The Revere

By Kirk Greenwood

Earlier this year, Bucks County, PA-based alt-rockers, The Revere, released their inaugural, full-length album, The Great City, as a free mp3 download on Amazon.com. Unconcerned with achieving immediate commercial success, the band hopes to build its fan base by freely sharing its content.
The Revere are mystically bent, using fantastical, archetypal imagery a la 'The Lord of the Rings,' or 'The Chronicles of Narnia' to spin textured yarns based in the world of imagination. The baroque storytelling is set to overpowering, heavy-metal guitar riffs, clanging drums and a driving bass.
The Great City is a concept album. The songs tell part one of a quest narrative that will be concluded in a future work. The story revolves around an old man called, by an ethereal woman in a dream, to lead a group of wayfarers on a journey to a great city and beyond.
The Revere resists attempts, though, to pigeonhole their style. "Our music is a reflection of ourselves," says bassist, Mike Pearson. "We don't try to make any particular type of music; we draw our inspiration from what's going on around us."
When asked to brainstorm a list of their influences, the band members eschewed the standard litany of direct stylistic forbearers, in favor of a quirkier set of unrelated personal and cultural phenomena, like dreams, movies, visual art, nature... even the works of Russian romantic composer, Peter Tchaikovsky.
"In the past, we've framed songs around single words, like 'juggernaut' and 'metamorphosis'-colorful words with distinct meanings," says drummer Pat Kelly. He explains that while such-and-such a word may not actually appear in a song, the band works hard to distill the essence of that word into something listenable.
"We try to use a full range of melodic and lyrical means to conjure certain distinct mental images for the listener," says guitarist Sean Kelly.
"Music is a synesthetic experience," says Pearson. "It works on all the senses at once. Sometimes, when we play together, one of us will see something, other times someone will taste something-all of this becomes the basis for our music." Pearson is also a creative visual artist, who designs the album artwork and much of the band's promo material himself.
The three bandmates are childhood friends who share a friendly, democratic group dynamic. Their only release prior to The Great City was an 8-song EP, The Light Makes It Easier to See, in 2007. Now, with a professionally recorded album under their belts, The Revere are looking forward to broadening their horizons. "We're trying to play more venues in the city," says Sean.
The framing idea around which The Great City is built is one of 'celebration.' "We like to think of this album as a call to celebration," says Pat Kelly. The album is bookended by two celebratory songs, the first of which, "Sleep is a Celebration," is self-explanatory and the latter of which, "The Great City," heralds the travelers' arrival in The Great City and the transition into the next phase of their journey.
"Celebration is important to us," says Sean. "We are constantly reminding ourselves that life's supposed to be a celebration. We wanted to share that attitude with others. That's what this album is really about." - Origivation Magazine

The Revere, the Warringtion, PA version not to be confused with the UK band Revere, released their first CD The Great City digitally on Amazon.com on January 18, 2010 for free. This first venture into commercially viable music is quite ambitious. For all intents and purposes, The Great City is a rock opera in the style of Trans Siberia Orchestra’s recent release Night Castle.

The Great City is a journey by a group of people led by an old man. The journey seems to take place in a dream. The Revere open the story with “Sleep is a Celebration,” and Sean Kelly (vocals and guitar) pleads “beg me to sleep for this is my dream,” and then sets the stage for a preternatural journey. The journey starts at an inn where the travelers meet an old man who will lead them to the great city. Along the way they encounter beauty, terror, and even some giants. The journey is Tolkienesque and filled with fantasy.

The story is very well told. The rock it rides on is solid and driving. It moves the story along, sometimes frenetically, and sets the mood for a great adventure. The driving guitar is powerful and engaging. The ballads are smooth and at times beautiful. Artistically this is solid, and it has what we call pace in theater. It moves and keeps moving naturally without any lulls to keep the listener entranced.

I could not help but wonder though “why?” [I also could not help but think about Spinal Tap and their tiny Stonehenge] Why tell the story this way, and what is it really about? The answers to the questions are not mine. No matter how they are answered these questions pose the biggest challenge to The Revere and The Great City. This album requires that the listeners really listen.

The Great City is a story, and the songs taken out of context my not engage someone unfamiliar with the band or the story. This is really good music, but an odd time in The Revere’s careers to introduce such an album. That’s what I meant when I said this offering is ambitious. Imagine if Ummagumma was Pink Floyd’s only album; they would only have a cult following. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Perhaps by giving this album away, it will attract to The Revere their own cult, and they can thrive among those who really appreciate them. Its FREE! Pick up your own digital copy today! By the way, this is part one of the story.

Find out more about The Revere:

The Revere on MySpace
The Revere on Facebook
The Revere Official Site - Greg from Big Beef and Beer.com