I recently had the chance to talk with one of my personal favorite guitarist/vocalists Dave Davidson of Revocation outside of Firestone Live in Orlando, FL, we talked about his favorite concert experiences, cover songs and the band’s recent signing with Metal Blade Records.
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Q – You guys are currently on tour supporting DevilDriver and Whitechapel, how has it been treating you so far?
Dave – It’s been going really well, the crowds have been great, all the bands are getting along really well. It’s been really fun.
Q – The band’s self titled album has been out for around ten months now, how has the overall reception for it been like so far?
Dave – Extremely positive. Our fans really dug it, and the critics really dug it as well.
Q – Can you tell us a little about the lyrical side to the album?
Dave – Each song has it’s own vibe, it ranges to everything from politics to personal things that have directly affected our lives. There are three songs in particular that are about my sort of disdain for media, the false information that gets spread, that would be “Invidious”, “Numbing Agents” and also “Archfiend”. It’s all varied, we like for each song to have it’s own personality. I’ll listen to the song and think about what it conjures up for me, what kind of vibe I’m getting from it, and just go from there.
Q – Was the writing process for this album any different from the previous releases? Listening to songs such as “The Hive” and “Invidious”, to me it just sounded like you guys were having more fun writing and recording this record.
Dave – The writing process was essentially the same. We always write during our down time from touring, and we’ve always had material on the back burners from previous releases. I’ll be at my house, structuring the songs in my head, the verses, chorus, and from there, our drummer lives right down the road so we would just jam. Nothing too different from previous releases, we still used the same producer. I think the only difference is that we’re getting better as songwriters, this is our fourth full length, and there was also the EP. the more you write the more you sort of hone in on your craft. Performance wise, I think it’s our best material to date.
Q – For the deluxe edition to the album you guys covered “Dyer’s Eve” by Metallica, which you even threw in a James Hetfield style “Yeeah!” where it didn’t originally belong. How did you guys come down to choosing that song to cover for the deluxe edition?
Dave – It’s just a really well done song. It’s a great Metallica record that was going through a lot of stuff after Cliff Burton passing away, and a lot of things maternally on anger that I think essentially came out in the music. It’s certainly their most technical record, but I think the part that drew us to it is that it’s just a ripping song. Prior to recording that, Dan would soundcheck to the verse riff, and we just thought it would be cool to actually put that down and record it, to sort of pay homage.
Q – Revocation recently announced their signing to Metal Blade Records, how has the transition from Relapse to Metal Blade been for you guys so far?
Dave – So far it’s been smooth. The record that we’re recording hasn’t come out yet, so it’s kind of hard to compare the two. Relapse have put out a bunch of our records while Metal Blade has yet to put one out for us, I guess we’ll be able to compare to two once it’s out. But so far it’s been really good, they’re all really supportive, they all seem very amped for this band.
Q – What’s the best concert you’ve ever attended that you didn’t play?
Dave – Oh man, that’s a tough one…I’ve been to so many shows over the years. In recent memory I’d say it was Gorguts, I really love that band and they kill it live, The Black Dahlia Murder also played, and Carcass. The Decibel Magazine tour, that was a really good one, and I saw Gorguts headline prior to that as well which was great.
Q – What’s the one band you’ve never toured with that you wish you could tour with/open for? Dave – Hell, I’ll go with the obvious, Metallica. Just from a band’s perspective, they’re the legends, plus the crowds would be absolutely enormous. Come on Metallica, take us out (laughs).
Q – After this tour is finished, what’s next for Revocation?
Dave – We’re going to do GWAR-BQ, which is basically going to be a memorial show for Dave Brockie, and we’ll do a few shows around after that. From there, we don’t have the fall locked in yet, we’re suppose to be doing a tour in September but we can’t really talk about it yet. What is confirmed is that we’re going to be supporting Cannibal Corpse in Europe, it should be around the time our new record will be coming out, so that will be cool to go over to Europe with Cannibal Corpse.
Q – Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, is there any last thing you’d like to say to any fans and supporters of Revocation?
Dave – Just check out out online if you’ve never heard us before, if we’re coming through your area come check us out live, also be on the look out for our new CD coming out in the fall on Metal Blade Records. Keep your eyes pealed.
