Have you ever had one of those days that you just wish had never happened?  Well that was how my day was going a couple Saturdays ago.  Nothing seemed to be going right all day.  And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I remembered that I was supposed to go cover a show somewhere out in the boonies of Mechanicsville.  To be honest I hadn't really done my homework for this show.  Normally I like to look up the band that I'm covering online: listen to whatever they've got on youtube or myspace, check out their webpage, just get a general feel for what I'm getting into, especially when it's going to be the cover story.  But in this case I was going in completely blind.  I knew the name of the band was the Velvet Nines and had a hazy notion in the back of my mind that maybe they had made an appearance in a past issue.  I later found out that they were part of the Rockitz Battle of the Bands finale.

As it turns out the Velvet Nines were exactly what I needed on this particular Saturday night.  We got there a little before the show, but soon the quartet was up on stage and ready to start the playing.  I was a bit skeptical at first based on their appearance.  Each member looked to be a stereotype of a different genre of musician.  At the back there was what appeared to be a typical metal drummer: Mike Rebich.  Off to the left was Nick Walker holding down the punkabilly guitarist look, while Mike "R2" Rezendes stood nonchalantly on the right looking like the bassist from a 70's psychedelic blues band.  And at center stage Jamie Eure was rocking out the grunge front man look.  While this disparity of appearance threw me a bit a first my skepticism was washed away the minute they started playing.

The show was the release party for the Velvet Nines debut album Fill the Void.  The idea was that they would play the entire CD straight through, but first they opened with a set of killer covers.  All of the songs were easily recognizable tunes from a broad range of rock and blues-rock.  From Hendrix to Pearl Jam and The Violent Femmes to Lynyrd Skynyrd.  It was a great set to get the audience hooked.  What really got me about this set was their ability to play each song in the original style, but still not feel like they were trying to imitate the original.  They made no pretenses about the fact that they were covering other peoples songs, but they weren't trying to be those people.  This stood out the most on their rendition of Hendrix's "Foxey Lady". No one can really even come close to doing what Hendrix could do with a guitar, and Nick did an amazing job of playing in the same style but differently enough that I was never forced to compare him negatively to the master.

After the cover set the band took a quick break before starting into their original material.  This was the part of the show that really impressed me.  First of all I liked the concept of playing the exact same material from the CD.  What better way to celebrate the recording of your best material than to play that same material.  The range of their original songs was almost as diverse as the covers that they started the show with.  From the funky "Downtown" to the classic hard rocking "Seventeen", the band members showed a real depth with their ability to play their respective instruments in whatever style fit the specific song best.  My favorite of their songs from the CD was "Why", a very basic rock song carried by a strong backbeat on the drums and bass.

The original plan was to play three sets, finishing out the night with a set of new material that is not on the CD.  But due to quite a bit of technical difficulty delays this third set was scaled back and tacked onto the end of the second set.  These songs were very interesting to me as they shed some light on the band's creative process.  The "third set" had much more of a jam feel to it.  You could tell that these songs were less refined than the ones on the CD.  Each musician was still figuring out how to best fit his part in with the rest.  Don't get me wrong the songs were all very much performance worthy, they just had a bit of a rough around the edges feel to them.

The Velvet Nines are definitely a band whose career I will be keeping tabs on and who I will be trying to get out to see as much as possible.  They were the perfect diversion to get my mind off of the troubles of the world.  By the end of the show I had completely forgotten about the bad day I had been having and was in a great mood.  That's what good live music will do, and these guys play some phenomenal music.  If you can you should check them out at the National on July 24, or at least get a copy of their CD Fill the Void.

          thevelvetnines.com
          myspace.com/thevelvetnines
                    facebook.com/thevelvetninesva

By Editor (Managing) and Correspondent: Robin Marschak

Robin Marschak was born and raised in Richmond, VA. After a brief attempt at attending an engineering school in Claremont, CA he returned home to study English at VCU, an endeavour he is currently still engaged in. One thing that has remained unchanging throughout his life is a love of music. He was raised on local bands such as the Ululating Mummies and Dogs New Clothes as well as more classic mainstream bands such as the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. As a teen his tastes shifted towards the punk scene and bands such as TSOL, Operation Ivy, and Rancid, and while he maintains a deep love of this style of music he has broadened his listening palette quite a bit in recent years especially into the realms of country and old time music. His favorite bands currently are Popebear, a blues-funk fusion band out of Pasadena, CA, the Hot Seats, a string band from Richmond, and the No BS! Brass Band, also from Richmond. As far as more national acts go he tries to catch shows by bands like Umphrey's McGee, Old Crow Medicine Show, and the Belleville Outfit whenever possible.