Ska stalwarts Big D and the Kids Table are legends of the New England-area music scene -- and they share plenty of history with New England Revolution fans, too. Just over a year ago, the band recorded a host of new chants for Revs supporters' groups the Rebellion, Midnight Riders, and Rev Army.
So there's little surprise that the team's official new chant, "One New England," comes courtesy of David McWane, Big D's lead singer. Described by McWane as “sort of like a Viking battle cry," the official 30-second video resounds with howls of “One New England,” along with bagpipes and a chant-like response from Revs supporters’ groups.
“The two main things that New England holds are passion and history,” McWane says. “Our passion for sports and all different genres is so deep, and a lot of the music culture is passion. It comes down to the fact that a lot of us New Englanders are really hard workers, and the things we own, we all have had to work for them and bust our butt to make it.”
For this track, too, McWane says he was able to draw from a mix of his soccer and music fandom, past and present. He attended Revs games as a high schooler, then spent much of Major League Soccer’s budding years touring around England, witnessing first-hand how passionate supporters’ culture is the other side of the Atlantic.
But what really inspired McWane on this particular project, he says, is listening to “Believe,” the anthem Rancid's Branden Steineckert created for Real Salt Lake in 2012.
“I came across the RSL song, and after I heard it I almost thought, ‘That was perfect,’” McWane says. “I was like, ‘How does one top something of this tier?’ So I had to tell myself, ‘Don’t be inspired it, don’t think too much about it. You want this to be totally authentic.’”
Thus, McWane hit the recording studio and came out with his newest track. And, with positive feedback from Revs fans, there’s plenty more in store down the road.
He says said two more Revs-specific anthems will be released in the coming months, and there are plans to produce a “One New England” video, possibly featuring players. His biggest dream for this song, though, lies elsewhere: hearing Gillette Stadium bellow with his newest chant.
“I would just hang up my jacket and hat if this chant longevity-wise was ever embraced,” he says. “If it was a gift that New England accepts and uses and loves, that would mean the world to me.”
