Mat Flint - Guitars, Vocals
Hamish Brown - Bass
Nick Dewey - Drums
Revolver were one of the bands clubbed
in with the (now legendary) shoegazing scene
that dominated UK music in around 1992 before it was cruelly anihilated by
Grunge.
A definate one for our website then, are Revolver, who were (in a word)
ACE.
Being on Hut, there's little background available in the records (Hut being
a subsiduary of Virgin, the album sleeves contained little in the way of notes),
so all I've got about them is that Mat Flint played bass after Revolver on
several tracks of Death In Vegas 'Dead Elvis' album in 1997.
The band appeared at the Slough festival alongside several of the bands on
this site (I mention this as I'm trying really hard to find out info for the
forthcoming 'Festivals' page)..........
Beyond that.............
REVIEWS
According to snippets
from Shoegazing.com...........
Live Review, MM July 1992: "If Revolver ever outgrow their fear of noise,
they could be legendary."
about Cold Water Flat, Select, June 1993: "Revolver should suprise a lot of people with the sheer guts and ambition of this debut album." 4 out of 5
Reading Festival review: MM "... quick, call the taste police ..."
Live Review, November 1991, MM: "Revolver are better than Blur. There´s really not a fat lot else to say about them right now."
Cold Water Flat Review, May 1993, MM: "The desired perfect pop effect is miraculously achieved."
Further information from Aaron
Thorne:
"First, you mention mat being
in death in vegas but he also played bass
on Paula Kelly's (formerly of Drop Nineteens) record released under the
name Hot Rod with the title Speed, Danger, Death.
they recorded a peel session on
september 12, 1991 and played these
songs: John's Not Mad, Wave, Crimson, Drowning Inside. John's Not Mad
and Wave were on the Hut Peel Sessions compilation, which also included
Smashing Pumpkins, Moose, and Verve.
There's a live version of Molasses
on a compilation I've forgotten the
name of."
Keg found this rather harse review, but it should be mentioned-
NME 16 May 1992
SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY
The haircut gives the game away as surely as the band name. Revolver are precocious '60s pillagers, rifling through the past in the hope of creating something worthwhile for the future. It's an old scam that doesn't always work. While Spitfire manage to pull it off with a heady live show, flushed with cocky verve and raging tunes, Revolver find themselves shooting blanks over and over.
The guitars are cranked up to tinnitus-inducing levels, the drums are never short of thunderous and Mat Flint's voice has developed a depth that was missing from their earlier vinyl excursions, but this is sadly neutered by a staid and dreary stage performance. He may have an ace '60s name and a smart red shirt, but Flint is not exactly over-endowed in the charisma department.
So it's left to the songs themselves to grab the attention.
'Venice', the current single, is terrific. Flint's vocals meshing easily with his swirling guitar and Hamish Brown's tense bass. 'Drowning Inside' and 'Red All Over' are similarly successful, both tethered comfortably in melody meadow. But these high-points are surrounded by acres of dull, listless tunes that are as gripping as "Songs of Praise".
Revolver are capable of making exciting, vital music - the new single proves that - but tonight's performance rarely rises above perfunctory, when really, nothing less than exhilarating is permissible. This is one Revolver that's from from 'Loaded'.
Jonny Thatcher
