REVIVER

Wasteland - NoCuff Kid Productions

2010-08-26T19:03:00.001-07:00

Reviver - Wasteland from NoCuff Kid Productions on Vimeo.

Potential Wasteland Lyrics.

2010-07-12T12:02:00.001-07:00

Legacy

We’ve built up
And burnt down relentlessly
To pass the time before it cripples us
The sun doesn’t rise and it doesn’t fall
We’ve got no expectations to defeat
We’ve got nothing at all
There’s nothing that can move us
There’s nothing that could set us free
There’s nothing that could make us want more
It’s the last thing we need
We’ve broken every window
Broken every dream
There’s nothing to take from us
We’ve broken everything
We’ll all fade away
With nothing to say
Leave behind nothing
That’s our legacy
We burnt everything to the ground
To keep us from being found
There’s nothing to take from us
Nothing you can corrupt
That’s our legacy
If these hands were meant for anything
It was to build up to burn down
There’s no faith in that dense sky
And we need a reason to keep burning
To praise the wasted lives we lead
We build and we burn
To prevent ourselves from misfortune
We build and we burn
To see the empires crashing down, crashing down
There’s nothing to be found
To give fading away a name
To prevent ourselves from misfortune
We build and we burn

New Lows

I give up
I’ve been trying for several months now to get it all into words
But the truth is I’ve become useless at making any sense of this
I’ve been turning open roads into dead ends
Everything is fucked up again
Just like the look in your eyes when you say you don’t know me anymore
My stomach is torn
My nerves are fucked
And I’m still on the floor
I’ll let my anger drive tonight
I’ve got nowhere else to go
I won’t spend another night here
On the floor
With my eyes on the door
Waiting for someone to save me
I’m stuck and trying to break free
From broken faith and this empty city
From the place that I let take all the blame
From the place that projects exactly who I’ve come to be
Maybe it’s all inside my head
I’ll see how much sleep I can deprive myself of this week
I can’t live comfortably until I’m comfortable with everything
It’s too easy to get caught up in this
I don’t want to be okay with it
I’ve got nowhere else to go

Traditions

We live as half dead fathers
And single mothers
Like a punctured heart beating but not for much longer
Like the kids that walk the streets at night
To build up courage to take their own lives
Just as sons and daughters are shipped off to war
Convinced it’s our freedom that they are dying for
While past soldiers turn alleys into homes
To shelter the sorrow they just can’t let go
The whole world has gone mad
And we’re taking it down with us
We are destroyers of our own fate
We’re all losing our minds
Our hearts grow colder with time
Convincing each other everything is fine
“Its the way life is supposed to be”
we carry a tradition that breaks us down
built on fear, failure, and despair
[we travel in circles, there’s no need to keep running]
oh the broken lives we lead….
We’ve all gone mad
The whole world has gone mad
And we’re taking it down with us
We fade away patiently
In broken homes we’ll never own
The hopeless beg to be left alone
“all we ask is to be left alone”
what will it take to not take this anymore
to take back your life
take back control
reclaim your unconquerable soul
you’re murdering life living on your knees
under another’s control
find your own way home.
The whole world has gone mad
And we’re taking it down with us
We’re destroyers of our own fate
We’ve all gone mad
And we’re taking the world with us
We’re the masters of our own fate.

Undefined

I've seen the undefined
it travels through the city lights
through their eyes and corrupts their minds
some search their whole lives to find the undefined
There's no wonder why we come out at night
the sun falls while we're broken and alone
and we're willing to follow any light
I've seen the undefined
it travels through the city lights
through their eyes and corrupts their minds
some spend their whole lives hiding from the undefined
we keep reaching out to the hand that pushes us away
hoping for a sign of life or a reason to stay
we don't have the time to waste
if we stay here we'll be victims of fate
we destroy everything for the peace of mind
of something better out there in time
To keep your heart you've got to lose your mind.

Potential

We’re trying to build faster than things can fall apart
We’re still looking for what we lost.

Wasteland

We plan for the great escape
Trading broken lines for broken faith
Somehow this city always…
Home is a hole,
We dug up insecurities and frail bones
Of failed nomads,
Wanderers who wonder what happens
With the outside world when spent inside
We swore we wouldn’t live like them
We swore we’d never sleep again
We don’t sleep because we can’t
I meant every word I said.
We break for the great escape
Trading broken lines for broken faith
Somehow this city always finds me
It’s the widowed room next door
It’s the vacant heart beating under the floor
The nothingness as you sleep through it all
It’s still not enough to send you running away
They all say it’s not so bad to live this way
Somehow you choose to stay
Descending comfortably
In a city where everything falls apart
Or everything stays the same
We all know what these mountains contain
And we’re to blame
The open road is all I need
To find a way out
And never look back at this
potential wasteland

August 14th - Salt Lake City, Utah

2010-07-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

This will be our first home show this year that isn't a tour kick off show. We are stoked to be playing with Make Do and Mend and All Teeth. Do not miss this show.

NEW song from Potential Wasteland on our Myspace Player!

2010-05-06T12:09:00.001-07:00

We just put up

LEGACY!

on our Myspace page!

Explaining Versificator and the "Exigent thing."

2010-05-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

In July of 2008 we released a full length CD titled Versificator. On a label known as Exigent Records(Gaza, Loom, Prize Country, etc...) Colby Houghton(Former owner of Exigent) approached us after hearing our demo and expressed interest in working with us. He urged us to record a full length album and made very very steep promises of what he would do for us. It all sounded so good in conversation so we set to making it a reality.

Long story short, we released that full length and toured relentlessly in support of it for the next two years. While Colby did absolutely nothing. No preorder, no promotion, no distribution, no publicity, no financial support, nothing. Any attempts we made to address our concern with the way our release was being handled and he would threaten us with lawsuits and legal mumbo jumbo. When we offered to do his job for him, he reminded us that he owned the rights to our record and again, threatened to sue us.

