ZapTown

It has been a long time coming but well worth it for the Brooklyn-based band Revel Hotel. You may have seen them serenading the Brooklyn nightclub scene or hanging out at one of the many Wierd parties in New York City. Or you may have spotted the increased Internet presence the band has been getting lately.

Recently releasing their debut EP The Beating Of The Wings, their conglomeration of deeply-rooted synth and rock decadence and romantic feelings of intrigue dig in to make up an album of five swaying hip shakers.

Solidifying their dreams., this is proof of a band who believes in themselves to make the music that they want to make while joining together and uniting in a movement that is keeping the city that never sleeps wide-eyed.

Featuring vocalist and pianist Johnny Quinlan, guitarist Robert Tahija, Frank Deserto on bass, synth and theremin, and drummer Barrett Hiatt, this is Revel Hotel.

Link: http://revelhotel.net/

Coming from different aspects of the New York City scene, tell me where you came from, how you all met, and what caused the formation of Revel Hotel? What were you looking for as a band?

Frank: The idea for this band essentially stemmed from our singer, Johnny.  As an accomplished singer/songwriter/solo performer, he decided it was best to gather a few like minded individuals to give some songs an extra boost.  At the time, I was still moonlighting in the Funeral Crashers, a NYC deathrock band who split soon after RH’s first show.  Johnny sort of collected us, if you will, but I’ll let him expand on that.

Johnny: Revel Hotel essentially began before it even started-I was a solo artist unsatisfied with the singular dimensions of my music-not to say I don’t love solo piano and voice-however I knew that I wanted to gather a power team and bring back the deeper and more intense energy that only a band can provide. I was also looking for the camaraderie that comes with playing in a group. I knew Frankie from the Funeral Crashers and one night I was at a show and he blew me away with his passion and raw balls-to-the-walls playing so after the gig I approached him.  I had met Barrett through friends and really liked his style so I asked him if he wanted to check out a new project I was putting together. We then played our first gig within 2 weeks at the weekly Wierd party.  We were called Alter Boys, but not for long. Revel Hotel was then born along with the much anticipated arrival of super-talent, guitarist Robert Tahija who I met at his place of work and later over a few beers- he was in.

Barrett: I can tell you that I personally wasn’t even looking to be in a band at the time. I had only been on hiatus from my previous band for less than a year, and to be honest was enjoying the time off. I was working on my remixes under my Halo33 moniker and expanding my skills at making music with the computer. I found that once I started playing with Frank and Johnny, that it was a very natural fit and was too good to pass on. I did not realize how much I missed being on a stage till I found myself sharing one with these guys.

Robert: After fronting numerous bands and years of solo work slumped and tangled in headphones, I realized I missed the collaborative dynamic of being in a band. Johnny and his mischievous ways lulled me into rehearsal and upon meeting Barrett and Frankie it became apparent that their particular chemistry would be right for me.

With music today, and especially the synth/electronic scene, there are many bands out there with clear-cut finger pointing to their influences and style. Yet when I listen to your music, I have a hard time pointing fingers. I get subtle nudges to various bands and styles but nothing concrete making the sound feel unique in a good way. What are your thoughts on that and how do you feel about your compositions?

Frank: My tastes in music run rather deep.  Though I tend to steer more towards the darkwave scene of the 1980s (consisting, of course, of the notorious post-punk and new wave bands as well as more obscure minimal synth and coldwave artists), I tend to also enjoy dusty choral music, 1940’s torch singers, and the melancholy, yet catchy edge of the sixties girl group greats.  Throw in a little knack for noise and experimentation, and that’s where I’m coming from as a musician.  I try to take all of the above influences and meld them into something more palatable, which is a rather refreshing challenge.  If anything, I’m pleased to be in a band where any style is fair game. 
 
As a collective, we’re all pulling from a vast array of influences, and each song we write tends to sound completely different than the last, unified primarily by Johnny’s vocals.

Johnny: I am very proud of two things about us; one being that we are quite unique in a market overrun with copycats of one another, and two, that we as a group have different musical pasts and influences, yet we all are unified in our likes and dislikes. That being said,  I believe we are a new genre band-one that really is trying to write and perform truly original music without losing sight of our sound, subtly evolving as we go.  My taste runs the gamut from classical to 20-30’s jazz, psychedelic surf punk, classic metal and 60’s-70’s rock and early goth/synth 80’s punk and new wave. All in all, I tend to favor older music but at the end of the day I appreciate great music, regardless the genre. Too many to list!

Barrett: Agreed. We all have such a diverse appreciation for all kinds of music, that its only natural for our influences to seep into the music we make. I listen to everything from metal and industrial, to new wave and alternative, to classical and hip-hop. I’ll throw in a few good Country songs just for the hell of it. There really isn’t anything musically that I would be opposed to at least trying out in this band. No limits here. 

Robert: Yeah, I like music and our compositions.

Much like a lead vocal, the piano interestingly takes dominance in most of your songs. Why did you decide to bring that to the forefront of the 
band? How do you treat the other instruments in respect to that?

