Guitars, Mandolin, Keyboards, Bass: Pellie
Drums, Acoustic Guitar: Ody
Ocarina, Harmonica: Bia
Vocals: Bia, Pellie, Ody
Arrangement, Recording, Engineering: Pellie

Past Revival is a mostly studio oriented trio founded in Enschede, the Netherlands, despite most members not originating from the country. Initially unnamed, Pellie was urged to continue recording after having – partially inadvertently – captured a couple of noodling sessions one summer weekend. Still operating solo, aimless and without much ambition to share his casual recordings, he proceeded to improve the recording facilities in his makeshift home studio and embarked on the journey to record an entire song from scratch using nothing else than a couple of guitars, and old drum machine and various bits of kit acquired over the years together with a single microphone. The obvious candidate was JJ Cale’s Call Me The Breeze, which – after a few takes – gained the odd casual compliment. By a funny twist of fate, Pellie got talking with Ody one afternoon, with whom he shared a passion for certain songs and artists. Quickly, the two discovered they could compliment each other in more than just conversation and recorded a handful of tracks together. This resulted in among others the original take of The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues. Still unnamed and without the intent of publishing or even sharing these, the two engaged in a series of discussions revolving around expansions in musical directions, a band name and further members. After a long night of jamming and rehearsals, Bia noted that Pellie was a deplorable singer and could best step aside for someone more pleasant to assume the role. Pellie was quick to agree, but initially had reservations about Bia’s capabilities as a band member due to her perceived taste in music which differed wildly from the band’s repertoire. It was around this time that the tagline, synonymous with the frontman’s attitude but often inapplicable to the music, was formed; “we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band, right”. Needless to say, most the repertoire so far was not in Bia’s wheelhouse and a change of direction was required. Pellie and Ody agreed to extend the projects to focus on a wider range of popular music. While Ody would steer towards more progressive rock and even hard rock undertones, Pellie would continue to pick classic rock, rock ‘n’ roll and boogie rock numbers reminiscent (by no coincidence) of a Status Quo setlist from the early 80’s. Bia requested a number of songs of which some were in fact later recorded such as David Bowie’s Heroes and Shout originally by Tears for Fears. Meanwhile, Pellie and Ody introduced her to Led Zeppelin. Pellie had recorded what was effectively a complete cover of Whole Lotta Love without vocals. He persuaded her to give it a go, and caused her to discover Robert Plant as an artist. Before long, she was requesting more Led Zeppelin tracks and amazed the other band members by her rendition of Whole Lotta Love and Kashmir. Around this time, she coined the band’s current name, artwork and online presence while Pellie and Ody focussed on technical capabilities in the studio and arranging tracks. Each bandmember was to have a personal symbol. Initially, Pellie had reservations as he didn’t want to be seen as a copycat – Led Zeppelin had done this decades earlier. He remarked “we’re already covering some of their songs, perhaps this might be a step too far”, but an acquaintance helped him develop his customized emblem, a negative feedback loop. He decided to ignore the PR side of the operation and concentrate on the recording facilities and musical arrangements instead.

During the peak of these early days, up to two or three songs a week were being produced and the first feedback at larger scale was being received. While mostly positive, Pellie remained critical of the band’s work and deemed it best for all if he would have a veto right before releasing any material. “Think of any artist and remember that most of what they recorded never left the studio – probably because it wasn’t all that good”, he said. More complex projects and new (sub)genres were being explored and this helped force the members to effectively embrace recording tracks as session musicians. Pellie in particular noted that this was beneficial for the professionality of the band, as he would have to learn new instruments, techniques and embrace music he otherwise would not have.

To the surprise of the others, Bia started suggesting rock ‘n’ roll songs from time to time and even requested Status Quo tracks after years of dismissing them as “the same old three chords”. Ody performed a duet with Bia on Pink Floyd’s Mother, a track which – apart from the solo and mixing/mastering – could be entirely tributed to two. Surprised by the positive reception of the song Pellie remarked “it seems that the tracks where I do the least are the ones that people like the most”, though he embraced the opportunity to step out of the foreground. Their most appreciated cover to date remains Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones which features Pellie (all guitar parts), Ody on drums, Bia on lead vocals, a small vocal part actually intended as a cue or template after the last chorus by Pellie and the iconic sitar riff played by Pellie on his Tele, lovingly referred to as the “Sitarcaster” for the song.

