In all honesty, it wasn’t until a couple of months I introduced myself to The Revilers by buying their self-titled debut album of Discogs.com without having heard a single chord by this band. A buy in the dark that can surprise you in either a bad or a good way. In The Revilers case it was without a doubt a very pleasant surprise and often gets a spin in my CD-player. With that in mind and the fact the band has just released a four-way split EP I decided to drop a few questions on singer / guitarist Jared.
Okay, let’s kick off with some basic questions. First introduce yourself and the rest of the band members to the readers.
I'm Jared, I play guitar and vocals. We have Dave on drums, Crobar on guitar / vocals and Corey on bass.
Can you tell a bit about the history of the band? How did the band got together, shows you played etc…?
I've known Dave for probably 15 years and Corey for around 20. None of us had played in a band for a while. I ended up meeting Andy at a bachelor party and we hit it off right away. I knew that everyone would get along as a band, and we were all itching to play again. Corey and Dave were introduced to Andy at our first practice and everything just went from there. We've been fortunate in being able to play with some of our favorite bands including Agnostic Front, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Resistance 77, Wrecking Crew, Iron Cross, Templars, DYS, Gang Green, Slapshot, Fang etc. There's so many great bands that we've shared the stage with; we've been very lucky. After a couple of years, Andy decided it was time to leave the band. Our longtime friend, Crobar ended up joining. Since then, we recorded a couple of tracks, played at Punk Rock bowling in Las Vegas, and did a tour with the Dropkick Murphys. That's where we're at now.
I got introduced to you guys through your self-titled debut album which came out last year. How was the response to your debut album so far?
For the most part, we've gotten a positive reaction. I think it's catching on slowly.
After hearing the record it didn’t took me long to pick up your EP’s as well. I noticed that there was quite some time between those releases and the actual full-length. What was the reason for that?
When we started recording the full length we only had a couple of songs ready and the rest were written along the way. We recorded it in my basement over a lot of separate sessions. When it came time to mix, I was going for a cohesive sound, but the multiple sessions made it a mixing nightmare. I really dragged my feet on it. Also, in between our sessions, I would record and mix entire albums for other bands and the Revilers record was always put on the back burner.
Your two EP’s ‘Stand Or Fall’ and ‘Isolation’ as well as the US CD version of your album got released through Boston label PATAC Records. Looking at it’s back catalog it’s a very diverse label and not just ‘specialized’ in Oi! and streetpunk music. How did you get in touch with them, what was the connection between band and label?
Dan is a cool guy. I met him at a record store he used to work at. He was throwing around the idea of starting a label at the same time we were talking about starting a band. Our demo ended up becoming the Isolation 7" as his first release. He's got an eclectic taste in music and has released a lot of different stuff.
Maybe an odd questions, but do you consider yourself a Oi! or streetpunk band?
Not really. Oi! is probably my favorite music and we're heavily influenced by it, but we're influenced by a lot of other styles as well. We know we aren't doing anything groundbreaking, but we don't like to pin down our sound. If someone wants to call us an Oi! band, I'd wear that proudly, but I would never call us pure anything.
Fresh from the presses is the four-way split double EP with Rust, The Guv’nors and Cracks & Scars, so far I only heard the two tracks you guys did through YouTube, really good stuff! How did this release got together?
On our end it was Brett from Black Hole Records that asked us to be on it. I'm not sure whose idea it was but I'm glad it happened. All of the bands are great and it's a solid release. I'm excited about it.
When do you guys think you’re gonna hit the studio again? Is there already something in the works?
The next thing for us is a split 7" with the Antibodies. Then we're focusing on working on a new album. Hopefully it won't take as long this time.
Okay, final question… in the song ‘Quit My Job’ you sing about quitting your job before you kill your boss… How many times did quit a job for this reason?
Just that one time. That guy was a fucking asshole and he drove me to madness. Now I have a damn good boss and we got to record a good song, so it all worked it.
That’s it, thanks a lot for your time. Is there anything you’d like to add?
Thank you for the interview and thanks for running your page and keeping this music alive.
