Richmond Punk Legend: A Chat with Russ Jones (Inquisition, Ann Beretta)

Inquisition Discography:

To Free Them from Fear cassette (Self-Released, 1992)

The Broken Songs (Self-Released, 1993)

Revolution...I Think It's Called Inspiration! (Pop-a-Wheelie Records, 1996)

Uproar: Live and Loud (No Idea Records, 2008)

Ann Beretta Discography:

Bitter Tongues (Fueled by Ramen, 1997)

To All Our Fallen Heroes (Lookout!, 1999)

The Other Side of the Coin (Acoustic) (Whitehouse Records, 1999)

New Union...Old Glory (Lookout!, 2001)

Three Chord Revolution (Union 2112, 2003)

Old Scars, New Blood (Say-10 Records, 2017)

What can be said about Russ Jones? A Richmond punk legend, to be sure! Part of two legendary Richmond bands, Inquisition and Ann Beretta, Russ has been keeping the beat going for close to 30 years now and in celebration of upcoming Ann Beretta music, Russ graciously agreed to chat about his musical history and what being a part of Virginia punk has meant to him.

Pete Crigler: How did you become interested in music?

Russ Jones: As a kid, I always liked music. My older brother and I were pretty typical 80s kids. Lots of “air” instruments jamming out to Huey Lewis, Def Leppard, Queen, etc. Then we graduated to Iron Maiden, Metallica, Anthrax, DRI etc. sometime in 85 or so. I fell in love with drums then. I wanted to be Nicko McBrain, Lars Ulrich, Charlie Benante. Sometime a few years later he brought home a mix tape his friend had made. It was full of punk and hardcore stuff. Dag Nasty, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, Gorilla Biscuits, Sex Pistols – a lot of the greats. It just got me into it more. In 6^th grade I started playing drums in the school band. From then on, I couldn’t get enough. I got my first kit the following summer.

Pete: Tell me about your early bands.

Russ: They were awful. But they were great because they were so bad. There were only a couple that I was in before we started Inquisition. My brother, Warren (from Hell Mach 4) played bass. One was called NH4, the other one was called Azrael. They were equally terrible/awesome.

Pete: How did Inquisition come together?

Russ: (The following account is from my perspective/faded memory) So, yeah, summer of 1991, me and the bro, playing music in the attic of my parents barn – we were suburban kids, but my dad built a big-ass barn in our backyard. We had just kicked our original guitarist out and invited Mark Avery to play with us. Warren didn’t really like the way things sounded so we ended up getting Leer Baker to play bass. Mark worked with Thomas at Little Caesars and Thom was always singing while washing dishes, so we invited (insisted) him to sing for us.

Pretty soon we had written some songs. After winning a Battle of the Bands, we got our first real show at Rick’s Rock Café on Midlothian Tpk.

About six months later, Leer wanted to do other things, so he left, and we got Rob to play with us. That was 1992.

Pete: What was the scene in Richmond like at the time?

Russ: It was insane. Granted, I was in high school at the time, so that kinda puts a spin on things, I think. We were all that age though. So, we would hand out flyers all over the schools. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had just dropped and Grunge was going full tilt, so the turnouts were incredible. Any band could play any night and there’d be at least 75 to 100 kids at the show. People were just into being at the shows, slam dancing, and wearing lots of flannel. It was a lot of fun. I miss those days a lot.

Pete: Tell me about recording those early tapes.

Russ: So, Inquisition’s first recording, To Free Them From Fear was pretty amazing and funny. We recorded it in Mark’s mom’s garage on a 4-track that only had 3 functioning tracks. We would set up some mics, record whichever instrument/song, mix it down to one track, rinse and repeat. The end result was as bad as you can imagine, but it was ours and we loved it. A friend of my dad had a tape dubbing business redubbing old radio shows from the 30s and 40s. We got him to make a couple hundred cassettes and sold them for like 3 bucks at our shows.

As far as actual studios and “real” releases, first was Touch the Sun, recorded at Neptune Studios in Occoquan, VA by Max Henkel. That was a crazy experience. So many effects, so little time.

