Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Revels.
Brian, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m an only child of a single mother from a small town just outside of Athens, GA, called Winder. I always had a restless mind and an interest in words. As a child, I was an insatiable reader and eventually gravitated to poetry and songwriting. I remember being in 3rd grade and talking two friends into joining me in front of the class and singing an original song a capella that we wrote and rehearsed during a string of recesses.
Despite, or possibly because of, my inquisitive brain and definitely because of an absent father I sought attention constantly and got in trouble what seemed like every single day of my childhood. From the Elementary age to my early college years, I pushed limits and authority often. I was suspended from school more times than I can count. In the fourth grade, our class went on 5 field trips and I got too many demerits before each one to be eligible to go. Not for nothing, I also won the spelling bee that year. Similarly, in eighth grade, the entire grade went on a 3 day trip to Savannah that my mom had already paid for, but the day before we left I got written up 3 times and wasn’t able to go.
My wrap sheet could go on for pages and pages… The reason this pattern is significant is that, in 9th grade, I found myself “called out” by another student in my weightlifting class and, while I tried to ignore it, a locker room full of high school boys had no such intention. Before I knew it, this kid and I stood in the middle of a circle of maybe 40 other students chanting, egging us on and pushing us toward each other. Without the least bit of anger in my bones, I succumbed to the peer pressure and we fought each other briefly.
I left feeling vain and victorious only to find out I had broken his jaw pretty severely and I left school in handcuffs. On top of probation, fines, etc. I was expelled from my high school for the remainder of that school year and half of the next. At the time, it was all a pretty traumatic experience but, it was also the time I finally picked up the cheap Squire Stratocaster that had been gathering dust in my bedroom for the previous two years.
That Summer, I got my first job at a local golf course and saved up $800 to buy the beautiful Takamine G series that I still use at every gig/ show. It was brand new then, but now has a hole where the pickguard should’ve been that’s nearly as big as the sound hole. From day one, I rarely put it down and my teen angst ate through that thing like so many termites.
I played music all that I could but didn’t have the means or wherewithal to pursue it with any efficiency. After a few years studying English at traditional colleges I opted to take my musicianship to the next level and enrolled at The Atlanta Institute of Music (these days, they’ve added “& Media” to the title). I was never much of a technical musician and had learned most of what I knew from tabs on the internet so, I liken this experience to being pulled behind a speedboat after you’ve lost your skis. I’m still coughing up the water, but it made a musician out of me, dammit.
After graduating in 2012, I moved to Atlanta proper and dove headlong into whatever open mic scenes I could find. This just so happened to be around the time of the very first Tin Roof Acoustic Showdown hosted by Ian Schumacher, a series that’s now into its 30th or 40th, 15-week season, I think. A fellow songwriter I had befriended months before, Michael Hudgins, joined me to play a slot in the Showdown as a duo that we coined “City Mouse.”
Sailing to Denver, a phenomenal local folk outfit that is still kicking ass, was also a part of these early Showdown series’ and we all became fast friends and I even managed to talk their fiddle player, Jenna Mobley, into rehearsing with us.
Fast forward to early 2016 and City Mouse, the trio, is disbanding after thousands of shows, 3 tours (one that lasted a month and took us to California and back, showing me more of my home country than I had ever seen before.), one EP, two singles, and multiple sold-out shows around Atlanta at Eddie’s Attic, Terminal West, etc. Our last show together was opening for the Whiskey Gentry’s Merry Y’alltide Celebration in December of 2015 at the Variety Playhouse. So many dreams came true, but “all good things…” and whatnot.
Now, I’m much more aware of what it takes to truly pursue music. That said, I’m terrified of what a future in music looks like today. So, alongside monthly shows and working with Damon Moon at Standard Electric Recorders Co. to make a record with my band “Brian Revels & the Heat Lightning,” I’m also studying copywriting full-time at The Creative Circus, one of the country’s best schools for advertising that just so happens to be right here in Atlanta.
The list goes on … and on. I also buss tables at the Atlanta breakfast staple, Homegrown, and teach about 15 music lessons a week. When Matt Arnett, of Grocery on Home, isn’t around to host the Open Mic at Eddie’s Attic, I fill in there too. I dabble in small business marketing, running San Francisco Coffee’s (another ATL staple) social media accounts/website (I’m not great at it. Shh).
Music booking and management is also a pet project. I work closely with Eddie’s Attic and help middle-man as many opportunities for local and regional acts to fill open spots on the venue’s calendar. More recently, I’ve thrown my hat in the ring with “Papa” Jack Couch, a veteran songwriter who chose to forego any strides towards the limelight in order to support his young family. Now, he’s 8 years a widower with an empty nest and a side gig as a Methodist Preacher in Greenville, Georgia (yup. There’s a Greenville, GA. Surprised me too).
We’re almost done with a full-length record of his music at Standard Electric here in Decatur. In between all of my different gigs, I’m probably walking my dog or biking to the next thing. An old-school Schwinn Caliente is my only form of transportation (aside from the non-sustainable Ubering option). Keeps me [kind of] humble and healthy.
PS. Apologies for the excessive parenthetical statements. What’s one below schizophrenic? I’m that.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My mother and I didn’t come from any monied people to speak of. Poverty and it’s trappings were present in my close and extended family which is why she raised me in Winder, GA instead of Anderson, SC where the majority of my kinfolk has always lived.
I know now that I was immensely fortunate to have been dealt the hand I was, but as a kid shame was a common theme. That, of course, was punctuated by the myriad emotions that came from never knowing my father. Aside: we met when I was 19 and he died from cancer earlier this year. We rarely spoke, but I also met 3 siblings when I met him that are like best friends to me now.
Presently, my biggest challenge is the one that nearly every musician today faces. Music is next to worthless to sell and still an arm and a leg to record and distribute. This business has some of the most surreal summits to witness, but much more frequently it is a bumpy road of low spots. Financial turmoil is a constant for me.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I’m a lyricist, through and through. I can play several instruments at a novice to intermediate level, but you’ll not find too many virtuosic or technical moments at my shows. It’s the words that I’ve invested well over the expert’s dose of 10,000 hours in and the meter’s still running at a premium.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Nothing jumps out at me here. I was alone a lot. My mom worked long hours and it was just the two of us. I joke that the television was my daddy. I watched stand-up and movies all the time with little to no vetting by adults. I was active too. Lots of running the woods, playing pretend and playing games with the other hellions in the trailer park.
In high school, after that aforementioned, fateful bout of fisticuffs, I started spending a lot of time with the kid who would become my closest friend ever. His older brother and father were huge influences on me, introducing me to countless bands; Clapton, Allman Brothers, The Band, Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Conor Oberst.
We’re thick as thieves to this day and, though it was still riddled with Southern Gothic turmoil and teen angst, that is the time period I am most fond of (other than the present, of course).
Pricing:
- My next Atlanta show is only $8. Sept 19th at Eddie’s Attic. http://www.ticketfly.com/event/1728108?utm_medium=api
Contact Info:
- Website: brianrevelsmusic.com
- Instagram: @b_revelator
- Facebook: BrianRevelsMusic
- Twitter: @b_reveling
Image Credit:
Richard Scott – @richardandrewscott – IG
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