As anyone who has recorded a full length CD knows, it's an insane amount of work/money to write, record and release a full length album. We did all that work and paid for everything ourselves. We put in over 10 DIY tours all over the country in support of it. Only to have someone else have control over every other aspect of it. We were foolish and trusting. Lesson learned. Bands, be weary of any label that wishes to own the rights to your music.

After two years of Colby Houghton handicapping that record, he finally went under and we got our rights back to the release. As far as Exigent Records goes today, Jarom Bischoff(Former drummer of Loom) has purchased Exigent and the remaining catalog. Being that he is a business/management minded person AS WELL AS a talented and hard working musician, I'm confident that label is in good hands and we do not wish any ill towards Exigent Records as it currently stands. Congrats Jarom!

Versificator is currently at the end of it's pressing, distributed through us on tour. And since we have all of our energy tied up in the Potential Wasteland EP and future tours. It's tough to say when/what we will do with it. There is some talk about releasing it on another label, most likely in vinyl format. For now, we permit and ask that you download it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?umy5w4ljjmi

New CD, New label, New tour...

2010-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

So as usual. When I say I'm going to keep this blog going as a regular thing, I'm lying.

New EP and label.
We came home from this last tour and actually finished up the Potential Wasteland EP. For real this time. For this release we will be working with State Of Mind Records(This Is Hell, Broadway Calls, Daggermouth, etc...) and we're very excited about it. The initial press will be in CD format followed shortly by a run of vinyl. May 28th is the release date and our tour kickoff show with Caravels!

Here is the first batch of tour dates for the midwest/east/south. If you notice days off that could be routed to your area and you'd like to help set up a show, please drop us a line.

May 27 2010 7:00P Muse Music Provo, Utah
May 28 2010 7:00P Kilby Court - CD RELEASE SHOW!! Salt Lake City, Utah
May 30 2010 7:00P Blast-o-Mat w/ Crooked Ways Denver, Colorado
May 31 2010 7:00P The Hole Omaha, Nebraska
Jun 2 2010 7:00P The Metal Frat Ann Arbor, Michigan
Jun 4 2010 7:00P The Skratch House w/ Wreak Havoc Brook Park, Ohio
Jun 5 2010 7:00P Flying Squirrel Community Center Rochester, New York
Jun 6 2010 7:00P 242 Main Burlington, Vermont
Jun 7 2010 7:00P The Butcher Shoppe Boston, Massachusetts
Jun 9 2010 7:00P Emigsville Park Building York, Pennsylvania
Jun 13 2010 8:00P Happy’s Roanoke, Virginia
Jun 14 2010 7:00P CFBG Greensboro, North Carolina
Jun 15 2010 7:00P Summerville Legion Summerville, South Carolina
Jun 17 2010 7:00P Uncle Lou’s Orlando, Florida
Jun 19 2010 7:00P Ryan Lay’s House Cape Coral, Florida
Jun 21 2010 7:00P Springridge UMC Jackson, Mississippi
Jun 23 2010 7:00P Soundstage Conway, Arkansas
Jun 24 2010 7:00P 1919 Hemphill Fort Worth, Texas
Jun 26 2010 7:00P Hideaway Lounge El Paso, Texas
Jun 27 2010 7:00P The Living Room Tucson, Arizona
Jun 28 2010 7:00P The Underground Phoenix, Arizona

We will be immediately following this up with a full west coast run with Despite Despair from Provo, Utah.

2010-03-08T13:19:00.001-08:00

Here I sit at a coffee shop in Dayton Ohio, trying to be productive with some free WiFi. And laughing at some sweet live photos.

What? Fuck Jeff Goldblum, man!

2010-03-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

We're on tour. It's going great. Get off my back!

The Enough Is Enough Comp Volume 1 is available now. Go download it!

Tracklisting for Enough Is Enough Volume One:
1. Shook Ones - Order Form*
2. Bridge & Tunnel - Loss Leaders
3. Frost Giant - Not While I Draw Breath
4. Nothing To Nothing - To Better Days
5. Into It. Over It. - I've Just Seen The Best I'll Ever Be (Up Up Down Down cover)*
6. Miles Apart - Mattachine*
7. Crooked Ways - Make Yourself At Home
8. Overlooked - Severed*
9. Maintain - The Noose
10. Handguns - Harbor Water*
11. I Refuse - Spoke Fork-Tongued
12. Tabernackle - Black Hearts*
13. Calculator - Presence Memorial*

We will be featured on Volume 2 of the comp. Should be release in another week or two if I'm not mistaken.

Tracklisting for Enough Is Enough Volume Two:
1. The Effort - Counting With The Shepards
2. Final Fight - Holiday (The Get Up Kids cover)*
3. This Is Hell - End Of An Era
4. Reviver - Civil Contract*
5. Iron Chic - The World's Greatest Detective
6. Fumblerooski - Fuck You, I Love You*
7. Balance and Composure - I Can't Do This Alone
8. The Stereo State - Black Benny (Red Wine Relief)*
9. Crucial Times - There Is No Debate*
10. Midnight Souls - Former Friends (And Other Dead Ends)
11. The Fake Boys - Be Free
12. Trunks and Tales - Unresolved/Lifelines
13. Great Friend Of Mine - Like A Pendelum, Hanging Feet Keep Time*

New tour and new song posted.

2010-02-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

We're home now and excited to be leaving again in a few days. We're heading out on a little Northern U.S. adventure that will take up about 6 weeks from the East to the West. We have the dates posted on our Myspace page and I might be posting them here shortly.

Also in the way of news. We just put up an unmastered version of our track for the ENOUGH IS ENOUGH compilation. It's titled Civil Contract and it will be exclusive to the ENOUGH IS ENOUGH comp for the time being. So look into that as it will be released next month. For now you just have another excuse to go to our Myspace page.

