Back on the Road with Revival Dear
But the story of Revival Dear began six or seven years ago in Kitchener, Ontario. Orso was doing the gentlemanly thing and helping one Shelly Hayes with her keys to the rehearsal hall they both frequented. They remembered each other when they met up again a few months later and decided to make music together. 
This is where the aforementioned basement came into play. Orso and Hayes, along with three other band members, moved into a house in Toronto. They turned the basement into a studio, filled it with “old-time” instruments and LPs of classic blues and country. “We locked ourselves in the basement with all sorts of old music and just really got into it, explains Hayes. “Our music style and writing started to change.”
During this time of musical research, Revival Dear found a muse in the legendary Canadian musical act known as The Band. The music that eventually made up their self-titled debut album was influenced heavily by the path blazed by Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, et al and this connectivity didn’t go unnoticed either as critics began making the comparison. “It’s pretty flattering,” says Hayes. “I think a lot of harmonies, and the organic sound that they have, it’s really rough around the edges,” adds Orso. “Our record’s pretty polished, but when you see us live, we have a lot of fun. It’s actually a whole different experience.”
Under the supervision of producer Terence Gowan, the rougher sound of Revival Dear’s music was “painstakingly deconstructed, reworked and arranged” into what you hear on the finished album. Orso says they recorded the material pretty quickly and “didn’t think it through enough.” So the band spent a year in the studio, mixing the structures and arrangements, and spending hours and hours to get the vocal parts right. It was time well spent and it taught Orso and Hayes a few things they’re putting into practice on their next effort.
“This time around we feel a bit more confident in doing things,” says Hayes. “We’re just going to try some old techniques and we think [to ourselves] that we’re working with tape even though we’re not: we’re not doing a thousand takes and are keeping it really minimal. […] The motto during our recording sessions is: what would John Fogerty do?”
Working with Rob Szabo, Revival Dear has already recorded two songs for their sophomore album. “We kind of have a CCR feeling in our hearts,” says Hayes about where their musical spirits are at, although Orso adds, “It has nothing to do with why we called ourselves ‘Revival’ though.” As for the album itself, he adds, “People always say ‘we’ll take more of an organic or live feel,’ but we’re really going to strip it down more so that when people see us on tour the songs at least translate to what they see live a little bit better.”
But before focusing their full energies on a new album, Revival Dear has to finish touring for this one. In 2008, the band did 120 shows across Canada, and for the first half of 2009 it seems that their keeping the same pace. “We did 24 shows out of 25 days straight last tour and that was pretty crazy,” says Orso. He and Hayes are looking forward to some US tour dates, specifically the Memphis Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis Tennessee in February. “From February till the end of May we’re doing a whole lot of touring and that’ll be the end for this record.”
In talking with these bandmates, there’s no sign of wear from the over a year of non-stop touring; it’s quite the opposite it seems. “It’s a lot of fun, but the reality is that Eddie and I aren’t able to work normal jobs with this schedule, but you’ve got to try and survive and we’ve got to play our asses off if we want to make ends meet,” says Hayes. “As long as we don’t have to work day jobs and keep focused on music, we’re just going to keep going until… our bodies can’t take it anymore,” adds Orso with conviction. But honestly, if their schedule hasn’t exhausted them yet, it never will.
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