Against Grace has a big year ahead of them. The group is now down to three members, a new musical direction and a brand new single entitled “This Is Your Story.” The group was supposed to premiere the single with a show at the Hat Factory two weeks ago, but that had to be rescheduled.
Tonight, the band will be joined by former guitarist Tyler Bland at Wabi Sabi and on Monday, Dec. 31, head to the Hat Factory for a New Year’s Eve party where you can watch the new video premiere on the jumbo screen and party with the band into 2013.
Pop rockers Against Grace have some new music recorded and will be releasing their new tune, “This Is Your Story” and its music video with a show at the hat Factory on Saturday, Dec. 15. The band will debut three songs off of the new record, which should be reading in early 2013, and will debut the music video for “This Is Your Story” on the big screen.
In the meantime, here’s an acoustic version of the new tune.
Country newcomer David Nail will be performing at Hat Factory Epic Theatre tonight. Is it just me or does he look like the dude who played Iceman in the X-Men movie?
Some background info
For David Nail, life has become a whirlwind of back-to-back achievements. He recently achieved his first No. 1 single for “Let It Rain,” a record that took the longest climb to the top spot in Billboard history, and Nail is in the final voting process for five American Country Music nominations. “Let It Rain” spent 48 weeks on the chart before topping out at No. 1, giving it plenty of time to circulate among a nation of fans.
NYC singer/songwriter/pianist Jennings has toured with the likes Ryan Cabrera and Geoffrey Gaines and she’s got one amazing voice. Her latest album, “Collapse Collide” shows how confident and comfortable she is as a performer. I’m loving her track “Surrender” (watch the video below, it’s pretty awesome). I see a bright and promising future for her.
Jennings plays at Current at the Hat Factory on Saturday, June 2.
Friday night, you need to go to Strange Matter and check out the amazing Marionette, Ocean vs. Daughter and Canary Oh Canary. Seriously, you just need to. Marionette is one of the best Richmond bands around and OvsD provides plenty of dreamy folk pop.
On Saturday, March 17, head down to Shockoe Bottom for Shamrock the Block. The all day drunk fest outdoor festival will feature music all day from great local acts Downbeat Switch, Rosie Soul, Against Grace, 4Play and headliner Sleeper Agent, which sounds like a fun get up and dance type band.
Sleeper Agent – Get Burned
The Shamrock the Block Afterparty heads to Hat Factory (excuse me, Epic Theatre) for a performance by country singer Chris Cagle. He had a bunch of hits in the early 2000s and I admit to getting into his “Chicks Dig It” song. Then, he disappeared for a while, got in domestic disputes with his girlfriend and is now apparently working on a new album.
Chris Cagle – Got My Country On
And of course, don’t forget over at the Richmond Coliseum…
Elton John – I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues
In random news today, the Hat Factory will be changing its name to Epic Theatre. According to HF’s Facebook page, the change of name is to “reflect the dynamic changes that have taken place over the last few months.”
As I’ve vented about before, I’ve given up all hope on this venue actually hosting good live music. The only things they have scheduled is some punk band in February, Lucero in April (this actually looks good), a Cornhole Tournament and a bunch of dance party nights. It seems Hat Factory (excuse, me “Epic”) is more in favor of making it a club (as evidenced by this interior designer’s work).
If this is the direction they want to go in, that’s fine. It just seems like they’re making it like every other club in that area.
Ever since Toad’s Place closed and Hat Factory opened in its place, I’ve had trouble pinning down how I feel about this venue. It’s like they can’t decide whether they should be a live music venue or a club. Being one or the other (or even both) is perfectly fine, but you could never tell who they were trying to target. Was it the 18+ college crowd? The West Enders? The spillover from Current and Off the Hookah? Every time I was ever there, the crowd was always a weird mix.
It always seemed like shows were hastily put together or canceled without notice, making it very hard to figure out when things were happening. Case in point, there is a free show on Friday Nov. 4 featuring synthpop band Gentlemen Hall, post punk/indie band Dead Fame and a new RVA art/party band called Whoa! – nowhere to be found on Hat Factory’s website schedule, just on a Facebook invite.
Last week, Hat Factory announced on its Facebook page that the venue is now under new management and things will be changing. Roundup country night will be a monthly event instead of weekly, Friday nights will focus on live music and Wednesday will be college dance night. They are apparently looking into booking live shows but as of now, nothing has been set, however Hatebreed and All That Remains, two of the few shows planned have both been moved to Kingdom.
I really hope that Hat Factory gets its game together. Right now, it seems to be wasting so much of its potential. Bring the venue back to the standing it should be. Huge acts like Guster, Rooney, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Wu-Tang Clan and Hanson have all graced Hat Factory’s stage and Richmond wants to see that kind of caliber again. RVAlution and Brain Drain seem to be pulling in the crowds and that’s great. Keep that going too. No reason we can’t have both.