With a note that said, "Couldn't find a meter, so here's four bucks."

2010-02-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

Holy awesome-house-show-in-El Paso, Batman. We played The Naylair. The kids were kind to us, the locals were good, and we had a floor to sleep on afterwards. What more could we ask for? Our last El Paso show had nothing on this.

The next night we had a show at a coffee shop called The Ground Floor in Midland. I just have to say I think Midland has a pretty cool scene on the upcoming. I can't begin to tell you how awesome it is to pull up into a town you've never played before, to a good turnout and people requesting your songs. After the show some kind young ladies treated us to free coffee shop goodies. And as Tom and myself sat in the backseat of their car, I was singing just about every word to Say Anything's ...Is a Real Boy, when suddenly my beautiful voice(I've been called the songbird of my generation) was cut off by a phone call from Matt who was in the van following us. He informed me that the power to the van had died out and they were then coasting off an exit to investigate.

So there we were in a dark church parking lot, scratching our heads. First instinct of course was to try jump starting it, which didn't even get us enough power to get out of the parking lot... So the next step in the denial of our fears was to go buy a new battery from the nearby Walmart. Which involved a number of bullshit trips back and forth due to our lack of tools. The life of the battery was enough to get us to the home of our hosts and in the morning enough to get us to the freeway, where our beloved home died once again and required me to pull off the first exit and push it to the nearby Chevron. We're very glad we didn't bring the trailer on this tour by the way... Anywho, now realizing it was indeed the alternator, we returned the battery to Walmart and luckily we were able to get our old one back before they disposed of it. We then made a million phone calls with hopes of improving our situation quickly. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and we had no luck finding a shop that was open and willing to work on it that day...
So there was no more hope for our San Antonio show that night, which was a huge bummer for us since missing shows is not something we do. Also because my parents live in there and I was hoping to pay them a visit.
As some luck would have it though, our previous night's host had a friend who owned and shop and would be able to look at it the next morning. We forked out a decent chunk of dollar bills from our money box that never seems to reach a braggable state, and the van was towed to the shop. Then we were in route to an apartment we would be occupying over night where I fixed us up a delicious vegan spaghetti feast and we watched The Hangover. We woke up the next morning to a glorious phone call with the information that our van was now tip top. We caught a ride to the shop and cried away another(much larger) heap of money. But we were finally back in action and on our way to Dallas.

Now would be a good time to plug our merch store. Or if you just like being awesome, you can donate straight to our Paypal: reviver801@gmail.com

Thanks... Continuing on.

The show in Dallas was at 1919, a champion of long running DIY venues. We played with STS and Full Of Hell, they are nice fellows and I think you should give them both a listen.

Exiting Texas to reach Oklahoma City was a bummer of weather change. Ice and fog. I'm voting it as the most punk rock show of tour though.
All the locals dropped off, leaving just us. Thankfully the show still went on. We played in the tiny back room of a thrift store to maybe a dozen badass kids who still came out. The show didn't go on without it's technical difficulties though.
As you may or may not know we've been doing this tour as a four piece. Matt has been back to the old ways of juggling second guitar duties with vocals. Somehow we lost a power cable and with the absence of other bands to borrow gear from, Matt wasn't able to power up his amp.
So we said "fuck it" and decided we'd just bullshit our way through the set with only myself on guitar. Which I'm no stranger to doing, we actually pull it off fine, but normally I have stereo amp A/B/Y trickery to help me out. Not this night.
We played a handful of songs until the PA broke. And then it was handshakes and thank you's before we packed up our gear to drive through the night to the next destination.

Oklahoma City to Amarillo Texas, I haven't seen this much fog since last January when we made the trip out to Stockton California to play the Hear The Sirens' CD release show. The roads were super icy and there were times you couldn't see more than a couple meters in front of the van. So we blindly cruised through the night at an appropriate speed.

Once in Amarillo we pulled up to Isaiah's house, where the show would be, around 5 in the morning and caught some Z's. The weather was extremely cold, icy, rainy and by nightfall the rain had turned to snow. So everyone piled into the living room where the bands would be performing. During our Movielife cover I was hit by the amazing cooling ricochet of snow. I looked up and saw kids rushing in and out of the front door, snow in hands, flinging it at each other. That's right, a snowball fight in the mosh. That's what's up!

As we were loading up after the show, we witnessed a very drunk fellow drive his jeep up into a snowy park, fall into a creek and slam into a huge cement barrier. It was a hilarious and nerve racking time as a few of us helped him out of the fiasco. Eventually someone stopped and helped tow him out and the night was saved.

We're now enjoying a snow filled day off in the lovely town of Dumas Texas before we head to Albuquerque.

Was the war as big as your nose?

2010-01-29T17:17:00.000-08:00

After coming out of the time warp, we finally arrived in Tempe Arizona where we would be playing a rad little DIY spot known as the Slurp. Aside from some bass amp complications the show was a good experience. Afterwards we packed up our gear and headed to Tucson. Where we would be staying with our pal Nate on what was to be a day off between Tempe and El Paso.

We woke up with the information that we would be able to hop on a last minute show at The Living Room. Before the show we swung by Guilin for the lunch special and spent a good amount of time milking coffee shops for free internet access. After the show our entourage split in half. A good deal of my night was spent hearing Nate's wild stories of the mid-west.

5 times we passed through Tucson last year. And it seemed each time we ended up running into an unexpected circumstance where we would have to drive sraight home, a miserable 14-15 hour drive. But here we are pulling into Texas. Ending the curse of Tucson that we experienced in '09.

Tonight begins our string of Texas dates with a house show in El Paso. More to report soon.

"I'm going to be frank." "Okay, can I still be Garth?"

