Re-Creating the sounds of the sixties
|
Re-Creating the sounds of the sixties |
NEWS & EVENTS
|
|
WELCOME TO THE NEWS AND EVENTS PAGE This page will be used
to provide a quick guide to the latest Gigs, new
additions to the web site and messages from the band. LATEST NEWS Rehearsals Begin Welcome to the latest News from the band. We hope that you have all stayed safe and well and are looking forward to a future with fewer restrictions, allowing us all to enjoy live music once again. In preparation for better times ahead, while following the Government guidlines, the band had its first face to face meeting since we said our goodbyes following our 2019 Christmas party at Mapperley Social Club, 17 months ago! While we have been in regular contact throughout the pandemic, completing the recording of our latest CD and recruiting a new member to replace Bryan following his retirement, while also generally checking up on each other, this was a special moment when five of the six members of Revival were together in one place, along with their instruments and in Ken's case voice and microphone.
Kevin had clearly been working
very hard, because Foot tapper rang out as if we had never been away.
We worked through an extensive list of Revival favourites with long and
creative discussions about how we would arrange particular vocals with
our new line up and detailed rehearsal to determine how they would sound. Ken, Geoff, Steve, Jim, Alan and Kevin
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ 2021 Update (March 2021) It's been a while
since we brought you the latest from the band, mainly because like every
other non essential worker, we have all been following the rules to stay
safe ready for the moment when we are allowed back on stage! We do, however,
have some news that we are keen to share with you. Firstly our new CD,
'Pearl' has now been duplicated and we have copies available to sell,
to anyone who is interested in buying our latest effort.(contact Geoff
who will post one out to you) The recently published Government road map would suggest, that providing the data continues to move in the right direction, restrictions will be removed later in the year and we will be performing once again, we can't wait. All provisional bookings will then be confirmed. The dates have
been added to the tour dates page as 'Provisional Booking' simply as a
guide for anyone wishing to book us for their event. We hope you have all managed to stay safe and look forward to seeing you back on the dance floor, or in your seat, helping Ken out by singing along to those great songs from the 50's and 60's later in the year. ________________________________________________________________________________ What a year we have all had! We
could not have imagined as we said good night at the close of our Christmaas
party in December 2019 that we would not be performing again for over
a year. The good news for us and we are sure when you see and hear us again you will agree, is that Kevin is now our Bass man, his vocals are excellent, and he has worked extreamly hard throughout lock down to learn a huge chunk of Revival's repetoir. The restrictions that we have all been under this year have meant that we have yet to have a full rehearsal with Kevin and also been unable to arrange a proffesional photo shoot to update our pictures. Thanks to some nifty camera work by Kev's wife and the magic of 'Photoshop' we have now included him on our home page picture. More information about our latest member can be found on our 'Meet the Band' page Work on the cd is now completed, having been worked on remotely with files being transfered back and forth to Steve for him to add to the mix. This has been a very diferent experience for us all, the energy we draw from each other whether on stage or in the recording studio adds that something that just cant be described or reproduce when singing or playing on your own. Fortunately the bulk of the recording was done together prior to everones world being turned upside down, so each track retains that initial feel of us being together. We are really happy with our efforts which will be titled PEARL, in recognition of our 30 years of music making. The track list has been chosen by Ken and is based on the first set the band ever played back in 1990. Once venues are able to host audiences again and the six of us are allowed to meet in a rehearsal space, we will be back performing for you. We will all be a year older and not quite as tight as we were before this long lay off but our enthusiasm for performance will be as strong as ever so we really hope you will stick with us and make the next year of Revival the best ever, when ever that new year starts! We hope that you are all remaining safe and well and we really are looking forward to making music for you once again.
Any future updates will be posted on the Home Page. ____________________________________________________ Bryan set to retire
after 30 years (March 2020) A Happy New Year to you all from REVIVAL (January 2020) It
has been a while since the "Latest News" had any news for you.
This is partly because we have had a few challenges with the web-site
but mainly because life in and around the band has remained pretty much
business as usual with nothing to report. _________________________________________________________________________
Revival are delighted
to announce the addition of a matinee performance for the Sunday following
the Saturday evening concert on 29th September. BACK TOGETHER AGAIN (December 2017) Revival have now completed
two performances with the whole team back together. On stage that old
familiar feeling returned and we had a great time, with our leader back
where he belongs. We are now looking forward to the last two gigs of 2017 and preparing for 2018. Everyone connected with REVIVAL would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks again for all of your support throughout this year. Ken, Geoff, Bryan, Steve, Jim and Alan __________________________________________________________________ Further update (November 2017) We are delighted to report that Geoff has continued to make steady progress and will now be returning to the stage for the December 2017 performances. The first of these will be at Woodborough Village Hall on December 2nd. Completing a full REVIVAL gig of over
two hours on stage is both physically tiring and mentally exhausting.
