¡Revíva!

eggae rock band Reviva will host a CD Release Party at The Launchpad for its new CD, Reviva-Change.

Reggae rock singer Chris Brennan of Revíva says one of the band’s missions is help revive a world tired of conflict.

“Our vision is to play music to bring people together by dancing, singing and working through our differences,” Brennan says.

The band, which plays a distinctive style of reggae rock with lyrics in both English and Spanish, will host a CD release party tonight at Launchpad for its new CD, “Revíva-Change.”

Revíva CD Release Party
WHEN: 8 tonight
WHERE: Launchpad, 618 W. Central
HOW MUCH: $8 admission, a 21-plus show
The other group members are Ragon Espinoza on drums, Glenn “Buddha” Benavidez on bass, Jerel Garcia on guitar, Cody Jones on percussion, Daniel “The Harp” Garcia on harmonica and Charlie “The Cheetah” Anderson on trumpet.

“Our music is definitely reggae with Latin rock influences; it’s great dancing music,” Brennan said.

“But I think what really attracts people are the very positive lyrics that speak to cultural struggle, and deal with war and the existing power structure,” he adds.

The band formed in early 2010 and has played at venues like Ned’s in Albuquerque and Fat Sats Bar & Grill in Belen, where a couple of the band members are from, Brennan said.

The band’s goal is to “spread our music internationally, and eventually go on tour to places in South America and all over the world,” he said.

It also is community-oriented, raising money from its shows for education or for fighting cancer, he adds.

The CD includes 18 songs, mostly penned by Brennan with the music a collaborative effort, he says. They include one song called “Afghani Man,” with lyrics like “If you love Bob Marley/Then go with the flow/If you wanna party/Then just lost control/ If you want Justice and Peace and Freedom/ then say the first step to love be love/ the first step to war be war.”

In addition to sales of its CD at the 21-plus show, the band plans to play every song on the disc. Also scheduled to play are Albuquerque reggae band Mystic Vision and Belen group Mondo Vibrations. For more information, go to www.lovereviva.com - Albuquerque Journal

Burqueño reggae-rock band ¡Revìva! has been making music about peace and positivity since early last year. In that short time, the group has had the honor of opening for acclaimed acts like the Wailers. But after ¡Revìva! releases its first album, Change, on Saturday, the band will be transformed. Vocalist Chris Brennan, who sings in English and Spanish, is taking a two-year assignment in Nicaragua with the Peace Corps. He leaves soon after the show. Once he’s in the hemisphere's second-poorest country, Brennan will teach English, as well as start a music exchange program with Van Buren Middle School (where some ¡Revìva! members work). Brennan says he has the full support of his bandmates—Ragen Espinosa (drums), Glenn "Buddha" Benavidez (bass), Jerel Garcia (guitar), Daniel Garcia (keys) and Cody Jones (percussion). "It will be interesting to see if ¡Revìva!’s second album has a Nicaraguan twang to it," he says. We asked Brennan to put his music library on shuffle. Below are the random tracks that appeared. - Jessica Carr, Alibi