After almost 10 years as a band, we have decided to say farewell to Revive. We want you to know that this was a tough decision to make and one we prayed about for many months.
We will miss so much about the band but in the end, we wanted to have more time at home with our growing families and (for Dave & Rich) be closer to family back in Australia.
God has certainly had us on a crazy adventure as many of you know.
The band started in 2001 with Dave and our old guitar player (Tyler) stringing together songs in a garage in the suburbs of Sydney. After bringing on Rich and our old drummer (Mike) we changed the name to Revive – and from their a mission was born. We had a deep desire to bring glory to our God through the gifts he gave us. We wanted to stir the hearts of our listeners, encouraging them to worship our great God with their whole lives.
Of course we were not always perfect at this! Our focus would at times shift away from God’s glory and on to ours and we would forget the reasons for doing what we were doing. We would start to trust in ourselves and lean on our own understanding. But, as I’m sure you’ve also found, God was quick to bring us back to earth through what was often painful lessons. It’s funny though, in hindsight those difficult lessons are perhaps what we treasure most about our time in the band.
And despite our imperfect nature, God continued to use us as a band.
For four years we played in Australia. Touring around schools, churches, youth groups, festivals and whatever else we could get a chance to play, we cut our teeth as a band. We worked hard on being tight, entertaining, fun and meaningful. We put out 2 albums in this time: Where I Belong and the rockin’Trafalgar Street.
But, as much as we enjoyed our time as a band in Australia, we always felt a deep pull toward the USA. For many reasons, we felt this was where we needed to be. The only problem was we had no idea how we would get there! We needed a break.
That break came in the form of a band from Atlanta, GA called Third Day. We had the privilege of opening 3 Australian shows for them. That began a wonderful friendship between Revive and Third Day – and not only a friendship, but a mentorship too. We looked up to those guys (and still do). They saw our passion for Christian music and our desire to do it in America and they helped us do just that.
At the start of 2008, we packed up 4 families, condensed all our belongings into 3 bags (and one instrument) and moved countries. It was the beginning of an incredible new journey for us.
That journey had us drive all across the USA, play 1000’s of shows, sleep in countless Walmart parking lots, travel to India and meet many dear new friends and fans. In America we put together 2 records: Chorus of the Saints and then our final album: Blink. We are very proud of this music particularly our most recent project; we feel like God has used it to resonate with many people. During this time we sadly lost Tyler and Mike to Australia but gained amazing new friends in AJ Cheek and Michael Wright. We have so enjoyed these friendships and know that despite being in different countries that we will be lifelong buddies.
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We are incredibly grateful for everything God has given us through Revive (yes even the bus breakdowns weirdly enough!…they do make good stories!).
Although we are sad to see this door close we have always viewed Revive as a ministry and with the ending of this assignment will come the provision of another. We have certainly learned that no matter what God is worth trusting!
Here’s what our new assignments are currently looking like…
– Dave will be taking a Worship Pastor role in Sydney while studying at bible college.
– Rich will be working in youth ministry in Sydney and also studying at Bible college. He will also be pursuing music production – a passion that has developed in him the past few years.
– We are excited to let you know that AJ is beginning his career as a solo artist. Check out his artist page here. He plans to have an album out next year and will be touring this fall with Tenth Ave Nth and playing guitar for Aaron Gillespie. We encourage you to support him in any way and every way!!!
– Michael will be moving to Ireland to marry his Irish lady later this year! Congrats mate! In the meantime he’s looking to go out with other artists as a drummer or a road manager (a skill he has perfected with us!). We look forward to seeing what God has in store for you!
There are so many people to thank but we mainly want to thank you, our fans for supporting us…and we’d love to ask one more favor.
We want to hear from you how Revive has influenced your life.
Whether it was through our music, live shows or just hanging out after a show, we want to know how God has used us in your life.
Most of the time we are in and out of a town so fast we barely get to meet people, let alone hear their stories…so we’d love to open it up to you…allow us this one indulgence!
Please share with us any way your life has been affected by Revive and send it to: [email protected]. We want to put together the collection of emails and put it in a book – so we can show our grandkids one day! After all, you’re the reason we existed as a band!
Our last show will be Rock the Desert in Texas on August 5th & 6th. Come out and see us one last time!
We’ll stay in touch over the next couple of months and we look forward to hearing from you too!
God Bless
-Revive-
Dave, Rich, AJ, Michael.