2010-01-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

Sunday night we played a house show in a little town called 29 Palms. At first all you see is lifted trucks and crew-cut marine bros. At the show there were some nice and hospitable folks. After the show Jeff split off and the rest of us caught some sketchy burrito action with a couple of the Forever Came Calling guys.

Last night we played the Galindo's Warehouse, which is an awesome spot ran by some pretty awesome people. Murrieta is lucky to have such a place. Support! Last time were were there was on our June tour with Crooked Ways. I remember having to play the show barefoot because my only pair of shoes had gotten washed away by the tide earlier that day. Anyway, I think this time we were a little better received.

After the show, Tom almost got mugged by some hoodlums at a gas station but made it away safely. We ended up having a Wayne's World party and sleeping in the van outside of a CVS/Pharmacy.

Yesterday was a day off. We mailed out some merch, cut up some stickers at FedEx Kinkos. Read books and took advantage of free internet at Barnes & Noble. Matt got a 90-something percent on a test he didn't even study for. Suck it. Matt also dropped Jeff's jacket in a puddle of my urine. Earning himself a B for the day. I thought it unkind especially since Pee-Sleeve Romeo got us a hookup on a time share to party in last night. But Matt redeemed himself by getting us a round of free burritos.

So ends the California dates of this tour. Before ditching this state, we swung by the beach, just because we could. And then set off in search of burritos before starting the drive to Phoenix/Tempe Arizona. Our last show here was awesome. Fingers crossed that this experience will be even half as good. Because that would be a million times better than all the other experiences I've ever had around these parts. Stay tuned...

"Would. Would. I'm not saying I wouldn't..."

2010-01-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

I think this is the first tour I've ever been packed up and ready for and not just rushing to throw stuff in bags minutes before the van pulls up to my house. So far I think I only forgot toothpaste and my shaver.

Played Vegas last night. Caravels is awesome, best thing to come out of Vegas since CUAD. The show was an all around good time at the Yayo Taco.

55/56 mmmmm. Props if you know what I'm talking about. If not, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

We just swung by Ronald's Donuts to pick up some vegan donuts, and now we're on our way to 29 Palms California where we will be playing a house show, those are always a good time right?

Hi. We're Reviver and we're held together with Duct Tape.

2010-01-22T23:50:00.000-08:00

Okay this time I think I'm going to really try to post on this on the semi-reg.

Day 0?
It's our last day in Salt Lake before starting another adventure. It began for me with a last minute(seriously) run to House Of Guitars to get an amp fixed before the tour/show tonight. It just wouldn't be Reviver if things weren't falling apart. After spending several hours with the amp tech nervously waiting for results, we are told that nothing is really certain and all we can do at this point is try it out at the show. Punchline to that joke, it didn't work. But luckily our friends from Archive Studios/The Lionelle are bad ass and gave us the hookup on an amp to borrow for the tour.

Fast forward to the show... People trickled into Kilby Court and huddled around the fire pit trying to get warm while the weather outside was cold and slightly snowy. Ghouls Gold opened the show up on a thrashy note. Followed by The Lionelle and Swans Of Never, who are both of a more indie/alt rock vibe and they seriously rock. Swans Of Never finally pressed their EP, so look into that. After our set we hugged our friends and said some goodbyes.

Pictures from the show aswell as a little interview can be found over at Gavin's Underground.

It's 1:20 in the A.M. and I'm just taking a break from getting all my things together to write this. Hopefully I'll be in couch soon. In the morning I'll be driving us to Las Vegas, Nevada where we will be playing with our friends in Caravels. They rule and I urge you to check them out. Of course some partying and gambling would only be proper to follow up the show with. I say we put the door money on red, but that's just me.

Shit! Look behind you! A dinosaur!

Comin' Round

2010-01-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

We have proven yet again that we are no good at keeping this updated - here's whats up:

TOURS:

We are doing a 2 week Southwest tour to start off 2010. That starts tomorrow. After that, we come home for a few weeks to put vinyl in boxes and teach little kids cool shit in school to raise up money to leave again. Starting February 27th we will head out to the Northeast and be back in time to meet up with A Better Hope Foundation to cover the Northwest. We will end that tour in Seattle and work our way down the coast until we get home. We will be covering just about everywhere with the exception of the Southeast - but no worries - we'll be heading your way right after we put more vinyl in boxes and teach a few more kids. Expect us out there no later than the summer. You can see all our dates here.

MUSIC:

We just finished up a new track that will be released on the Enough Is Enough comp that should be out sometime soon. This compilation is put together in support of same sex marriage, so be sure to check it out.

During our short break in February we will finish up the EP we have been sitting on entitled, "Potential Wasteland." We will have more info about this in a little while. Other than that, come see us when we're in your city.

- Matt

I'll sneak up and hit ya like fuckin TORNADO!

2009-05-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

In Springfield MO,I heard whispers of tornado warnings and a couple of us thought, "How sweet would that be to see a tornado?" So after the show, as we were loading up gear and shaking a few hands, the clouds started rolling in. All of a sudden there was epic lightning everywhere... With no thunder and no rain. We don't get that in Salt Lake. We piled into the van to try and find a grocery store before heading to our host-for-the-night's humble abode. And like the blink of an eye, rain started coming down hard from every direction and intense wind picked up... And the sirens... How scary... Loud eerie sirens straight out of Silent Hill moaned into our ears. We tuned into a local radio station and they recommended everyone get in doors and underground if possible while the tornado passed. I guess being in a vehicle isn't a smart place to be. So we flipped around and went back to the venue, parked the van, crossed our fingers that it would be okay and went inside. Even though anyone who's seen Twister would agree with me that it would have been a better idea to chase the tornado and chuck soda cans at it... But maybe I just like to party? So then we were in the venue with our faces glued to the window until things calmed down. And when they did we headed out in search of groceries before settling down for the night.

