While storm Barry threatened The Big Easy and neighboring cities into possible hurricane level winds, Michael Girardot, trumpet and keyboard player for New Orleans-based band, The Revivalists, assures he and his wife are safe from the impending storm and bracing down for a wild ride. The same could be said for Girardot’s tenure in The Revivalists – it’s less than a week from the band’s support gig with iconic rockers, The Rolling Stones, and he’s prepared not only his shelter, but given the bands already impressive resume, the concert will be jumping’.  

The success of The Revivalists hasn’t exactly been whirlwind. But the past two years have been close. The support gig to The Rolling Stones’ No Filter Tour, Friday, July 19, in Jacksonville, Florida, at TIAA Bank Field might just be a pre-shock to the growing strength of a band that incorporates much of American music in all its might. Known for their breakout album, Men Amongst Mountains (Wind-Up, 2015) featuring the No. 1 AAA hit “Wish I Knew You” followed by Take Good Care (Loma Vista Recordings, 2018), which yielded the No. 1 hit “All My Friends” and “Change.” Formed in 2007, The Revivalists cut their teeth in the legendary New Orleans’ music scene, playing places like Tipitina’s, a landmark in the Big Easy’s music scene since 1977. 

“The band started when we were all in college in New Orleans,” Girardot, who’s originally from Austin, Texas, and changed his major from education to music business said. “I went to Loyola, some of the guys went there and some of the guys went to Tulane. Tipitina’s is a special place for us. We love going back there – they do a thing called Tipitina’s Musician Workshops. So basically for kids and young adults – basically anyone that wants to come, and they have different New Orleans’ musicians there doing the workshop. Playing and sharing what they can share – so it’s really cool. New Orleans has this tradition of passing down music from generation to generation…there’s such a long history of New Orleans music history and so many greats to learn from.”

The Revivalists, also comprised of David Shaw (lead vocals, guitar), Zack Feinberg (guitar), Andrew Campanelli (drums), George Gekas (bass), Ed Williams (pedal steel guitar) Rob Ingraham (saxophone) and PJ Howard (drums, percussion) offer up an alternative rock sound with bursts of brass, steel pedal guitar bound by sacred gospel tradition and miles upon miles of gigs in front of audiences large and small. It’s the bigger gigs, like performing at Red Rocks in Colorado that brings the music to the masses, but at the core of the octet’s soul is an ever evolving and positive vibe to all listeners. 

“Oh my goodness,” Girardot said. “From an audience perspective, when you’re at Red Rocks and you’re sitting and looking at the stage, the stage is going to be about 100 to 300 feet below you. And, then above the stage, you see the skyline above Denver, and you can see for maybe 50 miles, cause you’re on a mountain looking over the Great Plains. And, when you’re playing, you’re just looking up and they have all the rock formations lit up and you can just see up and up and up, and there’s people. It just keeps going. You have these beautiful rock formations- it’s just a beautiful place to see music and play music.

I think it really hits you when you go out for soundcheck and you’re like ‘wow this place is huge and it’s beautiful….I think Jacksonville, and our Rolling Stones play is going to be the same. You get to play to a large amount of people that you’ve never played to before or playing in a place like that, that you’ve never played before. Just getting to that point in your career where you look up and are like, ‘wait, am I here?”

Girardot said he’d always dreamt it was possible as a kid – performing music full-time. He said the members of The Revivalists had the same reaction when they found out they would be opening up for The Rolling Stones.

“We were like ‘hell yeah!’” Girardot said. “You can start out with their catalog, it’s just iconic. We all know those songs and even if you don’t think you know like 20 Rolling Stones’ songs, you probably know like 15. The catalog is iconic. And, to us, we’re making this a living and a career. We’ve been doing this for over 10 years now and we hope to be doing it for another 60 years. To us the Rolling Stones are the exemplary – they hold the record for the most successful band with the most longevity. They keep putting on great shows and putting their heart into it and keep being friends with each other after all these years is a great example to us. 

Preparing the set list for the Rolling Stones’ gig will be done in typical band fashion. 

“We don’t play the same set twice ever,” Girardot said. “I’m sure there will be a lot of people that haven’t seen us before and we just want to put our best foot forward and also, we want to have fun.”

The arsenal of songs to choose is a smoldering stew of slick riffs, pesky but oh-so groovy percussions and tight jams only a Louisiana-based band can deliver. 

“We write in different ways,” Girardot said. He himself notes – besides The Rolling Stones – The Beatles and The Who as influences. He also grew up studying classical music and opera. Fans might not know, too, that he’s also an avid reader, including science fiction works from author Philip K. Dick. While on tour, he continued, the band is always listening and absorbing other sounds and tastes from each other. 

He said that the song “Criminal” was built around the pedal steel guitar sound  and the song “Monster” came spontaneously through a soundcheck.

“Some songs, one of the members will bring in mostly completed form,” he said. “It happens a lot of different ways. There’s so many talented people in this band – Andrew our drummer is a great writer and a great lyricist. Zack writes a lot, Ed writes a lot. We all contribute to our sound – a lot of people coming together trying to put our best foot forward and trying to bring the best out of each other.”

More on that eight member band size – it can get cramped, Girardot admits and can now laugh about.  

“We used to tour all in one, 15-passenger van with a trailer,” he said. “We did that for years and years and years and years. And, so anything we do now is luxurious in comparison. So we have a little more space now – we’re playing larger venues and we get to tour in a bus sometimes. 

“It is a lot of people, but it makes it fun. It’s like you’re touring with a big party and a big family that travels everywhere.”

Make sure you catch The Revivalists in Jacksonville, FL, as they open for The Rolling Stones on July 19th. This will be a show not to miss.