Artschool Drops “Nuclear Sons” + Album Release Show at The Camel
Artschool, led by RVA Mag contributor Griffin Smalley, released their debut album Nuclear Sons this week, with a release show set for Friday at The Camel. It’s a record shaped as much by trial and error as it is by intention.
“I asked my friend Erin Dakota, who had already lived here, and we were friends growing up, if she wanted to learn bass. I gave her one lesson, she said she liked it, and I told her we had a gig in three weeks,” he said.
Artschool formed in late summer 2023, not long after Smalley moved to Richmond. The early version of the band played fast, loose, and often to empty rooms. “You play a lot of shows to nobody,” Smalley said. “A lot of empty Tuesday nights.”
What started as a loose idea, teaching a bandmate how to play bass and booking a show within weeks, gradually tightened into something more focused once drummer Noah Brown joined. From there, the band started taking itself seriously: fewer shows, more intention, better songs.
The turning point came from outside music entirely.
Read more, link in bio.
Featured: @artschool_va@griffin_strummer@erinsbuddah_bae_@nevernottalking_@ratfight.band@thecamelrva@shagwuf@tentativedecisionsband
✏️: @majormajor____
📸: @garcezar
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#richmond #rva #rvamag
The last few weeks have been so insane, in the span of a couple days I played with my favorite band and released my first two singles, there’s a few people I’d like to thank for keeping me going throughout this whole journey
For being the best band mate: @_thats_so_erin_
For starting the band with me: @joshua.chapman__@snazzigian@nicholasw55
For being an amazing producer/recording everything: @brendancanty
For playing live: @ckevvvv@the_bigsteez@tombrown3033
For the unending encouragement: @picabitto@musicdoug@jamesmenefee and more people than I could write
I’ve finally made a step in something I’ve been trying for a long time. I’d like to present my band ArtSchool (@artschool_va ). This has been a long time coming and Ive finally put out demos on Bandcamp (you can find the link in my bio) and would really appreciate if you listened to them or give the band a follow. Playing music is all I’ve wanted to do since high school so this is a big step. This couldn’t be possible without @joshua.chapman__@nicholasw55@snazzigian my brothers and closest friends. We will be playing live soon.
