Week in Pop: HDLSS, Jesus Sons, LuxDeluxe

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Pete Curry

Catching up with Pete Curry; photographed by Henry Archer.

Pete Curry’s album Night Logic is getting the re-mastered/re-release treatment as a joint effort between Curry’s own imprint Crystal Pistol & fellow local Richmond, VA DIY denizens Citrus City & we present a look at the artist’s snazzy synthesizer adorned single “Dark in the Night”. Curry curates his own neon-splashed world where everything is illustrated as if on some kind of electrical & magical highway of wonders.
“Dark in the Night” offers up an evening time nocturne song to savor those sentiments that sound stripped straight from an 80s hatchback stereo system. Curry busts out all the wonky dance moves (encouraging the audience to mirror the sweet steps & gesticulations) as visions of city lights at night all begin to flash & pulse in time to the switched-on rhythms & their accompanying sophisticated synthesizers.

Describe for us your earliest musical inclinations that you can recall that helped shaped the artist you are now.
First thing I can really remember was New Kids on the Block- when I saw their commercial on TV I thought they were actually going to show up to my block and I was scared by that but the fear turned into admiration: I had their backpack and VHS, kids laughed at me because I didn’t know they were supposed to be a boy band for girls, I just thought they were cool and I liked dancing to their music when nobody was home. Also I worshiped the Phantom of the Opera—I had a little keyboard and I’d pretend I was this crazy tortured classical organist in a dungeon somewhere but it was my room and I was three. Billy Idol’s “Shock to the System” made a big impression on me too, he turns into a cyborg in the video.
How have the releases Advice on Love, Doin Nothin, and Night Logic advanced your own particular creative visions?
I’m glad that I’ve established that I’m going to do whatever I want to do. Advice on Love came towards the end of a long introspective lyric and classic rock influenced spell, Doin Nothin is both that and also sort of breaking away from that, and Night Logic is me being like, oh lemme see what I can do on just the computer, lemme write music I want to dance to and just have fun with the music. I’m still there for now, I’ll probably do a similar thing again at least once, I have tons of of stuff laying around and still working on new things, its all about something really strong coming along that stands out as promising a whole complete picture, whatever the picture may be.
Tell us too how your label Crystal Pistol Records first began and what other releases are in store.
Crystal Pistol was started by my homie Saw Black and I, we wanted to release my first album Advice on Love on vinyl and just try to go big and stop sitting around waiting for things to happen for us. Our label for us is almost like our band together except we’re doing our own thing within that context and trying to help our friends get their music out with some context. We do actually play in each other’s band often, too. This summer we’re releasing Mikrowaves, a funky band here in town, and the You Go Girls, which is a crazy goofy party punk band I play in.
What else is awesome right now in Richmond?
There’s so much happening here right now musically, I have so many friends and acquaintances making really cool music, it’s a great community and I’m fortunate to have stumbled into it and to become a part of it.
Other artists that we should all be tuned into right now?
Listen to Azalea Days by my labelmate Saw Black! He’s my favorite songwriter. Also anything on Citrus City, Trrash, Hand to Mouth, Egghunt Records, and Crystal Pistol to get an idea of what’s going on in Richmond.