Blog posts

With deep sadness and huge regret we have to report that our beloved bass guru & groove generator, Simon Morey, passed away suddenly & unexpectedly on the 25th February 2023. Obviously, this leaves us utterly bereft and we extend all our love & sympathy to his lovely partner Sue, daughters & wider family. He was hugely popular figure on the local music scene & our brothers Liam Howard & the Truthseekers & Kohiba, we know, are also saddened and deeply shocked

Not that music seems important right now, but we are unsure of what the future looks & sounds like for JDR. What we do know is that Simon would be furious if he thought the music would stop on his account!

Please bear with us as it leaves a massive hole in all our lives and we will update as soon as we know what lies ahead.

Until then, live each day to the full, let your loved ones know how much you love them & don’t put anything off till tomorrow because no one knows how many tomorrows we have.

Revelate in peace biggun – we love you.

https://johndrevelator.bandcamp.com/track/cheers-drive

Hello strangers! we’ve been sort of neglecting our website recently what with tonne of festivals, recording and gigging over the last 18 months – sorry. As you are no doubt aware, that all ground to a shuddering halt on March 23rd, one week after our final gig in The Brit bar Weston Super Mare and the night John was supposed to be returning to The Ropemakers in Bridport.

That didn’t mean that we were idle though, far from it. We have at least a full album’s worth of material written & demoed in lockdown & , perhaps more crucially, the tech & where withall to record it properly – including the construction of a dedicated new studio in the heart of Glastonbury!

We have managed to get one brand spanking new tune recorded, engineered, mastered and released in time for the Summer holidays. Whilst it’s a departure from our previous style, and not a new musical direction, it signals that our band is now spreading it’s wings, mixing and embracing new styles and doing a pretty damn fine job of it, though we say so ourselves!

For those not already aware, “Cheers Drive!” is how we in the West Country thank our bus drivers when alighting at the stop and was chosen as a way of expressing our gratitude to the brave campaigners and activists who brought about the end of the Bristol Colour bar in 1963. Find out all about it here

https://memaps.club/bbb/making-history/

But, also to all the anti racist activists who have strived to make our society better in the face of awful discrimination and overt racism. Some of these are celebrated in the beautiful murals of the #sevensaintsofStPauls created by the stupendously talented Michele Curtis

https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/stories/the-seven-saints-of-st-pauls-memorials-and-black-joy-in-bristol/#:~:text=The%20Seven%20Saints%20of%20St%20Pauls%2C%20a%20project,Evans%2C%20a%20pioneer%20of%20the%20Bristol%20Bus%20Boycotts.

The recent #blacklivesmatter movement and #windrushscandal as well as daily reports of vile racism on our streets show that still, 60 years on, some racist attitudes haven’t gone anywhere and may even be on the rise and that we should never let our guard down.

Anyways, off the soapbox for moment, we are pleased and proud to present “Cheers Drive!” written by John and played by John, Ann, Simon, G & Tom, artwork @anniesartthings, mixed and engineered by Tom Chiplen & mastered by Iain Aird. Out now on all the digital platforms and streaming services, including Bandcamp we are proper proud of it & we hope you like it too. Don’t forget to download, like, stream and share it if you do & please let us know what you reckon to our new baby!

There’s plenty more where that came from!

Like cream eggs in the shops, daffodils in the park and kids smoking pot at the bus stop, everything seems to be starting earlier & earlier these days.

The festival season, it seems is no different, though this time, guaranteed no freezing cold tents, rivers of effluent or mountains of discarded camping equipment. The clever folks over at Fuelled by Cider decided to try a winter festival, with the same great bands, ciders and ethos as their highly acclaimed Outcider & Cursus festivals, only this time at a Pontins holiday camp in Weston super Mare!

The Fuelled by Cider team have a loyal band of hard partying followers and it’s fair to say there were few villages short of a good natured, cider drinking idiot or two over the weekend of 1st-3rd February! To a man and woman it seems, they trust Mikey, Kev, Keith, Jane and all the rest of the crew to steer the good ship “Festival Fun” to safe waters & booked up in their droves to sell the event out & blot out the pain of not seeing the festival family for 6 months in the dreary grey of a British winter. They were not disappointed.

There was not one bad act on the bill, the stage and front of house sound was amazing, the crowds were enthusiastic, the compere sublime. There was not a spot of trouble or indeed anything more alarming than the queues for the bar or the dinner hall, which in themselves became chances to make new friends. The bar was run dry of some beers (not farmhouse scrump though!) on a couple of occasions but restocked ASAP. The chalets, far from being in anyway run down, were warm & comfortable and the Pontins staff utterly charming and helpful. Even if they were slightly bemused by the whole thing, especially on Nautical fancy dress Sunday!

John D Revelator have been privileged to play at a few FBC events over the last 5 years and were delighted just to be on the bill as some of the amazing acts on show. And though we probably won’t be on the bill next year, as the FBC team always, rightly, try to keep it fresh, we might just pop up to Weston for some summer fun & see the family anyway. Keep 31st Jan-2nd Feb 2020 free.

Well done everyone involved – a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed by, for and with some of the nicest people you could hope to meet – Viva Incider!

Here are a few of the shots taken by friends in the crowd as well as video of our ode to the NHS & welfare state “Shoot the Wounded”, captured by the ever-ready Rachel Sutton.

The festival season starts now and we declare Incider Festival the “Charity shield” style showcase opener.

Now, where’s me shorts……!

Shoot The Wounded – live at Incider festival 02/02/19

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.sutton.148/videos/10218863552363669/Shoot The Wounded – live at Incider festival 02/02/19