[music]

Alison Stewart: You are listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. The latest album from the New Orleans based band, The Revivalists is about letting all your feelings out into the world. The album is called Pour It Out Into the Night, the fifth in the band's discography. The Revivalists was formed in 2008 by co-founders David Shaw and Zack Feinberg and has since grown to eight members. The Revivalists are currently in the middle of a summer tour around the US and will play next in our area at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn on August 10th.

Before the release of the new album, Shaw and Feinberg joined me in studio for a special acoustic performance. We started by hearing them play their song Down In The Dirt.

[music- The Revivalists: Down In The Dirt]

My daddy was a lawyer who sold salvation to the church

Your money's no good in heaven, but it's great down here on earth

So let's get down in the dirt

Let's get down in the dirt

My granddad was a scholar in the school of heartbreak and hard work

He didn't believe in heaven or damnation being worse

He's laid down in the dirt

He laid down in the dirt

It can't be that we're the only ones

Born out of this ever-loving mud

It can't be that we're the only ones

That grew up from this ever-loving sun

My mama was no angel, she was more than just a nurse

She thought it was a charity to keep us kids from getting hurt

Can't stay clean in the dirt

Life is mean on this earth

I have no occupation, but I have some sense of worth

All the flowers blossom from what goes on in the dirt

So I get down in the dirt

Let's get down in the dirt

It can't be that we're the only ones

Born out of this ever-loving mud

It can't be that we're the only ones

That grew up from this ever-loving sun

They say that love is just the thing to save a man

It's not so shallow, you must dig to bring it out

So let's get down in the dirt

Let's get down in the dirt

They say that love is just the thing to save a man

It's not so shallow, you must dig to bring it out

So let's get down in the dirt

Let's get down in the dirt

Alison Stewart: Zack, that song deals with some of the big questions about life, some family dynamics, and what you do with what you get. What was your mindset when you were writing that song? Where were you?

Zack Feinberg: The first verse came to me as I was walking my dog in the Bywater neighborhood in New Orleans where I lived a couple of years ago. I had seen another band perform the previous night and they had the first line of their song was that poor boy was a lawyer with a necktie for a noose. I was like, "That is a great first line." My dad is a lawyer and he deals with organized religions as clients. The first line popped into my head like, "If this were my son, it would be like this."

David Shaw: That's as real as it gets for you. [laughter]

Alison Stewart: Yes. For real.

Zack Feinberg: It just followed that. I talked about my grandfather who was-- His father was an atheist until the end and once I came on the turning the phrase of the Down In The Dirt I was really excited. I was like, "Wow, this is really special." I don't know when I turned that phrase exactly, but that felt like I had something pretty special and I'm proud of where it all went dealing with all the big questions of the fleetingness of life and wanting to make the most of it and sometimes that's not pretty getting your hands dirty with everything.

I tried to keep it hopeful though there with the love.

David Shaw: Yes. The chorus really brings it all together.

Zack Feinberg: Yes.

David Shaw: It's an incredible song, brother, seriously.

Zack Feinberg: Thank you, [unintelligible 00:05:54]

Alison Stewart: When you're songwriting, Dave, does that happen walking the dog after also seeing some music? Are you that kind of writer where something comes to you, you sit, you get your notes out, you write it down, or do you have writing time?

David Shaw: Both. I'm always always keep my ears and eyes open for things. Always we have our cell phone or probably we can always get down a little note or something but I feel like if you're not doing it that way I feel like you're just going to lose so much and sometimes these little gems will come and it'll just be something somebody said like that or it'll just be something you heard on TV or it just come to you while you're having a run or whatever but if you don't have your line in the water, you're not going to catch it.

Alison Stewart: Tell me if I'm wrong because you know the internet. Zack, did you record the album in Vermont?

Zack Feinberg: Yes. We did two weeks of tracking in Vermont with a great producer by the name of Rich Costey. Some of his more renowned works include Muse, some of their big albums and Death Cab for Cutie and he did an engineering and mixing for Audioslave and the Rage Against the Machine Records. He worked with Rick Rubin for years. He's a heavyweight and it was really cool to work with him in this getaway in Vermont.

David Shaw: Yes. It was incredible. He's a really special dude.

Alison Stewart: Can we hear another song?

Zack Feinberg: Yes, sure.

Alison Stewart: What are we going to hear?

Zack Feinberg: Let's do Kid.

David Shaw: Let's do Kid. Let me make sure I'm in tune here.

Zack Feinberg: Yes.

David Shaw: Close. Close enough.

Zack Feinberg: You can see even David Shaw needs to tune his guitar sometimes, people.

David Shaw: [laughs] All right. Here we go.

