ViRG

Anthony Pirog at Songbyrd

Thursday November 19th

Rat City Presents

ViRG "Why Not Destroy This?" Album Release Show w/ Anthony Pirog and Red Sunflower, Dumb Lucky

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ViRG exists in a world of dualities. It is both the alter ego of Piano Whitman, and the band she leads. ViRG makes synthesizer-based dark pop, wherein fully analog signal chains crackle with raw, vulnerable humanity. It is music pulled from the ether in Whitman’s overflowing ‘synth room’, as inspiration flows from her fingers into the myriad vintage slabs of knob-adorned steel and circuitry. It is at once also a fully wrought artistic statement, made whole by the communal contributions of her bandmates. ViRG is machine-based music that lives and breathes. It is so very much of the moment, filled with undeniable hooks that are destined to reverberate through discotheques eternally.

Whitman grew up surrounded by Italian music and classic rock and started playing her dad’s old ‘80s Roland synth at age three. By six, she was writing her own songs, expanding to guitar, and eventually hosted a web series for the Kidz Bop organization. She played open mic nights at bars at age 12, and joined her first band at 15, playing sax and going on to open for the likes of Aaron Carter at the Fillmore. More bands followed - My Kid Brother and Oh He Dead - but through it all, Whitman kept writing her own music. She dropped her first album as ViRG, I Was Dressed in Yellow, in 2019, followed by Weeks in 2023.

Why Not Destroy This? marks a new chapter in the evolution of ViRG. While prior releases were, for all intents, fully solo projects, Why Not Destroy This? is the recorded debut of ViRG the band. In addition to Whitman, the record features synthesists Alex Salser (also of D.C. luminaries Oh He Dead) and Daniel Rozmajzl (Pleasure Business), and drummer and percussionist Maxfield Holiday (Pleasure Business).