WV’s Scarlet Revolt hits hard with ‘Cold Town’
Scarlet Revolt is a Charleston, West Virginia-based rock band formerly known as Under Surveillance. Comprised of vocalist-front woman Eve Marcum Atkinson, drummer CJ Davis, bassist Phil “X” Crace and guitarist – songwriter Phil Hatfield, this is not your typical rock band from West Virginia. They signed with Von Artists, Ltd, a Sony Music affiliate, (Los Angeles/Portland) in February 2017 and released the Cold Town CD in May 2017, and it is available in several national record chain stores including Wal-mart, Target and Best Buy, as well as all major digital outlets.
Cold Town represents a significant musical departure for this band, with strong classic rock roots aggressively blended with a hard edged modern rock sound. This band has been through quite a few changes, rebranding with a new name in March, and adding drummer CJ Davis last fall. Known in the past for a hard edged, but pop rock influenced sound, SR have become decidedly heavier in sonic and darker in lyrical content. There is still a hint of their punk pop roots on a couple of tunes, notably “Secrets” and “Breathe,” but tunes such as “Bleed” and “No Quarter” are much harder edged and demonstrate more depth in terms of songwriting versatility and musical sophistication. Another album is already in the works for 2018, and will follow a similar path in terms of the heavy rock sonic and lyrical themes.
When asked about the bands ties to the West Virginia music scene, guitarist Phil Hatfield said, “West Virginia is our home and we are really grateful for the friends and experiences we have had here, but it can be a very difficult place to be for artists. The title song Cold Town relates to being an artist with a larger vision in a town that is aloof, and uncaring, and learning to work around the apathy. It is a sad truism that West Virginia music scene is often known for apathy, and realistically it can be very hard for bands to move forward in this area. The economy is poor, and frankly a lot of people do not go to live shows compared to other cities we have played in. Either way, we hope that what we are doing brings credit to the music scene here and encourages other artists to keep moving toward their goals. Too many great artists from our area never get the recognition they deserve.”
Scarlet Revolt are touring throughout the Midwest and southeast with plans to cover the US and go overseas in the future. With good reason, their single “No Quarter” charted at #4 in May 2017 on Australia’s FM radio network, and the music video for Bleed has had over 12,000 views in the first month following release. Scarlet Revolt’s success is proof that rock and roll is not dead; Cold Town is a must have for hard rock and metal heads alike.
– www.facebook.com/ scarletrevoltwv