An Interview with Reggie Pace of NO BS! Brass and More

I recently had the opportunity to meet up with local musician Reginald Pace, co-founder of NO BS! Brass and a fellow who is involved in a staggering number of creative projects.  He was kind enough to meet me at Kuba Kuba, a favorite that I was SURE I’d reviewed before, but guess I haven’t.  It’s awesome.  You should go there.

Back to Reggie.  I first got the idea to interview Reggie when I saw NO BS! Brass play at Gallery 5‘s Halloween bash last year.   They absolutely rocked my face off.  I mean, I was so impressed I couldn’t stand it.  I talked about them for days.  I told my mom about them.  I was like a little geek fan girl all over again.  It was great.  It had been a long time since I’d gotten jazzed over a local band.

So I contacted the band, and Reggie wrote back.  Right away.  That was back in NOVEMBER, but we finally met up and he told me all about the band, his projects, and more, so here you go, Richmond – the sweetest guy in Richmond showbiz:

From the time Reggie was a small child, he has loved music.  He wasn’t like most kids, who jump on a musical bandwagon and later discover what their taste is really all about.  He started off seeing the beauty and complexity in movie themes, and Merry Melodies songs.  He discovered Hip Hop when he was in middle school, and his own style became a wonderful, crazy combination of Hip Hop, Funk, Prog Rock, Jazz, Metal, and movie soundtracks.  This style carries over into NO BS! Brass, a band he started with co-founder Lance Koehler in 2006.

NO BS! Brass is a 10-piece band made up of a group of friends who have a love for music.  Many of the members have conservatory experience, and the entire group practices one time per week.  That’s dedication.   The members knew each other through school – Reggie graduated from VCU in 2005 and went on to teach trombone, tuba, and trumpet at Richmond Music Center.  He still does that, in addition to directing the University of Richmond’s Pep Band, all the while keeping up with his independent musical endeavours.

In addition to NO BS! Brass, Reggie is involved in at least 5 other bands.  Glows in the Dark specializes in jazzy, experimental movie music.  The guitar player, Scott Burton, writes whole suites of music for movies he likes.  That’s Reggie’s kind of collaborator.  They play once per month at Commercial Taphouse – the next show is on September 19th.  Fight the Big Bull is an indie-ish Jazz/Southern Rock 8-piece that has a wild sound.  Fight The Big Bull will be playing September 17, 18 and 19 at Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC.

That’s not all.  The Big Payback is a James Brown tribute band that plays all over the East Coast.  The Trio of Justice is a roots experimental band that, to my chagrin, played just days before this post will go live.  Finally, ETAKA is an electronic/drum/trombone duo Reggie’s in as well.  There might be more.  There probably ARE more.

But what about NO BS! Brass?  Many of the other 9 members of the band have multiple projects going on at one time.  Lance runs Minimum Wage Studios, Taylor is a doctoral candidate, and Bryan is a professor at VCU.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  There is only so much information you can squeeze out of an hour long conversation, even when the interviewee is as easygoing and forthcoming as Reggie.

Despite the crazy schedules, the multiple projects, the crappy economy, the hot hot weather, NO BS! Brass practices every week.  They manage to bring a lively, honest party attitude to every show and they are, to quote Harry Kollatz, “sheer musical joy.”  Reggie says that they have fun playing together – that they are a bunch of nerdy music school people – and that they take that nerdy music school stuff and make it danceable – and therefore accessible.  Their music is about 95% original, and the covers they do choose to play are an absolute delight to the audience.  Put it this way, I didn’t expect to hear Led Zeppelin, but I was sure glad when I did.

A new, self-titled album will be released at a two-day event at The Camel, one of the band’s favorite places to play. It’s their third studio album, and the CD Release Party promises to be an amazing time.  It’s October 1st and 2nd, at The Camel.  Tell your friends.

If you want to see the band play before that, you can head on over to Balliceaux this Thursday, August 26th.  That’s another favorite venue of the band’s.  They also love playing outdoors (you might have seen them at Best Friend’s Day this past weekend) and they like playing Gallery 5, which is where I first saw them.  They are super good about posting their news on the NO BS! Brass blog, so bookmark that thing and get ready to rock out.

Get your Richmond business or service reviewed on RichmondVAPresents.com. Email us at marketing (at) richmondvapresents dot com
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Sister Sites About Richmond

Here at Richmond VA Presents, we try to bring you information on a variety of subjects.  We bring you the best of Richmond, be it restaurants, places to go, bands, or whatever strikes our fancy.

