Mere Mortals

Happy 2016 everybody. So we ended 2015 by recording our first LP in November with Andy Nelson. I think I speak for all of us when I say it was an awesome experience. Once we got done with our stuff we had a few beloved friends make contributions on a few songs and we're super pumped about how those turned out. The final mastering touches are being applied by Brad Boatright as we speak so we can finally say the record is basically done. It's going to be called "Mere Mortals", it's got 11 songs and runs at about 35 minutes. We're all really happy with how it came out and feel it's our strongest material to date.

We're currently sending it around to labels to see if anybody wants to help us out with it. If not, we'll probably just say fuck it and press it ourselves. Either way, it will hopefully be available on vinyl by the summer.

Right before we went in to track the LP we got hit up by a friend asking if we could contribute a song to a comp he's putting out, so we wrote an extra song in the studio and laid it down while we were there. We've never written that way before, but we overcame our collective self-doubt and wrote what we all feel is a pretty ferocious song. We'll announce the details on that release when we're allowed to, haha.

In the meantime, Aaron is gonna be posting the lyrics to "Mere Mortals" one song at a time, with detailed explanations of the ideas and situations that moved him to write these songs. The initial one went up last night, it's a look at the first song on the record, "Capsized". You can check that out here: http://maybeitscomplicated.blogspot.com/2016/01/capsized.html?m=1

Otherwise, we have a bunch of shows coming up: we're gonna be in Grand Rapids Thursday with Cloud Rat, in March we're playing Sanctuary twice; once with Mindset and the other time with Hollow Earth, and then we have a gig in May at the church in Royal Oak with Lentic Waters who are coming over from Europe, as well as Locktender, Old Soul, and Social Werq.

Hope all is well, 2016 is gonna be a big one for us,

Scobie/Rev

  

Some Updates

Hey, so summer has been filled with changes and things. After Sam moved to Texas, we weren't really sure what to do, but got very lucky in that our longtime friend Jimmy Lawson stepped up and has joined us on bass. We've been breaking him in and getting things situated for the LP this Fall. Last weekend we spent some time in Toledo with our friend JC at Lakebottom Recording House and knocked out demos for 5 of the new songs. JC did an awesome job, we couldn't be more stoked on how things sound. We might throw a couple of the songs on a tape, or on our bandcamp or whatever so keep your eyes and ears peeled for those. I would guess there will be some arm-wrestling matches at practice this week to decide what we should do.

Otherwise, the next few months will be spent refining and finishing the record. We'll be going back to Bricktop Recording in Chicago come November to put it down. We don't have any shows lined up at the moment, if something fun comes our way maybe we'll poke our heads out of the practice space.

Otherwise, as always there's a lot of rad stuff going on around Detroit. Give is playing at Refuge this Sunday, next weekend is Don't Call It A Fest, which Maxxwell and Nick have again put a ton of work into. Whenskiesaregrey is playing the Metal Frat September 13th, G.L.O.S.S. is playing the Trumbullplex September 16th, Envy is playing The Shelter on Halloween, fuck! Anyway, we'll see you out there.

Great Rev 2015

More Writing, and A Couple Shows

Happy 2015, hope the new year has been good thus far.

On our end we've just been writing, writing, writing. Skeletons for 9 or 10 songs are pretty well set. We're shooting for 11 total to record for an LP. Aaron has been working on lyrics and the stuff he has revealed so far has been simply awesome. Musically, things are a little more straight forward and heavy this time around, not as much post-rock noodling going on, though still a bit. We're trying to be mindful about varying the tempos, song lengths, etc. Lyrically, Aaron has said that whereas previous material has been more thought-oriented, the new material is more feeling-oriented.

In terms of recording, the tentative discussion is to do some pre-production at some point this Summer to give things a listen, make whatever tweaks are needed, etc. and then to hopefully record in the Fall. It should be out on vinyl next year, maybe with the help of some labels, maybe us just doing it ourselves.

We are poking our heads out of the practice space a couple times next month. Come say hello.

Wednesday, April 1st at The Sanctuary with Cult Leader, Hollow Earth, React, and Breaking Wheel. 6:30 p.m. $10 (Note that this is an early show so everyone can bust out and lose our minds for Bane later in the evening)

Friday. April 3rd at The Berkley Front with Locktender and Roots and Ruins. 9 p.m. $5

Lastly, if you've yet to check it out, do yourself a favor and get to a show at The Sanctuary. Maxxwell continues to be the anchor to the d.i.y. scene in Detroit and the new space is a testament to his commitment. His website with a list of upcoming shows is here: www.sanctuarydetroit.tumblr.com  

Also, check out the new Eyesore demo, and brace yourself for the new Cloud Rat LP. Michigan on top.

It's Cold Out, We'll be Inside For A While....

