Although the noise genre isn’t exactly synonymous with southwestern Connecticut, Norwalk resident Chris Donofrio has been performing a project known as Reviver. He went to school for audio engineering and works a “soul-draining” job as a professional AV technician for “large corporate America,” as he puts it. He wanted something to escape into, so he considers the Reviver project to be an “interesting outpouring of creativity.” On December 28, he performed a show at Redscroll Records in Wallingford along with fellow noise acts Toynbee Idea and Different Dentist.
1). How would you describe your background?
I don’t have any fundamental training whatsoever musically. I remember taking bass lessons when I was in late middle school or early high school. I sort of rejected the notion of music theory and things like that; maybe because it was a little bit out of my grasp. I never really found any sort of affinity with music that was specifically technical or sort of “showy.” Any time the word “chops” comes up, I cringe and just recoil in horror. I guess being so exposed to certain bands at a young age… you know, I was 13 when Nevermind was the best thing ever, and it was amazing to have popular culture infiltrated by what would otherwise be considered “noise.” It's not “noise” in a negative sense, but in a popular sense.
I think a lot of what I’m doing now probably lies more in 90s culture. I grew up listening to Sonic Youth, so it was always nice to have something like that around. Pop music is everywhere and I have guilty pleasures, but it was always nice to have something that was a little more left of center and forgiving as far as technicality and creativity are concerned. I think a lot of that stuff sort of brought me to where I was. It’s the gradual evolution of what your interests are – one thing led to another. Sonic Youth led to Boredoms, which led to me finding out who Merzbow was, who led me to finding out who Incapacitants were. A lot of really classic noise in a very strict sense was exposed to me that way. I think a lot of that sort of manifested into what I’m doing now – not specifically, but just inspirationally. Now, I’m just carrying that on and trying to find an output for those ideas that I have.
2). What sort of equipment do you use?
That’s an interesting question just because I’m really specific and strict on what I use. I use only graphic equalizers to create my sound, which are tools in and of themselves. I can’t really think of too many artists who explicitly use graphic equalizers to create their sound. EQs are funny in that they’re kind of Swiss army knives of audio technology – they’re filters, they can generate tone in and of themselves for oscillators… there’s so much that they can do. It was always just sort of me trying to find the sound that I really like. I do remember plugging my first equalizer back into itself for the feedback, which technically is something you shouldn’t be doing with audio equipment, but I found great results that way and a very specific sound that appealed to me.
It sort of just went from there, so yeah, graphic equalizers pretty much dominate everything I do. It’s to the point that I’m almost backed into a corner by the technology that I use, simply because – as versatile as it is – it is limited as well. I can’t mimic live instruments or acoustic instruments: things of that nature. I think a lot of the sounds that I’m able to conjure with an EQ fall beyond the average sound spectrum, so I work a lot with really heavy tones, like low-end balanced with a nice little screeching high-end. It's lots of really uncomfortable sounds, I’d say.
3). How long have you been performing as Reviver?
I’ve probably been doing it since 2007 specifically as Reviver. I’ve always experimented with stuff before that, but never really had any sort of mainline to put it out towards. It took a while for me to decide how I was going to approach things like this, so I spent years trying to come up with not an identity, but rather a style – maybe a very specific sound, so since then, I’ve just been gradually refining whatever techniques I started off with and just trying to hone in on a very specific set of sounds to create some sort of vocabulary that I can exploit myself to create any sort of ideas and things of that nature.
4). How many times have you performed?
I’ve performed maybe 25 or 30 times. That doesn’t sound like a lot in the realm of bands that tour all over the U.S. and play concerts like that. I honestly don’t perform as often as most bands would probably prefer to. I don’t rely on it as any sort of income. To me, it’s more of a personal relationship that I have with it, where it’s not something that I’m looking to rely on specifically to help me get by. I don’t play all that often – I play when I’m either asked to or a friend will call me up and say “hey, do you want to put on a show,” and I’m happy to.
Often times, I’ll support other noise artists that come around, just for personal relationships that I have with them. They’ll say “hey, I’m coming to your area – I’d love to see you and I’d love to hang out. Do you want to play with us?” Of course, always – I love playing with touring bands. I’ve seen things from around that I’ve never seen before. I’m looking to more shows, obviously, in the future.
5). Where do you usually perform?
Unfortunately, Norwalk is a very strange place. There isn’t much of an audience down here (if there is, they just haven’t come out of the woodworks yet.) I find myself playing a lot more in the New Haven area – there’s a lot of activity there as far as experimental sounds and noise. It’s a different kind of culture – it’s more of a New York-style culture in that it’s in the city and something that you can hear down the block from something else that’s completely different is not uncommon, so I do find myself playing in those areas more.
I’ve played shows around Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Phillie, New York City; things like that. Like I’ve said, I don’t really tour all that often, so it’s great to have a home base. The audience is always familiar faces, which is nice. You’ll get a lot of new ones that come in who’ll find something that they didn’t even know existed, and I think that’s probably 90% of the fun of that – exposing people to something that they didn’t realize existed in this community. As far as Connecticut goes, it’s very scattered. There are little pockets of activity, but unfortunately, Norwalk hasn’t gotten there yet, so I find a home elsewhere.
6). How many releases have you put out?
I don’t know off the top of my head – maybe eight or nine different pieces of work? I choose to exclusively release music on cassette. I’m not sure what it is – I’m sort of xenophobic when it comes to digital, modern technology. I do embrace it, but I haven’t found a way yet to exploit it comfortably. Tape sort of offers a very specific dynamic response that you don’t find in CDs. I’m not going to get into the whole “analog versus digital” argument, but cassettes offer a certain warmth and forgiveness as far as sound goes. I’ve had labels release cassettes from me since ’08, probably.
They’re infrequent – I’ll release something maybe two or three times a year. It has nothing to with my own creative output, but rather because I’m a little hard on myself as far as what I release. I typically won’t just put out anything – a lot of bands will release every rehearsal cassette they’ve ever done and you’ll see six or seven releases across the year. It becomes very convoluted, I think, and very difficult for people to follow if they enjoy your work. That’s why I try to keep it manageable.
7). Do you have any closing thoughts that you’d like to make?
It’s really nice to see communities around Connecticut embrace the more experimental side of music around here. It’s always been here – go back to bands like The Bunnybrains that were just really off-the-wall from day one, playing to an audience of maybe eight, nine or ten people. That was people’s lives. That was what got them out of bed, got them out into shows and got them buying records – things like that. I think we’re still in that mode where there are still small communities within communities of interest, and it’s cool to be a part of that, I think.
These days, you just really want to go out and have a good time and hear something that you can not only identify with, but it can really open your eyes to new experiences and things like that. It’s nice to have that in your grasp here in Connecticut where otherwise you may not find something like this in Omaha, Nebraska, or just your random cities where people just don’t have the access to reach these things that they’ve never heard of. I think that in Connecticut, we’re lucky that we’re really close to a lot of major cultural centers, so I think a lot of that influence does seep in, and what you’re starting to see is sort of our own sound, so there’s a lot of hope here.
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