The energetic seven piece band, “The Revivalists,” hit the town of Chattanooga this past Friday with a blend of jazz, funk and rock. They performed at the Revelry Room located inside the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo.
The group consists of Ed Williams on the pedal steel guitar, David Shaw doing vocals as well as guitar, Rob Ingraham on the saxophone, Zach Feinberg on Guitar, George Gekas on the bass, Andrew Campanelli on drums and Michael Girardot on the keys and trumpet.
“How we met is a classic story we often tell,” Feinberg said. “One day David [Shaw] was sitting on his front porch singing and I was riding my bike down the street and I heard him.”
The two began a conversation and decided they should get together later on and jam. Then, after passing an open mic audition at a dive bar some time later, they formed an early version of the band.
Although none of them were originally from New Orleans, that’s where the soul of “The Revivalists” were born.
“Andrew and I met at a club in New Orleans,” Feinberg said. “There were workshops for musicians on Sundays and we were both going to those, we knew everyone else from college and just being out in New Orleans.”
As far as influences for the band, they all have their own individual talent and style, but when they bring their music together, they make an infectious, funky beat.
“It’s all individual I think; but we have lot of things that we all like,” Shaw said.
According to Campanelli, there are things they all like in every kind of music, such as melodies and lyrics.
“We’ve also shown each other a lot of stuff, and we all listen to a lot of different stuff too, but where we come together is what we sound like,” Campanelli said.
When coming up with a name for their fast growing group, they got an unexpected inspiration.
“We needed a band name, you can only go one or two shows before you have a band name,” Feinberg said. “Before that we were “Twelve Camp Fin Shaw,” which was so bad.”
According to Campanelli, Feinberg heard something on 60 Minutes about Bruce Springsteen.
“They used the word revivalists, and it was 2007 when the city [New Orleans] was rebuilding and it was kind of cool to see that happen,” Feinberg said. “We also could be considered the revivalists of music; it kind of worked in multiple ways.”
During the show, the band played multiple songs from their new album called “Men Amongst Mountains,” which was released this summer on July 17.
“The band as a whole had such an enthusiastic stage presence, and watching them play together like that was just absolutely amazing,” said Mac Archer, who went to the show on Friday.
There were many times when Shaw would jump off stage and physically interact with the crowd, making everyone feel special as if he was singing to them personally.
“I really like it when the crowd gets into it and you kind of get into a conversation with the crowd; it’s just those moments, not even all the time when the music is going on, sometimes it’s when the music is off,” Shaw said. “There’s nothing going on and someone says something and it just sparks something to happen, I like those moments.”
No Comment