Richard Vain

Led by Jered Gummere, best known for his work with the Ponys, Richard Vain is a wailing garage punk band with strong accents of psychedelia in its deep echoes, layers of fuzzy and/or ringing guitars, and minimalist keyboard patterns, as documented on their debut album, 2018's Night Jammer. Jered Gummere launched Richard Vain after the breakup of his post-Ponys band the Bare Mutants. It was initially intended to be a literal solo project, and the first Richard Vain performances in 2011 featured Gummere alone onstage with a guitar, a keyboard, looping pedals, and an iPad. In time, Gummere decided he wanted more help from humans and less from machines, and in 2014 he asked a woman named Carbomb, who played in Storm Clouds and was friends with Gummere since his days touring with the Ponys, to play keyboards. Carbomb brought along her Storm Clouds bandmate Lugs to play drums, and Richard Vain became a trio. The group began playing out regularly in Gummere's hometown of Chicago, and they booked time at Jandek Recording Studio to begin work on an album. The finished product, titled Night Jammer, was released by Big Neck Records in December 2018.
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