But above all else, I just hope they can keep up a simple schedule of their shows. I hate missing a good show because of bad publicity.
I’m sure by now, you’ve been bombarded by information on this weekend’s big music festival – the RVA Music Fest. It’s safe to say that Shockoe Bottom is going to be insanely crowded and lots of good music will be heard.
The festival has been in the works for quite some time and if successful, could lead to an annual event of showing off some of the best music Richmond has to offer.
Just look at everything included in the two-day festival.
RVA Music Fest Showcases – Saturday, Sept. 10
Audra the Rapper, Nickelus F, Noah O, Artik Phreeze, Swordplay, Cain McCoy, Just Plain Ant, Ohbliv – The Camel
Club Luv featuring DJ EPOC – New York Deli
Dead Fame, Canary Oh Canary, League of Space Pirates – Balliceaux
Heavy Grinder, Nint3ndo, Ameera – Hat Factory
Long Arms, Loren Ipsum, No Dice -The Republic
Long Jawns – Bellytimber
Miniature Tigers, Baby Help Me Forget, Fire Bison, Marionette – Strange Matter
Downbeat Switch, The Kindling Kind, Mulle – Cafe Diem
The Main Event – Sunday, Sept. 11
Stage 1 – Girl Talk, Best Coast, the Trillions, the Diamond Center, White Laces, the Silent Age, Climbers
Stage 2 – No BS Brass Band, Goldrush, Black Girls, Antero, Luggage, Proverbial
DJ Tent – Doddie, Long Jawns and Bobby LaBeat of Audio Ammo; Mr. Jennings and Akasha of PLF; Shugadadde, JMungz and Rometti of Euphoria; M.A.S.S. FX and Skywalk3r of NLP; Jesse Split and Joanna O of Turnstyle
The After Party – Sunday, Sept. 11
The Men, Flechette, Caves Caverns – Strange Matter
Now, as awesome as this event is, all the acts playing are seriously focused on one particular scene. It’s completely catering to the indie rock and underground crowds – which is the typical crowd who reads RVA Magazine (the event’s sponsor). Don’t get me wrong, all the local bands participating are incredible and there is some amazing talent taking the stage, but Richmond’s folk, jazz and pop rock scenes are completely ignored. I wouldn’t get so worked up if the festival wasn’t touted as “The music festival of Richmond” and “showing off the best of local music” because it’s not. It’s only one small part of an even more amazing bigger scene.
And I’m surprised that Richmond’s two biggest music venues – The National and the Canal Club – are not included in the showcase evening (maybe because they are not advertisers in RVA Magazine, but I could be wrong on this). While they’re not on the official RVA Music Fest bill, The National and Canal Club are also hosting local acts the same evening.
The Canary Promise, East Coast Secondaries, Empire, Gandhi’s Gunmen, Others May Fall, The Weakest – The National
Seraph, Beyond The Victory, This Mountain is Man, Artifice, Silence is a Burden – The Canal Club
Hopefully if this festival becomes a yearly event, groups in other genres can be included in the lineup which would create a more diverse selection of artists and by doing so, bring in a lot more people.
In any case, the RVA Music Fest will be the place to be this weekend. Go and enjoy live local music.
By the way, in case you didn’t know, legendary country icon Leon Russell is performing tomorrow night (March 1) right here in Richmond (he’ll be at the Hat Factory). Why did you not know this? Simple. The Hat Factory cannot promote any of their shows worth a damn. This is unfortunate because every once in a while (when they’re not have a Top 40 dance night or a country night with mechanical bulls), they will actually have a decent show come and no one will even know about it.
I’d love for the Hat Factory to be on par with the National. Its predecessor Toad’s Place was always good about getting well known acts to compete for attention. Ever since it reopened as the Hat Factory, it’s been struggling to find its place. Hopefully, they figure it out soon and we’ll get some good acts playing there again.
Anyway, Leon Russell is performing March 1. Listen below.
Pop rockers 
Country newcomer 
NYC singer/songwriter/pianist 
Friday night, you need to go to Strange Matter and check out the amazing 
On Saturday, March 17, head down to Shockoe Bottom for 
The Shamrock the Block Afterparty heads to Hat Factory (excuse me, Epic Theatre) for a performance by country singer 
In random news today, the Hat Factory will be changing its name to 
Ever since Toad’s Place closed and Hat Factory opened in its place, I’ve had trouble pinning down how I feel about this venue. It’s like they can’t decide whether they should be a live music venue or a club. Being one or the other (or even both) is perfectly fine, but you could never tell who they were trying to target. Was it the 18+ college crowd? The West Enders? The spillover from Current and Off the Hookah? Every time I was ever there, the crowd was always a weird mix.
I’m sure by now, you’ve been bombarded by information on this weekend’s big music festival – the 
On Saturday, March 5, RVA Fashion Week gets underway with a launch party at the Hat Factory featuring 
By the way, in case you didn’t know, legendary country icon 
