Meet the Bands of MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: RVIVR

The Olympia band's '90s-influenced punk and sweat-soaked live sets have proven to be lightning in a bottle for a growing legion of fans.

IMAGE: Courtesy of RVIVR.

We're only a few months away from MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst! Each week leading up to the festival, we'll be introducing you to one of the 18 acts on the lineup.

WHO: Erica Freas (guitar, vocals), Mattie Jo Canino (guitar, vocals), Kevin Rainsberry (drums), Lou Hanman (bass).

SOUNDS LIKE: The musical equivalent of the bathroom wall at the Know's original Alberta Street location—splattered, noisy and delightfully grimy. 

LATEST RELEASE: The Tide EP.

FOR FANS OF: Sleater-Kinney, the Thermals, the Coathangers, Priests.

WHY YOU CARE: Olympia, Wash., turns out toothy rock bands with the clockwork regularity of a boneheaded Trump tweet. But RVIVR distances itself from the punk pack with a heavy dose of gender equality advocacy and a relatively large international following. Quite impressively, the quartet has done so without so much as a single Pitchfork mention and a fairly small discography of entirely free downloads dating back to 2008. RVIVR's reliance on slacked-out, '90s-influenced punk and thrashing, sweat-soaked live sets has proven to be lightning in a bottle for its expansive legion of fans. As noise rock rides another resurgent wave in indie music, it's easy to forget the blown-out amplifiers, shrieking duets and battered drum heads that makeup punk's origin story. RVIVR very much recalls the original recipe. 

SEE IT: RVIVR plays MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Sunday, Aug. 27. Get tickets here.

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