The next day was Glenpool Oklahoma. We played a very hot and well insulated garage... This deep into the tour, shows like these point out why it may be bad for you to skip out on eating and sleeping so much. But we made it through our puny 20 minute set without passing out somehow. Kids in Oklahoma are great. After the show we stuck around for a minute to shower before beginning the long night drive to New Mexico.

Albuquerque... What can I say? Possibly the best show on the tour. House shows typically are the most fun. We played in our friend Megin's living room in front of a bunch of the raddest kids we've ever met. Being our 3rd time through this town this year, I felt like each show and New Mexican experience in general has progressively gotten way better. After the show our hosts cooked us some spaghetti and garlic bread and we took all the coins from the donation jar to go buy drinks... Finally this band thing starts to pay off. Haha. After dinner Jeff and Matt passed out quickly while Brian, Chase, our hosts and myself started to party... A loud obnoxious bunch we were. And sometimes I surprise even myself with how incredibly classy I can be... Probably the 5th or 14th sweetest guy you'll ever meet.

Look, Mexico! We played El Paso Texas after departing from NM. Great show and a lot of nice people were met. Many grains of sand were blown into my eyes however... Afterwards it was decided that we would drive straight to Tucson Arizona that night. And while I normally handle night drives, I was a bit "under the weather" and very sleep deprived at this time so I decided to put the first shift of the drive into Jeff's hands so I could nap. It was estimated that it would only take 4 and a half hours, and with the Arizona time change we'd even get the illusion of it being 3 and a half... When Jeff woke me up to drive I looked at the time I was stoked to see that we should be there in maybe an hour... But to my dismay when I updated the GPS it informed we that we still had 2 and a half hours... Perhaps he was looking at the Kilometers per hour and not the miles? I do not know... So I, with the help of a few Form Of Rocket albums and a giant energy drink, was able to get us there in an hour and a half. Take that Ricky Bobby.

Arriving in Tucson very early in the morning... We pulled up to some friends of ours' house where there would be some staying. Where I'm sure nothing but dull things went on. Meanwhile I ran of with a friend of mine, watched the Arizona sunrise and then tried to get a couple hours of sleep in. I awoke and ate an excellent vegan Denver scramble from Lovin Spoonfuls before meeting up with the gang.
Day activities included the mall... Sitting around... And then we snuck into a swimming pool at an apartment complex at which none of us were a resident of. Perfect for a day as hot as this one. Later on I disappeared briefly once more for a walk in a park. And when I returned it seemed some of the excitement had died down. Some of us ventured off with intentions of exploring an abandoned and supposedly haunted hotel... Which didn't go so well as some of the company we kept was rather talkative and the on sight security guard heard us from a mile away. We then decided on the approach of just conversing with him... Turned out to be a nice guy, but still wasn't that into letting a bunch of crazy kids run a muck in the hotel late at night. FAIL. So we returned to our hosts' place of living and were drilled with a guilt trip for leaving Chase behind before trying to squeeze in a moment of sleep.

I awoke what felt like minutes later with the sun creeping through the window and people talking. Brian's ear had gotten pretty messed up the last few days and he was pretty sure he blew his eardrum or something. There was blood and lots of pain. So sadly, the last day of our tour that should have been spent in Flagstaff Arizona had to be canceled and we dealt with the 13 hour drive back to Salt Lake instead. I suppose we're just fortunate this happened at the end of the tour.

So we've been back for a bit... And in a few days we head out on the road again with our pals in Crooked Ways to cover the West Coast once again. This was the first tour we've documented with a blog... But it wont be the last. I'll try to be a little better at it on this up coming one. Promise, crossies don't count.

Listen to:
Defeater
Energy
Maker
The Swellers
All Teeth

Thimbles and Crowns... Might just be your next big hit?

2009-05-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

No sleep til... Brooklyn!

Gotta love that New York traffic. We scored a show in some awesome sketchy warehouse apartment in Brooklyn, conveniently enough our pal Billy and his brothers, all from Salt Lake, lived just down the hall from the show. They made us awesome vegan tacos and let us crash on their couches. Most excellent.

After Brooklyn we hopped on the L Train and wandered the big city doing the tourist thing all day before the show later about a half hour over in Long Island. While in the city we ate at Soy and Sake. Best tour food so far in my opinion. Ground Zero was pretty intense, it's good to see that to this day people still care and hang around there spreading real information about 9/11. Time Square, Central park, Statue of Liberty, more subways... We seent it all.

The show in Long Island was a really awesome house show. We arrived super late somehow but luckily caught Maker's set. This was the last date Maker would be doing with us on this tour, so we had some last chance nudity and took a few group photos in our underwear.

We paid about a billion dollars on tolls on our way down to Virginia Beach. We passed the Chesapeak Bay Bridge/Tunnel. Which is a huge bridge that goes for miles and miles over the ocean and sections are tunnels that dip you under so boats can pass. It was crazy, for a couple minutes a huge storm hit and we were totally consumed by water. We couldnt see 2 inches in front of us. Water leaked into the van and trailer a little even. We made it through alive somehow.

This is where I realize It's really been a while and a lot of days have ran together into a blur. Funny interactions with bums in Baltimore, amazing food and interesting conversations about culture in DC, a bunch of rad shows, beautiful green scenery everywhere. The big waves and sun burns in Myrtle Beach, it just goes on and on... I'm sure if you catch one of us in person you'll never hear the end of stories. But it's just too much detail for my ADD to work through and process at the moment.

The last few days we've been heading back west through the south. As awesome as fate would have it we played our last two shows in Alabama and Tennessee with our great friends in All Teeth. Once we found out we were touring through similar territory we filled in one of their days off and got them to hop on our show. That night after the show, we heard news that our show the next night was no more, conveniently enough we were able to hop on their Nashville show. Both shows ruled. Support that band, they rule and we have a blast every time we cross paths. We hope to be doing more with them later this year..

