Live music preview: Bright Light Social Hour, Riders Against the Storm play Parish Friday
The Bright Light Social Hour (TBLSH) and hip-hop duo, Riders Against the Storm (RAS) play Parish this Friday, September 30. The show will feature a song collaboration, “The Sheriff” which is a new version of the original TBLSH song, released September 7. The track, which dropped September 21 could be considered the companion to the the OG version. A part two, if you will. Limited tickets are still on sale for Friday’s gig which is presented by Resound and KUTX.
The original version of “The Sheriff” was inspired by violent George Floyd protests in Austin. Bassist and vocalist Jackie O’Brien explains, “It was the height of the George Floyd protests and I absentmindedly drove through downtown Austin to grab some takeout. Suddenly, traffic narrowed to one lane and stopped. I had a row of armed National Guard soldiers immediately to my left, and to my right livid protesters shouting back at them. I prayed no one would shoot while I was stuck in the crossfire. I felt the fear, I felt the rage, I felt the tension, but I also felt a strange, arrogant, almost horny energy coming from the soldiers. Like they were all thinking “just give me a reason to shoot you pieces of shit.” And that’s the energy that chilled me to the bone.
We wrote this song imagining the horror story of a seething, racist sheriff, just cruising, looking for an excuse to absolutely ruin someone’s life today.”
The approach to the new song can best be explained by Qi Dada half of the RAS duo, “The take Riders Against the Storm has for ‘The Sheriff’ is the same as our general approach to our work. The victory goes to the lion, not the hunter, once we listen to the lion’s story.”
Filmed along the dusty roads of far south Austin, the song has been vividly set to screen by Oswaldo Flórez of Monterrey. It’s a fun song about a serious topic that highlights the similarities between the the two bands who have been sharing messages of social conscious like TBLSH’s song, “Wendy Davis” inspired by the group’s participation in the SB5 protest at the Texas State Capitol Building in 2013 when the state legislator gained notoriety for her famed filibuster.
Riders Against the Storm contributed to equality issues for artists in Austin both in the subject matter of their music and in projects like non-profit, DAWA, Chaka (Jonathan Mahone) founded to support artists of color and his work on the Austin Music Commission. RAS also produce the popular monthly party, Body Rock. Chaka and Qi Dada are also husband and wife. They’re clearly an Austin music power couple.
