Musicians, stepping out of their punk rock personas, are stripped away from large instrumental production sets and are handed acoustic guitars as part of a new folk revival.
The Revival Tour will play at Mohawk Place Wednesday night, and will highlight the talents of Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio, Cory Branan, and Nathaniel Rateliff in a folk setting.
"We all started playing small shows first," said Dan Andriano, bassist and co-vocalist of Alkaline Trio. "It's nice to get back to that; it's nice to get close to the crowd and hear everyone singing along."
The Revival Tour was originally organized by Ragan five years ago and, to add to the full-fledged folk music experience, fiddler Jon Gaunt and bass player Joe Ginsberg perform accompaniments to the other musicians throughout the show.
This tour also inspires camaraderie. The musicians take on a casual demeanor and jam together to inspire spontaneous musical moments.
"The goal is to do as much together as possible," Andriano said. "It's a really great show...it's constantly people going up and down and people hopping up on tunes; it doesn't really ever stop it just keeps going, someone else will just walk up and start their set."
Andriano was eager to partake in this tour, and when Ragan asked him if he wanted to perform in the European tour with The Gaslight Anthem's frontman Brian Fallon last year, Andriano took the opportunity right away.
"This is one of my favorite tours to be a part of," Andriano said. "It's a different kind of show. It gives me a chance to do different stuff and tour with some different people. It's great."
Andriano will perform a mix of Alkaline Trio songs and material off his solo album Hurricane Season under the moniker Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room during his set.
"My favorite part is playing songs with different people," Andriano said. "I play my own stuff, but if I get up there and do it with Cory [Branan] and Joe [Ginsberg] or Chuck [Ragan] it takes on a whole different shape."
Andriano is continuing his career with Alkaline Trio while balancing it with a solo career, which has spurred an upsurge for many other punk musicians. Anthony Raneri of Bayside, Chris Conley of Saves The Day, and a compilation of other musicians were recently featured as solo acoustic acts on the Where's The Band? Tour.
"I just hope people know that we're trying to do something different," Andriano said. "I hope people realize that we're just up there trying to make good songs and have fun...and get to hear different voices on tunes, and different instruments on tunes, and I hope people just enjoy that for what we're up to."
The Revival Tour will perform at Mohawk Place Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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Photo: Mhdariby / Wikimedia Commons
