“When we first agreed to play the New York leg of Revelation 25 back in July, it was pretty clear to us that if we were going to do this again, we were going to finally tie up all of the loose ends that have nagged us for so long,” explains guitarist Norman Brannon [in a statement from the band]. “Part of that meant going back into the studio to record the songs we never had a chance to make real, but part of that also meant to go out and say thank you to all of the people who have kept this band alive for so long. These shows are the first part of that thank-you…

“We're gonna go out there and play these shows like they're our last shows ever, because for all these cities, they are. There are some other places we need to visit, and we'll get around to that, but this is the first big step towards our last steps. This time, we're going to finish it right.”

The dates are as follows:

1/6 Chicago, IL
House of Blues (Revelation 25 w/ special guests: Into Another, Sense Field, and Popeye)

2/15 Washington D.C.
The Black Cat

2/16 Philadelphia, PA
Union Transfer

2/17 Boston, MA
Paradise

3/8 Toronto, CAN
Lee's Palace

3/9 Atlanta, GA
The Masquerade

3/29 San Francisco, CA
Bimbo's 365

3/30 Los Angeles, CA
The Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater

Check out our recent interview with Norman Brannon on the band's July reunion.

INTERVIEW: Scott Heisel
PHOTO CREDIT: Jordan Provost

What can you tell us about this reunion show?
NORMAN BRANNON: Well, the first thing we need to talk about, definitely, is that the show is October 11 in New York City at Irving Plaza with Underdog, Shades Apart, Gameface and On The Might Of Princes. It’s part of Revelation’s 25th anniversary festival, which they just finished doing a version of in California a couple months back. They actually asked us to play this, I think, before even the California shows happened. I think the original answer was “no,” and I think after the shows happened and after kind of thinking about it a little bit more, there was a little bit of reassessment on our part in terms of something that seems bigger than us in a lot of ways and that I think has something to do with the idea that we would actually get together and do it.

Revelation, obviously at one point in our lives, especially as young people before we were even on the label in the ‘80s—I mean, this is what we collected before our baseball cards. We loved Revelation Records, but more than that I was thinking about how personally, I’ve gotten rid of [most of] my vinyl over the years. There are a couple things that I have kept and as far as hardcore records go, I actually only own one, and it’s the New York City Hardcore: The Way It Is compilation, which I bought when it came out, I think in 1987 or ’88, and there was something about that copy when I look at it still, it makes me feel like I’m a part of something. And, to me, that was very crucial in my life, and I think anybody in our band would probably say the same thing. So, being a part of this festival became I guess more important and we kind of reassessed it, and we decided that it would be something that was worth playing.

So how long ago did you actually agree to do the show?
We talked about it and agreed on it the day before Revelation first put out a teaser, which I think was something like two weeks ago or something. So, it literally just happened really fast, You know, one minute, it wasn’t happening, then we said, “Okay,” and the next morning, people sort of knew. There was no official announcement or anything like that, but people started talking and it just became reality.

Obviously, as many people know, you guys reunited originally about six years ago for two shows in New York. Looking at the social media landscape between 2006 and 2012 is drastically different. There wasn’t Twitter six years ago. The way news spreads now is so viral and instant from person to person. So, was it a shock then when people started coming to you right away and asking about this even though there had been no formal statement?
I think that it’s interesting for us as a band because we still say things like, for example, we don’t like to talk amongst each other in email. It’s generally a bad idea for our band to talk to each other in email. It just doesn’t end well. And we found that it’s always better for us to get into a room together and talk and be a band and not an internet chat group. So, I think that it may have something to do with the fact that honestly, when we broke up, we were just at that level where we had an email address. Forget about the internet.

Was it, like, [email protected] or something?
[Laughs.] It was [email protected]. So, we had that maybe for the last month of our band, so you know coming around in 2006 and again now when everything is much more sophisticated and established, I think the biggest fun for us was just to get that sort of instant communication with people that you can’t have through a press release. Me, personally I think with our Twitter account, I think it’s really fun to engage with people and to talk to people and to have little jokes. 10 minutes ago, I noticed that Graham Elliot the chef tweeted about us. He called us one of the best ever, and I was like, “Wow! I totally love you on Top Chef: Masters!” So, those types of things are really—they’re just fun, and they couldn’t have happened before, so it’s nice to see the fans in a new dimension, and it’s nice to see how we can adapt to these new dimensions.

The way you’re talking about it, it seems like the band sounds like a living, breathing entity, and obviously, when you did the shows six years ago, there was kind of a big hubbub made about how that was going to be it—that you never got to have your final send-off. That was your way to kind of put the band to bed, but now you’re revisiting it again. Do you feel, at some point, that it’s desecrating a corpse, or do you feel like this is going to be something that keeps happening. Are you trying to keep the ball rolling?
I will say this: I’ve never really been one for the whole idea of the legacy. I kind of feel like that’s not important. I think that we’re addicted to kind of rock ’n’ roll mythology, so we have these kind of concepts of bands and their legacies and who kept the legacy strong and who ruined the legacy with that comeback album or something. My feeling has always been that if you’re a band and you own it, you own it. You can do whatever you want with it. You can put out a comeback album if you wanted to. I’m not saying we’re going to, but I’m saying, like, if that’s your decision and that’s what makes you happy, you own it. It’s your decision. You should do that. And I can opt not to buy it, but I don’t think that you’re doing anything to sort of desecrate a corpse, right?

That said, I think that back then we were in a different circumstance, which was a very specific circumstance of our lives where I think everybody in the band was kind of in a place where we were all sort of new at second or third careers, even. Kind of like enjoying our 30s and being like, “Okay. What else can I do now?” For me, I can say that I decided to go back to school, so there was nothing about being in a band that seemed to gel with that. Scott was establishing a career as a chef. Chris is a hairstylist. We all kind of had these careers that we started, and it just didn’t seem practical to kind of lend any false hope that we would do a tour or something like that, but now we’re all a little more—we’re established now. I teach college now. When we played those shows in 2006, I hadn’t even stepped into an undergrad class. Somehow, in the interim, I’ve done that. It also says something about how long it’s actually been. It seems like it wasn’t that long ago, but it actually was.

So, I feel like with all of us really, with those shows, I think there was a sense that we just needed some closure for ourselves. With this, I think it’s like… You can keep the door closed, but eventually, if people are still knocking, you’re going to get up and answer it. It almost feels inevitable. So, at least, from my perspective, it seems that at this point, we’re willing to at least leave the door ajar.

You’re not supposed to do that in New York City. Your landlord will yell at you.
[Laughs.] Someone might very well break in.

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