While this format has worked out pretty well on this site, we’ve realized that, at times,  some people want more specific information.  Sometimes people need a little more than the grab-bag of wonderfulness they get on this site (and the remarkable humility of its writer) and want a site they can go to for something specific.  Well, don’t say we don’t listen, Richmond.

If you want only restaurant reviews and information about food in our fair city, check out Eating in Richmond, a site managed by one Mr. David Mattera – a guy who knows his stuff when it comes to food.  Not only does David mention and review specific restaurants, he also chooses a subject and gives you an overview of what the city has to offer.  Check it out.  He’ll make you hungry.

For a look at the business side of the Richmond mullet, take a look at Richmond VA Business, a site managed by one Mr. Michael Fletcher, a local writer and consultant.  He tells you all the things you want to know about businesses in Richmond.  From posts about local celebrities (they chuckle when I call them that) to posts about 101-year old companies, Fletcher speaks with intelligence and authority.

When you want to read about things to do around Richmond, you can scoot over to Richmond VA Life, a site devoted to the funner things in town.  One cool thing about this site is that it is always accepting submissions from readers.  If you have an interesting picture of something Richmond-related, you can email it to the site admin and he might very well post it.

If you have young ‘uns, add Richmond For Kids to the list of sites you read.  It covers good places to take the kids out to eat, cool places kids want to go, and pretty much all things Richmond kids.

And, finally, for those social media peeps out there, we bring you Socially Richmond.  Socially Richmond is a group effort by a bunch of people that I don’t know.  You might or might not know them.  But you will (if you ever poke a toe in the Twitter pool) know the people featured on the site.

These (and many other) sites are supported by Big Oak Inc., an ethical SEO Company located in Richmond, Virginia.  Not only are they ethical, they are also awesome, and super-nice.  And I don’t just say that because they let me write on this website.  I’m a card-carrying fan.

If you have ideas or suggestions for any of these sites (including this one right here) you can contact me at marketing@richmondvapresents.com and I’ll get the word out.

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Get your Richmond business or service reviewed on RichmondVAPresents.com. Email us at marketing (at) richmondvapresents dot com
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Contact Big Oak SEO, a Richmond SEO company, to help your website get found in Google’s search results.

Richmond Karaoke – Penelope

Penelope’s job is to make you have fun.  She is very good at her job.

Penelope has been a disc jockey for local karaoke nights, wedding receptions, corporate functions, and other special occasions since August of 2006.  She is great at all aspects of her job, but her particular passion is the karaoke part of her job.  She is busy almost every night of the week with a different karaoke show (don’t worry, we’ll tell you where) and she has amassed a following that ensures that every karaoke night with Penelope is a good time.

Blessed with an amazing singing voice, Penelope started out just randomly visiting area karaoke venues.  She’d been singing all her life and felt drawn to places where people were free to sing and have a good time.  After a while it seemed like a natural progression for her to get into the business – a place where she could be around music and other people who loved music for a job.

She says her favorite part of her job is “witnessing the love that people have for music” and she believes that everyone is capable of expressing that love vocally.  Keep in mind that Penelope is this amazingly serene muse-like creature who loves music and people who love music, because if you’ve been to ANY karaoke in Richmond, you know that not EVERYBODY in this town can sing.  Granted, Penelope’s karaoke shows have a multitude of crazy-talented people, but realize that even if someone isn’t American-Idol-worthy to the amateur ear, Penelope sees the beauty in every voice.

Even when yours truly decides to butcher Amy Winehouse.  It was a thing.  And no, nobody took a video, so don’t even ask.

Penelope’s karaoke schedule is as follows.  She’s given us a handy bit of advice as to where to go for a certain type of vibe.  Check it out:

Sunday nights:  to sing the latest Top 40 hits, go to TGIFridays in Short Pump
Wednesday nights:  for a more laid-back country atmosphere, try the Buffalo Wild Wings in Glen Allen
Thursday nights:  for soul and oldies, go to the Buffalo Wild Wings in the West End
Friday nights:  for a mix-mash of everything on a non-school night, go to the Buffalo Wild Wings in Shockoe Bottom

Tell her RichmondVAPresents sent you and she’ll be extra sweet to you.

Get your Richmond business or service reviewed on RichmondVAPresents.com. Email us at marketing (at) richmondvapresents dot com
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