Arpetrio opening. Doors open at 9, show starts at 10 and it's $7 to get in. You can download a free live album from Former Champions HERE. Here's a little sampler and their tour dates this month which shows they are branching out from the nest:



Friday night at Cary St. Cafe, King Solomon's Marbles will play some good ol' Grateful Dead. Show will start at 10 PM and it's $7 to get in. You can listen to their show at Cary St. Cafe on 12/28 on the Internet Archive HERE.

Saturday night, prog rock/jam band Umphrey's McGee will be at The National. Tix are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener The Mantras. If you're going to this one, let me know because I'll be there too. They just posted on Facebook that they anticipate this show will sell out in advance so get your tickets ASAP. This is their 15th anniversary tour. They burst on the scene at some of the early Bonnaroos after forming at Notre Dame and have carved themselves out a nice niche in the jam band world. Here they are doing the rocking "1348" at the Tabernacle in Atlanta GA on 12/29:



If you are more in a headbanging mood on Saturday night, head down to Republic to see Black Sabbath tribute band, Brown Sabbath. The show starts at 10:30 with opener Pike Possum and it's FREE to get in!

Monday night, Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) will be at The National. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener "a special guest". Cat is up for a Brit Award for Best International Female. Her music has been compared to Liz Phair, Sonic Youth, Elliott Smith, PJ Harvey, Beth Orton, Feist, Throwing Muses, Aimee Mann, Ani DiFranco, and Fiona Apple. Here is one from her latest album, "Sun". It's called "Cherokee". I'm not sure what the video means but I think it's telling us that it's good to have Native American friends when alien zombies attack.



Tuesday night, English indie pop group, the xx, will come to The National. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Austra opening. The xx have a similar sound to Hot Chip, Peter Bjorn and John, and Portishead and cite bands like The Cure, Belle & Sebastian, Interpol, the Pixies and Romeo Void as influences. Here they perform "Sunset" live on Seattle's KEXP:


#6 on the Paste Magazine 25 Best Music Videos of 2012 is the Arctic Monkeys' "R U Mine?". Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols (now on radio) does the intro. He gives it a thumbs up. Lone Ranger chicks are hot.



Have a great weekend! See you at the Umphrey's McGee show.

Tony Jordan

Brown Sabbath, El Presidente, Papadosio, Keller Williams, The Machine, People's Blues of Richmond

Hope you got all the stuff you wanted for Christmas. Now onto the New Year with a few shows to take you there.

Thursday night, it's the hard rockin' blues of People's Blues of Richmond at The Camel. It's $5 to get in, show starts at 10 with openers, The District. This will be drummer Raphael Katchinoff's last show with PBR after 4 years. Nekoro Williams will be taking his place starting in 2013. PBR has over an hour of new material and they'll soon be releasing an EP and an album. So head to the show and say farewell to Raphael and check out some new tunes from the band. Here they are doing Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues" at the Jewish Mother in Norfolk in September:



Lots going on Friday night, including blues rock at The Canal Club with Skip Castro Band and The Nighthawks. Doors open at 7, tix are $20 in advance, $23 at the door. Here's Skip Castro Band in another one from the Jewish Mother in July of this year:



Over at Strange Matter on Friday night it's a triple bill with Black Sabbath cover band, Brown Sabbath (midnight) , El Presidente (11 PM) and Iggy Plop and the Spooges (Iggy & The Stooges cover band, 10 PM). Doors open at 9 and it's $5 to get in. It's bassist E.T.'s birthday and he'll be playing with both Brown Sabbath and El Presidente so be sure to wish him a happy one and buy him some libations.

Grateful Dead cover band, King Solomon's Marbles, will be at Cary St. Cafe on Friday night. Show starts at 10 and it's $7 to get in. If you'd like to hear and/or download KSM's full show from 12/4/12, go HERE.

Saturday night at The National, smoke 'em if you got 'em for The Machine: Pink Floyd Experience. They'll be doing two sets and doors open at 7 with the show starting around 8. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 at the door for General Admission and $20 in advance, $23 day of show for Reserved. You can head to The National's Facebook page and get your request in for the all request 1st set. Here they are performing "Welcome to the Machine" in Amsterdam in 2008:



Sunday night at The National, local boy Keller Williams returns to play two sets, one solo and one with More Than a Little. That 1 Guy will open the show. Tix are $18 in advance, $21 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. More Than a Little is Keller's new six piece funk band.

