Down with the RVA.

It turns out I love just about all of the bands that I've heard who come from Richmond, VA. I don't know what it is, but it seems that regardless of genre, that city just shits out amazing bands. I mean, sure, Lamb Of God aren't for everyone, but they play some tight metal music. Avail and Strike Anywhere are staples of most punk/hardcore collections. Cloak/Dagger and City Of Caterpillar are also seminal artists of their respective genres.

General name dropping done, now for my personal favorite stuff. I fucking love Wow, Owls! They put so much rock into the world with one album (Pick Your Patterns) and a farewell EP (Pee Sout), that honestly, it might be a good thing they broke up because otherwise they might have rocked the whole world to pieces . And that's definitely not a good thing... But it would've felt amazing at the time. I imagine the same could be said for contracting syphilis, but that's neither here nor there. There is a hint of their world destroying power in the crescendo during the bridge of "1989: The Best Four Years Of My Life"... Which appears on both releases, except on Pee Sout, it's called "More Explosive Than A Jerry Bruckheimer Joint" which is a truth.

After Wow, Owls! broke up, members went on to form Mouthbreather, who continue the tradition of rock/post-hardcore with witty song titles (my personal favorite being: "When A Chemist Dies, Barium.") with their debut album Thank You For Your Patience. With both bands, you can tell from the music that they're having a great time making music to have a great time to.

Storytime: This summer while I was taking the train from Seattle to Boston, I met a rad girl from Richmond who knows the guys in these bands, and was immediately jealous of her life.  She also told me about a festival that happens over the summer there called Best Friend's Day.  They have shows in a bowling alley, scavenger hunts and amazing things like that!  This year, Oderus Urungus from GWAR performed a BMX jump over the World's Largest Plate of Nachos!  What's not to love here?

And now back to the music!  Changing gears genre-wise, Tim Barry used to sing for Avail, but his solo stuff is folk music in the classic story-telling tradition. I saw him play a few years ago, and he is incredibly engaging with both his songs and his banter. Most of his music would sound great with just vocals and acoustic guitar, but he often fills out that acoustic palette with violin (played by his sister) and piano (played by his brother). Live, he also toured with a drummer, if I remember correctly. He has two full lengths out under his own name now, Rivanna Junction (2006) and Manchester (2008) and a third is being released in January called 28th & Stonewall.

My most recent infatuation from the RVA is called The Riot Before. They play punk rock with a Bob Dylan influence, both musical and aesthetic. Fists Buried In Pockets was one of the best albums I didn't hear in 2008. It not only has great songs, but the album as a whole flows together cohesively like I haven't heard in a album since... I'm going to say Mutiny! by Set Your Goals, because Colors by Between The Buried And Me is pretty much just one long song with track markers arbitrarily thrown in. On several songs in Fists, the coda at the end of one song will build into the intro of the following song like between balladic "Fists Buried In Pockets" and anthemic "Threat Level Midnight". And the bridge in the final song, "Capillaries" is a thematic return from earlier on in the album. Plus, anyone who can sing the line, "I was a mustard seed..." with conviction has my complete and utter respect.

BONUS!! Earlier this year, The Riot Before released an EP that acousticizes songs off of Fists Buried In Pockets and they called it, get this, Fists... Out Of Sockets!! Zing! And they're putting it out FOR FREE on the internet. Ah? AH? Sold yet? I know I am. I love me some acoustic versions of songs, and these ones are done very well. Not only are the songs mellowed out, but strings and horns were added to really get you in the heart.

So, yeah, in conclusion, Richmond, VA rules.

...Oh, by the way, Richmond is where GWAR landed on Earth. 'Nuff said.