[music- The Revivalists: Kid]

I walked downtown to get my fortune read

She took one look and this is what she said

Hey, kid

Just sing the songs that wake the dead then

You keep them ringing in your head, yeah

You gotta get it off your chest

Don't worry 'bout the mess

I must confess I took a hit, I'm in a bad condition

With all the chatter, where's the truth? I find it hard to listen

They want it loud, they want it now, they want it loud

Just get it out, just get it out, just give it out

Hey, kid

Just sing the songs that wake the dead, then

You get that darkness out your head, yeah

You had it with you from the start

The lightning in your heart

Yeah, it's gonna take me out

Yeah, it's gonna bring me down

But I'm just living for the spirit now

I'm out of luck on the floor, every siren's ringing

It's not the same anymore, I hear them trumpets singing

They want it loud, they want it now, they want it loud

Just get it out, just get it out, just get it out

As much as everything changes, everything stays the same

I've been going through phases, turning the page in my brain

That glow up ahead in the distance, it's never looking the same

I'm going through changes, going through phases

Walking through mazes, wrecking my brain, so

Hey, kid

Just sing the songs that wake the dead, then

You get that darkness out your head, yeah

It's the blessing and the curse

The dying and the birth He's gonna take me out

He's gonna bring me down

I'm just living for the spirit now

I'm just living for the spirit now

I'm just living for the spirit now

I'm just living for the spirit now

I'm just living

I'm just living

Alison Stewart: That was Kid from David Shaw and Zack Feinberg of The revivalists. The story goes with that song that you wrote that on January 6th, 2021?

Zack Feinberg: Yes, I love it.

Alison Stewart: Morning or afternoon?

Zack Feinberg: In the afternoon, yes.

Alison Stewart: Afternoon?

David Shaw: Afternoon, I think, yes.

Alison Stewart: What was the vibe? What were you doing? Did you call each other up? Did you say what's going on?

Zack Feinberg: We were over at each other's. I was at his house.

David Shaw: We'd already had it planned, it was to write.

Alison Stewart: Oh, it was on a writing day.

David Shaw: It was writing day, yes,

Zack Feinberg: We had the bed of the music pretty well established. I think we were trying to put together some verses and some layering stuff, We were in a great flow, really a good place with the song. It was feeling really amazing, and it felt like it was a really productive day up until that point, and then we started getting some messages, and we were like, "Oh, my God, what's going on. This is crazy." I was just like, "This sort of thing happened in Michigan. Let's keep focused on this because this is more important actually to us.

David Shaw: Just a crappy situation, bad stuff. I think some of that crept into the lyrics a little bit, for sure. There's always going to be things that take your attention, we've got the computer in our pocket, there's a lot of negativity in the world, and there's a lot of negativity on social media, but there's also a lot of beauty. We had something beautiful in the room, and we felt like it was like, "If we focus on this, what are we going to do? We're not going to stop this."

Alison Stewart: You wanted to protect what you had made?

David Shaw: We wanted to protect, absolutely, and it was just like, "Let's focus on this. Some of that is going to get in there." We're always fighting the good fight, so it's going to do its work in other ways.

Alison Stewart: I know. You guys do a lot of a lot of prosocial work.

David Shaw: Yes, sure

Alison Stewart: Curious about, you're sitting here with guitars, when you guys play live, it is fantastic mayhem on stage in the best way.

Zack Feinberg: We're eight musicians, typically, this is two of us.

Alison Stewart: Eight of you, it gets sweaty, there's dancing. I think the first time I saw you guys was in 2014 in a big field in New Orleans. It was just a dance party from the beginning to the end. It was just great, it was sweaty, it was massive.

David Shaw: Amazing. Was it jazz fest?

Alison Stewart: It wasn't jazz fest. I was in for work doing something else, and I just walked down the street and I was like, "What do I hear?"

Zack Feinberg: French Quarter Fest, maybe.

David Shaw: It might have been French Quarter Fest, it also might have been Lafayette Square, one of those.

Alison Stewart: That was it.

Zack Feinberg: That was one side of the square.

David Shaw: One side of the square.

Zack Feinberg: Nice.

David Shaw: Those are some legendary shows.

Alison Stewart: Those are legendary shows.

David Shaw: Those are fun. [laughter]

Alison Stewart: When you were on stage, when you're seeing your audience because your audience really gets into it, how would you describe that exchange of energy, Zach, or David? Either one of you.

Zack Feinberg: I think, any time that we go to play, and we know it's being consumed by a larger audience, I feel like a charge. Even about to play on the radio, my body feels different than David and I, playing in soundcheck. It's a psychological or a quantum phenomena. When you're being observed, it changes it. To have a ton of people giving you incredible energy and expectations, positively charges the experience.

David Shaw: There is a connection that happens that it's an unspeakable thing. Just like right now, I feel like we have a really good energy going. Sometimes it doesn't happen like this. Sometimes it's super awkward and super weird, and it just doesn't happen.

Zack Feinberg: We're not naming names. [laughter]

David Shaw: At some shows, you always try to get there, and it doesn't always happen. We're always, "Get up there and play our songs." We're giving it our all, but when that crowd comes with that ferocious, just that raw power, we feed off that. The more the crowd gives us, the more we can actually give, I feel like, and it really turns into something special, really.

Zack Feinberg: I would like to comment as from an observer, not an observer, I'm in the band obviously, but you're the frontman. There have been years where it's not always like there's a large crowd ready to cheer you on, sometimes you got to win them over in the early years, and there's 10 people, 12 people, 5, and 3 people in a room. From my experience, it has been remarkable from day one how you put your all out there into every performance and very consistently always deliver a very energetic, amazing, performance.

Alison Stewart: That was my conversation with David Shaw And Zack Feinberg, co-founders Of the New Orleans based band, The Revivalists. They play in our area at BRICK Celebrate Brooklyn on August 10th. That's all of it for today's Special live music show. I'm Alison Stewart, and we'll meet you back here next time.

 

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