Today we're pulling into Springfield MO. The reality is starting to set in that this tour is coming to it's end. These past 5 weeks have flown past and been an incredible time. Now with just shy of a week left to get us back to the beds and floors that await us in Salt Lake, we're all very excited to see our friends and families before we leave again on our west coast run with our pals in Crooked Ways that will be taking place throughout the majority of June.

You're fucking out. We're fucking in.

2009-04-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

So it's been a minute yet again.

We spent a pretty cold day at Niagara Falls and in a very spontaneous decision, ended up spending a few hours over in Ontario Canada. Getting over was easy, they were happy to let us in. While there, I was denied entry to a Casino because I only had my temp drivers license since I had renewed it only a couple days prior to departing for this 6 week adventure. And speaking of identification... You should have more than a driver's license to get back into your home country. The guy at the border was all about stressing out for no reason at all until one of his supervisors set him straight and let us right back in. Sanks.

Buffalo was pretty sweet. We ended up playing with Millions Of Dead Cops... How that happened I do not know. But it was pretty cool.

We ended up departing that night to Auburn, New York, where our next show would be. We stayed with our new friend Shawn(sean? shaun?) Who put on the show for us. During our stay we got a lot of video game time in, which of course I was pumped about. The show was awesome, and that's even after ironing out the double booked venue situation. Also while there I met up with my pal that I went to high school with. Which was cool since he never gets to see any of his Salt Lake friends and family.

The next stop on this Journey was a dope little town known as Brattleboro Vermont. The drive was super cute and scenic. And while there we went to this awesome store called the Co-op(or as Matt like to call, "The Club") and I ate some huge and cheap roasted Tofu sandwhich with about a foot of assorted veggies on top of it. Probably the healthiest thing I've eaten in my life.

The show was in some big church and it was our first of a good handful of shows we'd be playing on this tour with our pals in Maker. Check them out.

So begins the Massachusetts adventures. We stayed with some nice girls in a super hot apartment in Holyoke. We've been bitching about how sick of the cold we are. And now it's hot and I'm not into it. Haha. Bunch of damn princess crybabies we are right?

When we awoke we did some serious van cleaning and hung out at a book store for a good while so some of us could just get out of the heat and maybe raise our IQ's a little with some reading.

While in Holyoke we hung out with my sketchy bfff, Mike from Defeater, since he was working the show. We played with the Swellers, they fucking killed and were a super awesome group of guys. Also on the show was This Time Next Year, who we played with at the Hear The Sirens CD release show back in January so that was cool to see them again. Their Drummer Aaron was kind enough to take some wicked cool photos of us. Super nice guys and another great band on top of that. After the show we went to Denny's with the Swellers and Mike. We discovered that both our bands have drummers that are really really good at farting.

Worcester Mass... The part of town the show was in gave off some of the sketchiest vibes we've seen on this tour. But the show was awesome none the less. Mike was hanging out once again. And while we we playing some bum went over to our unattended merch table, grabbed a shirt and tried to casually stuff it down his pant... Thankfully Mike and another kid at the show noticed it and called him out on it. The guy was a bit loony and tried denying what he had done. but in the end he pulled that poor shirt out of his buttcrack and gave it back... After the show Mike took us down the road a bit to some big metalcore show and got us in free. There we saw about half of Parkway Drive's set and decided the heat in that place wasn't worth it. Walking back to the van we ran into Andy from Defeater and chatted a little before letting him get back to the van repairs he was pulling for some of the bands at the show that night. We decided eating food was a much better time to be had. But after a bit of driving, trying to park, and not having any luck on finding open places, I think we ended up at a Taco Bell or Wendy's or something. Yuck.

We stayed with our new friend Rob and some cool kids up the street from the show. We made some spaghetti and played with their kittens. I ended up going back out to the van to sleep and "guard" it. Luckily when I awoke it wasnt a million degrees because some huge trees were shading me.

We then headed towards our next destination of Haverhill. Brian, Matt and myself decided the beach would be a fun time so we drove the extra 20 minutes. And though it was 90 some odd degrees outside, the three of us found ourselves running into some very cold water. Only to get out, warm in the sun, and then run back in. Repeat.

After getting back to Haverhill and parking. We saw some old guy walking down the street very clumsy and slow like, with his head busted open and bleeding. Matt rolled the window down a few inches and asked him if he was okay. The man looked at him like he didn't know what he was talking about and then asked him if he had a cigarette. Matt informed him that he did not, and the man awkwardly stared at him for a minute before saying, "Well then you're fucking stupid." It was hilarious and uncomfortable all at the same time. At this point it was clear that this man was on something and also maybe not 100% there in his mind to begin with. He started rambling stuff we couldnt really understand and then mentioned that he just beat the shit out of somebody... Then there was a pause where he just stared at Matt again and casually said, "And you're next..." Matt just rolled up his window and so the crazy old man just staggered off.

We all got out of the van and split up to just sort of walk around looking for things such as beverages and public restrooms. We ended up back at the van, minus Jeff, and then received a phonecall telling us that we should get to the venue, which was just up the street so we figured it wouldn't be a big deal to make Jeff walk a block or two.

