Josh Warren said he had been looking forward to their St. Patrick's Day show at The Tank for about a month.

But it was a large crowd that attended his live show the previous Wednesday at that same venue, when they expected virtually no one to show, that got him especially excited.

“By 11:45 (p.m.), a bunch of people walk in here and they (Tank staff) ended up having like four other workers come in,” Warren said. “On a Wednesday night on Spring Break, how fun that was. I can just imagine tonight.”

As expected, the club got busy during the annual Irish celebration. With videos cameras rolling and fans dancing by the stage, free Killians at the bar and local artist Barefoot Wade braving the club floors sans footwear, Josh Warren and The Revelation brought a dose of reggae to St. Patrick's Day at The Tank.

Band members were giving fans a preview of what's to come when they perform at the Jah Vegas Roots & Reggae Jam, to be held 1-8 p.m. April 26 at the Pitt County Fairgrounds. The festival will feature six of Greenville's favorite reggae acts, including Heritage, Barefoot Wade, Ballyhoo!, 5th Generation and Jah Creation. The Revelation jumped on board when they saw Heritage — a band they share a stage with often — was on the bill.

During the last year, Josh Warren and the Revelation, or some form of it, have been everywhere. While they perform as a duo or three-piece band in local restaurants like Chefs 505 or Rucker John's, in clubs like the Tank and Live Bar, they break out all of their instruments: Warren fronts the band on guitar and vocals, Eric Mackey is on lead guitar, Evan Bartley takes the bass and Ken Forrest holds them together on drums (Forrest also drums for 5th Generation).

“It's crazy because when we first started, we thought we would have to change our setup for different venues,” Warren said. “Then we found that we'd play some new reggae song, and even people who are, like, 40 and older are out dancing to it.”

The band was also invited to the Heritage Reggae Music Festival in Emerald Isle last year (where they hope to return in 2011), Doggie Jamz with Cinder Cat (April 20 at Sup Dogs) and a benefit show on April 14 with Gamma Sigma Sigma for the tsunami relief in Japan. They're also scheduled to play April 16 at Chefs 505.

“It's always good to know you're doing a good cause, raising money for people,” Warren said.

Warren calls himself and Mackey the “original core” of the band, adding that they just recently got the band unitized.

“We met through a mutual friend and we both started jamming out, playing a little bit of music at an open mike night,” Mackey said. “Things just kind of fell into place and took off. I don't think either one of us were really looking for it. It just happened.”

The band has already released a five-track EP but is waiting to sign with a regional record label to release a full-length album.

“This is my career,” Warren said. “I just graduated in December from ECU … but music is my passion and I want to do it as long as I can. If it escalates as much as it has in the past half year, two years from now, there's no telling where I'll be.”

Reggae-influenced bands have long had a place in Greenville, where Reggae on the Lake brought fans to the fairgrounds for a full day of music every year.

“I feel like it (Greenville) is a great starting point,” Warren said. “A great building point. It's a good town to get live music started in and start out here because we've got the college scene. It's not really a center point but it doesn't take too long to travel to larger cities around.”

“I think there's a lot of potential,” Bartley added. “There's a lot of room to grow. Not that big cities have a hard time providing a venue, but I think there's a lot of desire for good music here.”

Josh Warren and The Revelation competed March 20 at ECU's Annual Battle of the Bands, where the winners received the opening slot for Barefoot on the Mall (noon-6 p.m. April 21). Mackey said he planned to just jam and have fun, and, “whatever happens, happens.”

The Ethnographers won the battle, but that doesn't mean the Revelation doesn't still have big plans for the future.

“World domination,” Mackey joked. “That's about it. Taking over the world. Obama, we're coming for you.”

Contact Kristin Day at kday@reflector.com or 329-9579.