Punk Rock Bonafides: Richmond’s ShotClock support Shehehe at El Rocko

Richmond, Virginia’s power trio ShotClock are relative newcomers to the stage, but their founder, singer/guitarist Pedro Aida, is a veteran of the city’s vital punk rock scene.

Aida began playing music when he was a teenager growing up in Fairfax, Virginia. In 2000 he moved to Phoenix, Arizona to study recording engineering. But it is was when he relocated to Richmond, Virginia in 2002 that he really dug his heels into the music scene.

“Richmond has always been a hotbed for punk rock music,” said Aida. “You can go back to the 80s with bands like Beex, Four Walls Falling, GWAR. Then into the 90s where you have Avail, Action Patrol, Ann Beretta, Inquisition, all these bands that really put Richmond on the map back then. A lot of those bands, or people from those bands are still playing.”

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Besides his own ShotClock project, Aida currently plays in the legendary punk band Ann Beretta, and the punk super group Fire Sale. Ann Beretta recently came out of hiatus to record and release this year’s “Rise” which was engineered and mixed by Aida at his own Audio Vérité Studio.

Fire Sale was formed by The Ataris’ Chris Swinney whose “That One Time on Tour” podcast invites musical guests onto to the show to record parts for demos. Aida contributed lyrics and vocals to songs collaborations that include members of Thursday, Protest the Hero, and No Use For A Name.

“That’s all done over the internet,” explained Aida. “I’ve never actually met any of those guys….It became a cool collaboration with those guys who did cool stuff, and then me.”

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Never meeting in person hasn’t prevented Fire Sale from getting signed by Negative Progression Records out of Orlando, Florida who are planning on releasing some 7-inches for the band.

Another of Aida’s many punk endeavors includes working on the solo project of Nathan Gray of Boy Sets Fire, who plans on embarking on an east coast tour this October. But with as busy as Aida is with seemingly half the bands in Richmond, ShotClock is his main concern.

\“Shotclock is what I would say is my baby,” said Aida. “As far as the one I write for, record, book, and manage.”

Aida formed ShotClock in 2019 when he decided at the last minute to try to get booked on The Fest in Gainesville, Florida. Aida needed to submit some music to the popular punk music festival and quickly knocked out ShotClock’s catchy debut EP, “Side A,” in a matter of months. Unfortunately, this all occurred at the beginning of the pandemic and The Fest was canceled.

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“We played our first show in early March of 2020,” recalled Aida. “It was about three days before they shut everything down. We obviously had to stay put and we ended up writing offline with everybody at home.

“By the time 2021 rolled around, Fest was happening, and we were able to play, and by that point we had two EPs. It actually worked out. We had a little bit more of a following and a little bit more traction online, so it sort of worked out for us. We would have been a brand-new band with only one EP out on a few months' notice.”

Aida uses a revolving rhythm section consisting of veterans of the Richmond punk scene. For this current tour ShotClock includes drummer Sage of Dead Format, and bassist Ryan Smith of NC-17 and Top Me Off.

ShotClock have just released a new pop punk single, “Can’t Explain,” just in time for their Savannah appearance at El Rocko Lounge with Athens’ Shehehe and Savannah’s Manarovs.

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If it seems like Aida has a lot on his plate between multiple bands, tours, and running a studio, it’s because he’s making up for lost time.

“Shotclock is a product of that, and this tour coming up,” said Aida. “In the past I had been hesitant to do all that stuff where it seems like a mountain too high to climb, and now, maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s the pandemic, but I’m just going to do what I want. I’ll start writing new songs, I’m going to start new bands, I’m going to hit the road, record. I lost my corporate job during the pandemic and if all goes well I’ll never step in a corporate office again.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA concerts: ShotClock with Shehehe, Manarovs at El Rocko