Next was The Broken Songs, also recorded at Neptune. This time we had a slightly better grasp on things. Although if you’re ever in the position to split a song into 30 hidden bonus tracks, do your audience a favor and don’t. Shuffle is a nightmare.

After that we recorded the Bulletproof EP at Glass Hand with Mark Miley, and then did the Revolution… record at Sound of Music with John Morand. I’m sure I’m leaving out a half dozen recordings for split 7”s, comps, etc. 

Pete: How did it feel making Revolution?

Russ: I was 19. I was on top of the world. I remember that was, to me, our first true recording as legitimate musicians. We had learned how to write songs, and how to record them in a way that didn’t sound weird. It was like we were at last, a real band. Sure, we had toured and done a bunch of stuff, but that recording, to me, solidified it.

Pete: What caused the band to breakup?

Russ: The short answer is that we were young and stupid. We were touring almost constantly. We over-worked ourselves and didn’t realize that bands could actually take a break and not break up. It was devastating to everyone in the band and close to us. I was heartbroken. Even with all the great things that everyone ended up doing with Ann Beretta, River City High, and Strike Anywhere, I still regret Inquisition breaking up to this day. It was definitely a first love/first breakup kinda thing.

Pete: How did Ann Beretta get started?

Russ: While we were still in Inquisition, Rob and I decided to start a side project called “Peggy Suicide”. It was basically a band we created just to play shows to have fun and get free beer. I think Rob also just wanted to play guitar for a change, so we got Chris Rupp to play bass for us. We wrote 10 three-chord songs in like 3 days and played our first show the following weekend. It was grand.

Fast forward to the Inq. breakup in the summer of ‘96, and me and Rob and Chris had this side project that all of a sudden became the main project. We enlisted Leer (from the then defunct Cloud 13), wrote some “real” songs, changed our name to something not taken from a Julian Cope record, and were back on the road touring by that fall. We recorded the Nobody’s Heroes EP somewhere in there too, but I can’t remember exactly when.

Pete: What was it like recording with Ramen and Lookout?

Russ: Vinnie has always been great and all the Less Than Jake guys have always been super supportive. When it comes to my experience, to be honest, I was pretty oblivious to the economic interworkings and legalities, contracts, etc. of dealing with a record label. Rob handled all of that and I think we all underappreciated that he did. As far as I was concerned, we went to Montana Studios in Richmond, VA and recorded Ann Beretta songs, Rob talked on the phone a lot and a few months later we had CDs. Same thing with Lookout!. I think when we got signed to Lookout! we were all expecting big things, and I think we were all pretty disappointed by how it all turned out. But that’s water under the bridge at this point.

Pete: Had the Richmond scene expanded and allowed for more exposure by this time?

Russ: Yes and no. I think the thing that happened about this time was that the Internet had caught on big. Social media was still in its infancy, but everyone had their own website at least. There were community websites you could post to and spread the word about upcoming shows and new releases. It was a new dimension of promotion which expanded people’s and band’s influences more quickly, but I think being able to get music straight from the internet made going to shows less popular, since you didn’t necessarily need to go to a show to get the record anymore.

At the same time, VCU had started its slow steady march up Grace and Broad Streets. To me it was so subtle at first that it was borderline “sneaky”. Like, one day it’s a Community Pride, the next, it’s a VCU dance hall or whatever. Nothing for a few months to a year, then, The Lee XXX Theatre was replaced by, what, a cop shop? But you’re like, eh, that place was a dump anyway. Next thing you know, 10 years go by and the Biograph becomes a Chipotle, high rise dorms go up in place of Way-Cool Tattoo and Exile, and now what was once the heart of the Richmond scene has been obliterated.

Granted there are some great places to play these days like The Camel and the Broadberry, but I’ll always be nostalgic for Grace Street. The Metro, Twisters, and The Nile/Hole in the Wall – those were our churches.

Pete: Was it difficult dealing with the lineup changes?

Russ: Lineup changes are always difficult. Some more than others, but it always sucks. For me, being in a band, especially a full-time band, has all the responsibilities of a job and all the emotional responsibilities of any relationship. When someone gets a job or enters a relationship, usually their goal is to be in it for the long haul. But sometimes it doesn’t work out. It was a sort of running joke about Ann Beretta bassists for a while. We had Chris, Scott, Danny, Chris (again), Matty B, and finally Donovan. That was all in the space of like 5 years! I even had a spell there where I needed to step away for a bit. Sure, I regret it now, but at the time I needed the space to figure things out. I thank Matt Bush for stepping in for me, and I thank Rob and Donovan for welcoming me back in when I was ready to play again.