Frank: This essentially dates back to the roots of the project.  Johnny’s songs were primarily written for piano and vocals, and our earliest compositions were already finished upon joining, leaving the piano as the centerpiece of the track.  The material we’ve been writing as a full-fledged four piece has moved in a different direction.  There’s still piano at times, but there’s more of a collective thought process and an array of instrumentation involved.

Johnny: Being that piano and synth are–beside my vocals—my main tool for writing, the first songs are piano-dominated.  However, we are evolving with less emphasis on the piano and more on guitar and synth. I have always loved the hauntingly beautiful piano when used in a dark glam sensibility, and I think we own that. I have been exploring dynamics and spatial intent within the songs and I am liking where that is taking us. Also I am freeing myself up to front the band and connect even more onstage.

Robert: Being last in the band didn’t leave me much choice. I try to squeeze a note in where I can. But seriously, I adore Johnny’s compositions and both Frankie and Barrett’s contributions. I really enjoy adding to the mix.

Tell me about the new EP, from the creation to the output, what did you encounter?

Frank: There are five songs on the EP, entitled The Beating of the Wings. Four of the five are among our earliest numbers, written by Johnny originally and fleshed out into a full band arrangement just after Robert’s arrival and the recording process.  The fifth, “1,000 Dreams,” stems from a simple keyboard melody I created while jamming.  Everyone else jumped in immediately, and the song was basically finished in one practice session.  We were due in the studio soon after, and we were so pleased with that track, we couldn’t pass it up. We have several other songs, many written as a full band, but they’ll have to wait until the next release. 
 
As for the process, the EP was recorded in pieces, over a long, laborious stretch of time, starting in February/March of ’09.

Johnny: This EP, our first of many albums to come we hope, has been quite labor intensive but has shaped us as a band and as friends along the way. Something interesting happened as we began, and I believe we learned who we really were musically. The Beating of the Wings, in a sense is our calling card and we have so much more to offer in the near future. Personally, I am very proud of this album and I think it is deeply profound and speaks volumes about our intentions. I really hope people love it as we do.

Barrett: We really had no issues deciding which songs would be on the EP. We ran through a few different track orders, but generally speaking we agreed on most things pretty easily. I took upon the task of creating the artwork, which proved to be a little more difficult as the four of us have different artistic aesthetics, but took the time to create something we are all happy with. I generally like cover art to be abstract, or at least make you think a little bit. I doubt you will ever find a Revel Hotel release with just a picture of us on the front. Art is very important to this band but the music should speak louder than the image.

Robert: After we finalized our parts, we recorded at my studio in Brooklyn and brought in my old friend and technical wiz, Kelley Kelley, to help steer the ship. It  proved to be overwhelming at times with four artistically focused individuals and an expansive array of concepts but we’re all proud of the end result.

Do you feel like this is the album you always wanted to make? Is so, what led to that feeling of accomplishment and what was your focus. If not, then tell me what the band hopes to achieve.  Where does this release put you in respects to the future of the band, and how do you foresee that?

Frank: Despite the process, I’m rather pleased with the EP as it stands.  The idea was to cut these five songs, and cut them properly, with no plans to go back and re-record them in the future.  It certainly took a lot longer than we’d have liked, but patience prevails.

Johnny: I believe this is the album we DID want to make-pitfalls, successes and all. As a fairly new group, I think we all had a sense of what we wanted the album to feel like, and the sound kept building as we went, four minds pushing forth. Some of theses songs I had recorded as demos so I had a vision but within the structure there was room for so much more that occurred, like ambience and special surprises you never see coming until they hit you over the head!

Barrett: I am more proud of this EP than anything I have made in any previous endeavor. This is music that I enjoy listening to. I believe it’s timeless. The process may have been a little unorthodox, but the output was well worth it.  I am eager to begin work on new material. Considering what our EP turned out to be, I expect nothing less than epic for our first full length.

Robert: All of the above.

One very pleasing aspect about your music is the live show, its passion and its versatility. Tell me about the live show and things that you have 
done to enhance and liven up your music?

Frank: Naturally, the live show is a little less polished, a little more raw and intense, and that’s how I’d prefer it to be.  So many bands use laptops to perfectly recreate their studio record, and I don’t care much for that.  A record and a live show should be two distinct experiences, as far as I’m concerned.

Johnny: Playing live is one of my guilty and favorite pleasures. We are not at all just a studio band and like Frank said-we don’t try to sound exactly like our record. We bring something new, heavier and more visual to the stage, and we have plans to up that ante in a big way. Fans are everything, especially these days and we give them our all. What I feel we have improved upon is the emotion of the shows. We take people on a journey with the sets, and I love to see cheering and sometimes tears!

Barrett: I prefer a live show to sound different. Why would you want to attend a show and hear songs exactly as played on a record? Live shows are supposed to be about the moment. Living in that moment. It is where you just let the music breathe and use instinct when playing. No overdubs, no retakes. I would say live we are a little more stripped down but much more aggressive. As Frank said. Two distinct experiences. The way it should be.

