You don’t have to look any further than a COVID-era, all-you-can-eat lunch buffet, with the heightened risk you’ll end up evacuating from both ends, to know there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. The same logic applies to music festivals, of which Richmond is flush. But inordinate, marathon-styled schedules, inclement weather and overall cost to concertgoers can be prohibitive and risk stealing the show.

Last year, Dark Days, Bright Nights joined the ranks of Richmond’s heralded festival circuit — be it folk, jazz, or whatever “Iron Blossom” is — to bring the city’s storied and influential hardcore punk scene to the fore, in the absence of Best Friends Day and Gwar-B-Q. DDBN started as a label showcase for co-founder Paul Hansbarger’s Persistent Vision label but quickly grew to encompass a broad, multi-generational spectrum of hardcore punk, of which Richmond has fostered a myriad of subgenres and countercultural moments.

Over coffee at Lamplighter, Hansbarger blushes when he confides that he doesn’t even like music fests, despite his current endeavor and working on several rounds of Total Fest in Missoula, Montana during a three-year stint away from Virginia. “I prefer the intimacy of a show, and that was what we were trying to capture,” he says. “This is not a real festival vibe, but more like three nights of well-curated shows.”

No small task when you cast a net that includes bands that are local as well as touring, in addition to legendary bands no longer active.

The pair behind DDBN

To program these top-tier line ups, Hansbarger and his booking partner, Mike Taylor, made a wish list of favorite bands from the last 30-plus years before reaching out to at least a hundred of them. “We each came to the table with our picks and then filled it in with younger, contemporary bands and a few locals we thought were doing something special,” he says.

Hansbarger juggles the year-round booking rigamarole that goes into making this festival happen with his indie record label’s operation, and his day job as co-owner with his wife of the Carytown business Lineage, which specializes in canvas and leather bags and accessories. They’re launching their third location in Scott’s Addition this fall (they also have a Harrisonburg location) all while raising their two kids. Before that, Hansbarger cut his teeth in ‘the music biz’ — such as it is — while he was an art school student at Virginia Commonwealth University, putting out records under the imprint Perpetual Motion Machine, booking shows and generally DIY-ing.

His partner, Mike Taylor, is a celebrated Virginia-born musician who has since settled down in West Virginia with his wife and two dogs; all of which keep him no less busy. From that relatively remote perch, Taylor oversees the long-running bands Pageninetynine and Pygmy Lush while scheming his next act. Whether as a songwriter or concert booker-slash-promoter, Taylor’s efforts are akin to that of a magician: bold and showstopping.

“While I’ve never lived there myself, I’ve long admired Richmond’s rich musical underground history,” Taylor says during a Zoom interview, a Born Against demo tape sitting atop the stereo by his side. “I’ve been telling people about this ‘true Richmond moment’ I had when Avail played Brown’s Island. I was absolutely moved by the completely organic connection they had with their audience of almost 5,000 people, when all a sudden a train passes over with Avail graffiti on the side. It was surreal. I nearly cried tears of joy, it was such a beautiful moment.”

The pair set the bar high in DDBN’s first year at The Broadberry. For this year, they wanted to maintain what worked while further perfecting the experience. “We knew we wanted something in one space so everyone can see every band if they want to, without feeling rushed,” Hansbarger says. “Every band has an equitable set in the lineup, so outside of one or two headliners, everyone’s doing 30-minute sets.”

New location: Studio Two Three

The festival’s move to Studio Two Three, the nonprofit community art space located in South Side, suits the spirit and ethics that Hansbarger and Taylor bring to their festival and other endeavors, which can only be characterized as a labor of love; turning a profit isn’t a part of their ‘business plan’ — or lack thereof.

“Studio Two Three is an awesome organization,” Hansbarger says. “Their passion for art and music and community aligns exactly with what we’re trying to do — to build something more than just a weekend of music, but to contribute to the community so this kind of thing can happen year round.”

Studio Two Three’s Executive Director Ashley Hawkins is excited to host this year’s installment of the burgeoning fest. “It’s incredibly important, particularly now, to have spaces where folks can come together and convene — to share experiences, share power, build power together, or just have a good time,” she says. “That is, in essence, the point of that space.”

At the time of our conversation, Hawkins doesn’t hold an interest in Studio Two Three becoming more of a regular concert venue, despite hosting a recent spate of popular bands. Rather these performances align with their community events programming which is increasingly dynamic and vital in their current location, where space is available to local organizers of mission-aligned efforts. “We host probably 30-plus events every month, completely free of charge,” she explains. “That ranges from square dances to union organizing meetings to nonprofit retreats, to vendor markets, to shows like this.”

What to expect this year

This year’s Dark Days Bright Nights includes three days of different opportunities: unprecedented, like City of Caterpillar playing its landmark self-titled album, originally written in the Fan, in its entirety; renewed, as with rare appearances from international cult legends Cherubs, Dazzling Killmen, Frail and Reversal of Man; and inherited, as when local luminaries from sequential generations like Sleepytime Trio and Ultra Dolphins, share the stage with say, Ostraca or Terror Cell, two current heirs to the previously mentioned bands’ Richmond house-show majesty.

(Above): Sleepytime Trio is a post-hardcore band that formed in Harrisonburg, VA in 1995. Full disclosure: Style’s editor was a former housemate of bassist Ben Davis. 

Apart from three awesome shows over three days, all of this work is also regenerative for various communities with outcomes that promise the formation of new bands, old bands getting back together, an open door to enroll in classes at Studio Two Three, where they can learn how to silk screen their own band’s T-shirt or show poster — maybe for their own music festival that they organize with a friend one day.

Looking ahead, Hansbarger and Taylor would love to hear from anyone interested in joining them and their team of half-a-dozen volunteers to lend a hand in the promotion or production for next year.

Dark Days Bright Nights takes place Friday, Sept. 26 through Sunday, Sept. 28 at Studio Two Three, 109 W. 15th St. with opening ceremonies on Thursday at Cobra Cabana. Full details can be found here. A weekend pass for all three days is $85. All ages.