So this super simple drive up the road(literally should have been straight up the road) became very complicated. You see... I'm the navigator in this bunch, and unfortunately I also tend to be the driver. Two things that sometimes get difficult to pull off at the same time. So with my GPS not cooperating and Matt as my co-pilot/only person in the van with contacts for people who can tell us how to get to the venue. I find myself directed to take a wrong turn and getting stuck trying to turn the van/trailer around, which is not easy, nor is it something any of us are good at. Once we got out of that mess and back on track, I'm directed to take another wrong turn which required me to turn around yet again... So then we're sorta getting back on track and Matt tells me to turn up yet another wrong street and as he does that he gets a very important phone call, and then got out of the van... So we were then left with no idea how to get to the venue, and the only person who could contact someone to inquire about directions was now wandering around on foot somewhere. So seeing as I'm now left hanging and directionless I take yet another wrong turn, and as I'm driving down this narrow and super ghetto street, I started to realize it was one of our worst fears... A dead end! Here we were in this huge van pulling a trailer, trying to back straight up out of a narrow street, with these trashy people hanging out in their front yards laughing at us and not watching their kids, who are riding their bikes and playing in the street around us... It was such an intense and awkward experience. But finally after Chase kicked me out of the drivers seat and some 400 pound Nascar looking lady helped guide us, we made it! And as luck would have it I got a phone call from someone at the show wondering where we were and we got directed to the venue. Upon arrival we realized we were still without Jeff so I called him to see where he was and for some reason he had been walking in the wrong direction and was now pretty far. I then gave him the extremely simply "walk straight in this direction" instructions that I should have been given in the first place. And guess what? He made it.

The show was great! Once again we shared the stage with our boys in Maker. There was a good mix of pop punk and hardcore action going on. I kept forgetting there was a speaker right above my head and if I jumped too high it was have been a disaster.

We got to hang out with some of our friends from The Effort and Energy. Seeing familiar faces when you're across the country is always a good time. We ended up staying in Boston with Tony from The Effort and his roomate/our new friend Andrew. We all hung out and ate dumpstered pizza and veggie dogs. Hell yeah! I was able to rinse that awful smell of the ocean water and layers of sweat off of me. I really smelt like toxic waste after the show. In the morning Andrew went out and stole some real maple syrup from Target so we could enjoy the vegan pancakes that he made us. I'm saying this right now, the food at this stay was such a nice change from the ramen, bagels, chips and PB&J we've all been living off of...

For some day activities there was some hoop shooting. Which was made possible by Andrew who stole us a ball while he was getting the syrup since he heard about how the one we brought on this tour just disappeared. Such a great host. Afterwards we decided to go into town and get some amazing vegan pizza and subs from Andrew's work. We then did a great deal of driving around trying to park so we could explore more places on foot. We ended up back at Andrews and began walking through the streets towards probably one of the best adventures I've been through on this tour. What we called, "the abandoned pickle factory."

The abandoned pickle factory was this disgusting run down factory looking building. Which one floor used to be where they made pickles, and some other floors were used for other things that I'm unsure of. But these days it's purpose just seems to be for squatters and kids like us to go explore and get scared. We had to walk down through some industrial area and once it got to the part where we had to hop a little fence Chase and Jeff said good day while Brian, Matt and myself continued to follow Andrew into this adventure. Unfortunately we didn't plan very well because once we got inside we realized that Andrew gave Chase his keys which had his little flashlight on them. So now none of us had anything but our cell phones to guide us through this pitch black, scary and huge place. Punk rock, don't care, right? It just made it creepier not being able to see well in addition to the dripping water and rats making scary sounds around us... After exploring the insides of the place a bit we made our way to the roof via sketchy ladder. On top of the roof we had such a pretty view of the city of Boston. We had fun kicking in some window things and peeing off the building like men. Once we had our fill of that we decided it would be fun to go back inside and explore more places in this huge building. We found a scary spiral staircase that took us down so many floors and into the basement. We stepped in some gross stuff and smelt some awful smells and got a little creeped out before leaving. Once we got back up to the lower level roof we walked to the side where we were supposed to climb down from and I heard some ruckus and crashing behind me. I Iooked behind me to see that half of Matt had fallen through a hole that he didn't see! It was pretty funny now that we think back on it, but kinda scary when it was happening because it all happened so fast and we didn't know if he was alright. His legs are in a lot of pain now, but he was able to walk it off and get out of there.

We came back to Andrew and Tony's place where we would be staying again and made some spagetti and dumpstered salads and just hung out. Probably one of the funniest parts of that was Chase hardcore dancing in the kitchen as their female room mate, who is pretty cute, walked in. I loved the awkwardness of him trying to explain what he was doing. Other than that we were all rather dull and crashed pretty early.

Now it's morning/early evening and we're having another day off due to a cancellation and we're just sitting at Andrew and Tony's. Who knows what fun we'll get into today. We have a show in Brooklyn NY tomorrow and hopefully that goes well.

Until next time...

Wednesday April 22nd.

2009-04-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

Matt spoke briefly on the first bit of this but we felt my documentation was worth posting.

So now we've been through Nebraska... Which for the first few hours I found to be as boring as trying to listen to a pretty girl talk. Speaking of pretty, people in Nebraska sure aren't. Haha.

At a gas station we hit up on the edge of town, I guess I hit it off well with the attendant... Maybe it was his guages and tattoos and my Botch hoodie. But we got a little talk in and he ended up asking to buy a CD. Score.

The show fell through but some kids saved it with a basement. Which is always a great time. Once again we played with Energy and Defeater. And it was awesome. Afterwards kids were breaking things and throwing records and there was a fire extinguisher... Good times were had.

Energy headed out after the show. Whilst Reviver and Defeater bonded over a Village Inn party followed by the sketchy story party when we crashed at the house we played earlier.

We had a couple shows in Iowa. Both were small but had really good vibes with the kids. We met our new friend Andrew at the first show. He played an acoustic set to open up the night and it was really good. Turns out he lived in the town we were playing the next night. And so he offered us a place to stay.

He seemed to hang with our humor well enough. We were farting on each other and shooting Nerf guns in no time. In the morning he found some Silly String and so with his help, me and Matt jumped Brian in the shower with it. Best part of it was that Brian was shaving his pubes when the sneak attack took place. Ha.

We stayed with him again after the show that night since our next drive was fairly short. He gave us a bunch of food for the road and I got pretty shitty during my stay since his recently departed room mate had left a ton of alcohol and groceries behind.

