A fuse of New Orleans soul and rock ‘n’ roll is set to take over a corner of Columbus this weekend.
The Revivalists, a rock and soul group, is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Sunday at Woodlands Tavern. The show is also set to feature Hilary Scott and the New County Line.
“(Columbus) can look forward to a high-energy delivery of soulful, funky rock ‘n’ roll,” said David Shaw, the band’s lead singer and guitarist. “We’re just going to do what we always do, just in a different place.”
The Revivalists formed in 2007, when drummer Andrew Campanelli and guitarist Zack Feinberg first met during jam sessions at Tipitina’s Sunday Music Workshops in New Orleans. Shaw came into the picture after Campanelli and Feinberg heard him singing on his porch.
Bassist George Gekas, one of Campanelli’s friends from college, saxophonist Rob Ingraham and pedal-steel guitarist Ed Williams joined and doubled the band’s size. Multi-instrumentalist Michael Girardot rounded out the band in 2009.
Shaw said he believes each member makes a different, significant contribution to the music.
“Zack is kind of an enigma in that he uses a technique called ‘tapping,’ an interesting way of getting guitar sound out, rather than strumming or plucking,” Shaw said. “Ed plays the pedal steel guitar more like a lead instrument than a textural background instrument. Andrew is a great songwriter, so that’s a unique thing to have the drummer be a very strong melodic mind as well as rhythmic backbone. And George, the bassist, is always chugging away coming up with different arrangements to make things pop and keep the music moving.”
At Best of the Beat Awards in 2012 in New Orleans, the Revivalists won Rock Album of the Year, Rock Artist of the Year and Video of the Year.
The band released its latest album, “City of Sound,” independently in March 2012 and is currently on tour with dates scheduled through the beginning of June.
“We always try to bring high energy with a nice arc but feature a few slow tunes,” said Campanelli. “It’s a constantly moving show.”
Campanelli said he wants The Revivalists to continue what they are doing now but to also expand on their progress.
“We are doing what we want to be doing, playing shows, hitting the road and making records,” he said. “We want to play longer at festivals and in front of bigger crowds. We’d love to play internationally and take it to the next level.”
Mackenzie Hogan, a second-year in community leadership, said she would be interested in hearing The Revivalists on Sunday.
“It would be nice do hear something different,” Hogan said. “The audience would not be expecting the music, but not in a bad way. It’s good thinking music and it hits home.”
Ariane Trahan, owner and founder of artist development company Easy Apple, said The Revivalists are good at gaining an audience’s attention.
“They have a unique way of grabbing your attention and keeping that attention with the hooks in their songwriting and maintaining a mass appeal I haven’t seen in a band in recent years,” Trahan said in an email. “(It) sounds like it should be simple to do, but if it was, you wouldn’t be asking me this question. They really are remarkable musicians.”
Shaw said that since the music has evolved over the past few years, The Revivalists are now in a groove professionally.
“We have had a few members come in and leave, and we didn’t schedule a final lineup until two or three years ago,” he said. “(The music) has evolved organically. Everybody has a piece of the puzzle and puts it in there.”
Tickets for the show are $10 on Woodlands Tavern’s website and at the show. Woodlands Tavern is located at 1200 W. Third Ave.
