Every year one talented Victorian band wins the opportunity to represent Australia in Memphis USA at the International Blues Challenge. Past winners have included Aussie festival faves Fiona Boyes, Geoff Achison, and Jimi Hocking, and in 2018 that winning band is new kids on the block Rhythm X Revival who score themselves plane tickets to Memphis and accommodation at this January for the international comp this January courtesy of the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society.
The opportunity is a huge leg up for the band, whose self-titled sophomore album hit the shelves April, and caps off a massive year in business.
To celebrate the imminent trip to the US, and to raise some spending money for the trip, Rhythm X Revival will be banging out their special brand of countrified blues at the MBAS Fundraiser on November 18.
When it comes to reinventing Soul, Country and Blues for a new audience, Melbourne certainly punches above its weight among the great music cities of the world – and a large bunch of Australia’s greatest artists have found their way up from the multitude of sweaty front bar sessions that happen in every corner of the city each weekend.
And now new kids in town Rhythm X Revival are carrying the torch with their self-titled debut album, released in April of this year.
Rhythm X Revival’s debut is centred around the friendship and songwriting of Victorian boys John-Luke Shelley and Johnny Tesoriero – JL out front and Johnny on the drums – and neither a stranger to the thriving Melbourne scene. The album drips with the influence of Memphis, Nashville, and perhaps a couple of dodgy honkytonks in between, and was recorded by another Melbourne soul man Sam Teskey in the Teskey Brothers’ studio.
The album has remained in the Australian Blues and Roots Airplay Chart, peaking at #4.
Rhythm X Revival delves deep into the soul of a far-gone era while keeping a pace sure to keep things moving on many a festival stage in the coming year.
MELBOURNE TO MEMPHIS FUNDRAISER
Sunday 18th November 2018, 5:00pm
Featuring Rhythm X Revival, The McNaMarr Project, Lloyd Spiegel and more
Flemington and Kensington Bowls Club, 26 Smithfield Rd, Kensington VIC 3031, Australia
Tickets: $30 / $25 (MBAS Members, PBS Subscribers, Concession) Tickets at door
More info: www.rhythmxrevival.com