Metamora and Peoria Illinois...
Metamora was our last show with our new friends in Defeater and Energy. We ended up scoring an apartment to sleep at that night while the owner was flying out of town. Epic Vegan spagetti party...

Another band that had played that night. Renae? Something like that... They stayed with us too. Well if your band is going to hang out and party Reviver style... You gotta deal with me picking the bathroom lock, stripping naked and surprising the fuck out of your soapy merch boy in the shower. Haha. So much male nudity. So many farts(cakefarts.com). Breakfast Club... Yeah.

Since Peoria is a hop, skip and jump away from Metamore... We spent our day napping, skating and shooting Bball. The show was a bar show... Let's face it, we're not a bar band. But on the up side the band that played before us did cover Rancid and NoFX and the headliner broke open a Dora the Explora Pinata that had condoms, candy, and little mini bottles of Rum and Vodka to cure my sickness. :)

Chicago...
We went and conquered the Sears Tower... I took the extra step to shit on the top level.
We saw a man preaching homophobic hate on the street with nothing to back it but the Bible... Psh. His son or something was there babbling aswell... Told us to go down to the gay district and said we wouldn't last 20 minutes...

Fast forward to us reaching the best part of Chicago... Chase went to Chipotle and did some record shopping while the rest of us went to Chicago Diner and ate some of the best and well portioned Vegan/Vegetarian food we've ever come across.

Then we started to realize that this awesome part of town with all the cool shit that we were in love with... Just happened to be... The gay district. Good job other effers. ;)

We parked over at the lake and I watched the sun go down behind the huge city. It was pretty... Like your smile? Shucks... And as we left I somehow managed to slip up and we monstertrucked down a pedestrian walkway for a good mile or so before giving me a chance to get onto a real road. Whoops. Hey maybe Sam just likes to party like that?

The drive through Indiana to our next destination of Cleveland Ohio was pretty lame. Lots of toll road and I got pulled over by Mike Tyson because the trailer lights had cut out. The show in Cleveland was fun. Turning the van and trailer around in the little parking lot wasn't.

Before leaving Cleveland and heading to Dayton we hit up the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Which was pretty cool. There was some secret handshake deal they have where all we had to do to get in was give them a copy of our CD. So that was a fun and interesting time killer for our broke Ramen eating asses.

When we got to Dayton we met up with our new pal Ravi(spel chek?) and he hooked us up with a place to stay which was awesome because we had slept in the van the last couple nights and were all pretty smelly by that point. We hung out and played video games for a while which I was pretty happy about because I miss my Xbox on long trips like this.

As we parked at the venue and opened the trailer to load in, it started raining, and then raining harder. Which put us in a rush to get everything in. And I'll be damned if it didn't stop raining and the sun came out as soon as we were done.

The show was pretty awesome. Lot's of nice people. And during one of the bands some kid got naked and started hardcore dancing with his balls and weenier flailing around. I didn't see that coming and I thought it was pretty funny.

We drove to Buffalo New York last night and slept in the van in a Walmart parkinglot after spending a good while chatting our time away at some burrito joint. As we all were settling down in our comfy little places. Some guy came and knocked on the window and asked us for a jump start. So mildly skeptical and a bit awkwardly I drove the van over to his vehicle and helped him out. Because those Reviver kids are such swell human beings.

I'm now just waking up and typing this as everyone else sleeps. We're going to go check out Niagara Falls today. I'm stoked to see some scenery after spending so much time in the Midwest.

Happy Earth Day.

-Sam

Iowa

2009-04-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in Iowa. We played in Dike today and it was everything I would have imagined. The show started late so we killed some time by playing basketball and going to a bar full of old people; time well spent. The show wasn't too big, but it was a good time.

Earlier in the day we got our hands on some silly string and attacked Brian while he was showering and shaving his pubes. He got shot in the eye and in the butt crack. He also got a cup of cold water on him. I tried to film it but I got too focused on watching this all happen myself so the camera angle didn't turn out too well.

Tomorrow we head to Illinois for another 2 shows. We're going to go hang out in Chicago with the cast of Family Matters as well. It should be a good two days.

-Matt.

picking back up

2009-04-14T03:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I didn't do a good job at keeping this updated. I have this problem with everything that involves writing. See, I spend time thinking of the most interesting to put our shenanigans into words and by the time I'm done with that I'm too beat to actually write it down. Well, that ends today.

Today is day four of our first attempt of a Full US tour. So far the shows have been great. We played the first three dates with Energy and Defeater (Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha) and they were a lot of fun. It was cool watching bands that we were all in to prior to the shows. Last night we played in Des Moines, IA at The Haunted Basement and that turned out well. It wasn't a big turn out, but still a great time. Now we are somewhere around Waterloo and Dike, Iowa (I slept during the drive up here) staying at a kid's house we met at the show; Nice dude. Sam and Chase are asleep, Brian and Jeff are in the spare bedroom, fooling around I'm sure, and I'm in the living room wondering why I'm awake at 5:30am. Today we play at the Dike Dugeon and I can't wait to see the place. Its got my imagination racing just from the name.

- 10 minutes later: I walked into the spare bedroom to witness Brian and Jeff laying in the same bed whispering to each other with the lights off and the door closed. They didn't seem too happy to see me, but I welcomed myself in, turned on the light, and wrote this paragraph. I'm out.

-Matt.

...and so it begins

2008-06-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

We try not to be too personal with this band, but the reason I'm deciding to do this blog is for all the tour stories/humor/adventures/goodtimes/badtimes/etc. I'm doing it mainly for us to look back on, but hell, if you enjoy keeping up on it, then by all means, feel free. Our first tour as "Reviver" will start on July 9th of 2008, expect some updates anytime after that date.

-Matt.