February 9th, 2015 
Ryan Kappy 
When a band catches your ear in a wholly unique way, you can’t help but really focus on the nuances of the music, what the lyrics are about, or even find out whos in the band and what their duties are. Those were my goals when I first heard Ohio’s new post-metalcore outfit Revision, Revised. With their intricate and relentless guitar work, massive rhythm section, and deceiving lyrics, it was intriguing to hear a band of this caliber present a lot of poise, and in the right moment unleash their fury in the most brutal and impressive way.
Revision, Revised have already made a name for themselves with their debut EP Dead Icons, produced by the with well-respected Joey Sturgis, who has worked with bands like Of Mice & Men, Asking Alexandria, and The Devil Wears Prada to name a few. Also, the band released a music video for their single “Clocksweeper,” set as a psychological thriller with intriguing results.
With a headlining tour starting February 13, the band are set to start their quest in world dominance within the metalcore scene. UTG caught up with vocalist Charles Cody Wilds to discuss Dead Icons, future plans, and where exactly the idea of inputting the infamous Grady twins from The Shining into the “Clocksweeper” video came from.
UTG: I have to ask because of how your band name is structured – what does the name “Revision, Revised” mean to you?
Charles Cody Wilds: Well, the name has been with us since the first time we came together in early 2012, before officially becoming a band. The meaning behind it is why we went with the band name. Revision, Revised came together as a result of a few bands that failed to take off. We come from a really small town with a virtually non-existing scene. No venues, only a few bands, and no national bands coming through. When the first-ever talk of Revision, Revised began, this name got thrown in there because we all had a weird obsession trying to put random words together, and these two words were mentioned and then put together to create Revision, Revised. Like I mentioned earlier, the meaning we came up with is why we chose it, Revision (meaning our new vision) and Revised (meaning redone) was just the perfect fit for us. We wanted to be able to get out of the small town we are from and play shows for as many people as possible. That’s how the name came about. Plus, the nickname RR is pretty simple and sweet, too!
UTG: You are based in Ohio, home to numerous bands that have risen into the greater music scene, especially The Devil Wears Prada and Hawthorne Heights. How does it make you feel to come from a state filled with so many music influences?
CCW: Ohio definitely brings it to the table when it comes to the metal and hardcore scenes. It’s a challenge for us because of the town in Ohio we are from is so small and located hours away from the places those bands originated. We would love to follow their footsteps and rise into the greater music scene and it would be extremely awesome to say we did so coming from such a small town nobody’s really ever heard of! It’s all about the passion to do what you love to do, and I give it up for the guys and myself; that is something we all have!
UTG: The band recently recorded your debut EP, Dead Icons, with Joey Sturgis. How were the recording sessions with a renowned producer like Sturgis who’s even worked on records that have charted on the Billboard 200?
CCW: It was an honor for us to be able to do our first EP with a producer such as Sturgis. Bands we’ve grown up listening to — bands that we’ve idolized have recorded with him. He’s one of the biggest names there is in the industry. For us as a new band coming onto the national scene there isn’t a better name to have behind us! He made our songs come to life and he’s extremely talented at his job. The sessions, at first, we were intimidated, but after we started talking it was just a truly once in a lifetime experience. We stayed in Detroit, Michigan for twelve days recording the EP, and it’s twelve days we will never forget! From the first tracking session to forgetting to close our hotel window and waking up to it being -6 [degrees] in our hotel room, we wouldn’t change the experience for anything. We had a great time, met a lot of great people and other national bands, and Dead Icons became a reality! We are extremely excited for its release.
UTG: You list yourself as post-metalcore. What makes you classify yourselves under that genre?
CCW: We follow a lot of metalcore structures but we do have that faint bit of post-hardcore in our songs mostly in the choruses. One of the biggest things we want to see is crowds singing the lyrics with us — that’s truly a feeling a lot of people don’t understand, but as a band we all like different genres and we like bringing those together in our music, therefore we list ourselves as post-metalcore.
UTG: Let’s talk about the “Clocksweeper” video you debuted. How did you come up with the concept of making psychological thriller to coincide with the lyrics?
CCW: We are all huge horror film fans and any chance we get to turn our lyrics and music into a video that can reference with a horror flick we go for it. We all like acting as well and “Clocksweeper” was just the perfect fit for the thriller and horror aspect. The lyrics are really based on being deceived and that’s how the video came to be. As you’ll see when you watch the video, it flows with the lyrics and psychological thriller aspect. It just makes everyone think, “Is he being deceived or is he just going crazy?” That’s for everyone watching it to decide.
UTG: Also, what was the inspiration behind the Grady twins doppelgangers which originated from The Shining?
CCW: When we sat down writing the storyline for the video, there was only supposed to be one girl in that part, Sara Rhiannon, who was the original girl for the part when I wrote it. But our drummer (Mike) sent me a picture of a girl he knew from the area – her name was Jenny and they looked almost identical in the picture he sent to me. So what’s better than one creepy looking nurse in a mental hospital? Twins, of course! it worked out perfect in the shooting of the video and it’s also awesome that it has been compared to The Shining which is such a huge film with a huge cult following! It’s pretty awesome that something we came up with from seeing a picture of our drummer’s friend turned into such a great scene in the video and has reminded people of one of the best psychological thriller movies of all time. It’s a win-win for us!
UTG: You’re going on the ‘My Bloody Valentour’ this week.. Are you excited for it, especially since it’s a headlining slot?
CCW: Very excited! This is the second tour we’ve done in three months and we are playing a lot of new locations on this one. It’s just a short stint, but there is a lot of great shows on it! It’s gonna be a blast for sure, and as weird as it sounds we love living in our van! That place is a home on wheels to us. We’ve decked it out to be super comfortable with a couch and bed. Touring is seriously our favorite thing to do.
UTG: Lastly, what are your goals as a band that you would like to achieve for the year 2015?
CCW: We want 2015 to be our year. We are basically a clean slate waiting to be written upon. We have tour experience and are ready to tour full time. We are just waiting for someone to give us the chance, when they do we wouldn’t let them down. We are extremely dedicated to playing music and touring. In 2015, we really want to land a deal with a label, find us a good manager and booking agent and get away from the DIY route and even more onto the national scene. We are looking forward to the rest of 2015 with our EP release, more touring and anything else that comes about. 2015 will be the biggest year yet for RR, and we’re ready to take it on!
Interview conducted by Ryan Kappy
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