After his death in 1983, The Revelons’ leader Gregory Lee Pickard married and raised a family. His guitar rusted. He never bought a compact disc player, but his turn-table played on.  Scavenging anything vinyl from garage sales and Salvation Army bins, his record collection became a conglomeration of 20th Century Popular music.  No genre was ignored.  From Hardest Rock to Easiest-Listening, Psychedelica to Psycho-Country, Underground to Top of the Pops- Bluegrass, Broadway, Beach, Bubblegum, Blues… And through the hiss, the glitches, the scratches and pops, within the diversity, the proliferation, the turbulence, and the splendor, an essential and astonishing America was revealed.

The Revelons’ “Pop-ism!” is the result of twenty years of listening; an interpretation of American culture revealed by song.Gregory Lee Pickard takes archetypical pop melody, verse and sentiment and as if fed into a child’s Playdough press, transforms these elements into a new and unique expression.

Mark playing for the cameras      

Without retrofying or resorting to pastiche, the songs resemble a Billboard Top Hits chart from a skewed parallel universe. “Pop-ism!” heralds the Revelons’ return from oblivion.  This new album displays the sophistication of tempered artists yet exudes the honesty, passion and punk sensibilities that have earned the Revelons such titles as “Unknown Legends”, “Lost Talents” and “Best Kept Secret of the Proto-Punk Era”.

   James

The Revelons’ sound has been described as “raw and gritty rudimentary punk, yet poetic and heartfelt, delivering touching tunes with hooks galore and anthemic choruses that escalate into moments of pure lovely pop”.  Pickard’s intensity has been compared to as “rivaling a Bowie or Byrne”…and as one reviewer exclaims: “Gregory Lee Pickard pulls off the tortured whining punk voice even better than the more celebrated Richard Hell”. 

to the bathrooms   

Guitar virtuoso Mark Suall (Alda-Reserve, Big Iron, Hillbilly Peckers, Andre Williams, The Valentine Six) exceeds the limitations of the stringed instrument.  The electric guitar, bass, classical, slide, and pedal steel guitars are driven with abandoned force, yet performed with lush precision and nuance.   

"As seminal New York rockers the Revelons are recognized as pivotal to the history of Punk and New Wave music” and are linked to such contemporaries as the Talking Heads, the Patti Smith Group and Television- and as precursors to the Grunge and Garage movements.  Moreover, “Pop-ism!” transcends any one genre or movement, creating a timely and unique vision of Pop America.