Initially publishing on Youtube, the band decided to push forwards and release to other platforms such as Spotify. Again, Pellie had his reservations due to his perceived lack of ‘quality control’ or release policy. “You record something and it sounds amazing. You mix it, master it, do some of your finest work – or so you think. The next day you return to the studio and wonder what was wrong with you the night before”, he explained. “Well, alcohol would be part of it, but your ears simply get accustomed to the wrong sounds and fatigue sets in. When I was producing music as a teenager, I would enforce the ‘next day policy’ – you had to listen to it the next day before any further decisions could be made”. He remained critical of almost every song produced and insisted sometimes on days of sessions before accepting the resulting material. While uncredited, a fictitious 4th band member, “Mr Roland”, was often a part of the songs. This was a combination of a Roland EM series synthesizer, an old TR-505 and a Sound Canvas. With these tools, Pellie often recreated tracks using MIDI sequencing in order to proceed and replace the instruments part by part. While this allowed a greater range of sounds available it also limited the band’s capability to perform songs live, and the setlists were short. While not a keyboard man by his own account, Pellie had managed to record some acceptable results such as the piano parts on the Beatles’ Slow Down, Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven and later Smokie’s Oh Carol among others. Bia started to introduce recordings of wind instruments including ocarinas, harmonicas, flutes and recorders. Ody recorded more vocal and acoustic guitar tracks and for the first time, an a non-band member, Marco, was included in a song. “Man Of Iron”, a loose cover of the original was recorded in sessions, including vocals by him and all members except Pellie. Pellie played the acoustic guitars, applied SFX and agreed to have Bia take care of the percussion. While unsurprisingly critical of the results, he said he was glad to have experienced collaboration beyond the band itself and would be interested in more.

During a jamming session with various other people at a nearby farm, Pellie unsuccessfully attempted to convince a bass player to join the act. While he toyed with the idea of picking up bass guitar himself, he decided against it as a structural part of the band’s music as it would not translate in a live performance. “As silly as it is to have a MIDI operated synthesizer as a band member, at least he’s always on time and won’t half inch your lighter or your beer!” he joked, “I get on well with Mr Roland, we’re almost on a first name basis by now!”. Later in 2023, Bia gifted him a bass guitar, which he embraced and proceeded to learn to play. Currently almost all the bass parts are played by him on said bass guitar using a JTM45 with lowered gain. “Marshall effectively copied a Fender Bassman – the JTM is really a bass amp with altered frequency response and higher gain in the first stage”, he observed.

As of 2024, Pellie became the principal bass player of the band. Despite his earlier reservations, he embraced the instrument and proceeded to record some parts ‘properly’. “It’s a fun instrument when you get it going, if you know what I mean” he said, “I’m not a bass player by any means, but I generally manage to get something across that resembles what I envisioned.”.

The band’s future is of course undecided, but the ambition to perform at local venues, engage in a series of unplugged sessions and create some medleys of existing material remains. “I wouldn’t want to make this a day job” Pellie said, “it’s a lot of fun, and I think a commercial factor would subtract from that due to pressure, planning and inevitably losing full control of the material selected and performed”. While not opposed to being paid to perform, he suggested that most good pasttimes are in fact loss generating, financially. “Building a studio costs money. Instruments, strings and tools for maintenance cost money. I wouldn’t mind seeing the odd bit of return on investment for these things. That said, I never consider that when investing – or spending as it should simply be called.”.

The band as a whole is generally willing to explore new territory and avoid becoming a dedicated tribute band. From the melancholy tones of Love Is A Red Dress to the thundering guitar riffs in Fat Bottomed Girls, the relentless boogie rock in so many Quo covers to the delicate piano in Hey Jude or The Scientist, the Texan blues in SRV covers to the progressive tones in Shine On Your Crazy Diamond, the western sounds of Country Roads to the mandolins in the Battle Of Evermore – Past Revival continue to experiment and test their capabilities across a range of genres.