When Leer and Chris left to form Sixer, I was really upset. I was definitely angry for the way it all went down, but I was also afraid that Rob would want to call it quits, and I’m so glad we didn’t. I don’t have any animosity toward anyone now, of course, but it was rough at the time.

I guess the bright side is the end result. I love being in a band with my 2 best friends. It really worked out well.

Pete: Did the band begin to wind down after Three Chord?

Russ: Kinda. I mean, at that point Rob and I had both been touring pretty heavily for the past 10 years. He was married and had a kid on the way, Donovan had gotten in good with his job building movie sets, I was still working in restaurants, but had started looking to settle down. Everyone had more or less “grown up” and had other responsibilities. The band, as fun as it had been up until that point was anything but profitable. I think we were all pretty much done with eating ramen, living on 10 bucks a day and sleeping in a stinky van with 3 other dudes. 

Pete: How did the Inquisition reunion go and are there future plans?

Russ: I honestly don’t know if it could’ve gone any better. It was like the best family reunion anyone could’ve asked for. The outpouring of affection and support from everyone was just so amazing. It was very humbling for me to realize how I had helped touch so many lives through the music of that band. A band I had helped start when I was 14 in my parent’s barn had turned into this huge gathering and celebration – it was incredible. If you were there, you know. If you weren’t, I’m sorry. There’s video all over YouTube; check it out.

I would do another reunion in a heartbeat. I know Rob would too. The problem is that we are spread so far these days. Thomas lives on the west coast and so does Mark, but Mark is usually travelling globally for his job. I feel like it will be a fairly monumental task to get everyone in Richmond and practicing the songs in order to do it right. And I wouldn’t want to do it half-assed. I don’t think anyone wants that.

Pete: What does the future hold for Ann Beretta?

Russ: Well, we are currently in the studio recording our first full length record of brand-new material in about 18 years. It feels really good to be putting out some new songs. I’m really proud of them. I can’t wait to hear the finished product. Hopefully it’ll be out early this fall? There’ll be some kind of release party/show. The probably won’t be any touring to support it. Maybe some weekend jaunts here and there, but no big 3-5 month tours.

Pete: What are you guys up to outside of music?

Russ: I am working as a fiber optic engineer helping to design and build fiber optic assemblies. I’m living with my partner in crime, Liz in Bon Air. Other than that, I’m the same nerdy dude I’ve always been: video games, DnD, fossil hunts, cats, birdwatching, fishing…you get the idea.

I know Donovan stays pretty busy working, but we try to skateboard on Sunday mornings with me and Scott Little, one of our former members.

Rob is working, but I don’t know what he does. When I ask, he just tells me he sits in meetings all day. He just finished building a mini ramp in his backyard. He and his son do a lot of BMX racing.

Leer lives in Texas, I think. From what I gather on Instagram he owns a fairly successful carpentry business and really enjoys fixing up old trucks and grilling and/or smoking meats. But he seems to be enjoying life with his family and I’m happy for him.

I feel bad, but I’m not sure what Chris Rupp is up to. I’m pretty sure he moved to Texas with Leer, but I lost touch and I’m not sure what he’s doing now.

Pete: What has it meant to you guys being musicians from Virginia?

Russ: I never really thought about us as Virginia Musicians. I guess maybe being from Richmond has some kind of significance? I don’t know. Maybe it did, but not anymore, I don’t think. The internet brought everyone together so much that I don’t know if being from a particular region has the same impact that it once did. I’m probably wrong about that. I hope so. But, yes, I like being a “Richmond Punk Band”.

Pete: What do you hope your overall legacy will be?

Russ: Wow, that’s a big question. I guess if the music me and my friends have created over the last 20-30 years or so somehow positively influences the next generation(s) or the lives of the people around us or continues to do so after we’re all gone, that’s pretty much the greatest legacy anyone could hope for. I mean, that’s immortality, right?