Another Round Bar and Grill – Richmond, VA

Looking for Free Metal on a Friday night? Looking for some trivia or comedy? Do you like good food and better drinks? Another Round has a bit of everything. For those of you in the central Virginia area and any region close by, this is a great place to catch some live entertainment and get a better-than-decent meal. They have pool tables, a jukebox, and a decent-sized venue for smaller shows. Check out their social media platforms for what is coming up. They have plenty to offer and a good enough variety to keep everyone happy!

The Plan

Band Members:

  • Chris – Guitars
  • David – Drums
  • Chloe – Bass
  • Sean – Vocals (unfortunately absent)

Setlist:

  1. Blood Trails
  2. Silver Bullet
  3. 34
  4. Perfidy
  5. Rejects Land
  6. The Rain

The Plan did not have a good night as far as personnel goes, but that did not stop them from showcasing just how good they are at facing a tough situation without getting rattled. Their vocalist could not make the show and their new bass player is so fresh she does not know all the songs. The old bass player is shifting to drums and even Dad had to step in for a few songs.

What ended up happening is The Plan performed more like a jam band, and jam they did. For the first few songs, it was just Chris on guitar and David on drums. They shredded their way through the songs, grabbing everyone’s attention. Oh, did I forget to mention that they are 14 and 17 years old? Yeah, these are two guys who can’t vote handling themselves with as much, if not more, professionalism than some national touring acts.

Dad jumped on drums for a couple of songs while David went back to bass, and then Chloe joined them onstage for the last song, a track written to bring awareness to mental health struggles. Chole did a solid job on that one song which David goes back to drums. Rough night, a great show despite that. Was it the best show I’ve ever seen? No. Was it worth watching these up-and-coming musicians make the best of a tough situation? Damn right, it was.

Finally, mental health has been a major topic these past few years. Remember, check in on those you love. They may need you more than you think. Check in on yourself, you may need to take time for yourself. Above all else, ask for help if you need it. The new number for help is 988, I repeat, 988. Use it if you need to. You do matter and we need you here.

Graveside At Midnight

Band Members:

  • Nate Nelson – Vocals
  • Matt Wainscott – Guitars
  • Clint Smith – Bass
  • Kirk Ferguson – Keys
  • Jon Hunt – Drums

Setlist:

  1. Destiny Painted Gray
  2. Dare Not Stray From The Road
  3. Soil And Nails
  4. Head Like A Hole/Something I Can Never Have (Nine Inch Nails cover)
  5. Pulsa diNura
  6. Psycho Killer (Talking Heads cover)
  7. The End Is Nigh
  8. Yours, Darkly, Forever
  9. Blacklight Astrology

Graveside At Midnight is one of those bands that stands out in the crowd because they have chosen a different path than most. Going for a more Norwegian Black Metal vibe and fusing that with Doom/Sludge/Cinematic Metal and adding a flair for the dramatic to the stage show, they create an aesthetic visually and sonically.

The vocals are primarily harsh, but there are some cleans brought in to add texture. Nate doesn’t just sing; he performs the songs. Upon first listen, you may think the dominant instrument is the keyboards, but if you listen carefully, Matt and Kirk are quite the formidable team. Clint is the new guy on bass, but you wouldn’t know that from listening, just from talking with the band. He held his own and is working to get up to speed with the setlist. After watching, I have no doubt he can handle this task. Jon has skills on the drums. Massive, switching patterns on a dime skills. Dayum!

There is more to a Graveside show than just five guys playing on stage. The visual aspect is equally important, which always gives me a thrill. The energy and drive they bring to the stage immediately hooks you. Take Hannah, for instance. She has seen them four times, about half the total number of performances they’ve put on. Hannah is new to metal and not the most widely versed in all the weird sub-genres, but she found a band she likes. Why? After speaking with her, it turns out she caught Graveside for the first time the same night she attended the funeral of a former boyfriend. There is a huge emotional connection to music and Hannah found hers on a day she likely needed to make a new connection. Coincidence? Maybe. Either way, her story is now intertwined with that of the band. I actually think the band may be as big a fan of Hannah as she is of them.

