Richmond-based No Ordinary Family joins Above Records

The members of No Ordinary Family (from left-to-right), Luke Cerully (guitar), Nyshawn Rudd (synth guitar), Jimmy Emory (vocalist), Gabe Vazques (guitar), AJ Eckley (bass guitar), Josh Miller (drums), signed to Above Records on Jan. 1.

Sarah King
Staff Writer

Richmond based band, No Ordinary Family, signed to Above Records on the first day of the New Year. The metal and post-hardcore band, formed in September 2012, consists of six members. Luke Cerully, one of the band’s guitarists and an electrical engineering major at VCU, is excited to move forward with their music.

“We’re basically going to be getting a lot more publicity, and we’re also getting help with…the songs we’re going to be releasing,” Cerully said. “The quality of everything we make is going to be a lot better.”

Above Records is a non-profit contract-free label dedicated to promoting bands and making them more well-known.

“There was this band called Above This, and their record label dropped them so they started their own label,” Cerully said. “Nyshawn got in touch with them and they were just like, ‘Hey since we got dropped, and you guys should be on it,’ so we just kind of got tossed on to it.”

Since coming together about a year ago, the band has had much success. Their first EP “Recover. Rebuild.” was released Nov. 12, 2013. In December, NOF won Syke Band of the Month, a competition between hardcore bands to promote a smoke-free music scene in Virginia.

“We support clean air. It’s a lot harder to breathe during shows when everyone’s smoking,” said Josh Miller, the group’s drummer and manager. “We won by 200 votes, even though we had a much bigger lead earlier in the competition.”

Miller said the band tries to play a show at least once every two months, and have done most of their shows at local Richmond venues such as the Canal Club and Kingdom. No Ordinary Family is playing two shows in the next month including a gig at the Canal Club next Friday.

“The main difficulty we’re facing is having six people play in a band and coordinate everything,” Cerully said. “Everyone lives in different areas, (and) we’re all scattered so it’s really hard to get together to practice in the first place.”

The band draws influences from artists such as Chelsea Grin, Attila, Blessthefall, and Suicide Silence. They have also played with bands such as The Browning, This or The Apocalypse and Tear Out The Heart.

“Our other guitarist, Gabe started (No Ordinary Family) a year ago…but the vocalist and guitarist left,” Cerully said. “Gabe and I are good friends, and he asked me to join. As one of my best friends, (he) is an amazing vocalist and (the band has) come together really well since then.”

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