In recognition of this, the Band has been determined to help Geoff manage
his return in such a way that he not only enjoys the experience but does
nothing to set back his recovery. _______________________________________________________ Saturday 25th November (2017) was the final appearance as a five piece before the eagerly anticipated return of our leader in December. The venue was Beeston Victory Club and the event was unusual for Revival, in that although tickets had been on sale prior to the evening, it was expected by the promoter that most people would pay on the door (but would anyone turn up we wondered)! In 27 years together this was the first engagement undertaken through an agent and the first as a part of the entertainment programme of a well established social club. Our sincere thanks to all of you who braved the cold and turned out to support us. It was reassuring to see so many familiar faces and rewarding to show what we can do, to so many who were experiencing an evening with Revival for the first time. The venture turned out to be a huge success thanks to a great audience who kept the dance floor full all night. This has been a difficult chapter in Revival's history, the success of the band has been in no small part due to the great relationship between all concerned both on and off the stage. To continue without one of our number has been quite a challenge, on a personal and musical level. Without the dedication and hard work put in by Jim to take on the responsibility of playing lead guitar in Geoff's absence, we would have been unable to have continued and would have had no choice but to let down many people who had booked Revival for their special event. Our sincere thanks Jim. With Geoff fit once again, we can now move forward with the whole gang back together doing what we all do best, setting the scene for a wonderful Christmas through the fabulous sounds of the sixties. _________________________________________________________ As reported in our last
update Revival were unable to perform at the Arnold Carnival (2017) due
to the sudden Ill health of one of our members. We are pleased to tell
you that Geoff, our lead guitarist and musical director is making good
progress with his recovery and is hoping to be back on stage before the
end of the year. Get well soon Geoff, we all miss you _____________________________________________________
Mayor of Gedling Charity
Evening Friday 23rd September
(2016) found the band at Mapperley Sports and Social Club playing to a
full house, supporting the Mayor of Gedling in her fund raising for Nottingham
University Hospitals NHS Trust. Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund 2016/2017. It was a pleasure to
play for such an appreciative audience and we hope to see as many of you
as possible again over the Christmas period when we will be holding our
two Christmas parties. ********* The Tour Guide records the series of
Gigs that have been played this year including another successful return
to the Bonnington Theatre. It may seem a bit early and I'm sorry to remind you, that "that" time is fast approaching! There will be two Christmas parties again this year, both of which will be held at Mapperley Sports and Social Club. Tickets for these ever popular evenings will go on sale later in the year. Ken recently came up with a list of songs that have never been recorded by the Band but which he thought should have been. Work has already begun in the studio and the first of these are now taking shape. All we know at this time is that the Album title will be "ENCORE" but more than that is anyone's guess. Watch this space and we will keep you informed of progrees on this latest project. Finaly a return to the Bonnington in March 2017 has been confirmed and details will be announced once tickets are available.
* * * * * FROM LAST TIME Another year has drawn to a close and once again the New Year was welcomed in at Lark Hill retirement village near Nottingham. This was the fourth year that Revival have had the genuine pleasure of playing for this wonderful audience. A New Year gig is hard work for any musician, at least one extra set and a late night, way past Ken's Cocoa time!!! The warmth shown to the band by those celebrating and a continually full dance floor is a huge reward for the extra effort. The reaction that we get from you, our friends, at each performance continues to amaze and encourage every one of us. In 2015 we played twice at both the Bonington Theatre and Mapperley Social Club, where the band was delighted to meet so many of you who were at a Revival gig for the first time. We hope you enjoyed the experience and will consider joining us again this year. There are a large number of you who we are pleased to see supporting us each time we play. You are always in our thoughts when we are selecting the material for our next performance. Leaving in the numbers that everyone expects to hear, while including ones that people have told us are their favourites and then bringing a few surprises into a programme that can only contain around 45 songs, is a very difficult balance . Fortunately for the rest of us this is Geoff's department, as our Musical Director and so the rest of us just do as we are told! Seriously, we do hope that we are continuing to play the music that you want to hear. It has been said many times but playing live music really is about you, our audience and the band continues to work hard to perfect each song and deliver the best performance possible completely live. We occasionally mention the fact that all the mistake that we make are "live". Some have asked why we mention this. The point that we are making is that we do not use any backing tracks or pre recorded loops, as they are called, to enhance the sound being created on stage, everything you hear is created live in front of you by the musicianship or vocal ability of the six members of Revival. As it is a live performance, every one of us could make a mistake and from time to time we do. This, in our opinion, is part of the attraction of a live performance as no two gigs are ever quite the same and the element of fear is ever present! As a final thought new gear continues to arrive on stage as each of us strives for the best sound we can possibly create. The "Silver " album described elsewhere was such fun to make, that plans are now being made to get together in the recording studio and create another CD. So on we go into another year, looking forward to every performance and rehearsing hard to maintain the Revival reputation for great live music. Have a great year and we hope you will say hello at one of our gigs.
New CD was released
on 19th September. ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS It's hard to imagine that Revival have now celebrated 25 years since the formation of the band. The history of how the Revival began and its evolution, was recorded in a News Letter in 2010. For those who have discovered the band more recently, the story can be found by following this link (2010 News Letter). The "Silver" celebrations have continued with an evening of dancing at Mapperley Sports and Social Club on Friday 4th September where a fantastic audience filled the dance floor and created a party atmosphere. Saturday 19th September
found the boys back at the Bonington Theatre, playing to yet another a
full house. To see so many people spending their Saturday night with Revival
is a humbling experience. It was great to see so many long term fans and
also so many new friends in the audience. It was clear from those that
were spoken to as they left the auditorium that they had had an enjoyable
night and the reaction during the performance was fantastic. Revival would
like to thank everyone who turns out to support the band wherever they
play, without you none of this would be possible.
Ken, Geoff, Bryan,
Steve, Jim and Alan.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
