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Formed in 2018, Friday Night Flicks combines eccentric musicality with lively artists and fun, reference-filled lyrics. After five years of playing together, the four-person band from Northern Virginia will release their debut EP, Welcome to Violence, on Aug. 17, followed by an album release party at the Pocket on Aug. 19.
The band has spent much of the summer preparing for the release. In July, shortly after returning from an East Coast tour, Friday Night Flicks performed at the Rose Concert Series in Alexandria, which Justin Paschalides hosted in his home.
Avi Walter is the lead singer, but all four musicians accompany on vocals, and they each play different instruments. With Laura Feibelman on flute, Drake Newcomb on drums, Will Pierce on guitar, and Walter on bass, their music is reminiscent of both funk and jazz. Walter describes the band’s style as “progressive art funk jazz” for a variety of reasons. Their music has a chaptered nature, their songs focus on popular culture, Walter has a background in funk, and each member frequently solos—a carryover from jazz traditions.
Friday Night Flicks originally connected via the local jam scene, where musicians frequently meet up at venues around the city to practice music and play together. Paschalides initially introduced Walter to the scene in 2015 at the Fairfax venue Fats. From there, Walter learned of other jam nights, meeting Feibelman, Pierce, and Newcomb along the way.
The band has found a musical home within the jam scene. Friday Night Flicks is their most recent musical adventure, though all of the members boast years of experience on their respective instruments. They still love to jam, and after their performance at the Rose Concert Series, they invited anyone interested to come up to the stage to share some tunes.
But their sound appeals not just to jam lovers, but to film connoisseurs as well. Over the course of Welcome to Violence’s five songs and one cover, they take listeners on a journey through film culture.
Their EP opens with “In Memory of Bobby Franks,” which draws inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Rope. The film is believed to be based on the death of Bobby Franks, a young boy killed by two men hoping to commit “the perfect murder.” By writing a song in memory of Franks, Walter hoped to “shift focus back toward the victim” instead of his assailants.
“Tomania pt. 1” and “Tomania pt. 2″ revolve around the 1940 Charlie Chaplin film The Great Dictator. Walter recommends watching it to get the most out of Welcome to Violence; there are references to the film Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in throughout the 27-minute album. Though jazzy-funk lovers will likely enjoy the music regardless, The Great Dictator revolves around critiques of totalitarianism in similar ways as Friday Night Flick’s music, which offers a broad commentary on various government systems.
The Tomania songs and another track on the EP, “Animal Farm”—a direct reference to George Orwell’s famous novel—critique controlling governments and offer political commentary in a refreshingly lighthearted way. “Animal Farm” also features a guest appearance from the musician Vlad, who performs in two other Northern Virginia-based musical groups, Shamans of Sound and Wild.
Their final original track, “Catman,” was written following the premiere of the Netflix mini-series Don’t F*** with Cats and discusses how an online community came together to take down an animal abuser and murderer. The EP also includes a B-side for “Catman,” a cover of “Wanna Be Like You” from the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book.
Friday Night Flicks’ Rose Concert performance was filled with audience engagement, impromptu solos, and short explanations from the band. Walter hopes their live performance at the Pocket will be no different—there may even be an opportunity to meow along to “Catman.” Of audience engagement, Walter says, “I think for most people, that’s the fun part.”
Getting that audience connection was the crux of the band’s inception. As Walter explains, “one of the ideas behind choosing movies is [maybe] someone’s never heard of Friday Night Flicks, but if you like Animal Farm, then we’ve got you in the door.”
Friday Night Flicks plays at 8 p.m. on Aug. 19 at the Pocket. thepocketdc.com. $12–$15.
Welcome to Violence drops Aug. 17 on BandCamp, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, and most other streaming services.
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