New Year's Eve at The National, jamtronica band Papadosio will help you trip into 2013. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with openers Dopapod and Futexture. Here's Papadosio doing  "All I Knew" with Mike Rempel from Lotus:

Over at Cary St. Cafe on New Year's Eve, it's funk band Modern Groove Syndicate. Show starts at 9:30, cover is $10 and that includes champagne toast at midnight and party favors.

Here's Paste Magazine's second best video from 2012, the lovably quirky tUnE-YaRdS with "My Country":


Have a Happy New Year and I'll see ya in 2013!

Tony Jordan

Drive-By Truckers, A Place to Bury Strangers, Hospitality, Man Overboard, STS9

Looks like a pretty good weekend for music beginning with two shows from my beloved Drive-By Truckers at The National on Friday and Saturday night. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 both nights with J Roddy Walston and the Business opening. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. I've waxed poetic about DBT a million times now. All I can say is that if you are ready for a kick-ass rock n' roll show, get yourself to The National this weekend. I'll be there for the Saturday night blowout. (BTW, if you like the artwork above, that's done by Richmonder Wes Freed, who does all of the artwork for DBT going back for over a decade.) Here's DBT doing their fantastic song about growing up loving rock music, "Let There Be Rock" (some language NSFW). Three guitar rock n' roll glory at it's best.:



If you are home this weekend, check out the Voodoo Experience music festival webcast HERE. There is no schedule posted for the webcast but bands playing the festival include Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Metallica, Jack White, Skrillex, The Avett Brothers, Justice, Bootsy Collins, Gary Clark Jr., George Porter, Die Antwoord, Thomas Dolby, Anders Osborne, Toots & the Maytals, Dave Stewart, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Treme Brass Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Coheed & Cambria, Marcia Ball, and more. The fest starts at noon Eastern time Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, if you want a spooky good time, check out the Carytown Zombie Walk. No music but lots of the undead wandering through Carytown starting at 2 PM. They'll mosey from the Kroger down to the Byrd Theater and back.

People's Blues of Richmond will be at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery as part of Hardywood's First Anniversary party on Saturday. The festivities start at 2 PM and will go until 9 PM. PBR will play from 6 PM until the end. The Threeo play from 2 PM - 3:30 PM and River City Band play from 3:45 - 5:45. Here's PBR doing "Leaves Die" (some language NSFW. It's just a NSFW video kind of night.):



Noise pop band A Place to Bury Strangers will be at Strange Matter on Saturday night along with like-minded bands Bleeding Rainbow and Canary Oh Canary. Doors open at 9, show starts at 10. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. APTBS just got back from touring Russia so be sure to ask them about that. Here's their song "You Are the One":



If you are in the mood for some Halloween holiday music, check out Black Sabbath cover band, Brown Sabbath, at Republic on Saturday night. No info on the Republic site or Brown Sabbath's Facebook page about when this will start, but figure around 10 and figure a few dollars cover charge, at most. Here's the band playing "Wicked World" at The National a few years back:



Indie-pop band Hospitality will be at Strange Matter Sunday. Doors open at 6 for this all ages show and the music starts at 7 with openers Herro Sugar, The Garbers and Teen. Check out the article in Style Weekly HERE for a little more info on Hospitality and their charming pop music. Here's a little ditty from Hospitality called "Friends of Friends". The video stars Alia Shwkat of the once and future show, "Arrested Development":



Tuesday night, jam band STS9 will be The National. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Kap10 Harris. Conscious Alliance is hosting a food drive at the show and it you bring 20 cans of food to donate, you'll get a free poster and do some good. Here's STS9 doing "Vapors":



Emo-pop band from NJ, Man Overboard, will be at Kingdom on Tuesday night. Doors will open at 5:30 and there are sure to be some openers but right now they are TBA. Tix are only $10. Here they are doing "Love Your Friends, Die Laughing":



Have a great weekend! See you at the Drive-By Truckers show on Saturday night!

Tony Jordan