As the Beatles put it so succinctly, “I get by with a little help from my friends.” Many bands should be quick to thank their friends (i.e., the fans) for helping keep their otherwise-relatively unknown band afloat and popular.
While some bands have groups of fans that are so wide and varied that general-admission shows have as much interaction as a high school dance, Virginia Coalition keeps its music and beat moving, thanks to a word-of-mouth fan base that has made the group’s shows seem like an estranged family reunion.
Madison gets a chance to take a look at this collective of fans and sounds at the Memorial Union Terrace tonight when this up-and-coming band from Virginia makes a stop to give the people of Madison a little taste of a band whose fans are just as integral as the music itself.
For example, “Go-Go Tech,” off the band’s album Townburg, has the party atmosphere that comes from a visit to a Virginia Coalition (a.k.a. VACO)
“Lonely Cowboy,” also from Townburg, starts off with a cool cat trying to hit on a girl who is a virgin to the VACO experience. After the initial brush-off, he proceeds to impress her with his prowess at the microphone.
A band that writes even that many songs in acknowledgment of the fans could give an ex-local band freak nostalgic days of Little Blue Crunchy Things playing at the Rave, and the many fans you would see consistently everytime LBCT played a show.
Instead of keeping a wall between itself and the audience, as most holier-than-thou bands like to enact, VACO seems to bash that wall down and dance through the rubble while funk pulsates from the speakers.
For those who have no idea who VACO is, you might be asking what kind of music the group plays. Maybe it’s best to describe the bands they’ve toured with: Guster, Counting Crows and Dave Matthews Band.
Songs like “Green and Gray” and “Likeness” smack of the Pat McGee sound, with simple drum rhythm and clear vocals (take some notes, Dave Matthews — clear vocals!) Then comes “A Song,” which almost sounds like a Barenaked Ladies song or at the very least belongs in a scene for Wes Anderson’s new film.
“E Song” initially comes off as a Counting Crows cover, but quickly steers to the right of that road and creates its own experience that includes some interesting interludes with various instruments.
Perfecting the art of the stage show by touring for over 200 days a year and traveling more than 100,000 miles, VACO will only continue to grow and generate an even larger fanbase that will make the group explode on the music map.
When VACO does make it big and people everywhere have a taste of what the Coalition has to offer, put your money on the fact that this band won’t be forgetting the work and devotion of its fans.
Virginia Coalition plays tonight at 9:30 p.m. at the Memorial Union Terrace as part of the All-Campus Party. Admission is free.