So 2014 was pretty cool; we got to play with a lot of awesome bands, released 2 records, said goodbye to one member and hello to a new one. As winter approaches, it's time for us to settle in and really focus on writing new material, which will hopefully be recorded (and maybe released) next year. We might play a show here or there if the spirit moves, but mostly we'll be hunkering down in the practice space.
Stay Warm,
Scobie/Rev

And the Torch Gets Passed....

After five years of the same five bastards making noise in this band, we have a line-up change to announce. Steve will be stepping out of the Rev to focus the bulk of his energy on taking over the world with Hollow Earth. Steve is a founding member of our band and has played a huge role in the songs we have written together, so while we understand and support his decision 100%, it's definitely a little bittersweet.

That said, we're pumped to announce that our good friend Nik Hubbard will be taking over for Steve. You may know Nik from his time in Retribution; dude knows his way around the fret board and then some. We've already started working with him a little bit on material for the LP and we're definitely excited to have him involved in the writing process going forward.

Nik's first show with us will be this Saturday in Toledo at the OT with Homewrecker, Pharoah, Mutilatred, and Discerned. Come throw him the horns.

Steve will be playing his last show with us Devil's Night in Detroit at Yonka House with Axis, Eternal Sleep, Hollow Earth, and Lost Track. Come help us tell him to go fuck himself. (-:

Things....

We've been kind of slacking on updating this thing for a while now, but we have lots going on. First things first, we released a new split 7" with our friends in Sunlight Ascending a couple of months ago. They came out really cool and we're excited we got to work with such good friends and talented musicians.

Next, our other new 7" "Natural Burial" should be out very soon. The awesome dudes at How Soon is Now, Hydrogen Man, and Protagonist are teaming up to release that for us and we're really thankful to all of them for putting their faith in us and lending a hand. We are doing a small run out to Philly and back next weekend to celebrate the release. The dates are as follows:

Friday, May 2nd in Columbus, Ohio with Northern Widows and Prize the Doubt.
https://www.facebook.com/events/6104968623...71216/

Saturday, May 3rd in Philly at Lava with Capacities, Manalive, and Limits.
https://www.facebook.com/events/267511983430233/267519670096131/

Sunday May 4th in Pittsburgh with Blood Red and others TBA **Matinee Show**
https://www.facebook.com/events/234581743405488/235236360006693/

After that a local release show is happening May 10th at Yonka with our friends in Old Soul as well as SNAFU and La Armada.

Beyond that, Steve will be on tour a lot of this year with Hollow Earth so the rest of us will be working on new songs. After a demo, two split 7 inches, our own 7 inch, and a 10 inch, we've decided the next logical step is an LP. Never thought we'd say that but we're gonna go for it. We already have rough skeletons for about three new songs and have a bunch more riffs hanging around so we'll be in the practice space a lot this year. It would be sweet to record by the end of this year or early next year; we'll see how that pans out, haha.

In non band-related activities, Aaron has been blogging about life, love and regret via http://maybeitscomplicated.blogspot.com/. My dude is an amazing writer, go check it out.

I've been doing lots of interviews with music people via http://scobonixxx.blogspot.com/ and I'm also starting a little label called Dropping Bombs. The first release is a one-sided 7" from the homies in Spit Spewing Snakes. That should be out in the next week or two.

This Fall will be five years that we've been playing shows. I know for me it feels surreal that it's been that long and I continue to love having this band as a vehicle for fun, stress relief and personal expression. To anyone that gives a shit about us; whether it's been for a week or going on 5 years now, thanks.

Scobie/Rev

Records Coming Out, Shows Coming Up

Happy new year everybody, we're pretty stoked on what 2014 has in store for us.

First things first, our split 7" with Sunlight Ascending has been at the plant for a few weeks. We should have tests in hand soon, pre-orders and a full stream of the record should be up in the next little while.

After that, we have another new 7" entitled "Natural Burial" coming out around April. We're super psyched to announce that the record will be released collaboratively by our friends at How Soon is Now, Hydrogen Man, and Protagonist. All three labels are run by awesome people who we couldn't be happier to be working with. Also, the layout for that bad boy is being handled by Alex CF from Light Bearer/Fall of Efrafa, and all we can say is the stuff we have seen so far has been super sick.

In addition to the records coming out, we have a bunch of rad shows coming up for the first little bit of the year:
Tuesday, Jan 7th at Anna's apartment in Detroit with Discourse, Hollow Earth, and Peach Pit.
Saturday, January 11th at Yonka in Detroit with No More, From Hell, Not Ok, Spit Spewing Snakes, and Serve & Defy.
Tuesday, January 14th again at Yonka in Detroit with Hollow Earth, Retribution, and a special guest that everyone will mosh and sing along too. It's gonna be bad fucking ass.
Sunday, February 16th at Refuge in Dearborn with Dangers, Left of the Dial, and End Trails.

Other than that, Steve will be recording a new full length with Hollow Earth at the start of February, you're not ready for that shit.

Stay warm,
Rev