The Rise Of Revivalry
My first band as a teenager hardly played outside of my bedroom. We recorded to four-track tape and never showed anyone the tapes, consequently never being offered or even attempting to play a gig. The scope for teenage bands is different these days. The internet can connect them with like-minded music lovers and enable them to build a fanbase. Home recording technology can put a recording studio in your living room, capturing songs at brilliant quality for bands to hit the ground running. One such band is Revivalry.
Revivalry: Ben Townsend, Lewis Hubbert and Connie Miles.
Forming at the end of 2019, the teenage trio of Revivalry include vocalist and bassist Connie Miles, guitarist and vocalist Ben Townsend and Lewis Hubbert on drums. They released their first single ‘Run’ at the beginning of 2020, with ‘Bullet’ following later that summer.
Their third single ‘Lost Bliss’ received radio airplay on BBC Music Introducing Humberside and was shared by actor Robert Carlyle on his Twitter account. Lost Bliss later featured on U.S. compilation ‘Voices In The Dark: Out Of Isolation’, available on CD, vinyl and streaming platforms. 2021 saw Revivalry running their own radio show on In Your Ears Music as well as appearing on ‘All About The Music’, a weekly television programme on Showcase TV. They also released two more singles, beginning with ‘Shame On You’.
The first thing I notice about ‘Shame On You’ is how punchy it is, how everything you need to hear in the sound of this trio is in this song. The production avoids adding so much to make it unrepresentative of Revivalry’s live sound. You can hear Lewis Hubbert’s enjoyment in his playing style, the expansion of Ben Townsend’s double-tracked guitar line and Connie Miles having the perfect voice to sing this melody.
Shame On You was made into a music video on the band’s YouTube channel where they display examples of white lies, before laying them to a fiery rest. The track was included on the second Brits & Pieces compilation in early 2021, with mixing and mastering by Nick Brine whose other credits include Oasis, Bruce Springsteen and Arctic Monkeys.
With that combined riff and melody, ‘Regret You’ could’ve been written in the late 1970’s, like the debut single of a band who’d see great success in their first album. Already Revivalry have grown in confidence, with Townsend’s guitar playing more fluid, giving the listener more in the context of the song. Lewis too plays more freely, jumping into a different beat to finish the track like a new song altogether. The potential for that to segue into a new song, possibly in Revivalry’s live set, is tantalising.
What I like about Connie’s voice is her ability to suit the style of music she’s singing at the time. Her own taste ventures into more delicate acoustic material, yet here her voice perfectly suits the indie songwriting. At just shy of three minutes, Regret You leaves the listener wanting more.
Released in depreciation of Valentine’s Day, Revivalry take an overall more timid approach with ‘Pieces’. The pace is slower, but this isn’t the band venturing into slow-song territory. The opening tom accompaniment from Lewis to Ben’s guitar riff eases the track into a steady beat, with the lyric setting the tone: ‘Ask no questions, tell no lies, give no answers, no replies.’
The interesting turn in this song is its pre-chorus, featuring an almost unsettling chord progression that makes the impact of the chorus itself all the more meaningful. Perhaps in a sign of what’s to come, Ben Townsend can be heard backing up Miles’ lead in the chorus. The contrast of their voices is something that could greatly benefit the sound of Revivalry, with not only Ben backing up Connie in future, but perhaps trading off vocals within a song too. The band can be seen on their Instagram account playing Pieces as part of opening the new Woodley Moss Studios.
With a slot at this year’s Kendal Calling Festival and the band playing gigs regularly, I can only see Revivalry on an upward trajectory in 2022. The enjoyment from audiences at their gigs is clear as day, it’s not hard to feed off the energy this band has. Continue reading for our Q&A with Revivalry, we ask about the tracks they’ve released so far, their live show and plans for the future.
Revivalry appear as part of the compilation ‘Voices In The Dark: Out Of Isolation’.
1. You're kicking off 2022 properly with your new single 'Pieces', what was the recording situation like? Do you feel pressure when recording each of your parts?
Revivalry: We record individually so actually much less pressure than playing live. Ian, Connie’s dad, handles all of that and then we review the mix and get him to alter it to what we like.
