Alpha Rev is an American
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band from
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, fronted by
Casey McPherson (formerly of Endochine). McPherson remains the group's only consistent member, although historically the core members have also included Zak Loy on lead guitar, Brian Batch on violin and backing vocals, and Dave Wiley on cello.
History
Casey McPherson started Alpha Rev in 2005 after the breakup of his previous band Endochine. Alpha Rev released their debut album ''
The Greatest Thing I've Ever Learned'' on March 1, 2007. After releasing "The Greatest Thing" locally, the band signed an agreement with Austin startup Flyer Records and recorded an album with Dwight Baker at Matchbox Studios. This album has not been released, and the rights were purchased by Hollywood Records.
In 2007 the Myspace.com charts ranked Alpha Rev as the #1 indie band from Texas, and the #16 indie band nationwide. Alpha Rev was selected by
Austin Monthly Magazine as one of the local bands most likely to succeed in 2008.
In August 2008 Alpha Rev signed their first major label record deal with
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Record ...
. Their international debut album was recorded at
Avatar Studios in New York City. The album, entitled ''
New Morning'' was produced by
David Kahne
David Kahne is an American record producer, musician, composer, and former record company executive.
Professional career
Kahne started his musical career as a working musician and soon became Director of A&R for America's first punk and n ...
, engineered by
Joe Barresi
Joe Barresi (nicknamed "Evil Joe") is an American record engineer and producer who has worked with Kyuss, The Melvins, Tool, Chevelle, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Tomahawk, L7, The Jesus Lizard, Parkway Drive, New Model Army, Ba ...
and mixed by
Michael Brauer Michael Brauer is a New York-based mix engineer. He received a Grammy for "Best Pop Vocal Album" for his work on John Mayer's ''Continuum'', "Best Alternative Album" for Coldplay's '' Parachutes'', and also "Best Rock Album" for Coldplay's '' Viv ...
.
In 2010 Alpha Rev topped the charts with ''
New Morning'' reaching #3 on radio, and their video was in the top 10 rotation on VH1. They were also featured as one of VH1's "You Oughta Know, Artist on the Rise."

On December 5, 2012 Alpha Rev published a
lyric video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for their soon-to-be-released single, "Sing Loud". On January 3, 2013 the single was made available on iTunes, and a full video was released March 11, 2013. Their third album ''Bloom'' was released March 19, 2013 on
Kirtland Records. Alpha Rev again achieved radio chart success with the single "Sing Loud" reaching #10.
Casey McPherson also fronts the successful Prog-Rock
supergroup Flying Colors. Other members include
Mike Portnoy,
Dave LaRue,
Neal Morse
Neal Morse (born August 2, 1960) is an American singer, musician and composer based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1992, he formed the progressive rock band Spock's Beard with his brother Alan and released an album which was moderately successful ...
and
Steve Morse
Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member ...
.
Awards
*Alpha Rev's song "Colder Months" won Sonicbids 2007 Snocap/American Songwriter contest. Casey McPherson was featured in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue of American Songwriter Magazine as one of the best new and upcoming songwriters.
*Casey McPherson was selected as a featured artist to perform at the 10th annual
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
tribute at Uncommon Ground in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
in November 2007.
*In 2009 and 2010, Alpha Rev was recognized by the
Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
at the Austin Music Awards during
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
as one of Austin's best performing rock bands. Also receiving individual performance honors in both years was bassist, Alex Dunlap.
*In May 2009, Alpha Rev was named Austin's best rock band by Rare Magazine in their annual "Rarest of them All" issue.
*Alpha Rev has performed at
Austin City Limits Music Festival
The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/ PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-bas ...
,
Terminal 5, The
CMJ Music Marathon
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
and
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
, as well as main stages at The
State Fair of Texas
The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I ...
,
Summerfest,
Michele Clark 's
Sunset Session, multiple times and was one of the 4 bands on the first
Sunset sessions tour and the
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind ...
.
*In April 2010, Alpha Rev was named
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
's newest "You Oughtta Know" Artist
*On May 1, 2010, Alpha Rev's video for "New Morning" debuted on the
VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown. In all, "New Morning" spent 11 weeks on the countdown, peaking at the #7 position.
Discography
Studio albums
*''
The Greatest Thing I've Ever Learned'' (2007, re-released in 2008)
*''Untitled'' Flyer Records (recorded in 2007, unreleased)
*''
New Morning'' (2010)
*''Bloom'' (2013)
*''Cas.e Sessions - Volume 1'' (2018)
* ''Open'' (2020)
Extended plays
*''Alpha Rev'' (2006)
*''City Farm Roots'' (2011)
Singles
* "New Morning" - #100
''Billboard'' Hot 100
* "Phoenix Burn" - #37
* "Sing Loud" - #15
Billboard Adult Contemporary
Compilations and soundtracks
*"Colder Months" and "Phoenix Burn" were featured during Season 1 of CW's
Melrose Place
''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, in ...
.
*"China Sunrise" and "Wedding Day" were featured during Season 1 of Bravo's TV show, "NYC Prep".
*"Phoenix Burn" was featured in a promotional advertisement for the 3rd season of the abcfamily TV show, ''Greek''.
*"Colder Months" appeared on the compilation ''Breaking the Silence''.
*"Though I Walk" was featured in the film ''Pineapple''
*"New Morning" was featured during Season 4 of ABC's "Brothers & Sisters".
*"New Morning" was featured in "Greek".
*"New Morning" was also featured in ''
The Last Song'' and was included on the soundtrack album.
*"Colder Months" was featured during Season 3 of
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew on
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
*"Face Down" is featured in the Activision video game
Guitar Hero 5
''Guitar Hero 5'' (initially referred to as ''Guitar Hero V'') is a 2009 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fifth main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series. The game was released internat ...
*"Walk This Line" (currently unreleased) has been featured frequently during
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
's
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and of ...
*"Colder Months" was featured in a promotional advertisement for
The OCD Project
''The OCD Project'' is an American reality television series that debuted on May 27, 2010. The series follows Dr. David Tolin and his exposure-based treatment of six patients living together in a Southern California mansion. The treatment, calle ...
on
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
.
*"When Did I Wake Up" was featured during Season 2 of
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Mad ...
's TV show,
Royal Pains
''Royal Pains'' (stylized ℞oyalPains) is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on the USA Network from 2009 to 2016. The series was based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies. The c ...
.
*"Phoenix Burn" was featured on the official soundtrack of the
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American Film studio, film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action featur ...
production,
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010 film).
*"Phoenix Burn" was featured in the
Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generati ...
version of the videogame
The Sims 3 (
EA Games
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
).
References
External links
Alpha Rev official siteAlpha Rev on MyspaceAlpha Rev on Sonic Bids
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpha Rev
Rock music groups from Texas
Musical groups from Austin, Texas
Musical groups established in 2005
2005 establishments in Texas