What brought you guys together as a band?

After the benefit shows of 2012 and 2013 (organized to raise money for the 2 year old daughter of my guitarist who passed away in July 2012), the 2 other remaining original members decided to call it quits, leaving me with the name, our reputation and enough material for a new record. After a preliminary search for a drummer proved fruitless, I decided my time would be better spent working on the new record, and maybe the band would just fall into place in that time. After about a month, I was approached by Kaz (my current guitarist) because he had seen that I was looking for a drummer, but wanted to know if I needed a guitarist as well. I told him that actually I needed everything, I had only started by looking for a drummer. Kaz told me that, in fact, he had an entire band and just needed someone up front and someone that could write. I could certainly do both of those, so I went down to their rehearsal studio to audition an entire band in one shot. I’m happy to say that the audition went well, and inside of 2 months, REVEL 9 was back touring across the northeast.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

All of my songs come from either my own experiences or of those around me. The last record, The Razorblade Diaries, was a loosely penned rock-opera about a 20-something couple and their disastrous relationship. And although it wasn’t autobiographical, there were certainly elements from my life in it – mostly the emotions that coincide with that sort of turmoil. The new record, The Reality Crush, is much more personal. There are points on this record where I know exactly when and where I wrote a lyric and exactly why. I fully expect that people close to me, and close to the band, will resonate with a lot of this record. It’s been a very hard 3 years, and many of them have gone through a lot of this with me. They’ll feel it all in the record, I’m sure.

What can fans expect for 2014?

Well… The Reality Crush for sure. We’re expecting some short tours, but on the grander scale, I’m not quite sure. With the new record, we expect some new doors and avenues to open to us, not only because it’s been a while since we released something, but because I honestly think it’s that good. We worked really hard on this – and not that we didn’t on the last one, or that other bands don’t work as hard as we do, but we really worked this record. It took a long time, and we really didn’t let anything pass that wasn’t right. That sort of effort matters, and it shows on this record. So, I really don’t know what to expect for 2014, but you can bank on us being out in full force, and we’d love to have every single fan right there along with us.

On your Reverbnation page some of the sales of your songs goes to the Charity Water. What is this Charity and what made you pick that one?

My father, before he passed away, worked in water reclamation for as long as I can remember, so it’s always been something I’ve been at least aware of. It’s so hard to imagine being in a place where you just can’t “go get a drink of water” but that really is amazingly common throughout parts of the world. And I can’t believe in this day and age, where I can stream music from a satellite in space to my PHONE, people have to go without fresh drinking water.

We’ve got some priorities to get straight for sure – and this seemed like the very least I could do. Just because they lay it out best, here’s the info on Charity Water. Charity Water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Founded in 2006, it has helped fund 6,611 projects in 20 countries, benefiting over 2,545,000 people. By downloading OnlyOne and Lay My Head off their reverbnation page you will help support this cause.

If you're in the NY area these guys will be playing the Blue Parrot Lounge as well as Contractors for Kids 2 on May 10th. Drop by their facebook and reverbnation pages as well as following them on twitter (@revel9) and be sure to tell them who sent ya!