By: Angelina Capots
Last week, the College of Visual and Performing Arts Performance Series hosted its second performance of the season, featuring The Lovely Dark.
Comprised of three men, two of whom are Radford University alumni, the band describes its sound on Instagram as the “nexus of synth pop, industrial rock, Berlin Bowie, and electronica,” drawing comparisons to artists such as Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.
The band consists of three members: John Hildreth and Justin Hochella, both Radford alumni, and Richard Bozic. Each member performs multiple roles within the band, creating a distinctive sound that is rare in the Appalachian music scene of the New River Valley.
The project began in the spring of this year, with the three musicians exchanging lyrics and instrumental backing tracks. According to Hildreth, the group did not initially plan to perform live. Instead, the idea developed organically as the members began discussing the possibility of bringing their music to the stage.
“It wasn’t originally planned as a live, rather than a touring act. And it just kind of organically became that way when we just kind of started to think, ‘Well, it’d be cool if we could do this live. It’d be really exciting if we could do something with this,’” Hildreth said.
As a current professor at Radford University, Hildreth began discussions about bringing The Lovely Dark to the CVPA Performance Series, a new series of performances hosted by the college. The goal, Hildreth explained, was “to bring someone in who is not your typical university music department performance series.”
For the band, that goal holds personal significance. Hochella, a Radford alumnus, recalled traveling outside the New River Valley as a student to see bands performing the kind of music that inspires The Lovely Dark.
“Having gone to school here, I remember when I was a student here, I would often have to travel to Washington, D.C., to see the kinds of bands that we’re gonna be playing music from,” Hochella said. “It’s really just awesome that I can be a part of, like, for lack of a better phrase, fixing that, and bringing this kind of music to Radford, rather than having to go to Washington or Richmond or something like that, like a bigger metropolitan area. This type of music isn’t typically what you think about in Southwest Virginia.”
Through their performance, The Lovely Dark brought a style of music not often associated with Southwest Virginia to the Radford University community, helping expand the range of artists and genres represented in the CVPA Performance Series.
The Lovely Dark’s music is available on YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify. The band can also be found on Instagram @the.lovely.dark and online at thelovelydarkband.wordpress.com.
