Interview with David Shaw
of The Revivalists
Countdown to the Major Rager
Nearly any good band from the era of Classic Rock had an outstanding front-man. Every good band needs someone who can really connect with the crowd on a personal level. Perhaps one of the biggest setbacks of this era in live music is the absence of a good vocal front-man. David Shaw of the Revivalists is at the forefront of top lead vocalists on the live music scene. Shaw is an incredibly genuine musician who takes his craft with the sincerity and dedication of the Rock N Roll greats. Andrew M. of LiveMusicDaily recently spoke with Shaw about the progression of Shaw’s songwriting process, the Revivalists new album, his former musical endeavors, the state of the music industry and much more.
The Revivalists will be performing alongside Gov’t Mule & Lettuce at the Major Rager on Thursday April 9th in Augusta,GA following the first round of the Masters Golf Tournament. We are giving away a FREE Ticket to the show, fill out your name & email address below for a chance to win!
Most bands tend to either be noticeably more of a “live” band than a “studio” band and vice versa. There is often some sort of noticeable gap. However, the Revivalists have a keen understanding of song crafting for the studio process, but are able to deliver live performances that ranks among the top acts on the live music circuit. Could you elaborate on how the band achieves this consistency and how have you become better at it over time?
David Shaw: There are two things I would like to touch on. One thing that I love that you said is song crafting, not song writing, but song crafting. It’s also about show crafting, being able to mold it to the crowd. Sometimes the crowd will take you where you want to go. If you’ve written out a setlist and you’re about to go into a super dark ballad on the next tune, but it’s not feeling like it should go there you got to be able to read the crowd’s vibe and maybe kick it up for one more before you bring it back down. In the studio we try to let the songs shine.
If it’s live, it’s a completely different beast. It’s loud; you’re able to see that raw emotion. When we play live we’re trying to conjure up that raw emotion when the song was written. Ultimately what you’re trying to do in the studio as well, you’re trying to conjure that raw feeling. Where did that song come from? Where did that emotion come from? Was it something that happened to you in your life? Whether good or bad. Even if you aren’t feeling that emotion at that particular time, how do you get there? In order to get that across to the crowd, it’s a difficult thing. Sometimes it doesn’t always happen. Not every show are you going to make that connection for various amounts of reasons. I feel like a show is like a 2 or 3 year old. You never know what you’re going to get, but it’s always going to be wild.
I’ve always loved playing live, it’s something that I’ve loved to do since I was 13. In my hometown there was this old converted movie theater that they converted into a place that I would play live shows in . In terms of song crafting in the studio, I think that we really try to make sure that the song can remain the song. We want the song to shine. We’re always going to try new things in the studio. Most of the songs are written on an acoustic guitar then everyone will either put their part on it or they’ll lay out if it calls for it. When we’re playing a live show it’s all about conjuring that emotion which was felt when the song was written.
Could you tell us what it is like travelling with a 7 piece band in an era where putting a smaller band or a DJ on tour makes more economic sense in terms of booking and travel logistics. Obviously you respect the integrity of your music and you’re not willing to compromise anything. You want to have the best sound possible for the band. Oftentimes, people think that bands merely walk up on stage every night and it is all the glamour of a “rock n roll” lifestyle. But you know that is not always the case nor does that paint a true understanding of what a band endures when they are on the raod. It’s a commitment, a lifestyle: the 3am load out and drive to the next city, that takes a certain work ethic that takes places behind the scenes. Could you touch on that?
DS:It definitely is… I don’t want to sound cheesy, but ACDC said it best “It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll”. When you think that you have made it, you are just starting at the bottom. It’s one of those hard realizations that I’ve had to come to. Maybe about our third year of touring I realized how difficult it was going to be. You tour and tour and tour and then if something pops out to the masses that’s great, but you’re still going to be touring and touring. Don’t get me wrong, I love touring. That’s what we do.
We’re a working band. There are different models of how bands do it. There are other ways of doing it and I don’t fault those ways at all. One of our strengths is that we are a unit. We are a 7 piece, we have a tight horns section and everybody knows their part. We’ve been playing live together, in the same configuration for 4 years now. You gather tightness when it’s that same group of people for that length of time. Even when shit goes wrong, and everything has gone wrong at some point in time.