Music, and our love of it, is so much more complex than band/fan; We get tied into the songs emotionally and sometimes a band comes along at just the right time. This is the point where you hold up the sign that says “Your music saved my life.” That is a thing and no one can convince me otherwise.

Dinosaurs In Paris

Band Members:

  • Louie DeJoie – Vocals
  • Will Brandt – Guitars
  • Kyle Guyer – Guitars
  • Jessie Mellott – Bass
  • Cory Hahn – Drums

Setlist:

  1. Hysteria
  2. You Know Who You Aren’t
  3. New Spark
  4. Tasteful Denial
  5. Tilted
  6. Oh, It’s You
  7. Pick A Lane
  8. Surface

Dinosaurs In Paris describe themselves as Easycore. I can see that, but for those who do not know what Easycore contains, there is Pop, Punk, Hardcore, Thrash, Alternative, and more. The vocals range from clean to harsh, the instruments do everything from gentle melodies to massive breakdowns. This is not a band that you can just categorize and leave somewhere. They challenge what you think might be coming next. You think you have a nice Faith No More style song going and they smack you in the face with some Hatebreed out of nowhere.

These guys had as much fun on stage as anyone in the crowd did. There were technical issues with the sound, but they just dropped their backing track and plowed through the set full-force the old-fashioned way. Those young enough to do so hit the floor and took all the space they needed to do their hardcore thing. We older folks sat back and watched, remembering the good old days when we weren’t worried about how the back and neck would feel the next morning.

Dinosaurs In Paris is one of those bands you will want to catch a few times. You know that no two shows will be the same. They have a fluid intensity on stage that is equal parts dynamic and chaotic. Twin guitars scream at the top of their lungs while the bass and drums provide low-end thunder to round out the maelstrom that is their live presence. As fun as it was, you could also tell they wanted to give you your money’s worth (ironic on a Free Metal Friday). They play hard but take the music seriously, making sure the sound is as good as they can make it. Just watching the crowd, you could tell how much fun everyone, band and fans alike, had.

Yeet Cleaver

Band Members:

  • Jack Sakials – Vocals
  • Parker Lipke – Guitars
  • Trenton Stone – Bass
  • Joey Bowers – Drums

Setlist:

  1. Intro
  2. We Get It You Gape
  3. Murphy’s Flaw
  4. Habanero
  5. One More For The Tooh Jar
  6. Cynder-Bonked
  7. Smart monkey
  8. Hideous Malformation Of A Malgimated
  9. Liquified Carapace
  10. Grant Us Eyes
  11. Shredded Wheat (Waking The Cadaver cover)
  12. Dying Fetus cover (not sure what song…)

Yeet Cleaver is one of those bands you don’t want to meet in a dark alley. It’s much better to meet them at a merch table or the bar before a show. It’s all fun and games until they hit the stage though. Once that happens, the gloves are off. Once they hit the stage, it’s all Hardcore, Pig Squeals, Breakdowns, and sonic violence. The music is heavy, down-tuned, apocryphal, and fast. There are no clean vocals and the tunings of the guitar will never be standard.

Blast beats, top string thunder from bass and guitar alike, and two voices squeal/growling with the greatest of happiness on the faces of the band and crowd alike. There was controlled violence as the Hardcore dudes whirled and thrashed around, being given space by the crowd to find their own ecstatic heaven. The dance was as ritualistic as the sacrificial tones coming from the instruments. No one was hurt and the crowd even asked for one last song since there was enough time for it.

Yeet Cleaver spent almost an hour brutalizing their fans in the only acceptable way; with furious riffage, hardcore rhythms, and some of the dirtiest vocals in the state. At the end of the show, everyone talked to someone. The bands spoke with new fans, the fans told the bands what worked best for them. There were four very different bands on this bill, yet they all got along, the fans gave their undivided attention to each group, not just their personal favorite. The Metal community is unique in some ways, coming together, often without knowing anything about many of the bands playing. You never know when or where you might find the next great group in your playlist.

Overall, this was a night of wild, brutal, and heavy metal. People made new friends, bands got new fans, and the club had a pretty damn good turnout for a cold night in early February.