Reveal obscurities

One of the most prominent 'new school' hardcore bands in the Netherlands during the '90s was Reveal. Reveal started out under the name S5 with a different guitarist and drummer. Singer Geert and bassist Dave were around from the start right up until the end of Reveal. Based in a small town called Dongen in the south of the Netherlands, they quickly managed to start a local hardcore scene and crew of friends called the DongArmy. With S5 they used to do a cover of 'California Dreaming' (The Mama's And The Papa's) with the girls from the DongArmy on backup vocals, which was always a highlight of their live sets. After a while they felt the name S5 didn't fit the band anymore, and they were also having some line-up issues. For a short time they were called Strident, but after settling on a stable line-up with drummer Maarten and guitarist Mischa, they found a solid bandname in Reveal.

With the name Reveal they didn't record any demo, but merely based on their solid live-performances and the quality of their songs, Reveal managed to get signed by Good Life Recordings out of Belgium (and later by Genet Records, also out of Belgium), released 3 CD's and played many shows with bands such as Kindred, Driven, Facedown etc and toured Europe with Catharsis... Because of the Good Life connection, their musical style and the bands that were on this label at the time, some people thought Reveal were a straight edge band. However, apart from drummer Maarten who was sXe, the Reveal members were far from straight edge, they drank and really loved to smoke pot. Not that it mattered, they were really cool people, their live-shows were always great and their records amazing. They also used to set up shows in their hometown Dongen. They set up the first ever show of my old band Disdain there, but also set up shows for touring bands such as Indecision and Boy Sets Fire.

In 2000-2001 the members started to drift in different musical directions, and the band decided to call it a day. In 2001 they played their farewell show in their hometown Dongen, with the singer being brought to the stage while crucified on a cross. A memorable show, and for the first time in years, they played 'California Dreaming' again.

Included with this post are the S5 'Broken' demo (unfortunately no scans of the cover or a track-listing as mine's a mere copy) which shows a way more straight-forward hardcore band, it also has their infamous 'California Dreaming' cover on it, and a CD-r with a variety of live-recordings that was only sold in a limited run (I have #61 of 90) at Reveal's farewell show. Their regular albums can be downloaded here although they shouldn't be too hard to find. A few years ago a small but interesting documentary was made about Reveal. Even though it's in Dutch, maybe some readers will enjoy it. It can be watched here.

Geert now sings in a 3-man electronics band called Linked. Dave has played bass in a number of bands since Reveal including Transmission0 and his current band, Hooghwater. Guitarist Mischa played in Transmission0 as well as a more grungy/indie The Void. Maarten was part of the initial line-up of Transmission0 but he left before the band gained any traction and played in The Void as well, and then played in a glamrock band called H.O.T.T..

S5 - 'Broken' demo
Reveal - 'Unrevealed '96-'01 - The Complete Live Collection' CD