It’s great when you keep the same unit together, you’re all familiar with that territory when it does go wrong and the show won’t take a turn and completely derail. We started a show recently and they didn’t have my vocal up for a song and a half. The production guy patched everything wrong, so we had saxophone in the vocal line and it was a mess. When shit like that happens in front of a thousand people, you can’t get flustered and you have to be composed. It’s sometimes a pain to tour with seven people, but it’s worth it in the end. Do I have other bands that I play with? I do solo stuff with a trio and occasionally another guitarist. I get that on the side, I get to do something else as well. It’s all good. This band is this band, and if you’re in another band that band is that band.
The first album consisted of songs you’d already written aside from “Concrete”. There was a clear maturation and increased chemistry from “Vital Signs” to” City of Sound”, which can likely be attributed to having become more familiar with each other’s strengths through all the live performances. How do you feel the songwriting process for the upcoming album differs from “Vital Signs” and “City of Sound”? Was Ben Ellman involved in the production of the new unreleased album as well?
DS:We have gone back into the studio and completely recorded an entire new album. It’s almost done. Ben Ellman produced it and it’s in the mixing process right now. We tracked most everything live and then we went in and overdubbed everything that needed to be overdubbed. If we had a vocal that was good enough for the album, we kept it. I feel those first few vocal track have that emotion, you’re actually doing it better I feel like. It’s going to have 13 or 14 tracks on it. We’re not putting out a short album this time. We’re going to put it out on Wind Up Records and we have a lot of new stuff for yall to hear and we’re excited about it.
A lot of the songs you write are autobiographical events that happened in your life or maybe someone you know about or a member in the band. How have you artistically become better at conveying those themes or messages to your audience both live and in the studio? What wisdom have you garnered over the past few years that has that has made it easier to disseminate this stories to the audience? Was there a pivotal point for you personally?
DS:Your songwriting is something that is certainly tied to you as a person. What I’m doing, where I’m going in my life, who I’m with. My girlfriend Sam and I have been together for 2 years and I’ve been really happy. Sometimes it’s not easy to write a song when you’re so happy! But, I’ve learned to be able to write a happy song, because who doesn’t like a happy song? One thing I’ve noticed is that as you get older you become more aware.
When I turned 25 and I stopped drinking, I realized that I was becoming more aware of who I was, my surroundings, who I was hanging around with, whose hands I was putting my career into. As you become older you become more aware of your situations. That’s what I think the issue is with people getting bad into drugs is that sometimes people become scared of becoming aware. I think that is something that changes a person’s songwriting for sure. It’s not necessarily always a good thing to become aware. The songwriters who have become able to convey a message, or a feeling, I think have become ok with their awareness and they fall forward into their songwriting. If you’re going to be songwriter, you’re not going to be a musician who dies before their prime or their time and they make some kind of martyr out of you.
You have to be able to be a chameleon and mold into any shape or form. Be aware of those feelings you have at that time and write about those. For instance, David Bowie’s “Pressure” I’m sure he was under a lot of pressure when he wrote that song. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. It’s not always ice cream and kisses. A short answer to your question is to be ok with your awareness and keep a close eye on the relationships you have in your life. If your friends are reaching out, reach back and that will keep you grounded and keep you whole.
Album sales dropped roughly 50% with the dawn of the digital music era. The future seems to be pointing to live concert performance as a means of financial stability. Do you see an inherent benefit to the radio not having as much concentration of power as it once did? Do you feel that we’re entering an era with all these live festivals and the importance of a live show right now that draws in more unique ideas to the music community as a whole as opposed to the old radio model that favors the re-use of the same formulated song ideas?
DS:I think that it’s a product of its environment. People aren’t buying music and you have to find a way to mold your business into a new model and make it work so you can continue to do it. Ultimately if you don’t make any money, you can’t continue. It’s not about money, but you can’t do anything without money, so at the end of the day you have to make some money as nobly as possible.
I think the live show incentivizes people to get on couch tour and watch your band from your couch via live stream. Pay $50 to hang out with the band in their green room before the show for 20 minutes. You have to find a way to monetize new things. I think it’s a good thing. Any time you can get your music to someone who isn’t able to go to the show is always a great thing.