2. Tell us about the gear you're using, what are you all playing?
Ben Townsend: I have a couple of guitars but tend to favour my Ibanez Blue Lagoon.
Connie Miles: It’s an Epiphone Bass for me.
Lewis Hubbert: Pearl Decade Maple.
3. Connie, some of the Revivalry songs are co-written with your Dad, does 'Pieces' have a similar origin? Or is it more of a band composition?
Lewis: We are lucky to have Ian, who is always involved and can point us in the right direction when we get stuck.
Connie: Writing is at times chaotic and challenging but always fun.
Ben: I usually start it with an idea of a riff and we just run with it from there, sometimes it turns into a song, sometimes not.
4. Ben, you're singing backing vocals on this track, can fans expect a lead vocal from you in the future?
Ben: I do sing a few songs in our live set now and there is something in the pipeline with me on lead vocals, watch this space.
5. You've shot some videos for your past singles, is one coming for 'Pieces'?
Revivalry: Possibly, maybe even probably. Videos are fun to think of and create but ultimately we don’t get much response to them and we always have something else to be working on.
6. I saw 'Lost Bliss' was shared by Robert Carlyle! How did it feel that he'd listened to and tweeted your track?
Revivalry: He shared Shame On You and picked it as one of his tracks of the month too. It’s slightly surreal that he even knows who we are. He is a huge supporter of unsigned bands and can get new music to an audience that would usually be out of our reach, and obviously he is thought of very highly by many of us bands.
Lewis: I think it blows my dad’s mind to have “Begbie” love our songs.
7. 'Lost Bliss' deals with your feelings of being apart during the pandemic. Was there a positive aspect to the pandemic for each of you?
Revivalry: It was definitely tough in lockdown with not even being able to see each other as friends, never mind play music. Having that long term goal of Kendal Calling definitely helped, as did social media – we discovered a whole army of music fans that supported us and many other artists.
8. Last year you had a radio show with In Your Ears Music, what did you enjoy most about putting those shows together?
Revivalry: It really engaged us with other bands and they would send us unreleased tunes to play which were awesome to listen to. It was also really cool to give Shame On You it’s first airplay – not many artists get to premier their own song.
9. You also appeared on the TV show 'All About The Music' last summer, what was that experience like?
Revivalry: So cool. To get that sort of exposure was awesome, and being interviewed for TV was a great experience and life lesson.
10. Nick Brine mixed and mastered 'Shame On You', how did he become involved with that track?
Revivalry: We were fans of the first Brits and Pieces album and quite friendly with some of the artists on it. When Marc announced a second album we sent him a, then unreleased, version of Shame On You. He liked it but wanted a different mix so introduced us to Nick Brine who worked his magic.
There is now a third B&P album on the way and we wish it lots of success, it is a wonderful project and is great exposure for unsigned artists.
11. With a few singles having been released now, are you still throwing the odd cover into your set? If so, who's songs are you playing?
Revivalry: It depends on the circumstances, but yes we do love to cover some of our favourite tracks. Arctic Monkeys are high on the list but we have quite a few others we can go to – Kings Of Leon and Nothing But Thieves are a couple – we have even played Tears For Fears at a gig recently.
12. Lewis, how do you feel about drum solos? Is it the kind of thing you like to play? Is there a drum solo you've seen that just knocked you out?
Lewis: I do love to play them but they are nerve wracking live. Buddy Rich on the tonight show is just something else.
13. Who were the artists that inspired you all to start playing?
Ben: Metal / rock
Lewis: Indie
Connie: Pop and singer / songwriter
Revivalry: We all bring a bit of each to Revivalry. There are a few bands that cross over, the main one being Arctic Monkeys.
13. And what are you all listening to in 2022?
Revivalry: Arctic Monkeys, Metallica, The Police, The Reytons, Lottery Winners
15. What's next for Revivalry? What plans do you have for 2022?
Revivalry: We have more new music to complete and release.
Kendal Calling this summer (after a two year Covid delay) is becoming very real now but we have other festivals and gigs booked in including a trip to Manchester to play an acoustic session for Macmillan Cancer Support and a set in Oxfordshire for #AtoDofindie live where many of our Twitter friends will be.
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Revivalry’s music is available to download and stream in all the usual places.
Follow Revivalry on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @revivalryband.
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