Do you ever envision a place when you hear certain local bands?
The folks at Good Day RVA do. Armed with a camera, four friends got together to showcase their love for local music, in the process creating a take-away series of live music videos to showcase Richmond’s diverse talent.
“Each one of our videos has gained momentum,” co-founder Chris Damon says. “Instead of us reaching out to the bands, they’re reaching out to us now.”
Formed in 2012 by friends Chris Damon, Evan Hoffman, Will Weaver and Matt Cowan, Good Day RVA started when the four worked together on the 48-Hour Film Project. The friends learned they shared a mutual love for music, film and the city itself, and decided to make a music video. It started with Black Girls performing in Hollywood Cemetery.
The popularity of that video spurned more the next year, including videos of singer Nelly Kate at the Pump House, Houdan the Mystic along the James River and White Laces at Main Street Station.
They plan each shoot by carefully matching each band with a location that fits its sound.
“Nelly’s music is very ambient and we felt the echoes you get from the Pump House amplified her talent,” Hoffman says. “Same thing with White Laces. The giant abandoned space [of the Main Street Station] was just asking to be filled with the band’s noise rock.”
The collective is working on a new video with Josh Small and Andrew Ali that was filmed in Randolph, and is in the planning stages of a project with instrumentalist Dave Watkins. The group says it has a list of bands and locations a mile long and that ideas are always forming.
“We have plans to film Navi at the Ashland Berry Farm with crazy costumes, and an alleyway circus with No BS! Brass,” Damon says. “I want to shoot Strike Anywhere on the steps of the Capitol building.”
With the series becoming a bigger animal, the members of Good Day RVA pay for all the expenses, which can range from $200 to $300 a video. They also build their own equipment, borrow cameras and receive help from fans.
“There are many generous souls in the community who want to see us succeed,” Damon says. “We have two sounds guys, Jesse Clark and Glen Piegari, who donate their time and have helped us tremendously. It’s truly a collective because it’s not just us anymore. … People keep coming together to make something beautiful and it keeps going.” S
Information on the group can be found on its Facebook page, facebook.com/GDRVA.