Many folks ask you how New Orleans influences your approach to music. While it certainly is a musically rich city, you did not grow up on the New Orleans scene. Could you tell us about the bands you played in while growing up and attending college at Ohio State? How did those experiences combined with your love for the timeless era of classic rock set you up to be the front man of an incredible 7 piece band?
DS: I started playing guitar when I was twelve and played in my first band when I was thirteen. We were a punk rock band called Slaves of Society. I was really into the British glam punk. After that I really got into metal and Slipknot. I was into the Fear Factory and some local bands too. I was in a band called Talis at that time. I was fifteen and we did the high school band talent and recorded a little record in a small basement studio.
If you all believe, it’s the most important driving factor in any organization. You have to believe in everyone in the organization and every aspect of what you’re doing. If the belief isn’t there then you wont go anywhere. Belief equals the gluten of a band. We all believed that we had the chance to be the next big thing. That’s the beauty of a band.
The thing I also realized if you’re in an actual band and the fan base actually grows and the people who were there in the beginning are going to be there when you play MSG. They saw you at the Mercury Lounge in front of 200 people. The energy that is created by that slow build is something that will blow up in your face when it happens.
We changed our name to Five Soul and we got a new drummer and our vocalist got better. Things changed and it was awesome.
I went to college for one year and I wasn’t in a band at that point. We broke up and I was playing guitar a little bit, but was more focused on working out in the gym and partying a lot. I didn’t do well my first year in college and I moved to Columbus to start a new band with my friend Austin Carr. We started this band called Elementary. It was a pop punk rock band. We did that for a little bit and I met this guy named Tim Meyer. We started playing together and he was the singer for Elementary. Elementary broke up and I started a new band called The Summit Brothers. We were a band for three years, but we didn’t tour at all just played parties and bars. This was when I tried to play the guitar and sing at the same time. I never really tried to sing.
When I was 21 I started writing and I didn’t want anyone singing my songs. Now I do write songs for other people and when I’m intending to write it for someone else it’s different than when I write this certain feeling and someone else is singing it. I wanted to sing my own songs, so I had to learn how to sing and play guitar at the same time. It took a long time to learn how to do that. I started singing in the band and I realized I could sing. Every time I sang my song I got this great response. When you first start singing you don’t like the sound of your voice. I wasn’t trying to sound like anybody; it just kind of has always been me singing my heart out. I then decided to move to New Orleans and left that band. I sat down and started playing on my porch and Zach walks by and he goes ‘Hey that sounds pretty good’. You know the rest of the story from there. All those experiences led me to who I am today and the music I play today and what I like. I’m always trying to keep my ear open for new music that’s fresh. We’re always influenced by where we are in life and what we’re listening to.
Your stage presence is a defining point of The Revivalists’ live show. What is the best way that you and the guys have found the chemistry and balance to know when it’s time to shine and when to play in the pocket? Would you agree that one of the most valuable things is having an understanding of knowing when to hold back?
DS:That’s the thing. You have to be able to read the crowd and know who you’re playing for. We don’t play the same set every night, that’s for sure. We don’t know what set we’re going to play until we see what the crowd likes. Ultimately we want people to have a good time. We want to make sure we can craft a set to where it’s going to have various dips and highs and lows. Then even if you’ve crafted it, you have to be able to change it at the drop of a hat. If you’re just blazing them and they’re like a brick wall we have to hit them on an emotional level now. Whatever they want, you have to give it to them, and they’ll let you know. You have to be able to do both well or they’re not going to be able to care about either. It’s undeniable when people start moving or you play that slow ballad and that last down beat people start erupting. When that happens you know you’ve done something good. If they hit before the silence hits, you’re golden.
It’s not too often that you would be playing a concert after a major golf tournament like the Masters. What extra artistic inspiration does it personally give you to be hitting the same stage with Govt. Mule and Lettuce?
DS:It’s always possible that some of us will get up with Mule. I’m not saying this is going to happen, but Warren has definitely gotten up with us and played with us on a few occasions. That would be really cool if that happens, but I can’t promise anything.
* Special thanks to David, Adam, and Garrett!