Georgia duo mixes indie rock with Dirty South beats
Formed during pandemic, Revival Season touring with Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap
Rapper Brandon (Bez) Evans and beatmaster Jonah Swilley record under the name Revival Season.
The Georgia-based duo's debut, titled the Golden Age of Self-snitching, was released on Heavenly Recordings in February. The music is a mix of the indie rock Swilley makes with the band Mattiel, elements of classic Rawkus label releases of the 1990s and Dirty South dance beats. Songs such as Pump, Iron Warrior and others are certain to appeal to listeners' ears with a taste for funky drive and fast beats.
Formed right at the beginning of COVID lockdowns to have something to do as their other projects ground to a halt, the duo quickly gleaned that their creative chemistry was something to develop. They decided to become a band within the first year. The album features a few of those initial writing attempts as well as material written over the next two years.
The group is presently touring North America in support of the album, opening for acclaimed Irish-language rappers Kneecap. Most of the shows are selling out. Before the band rolls into the Biltmore Cabaret for a two-night stand, Jonah Swilley offered some insight into what makes Revival Season tick.
1
The name Revival Season
I come from a long line of people in the ministry and have Pentecostal roots. My father was a non-denominational minister, as was my grandfather, so there is a lot of that in my background. I think the spirit and energy of that whole Southern church experience has something to do with the sound as well as reviving some classic hiphop and rap styles.
2
The album title
It's actually a line from one of Bez's lyrics in the song Chop, that references the court cases going on with artists like Young Thug. He wanted to use it for the album title as it is a subtle nod to the trend of using rappers' true life experiences in their lyrics against them in legal cases.
3
Meeting Bez
Jordan Manly, the drummer in Mattiel for years, grew up with Bez in Columbus, Georgia. We got to know one another through him and developed a friendship over the years. We weren't even living in the same city at the time songs like Iron Warrior and others were completed. Both of us got very comfortable working remotely.
4
The punky electric dance music vibe
I was listening a lot to a band called Total Control while making the album and they were super inspiring in the sense that the production of their record really got me thinking. Not that they do anything hip-hop or EDM, but that maybe I could create something with a post-punk feel, speed and pace à la Death Grips. But also to bring it to hip hop of the sort that came out of the '90s like Paul's Boutique or the Handsome Boy Modelling School.
5
Touring with Kneecap
I just did a remix for them that isn't out yet. We aren't in the same boat genre-wise, but we are very alike in the energy level we lay down. I think that will be a good pairing for the shows. Our goal is to get out and perform this record as much as we can and will certainly be back to headline Vancouver after this Kneecap opening run is done.
6
Revival Season live
I have a drum machine I use live and a mixer that I throw a lot of dub-style effects on the vocal mike with. That's how we performed when we did a full U.K. tour recently. For the album release, we actually had Jordan come in as a live drummer and I'm thinking of throwing in live bass in future. We are constantly working on ways to do what we do better live. But for now, it's just the two of us on stage performing.