Schedule:

7:30 PM: Ravs & The Akrylx

8:30 PM: Seratones

Seratones

“Revolution is not a one time event.” Those words of Black feminist icon and poet warrior Audre Lorde’s resonate strongly with A.J. Haynes. Whether in her capacity as the frontwoman of the Shreveport, Louisiana-based funk-soul-rock group Seratones or as a reproductive rights advocate, Haynes knows well that no singular revolution or simple linear narrative can contain the true strength of revolution—the kind of complex, disruptive, personal revolutions that can open transformative portals to a better future. And on Seratones’ forthcoming third album, Love & Algorhythms (due April 29nd via New West Records), Haynes foregrounds the joyful struggle to find pleasure in a world designed to destroy you. “This is a protest album built on the form of protest I’m most interested in at this moment: getting present and sitting through difficult things with abundant joy,” Haynes says. Love & Algorhythms emerges from a duality of desire: urging the listener to start repairing their world and being a part of that artful change itself.

Ravs & The Akrylx

RAVS is a 27 year old musician from Dallas, TX who has been creating her own definition of what being an artist means. She taught herself the guitar when she was 15 years old after dominating the expert levels of Guitar Hero. She learned countless covers by her favorite artists such as Amy Winehouse, Norah Jones, A Tribe Called Quest, Mac Miller, Chance The Rapper, and Tyler the Creator. But, she didn’t start writing her own music until she got to college at The University of Missouri; a time where she was so overwhelmed with the idea of needing to decide her future at only 18. Music started as a therapeutic hobby, but quickly became her sole focus when RAVS decided to merge her soul-wrenching love for hip-hop with her own chords and lyrics around 2015. The rest was history.

Musically, one of the biggest highlights came early on. She was asked to be a part of a band post-graduation that was formed in order to promote diversity and inclusion on campus after the 2015 Mizzou Protests. She helped usher in the entire freshman class of 2016 through Mizzou’s “Talking Drum” seminars which were devoted to using music as a way of shifting campus culture and mentality. She was given the freedom to remix songs from Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, etc. with her own verses and took that opportunity to talk about current events and issues that continue to plague the world today. This is something that has carried on into her own music and has helped RAVS find her voice in the music industry.