If Not For Me Performs At The Canal Club!
- Fallon O'Neill
- Apr 14, 2024
- 4 min read
On April 11, 2024, If Not For Me performed at The Canal Club in Richmond, Virginia with special guests Phantom Hourglass, Varia, Two Side Of Me, and RVNT for their "Everything You Wanted" release tour! This show was filled with so much support from beginning to end!
Opening the night was the band Phantom Hourglass! Phantom Hourglass is a metalcore/post-hardcore band from Winchester, Virginia consisting of Logan Bauserman (Vocals), Brandon Mclnturff (Drums), Josiah Wilder (Guitar/Back Vocals), Sheldon Judy (Guitar), and Josh Huff (Bass). The band is currently working on a new single and in the studio with Chris Davis from The Ghost Inside and Iron Foot Audio, who also recorded and produced the 'Lifeless' EP. This was my first time seeing this band live and they set the tone for the rest of the event. It seems lately that all the openers I've been seeing have been setting a tone that's hard to top. This is why I love local musicians. And these guys are very sweet which is also rare as well! This is the band to keep an eye out for!
Keep Up With Phantom Hourglass Online: Facebook / Instagram / Youtube
Next up was the band Varia! Varia is a metalcore band from Virginia consisting of Patrick Ryan (Vocals), Jacob Kent (Guitar), Chris Maconaughey (Bass), Phillip Benson (Guitar), and Bobby McWilliams (Drums). When this show was first announced, I didn't know any other bands besides RVNT and If Not For Me, but Varia captured my heart with their song "Know Where I Belong" which I easily played on my Spotify over 300 times cause it is currently my top song on my repeat list! The song was released on November 17, 2023, with 53,000 Spotify plays!
The band released their newest single "Algorhythm" on February 14, 2024, and, at the moment, has 11,000 Spotify plays! The song's beginning reminds me of walking into a surfer shop in California because it has those groovy, surf rock vibes that transition into such a melodic piece of art! The crowd throughout their set sang to almost every single song expressing how much this support has from the local scene!
Two Sides of Me was up next! The band is from Lynchburg, Virginia consisting of Elijah Ferguson (Vocals), Jonny (Drums), Shane Grishaw (Guitar), Tony B, and Jerod Folk! The band recently released their newest single "Parasite" on February 16, 2024. This band blew me away with their performance that night. They left me speechless. The amount of energy this band had on stage was so hard to capture because each member embodied every inch of the stage with passionate adrenaline. Yet this is far from a flaw, we love to see artists doing what they love on stage and engaging with everyone in the crowd! The amount of moshing during their set was crazy and I had to be like a ninja to avoid individuals in the mosh pit while taking photos. The best part about the whole set was when Tony spun in circles with the guitar and flipped it all around him! I can't wait to be able to photograph this band again honestly! They need to bring this energy to South Carolina!
Next up is one of my favorite Virginia Beach band RVNT! RVNT consists of Ricky Gillis (Vocals), Jeremy Anderson (Guitar, Vocals), Fabian Castaneda (Drums), and Richard Berkeley (Guitar/Vocals). I saw RVNT perform twice last year; once in Virginia performing with Veil of Maya and again when they came to South Carolina on their small headlining tour!
Between Ricky and Jeremey's vocals, this band sounds INSANE in the best way possible. And they are the most wholesome guys out there. Their stage performance was what I expected; memorable and didn't disappoint. Jeremy was on double duty that night with FOH and also performing and I am so proud of him! For a local band; their light production is always on point! Check out their newest releases "Shattered Souls" and "Break Me"!
Ending the night was If Not For Me! Last year, I photographed this band twice, once in their home state Pennsylvania and then I drove 10 hours on my birthday on New Year's Eve to photograph them in Ohio! If my driving 10 hours doesn't explain how amazing this band is, I don't know how else to explain it to you.
This band has some of the most humble and genuine individuals - this is what the scene needs. If Not For Me is a four-piece metalcore band from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania consisting of Patrick Glover (Vocals), Hayden Calhoun (Guitar), Zac Allen (Bass), and Cody Frain (Drums). The tour is celebrating the release of their newest album "Everything You Wanted" and I am so excited to see the guys perform in different states! Also, they just signed to Thriller Records earlier this year! It was amazing when Patrick asked the crowd who didn't know who they were and only 3 people raised their hands out of about 25-30 people!
If Not For Me currently has over 200,000 Spotify listeners with "Feel Me Now" and "Blameless" being the top songs, amassing 3 million Spotify plays! Watching the crowd sing along with Patrick and seeing how much this band has progressed in the last year is amazing to witness. These guys deserve all of this success and I can't wait to see them again in August!
And that's a wrap! What a night filled with happiness being able to be around so many friends! The five-hour drive was so worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Seeing this band being shared all over social media constantly and watching them grow, I can honestly say they are one of the top bands of 2024!
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