Robert: Turn up the guitar. Ha!

There seems to be a burgeoning scene blooming in Brooklyn with Wierd at the vortex of that. Having involvement in that scene, how does Revel Hotel fit into that conglomerate because even in the array of artists involved, Revel Hotel’s music feels like the outsiders: nonconformists in a nonconformist environment. Is that the case? How do you see yourself in this?

Frank: Pieter Schoolwerth, who runs Wierd, has always been most supportive of the band, even though we don’t necessarily fit the mold of the label’s mission statement.  We’ve played the weekly party three times over, generally reinventing ourselves with each performance.  While I’m heavily involved and invested in Wierd’s dogma and very much interested in the sounds the label is cultivating on a personal basis, Revel Hotel probably oscillates a bit too much to settle into one particular groove, for better or for worse.

However, that’s not to say we’re without peers, or several artists we find kinship with.  Some names that come to mind: Weep, Automelodi, White Light Lametta, and Cruel Back Dove.  We’ve collaborated with Shirley, the bassist of Cruel Black Dove, who lent vocals to a few live and radio performances.

Johnny: What can I say-we love WIERD and WIERD loves us! Though we are not a prototypical darkwave synth based act, we resonate with those fans and we all love that music as well. Pieter has been very supportive of us and we appreciate the scene that is Wierd. Beyond that, I do believe Brooklyn is the place to watch in this country, and we hope to represent greatly, as many others have.

Barrett: We all love Wierd, that it without question. It brings together great people and great music that you wouldn’t hear elsewhere. But our music doesn’t fit into a textbook genre or even in the confines of Wierd. But that is EXACTLY what makes us fit. It’s not what you expect. It’s something different. It’s the community of music that we subscribe to.

Beyond the music is the lyricism, which it feels that the band pays close attention to. Somewhat reflective while being part Surrealist, and 
being a little Activist at the same time, I get the feeling like I do when reading someone like Philippe Soupault. Can you comment about the writing 
style, what it was you were looking for within the songs and what you are trying to capture?

Johnny: Well thank you for the comparison and compliment–Phillipe Soupault is a breathtaking poet and author. Without delving into all the lyrics from each song on the EP, I feel that the lyrical content comes from non-fictional experiences as well as a vivid, over-active imagination cultivated over my very interesting life. I appreciate poetry, sentiment and mindfulness and try to tell a story not so purposefully subversive but hauntingly beautiful and filled with lush images. That’s not to say I am not political, but I do deliver a message, for certain. Sometimes the words come before the music, sometimes during or after—I have no rules , I just try and remain open to what comes.

In what ways has urbanization affected this band? Is it important to the existence this band has even beyond the practicality a city like New 
York has? How do you see the trends of the city shaping you?

Frank: In the past, I’ve found New York City to be a pretty thankless place to be in a band, as the sheer amount of oversaturation does not lend well to a band’s success.  Far too many of our friends and peers have folded under the intense pressure of a New York lifestyle.  However, over the past year and change, I’ve noticed a bit more camaraderie among bands, something scarcely missing given NYC’s cutthroat nature.  
 
Otherwise, nothing bothers me more than a piecemeal bill, where none of the bands know each other or sound a thing alike.  My personal mission with Revel Hotel has been to play with bands with similar sounds, ethics, or even with familiar faces.  With a recession at hand, it’s certainly a drag to drop $10 on one act, only to be driven away by the band that follows.  I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to put together a bill that makes sense, and I’ve been striving to do that with every gig we play.  For the most part, this has been rather successful.

Johnny: I agree with Frankie on this-too many cooks in a humongous kitchen! However, basing ourselves in Brooklyn and giving ourselves a strong identity has helped. Success shouldn’t be just for rich kids in bands who can afford the best PR,  the best of everything really. Unfortunately, that has happened and is so evident in the NY scene which is why there is not much community or support for good bands who struggle to pay for all it takes to be out there with a serious presence. We have had to make many sacrifices, but we do what we have to and know it will pay off to be strong musicians. If anything, today’s trends have pissed us off and made us work harder and put even more effort in!

Barrett: Frank brings up a great point. The community is a big deal. Its how a movement gets started. We have seen this again and again throughout music history. The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, Nirvana. It only takes one band to break down a barrier and there will always be a small army behind them. Whether we are the band to break through or one of the satellites that happens to be in the right vicinity at the right time, the important thing is to get the music heard. That is our primary goal.

Robert: I only drink where my friends work.

Much of your shows revolve in and around New York City. Any plans on reaching out beyond the East Coast? What plans do you have here on out?

Frank: Here’s hoping.  We don’t have any concrete plans to tour just yet, but anything’s possible.

Johnny: We had to get the ball rolling before we could reach out further but now…Hell Yeah! I feel that we are ready to hit some other cities here in the US and abroad. I hope to do the European outdoor festival circuit soon-there is nothing like playing for a crowd outside! Onwards and Upwards we go!!!

Barrett: Anyone wanna put us up in Europe?

Robert: I’d like to visit my aunt in LA.