SOCIAL MEDIA

Raven

TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix and we are here with John Gallagher from Raven, Thank You for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.

JG - Thank You.

TM - What can fans expect from your show?

JG - We are crazy MFs and we are entertaining and we put on a loud, fast, funny and crazy show. We are crusty old buggers we grew up at a time where we entertained the audience and had personalities and that's the way we would do it. We would go out on stage, jump around and make a lot of silly noises and get the audience to sing along with us we would have a Grand Old Time.

TM - That's awesome and sounds fun, What can fans expect from your setlist?

JG - We will play some old songs and some new songs. It is our 50th anniversary as a band and it is a very special thing for us. We will go back and we may play one of the first songs we ever wrote and ever recorded so that is a fun thing. We will also play some from our most recent album "All Hell's Breaking Loose" and from there we will just cherry pick from our albums.

TM - Do you have a favourite song to play live?

JG - We like playing "Faster Than the Speed of Light" and we sometimes like to play it faster than it is supposed to be, It is one of those few songs where it will work. We also would like to play some of our new songs "Surf The Tsunami" seems to be a hit with the audience it is a real killer we live it.

TM - Are there any tourist attractions you want to see in Australia?

JG - The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House The Bridge in Newcastle England was a test bridge for the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs, what band would it be, what song and would it be and would it be in your style or their style?

JG - Metallica plays "For the Future" of our first album in their style. That would be fun I have seen James's range he could pull that off quite easily.

TM - What was the first band you saw live as a kid and can you tell us a story?

JG - In 1973 we were massive Slayer fans and they were playing the Newcastle City Hall and it was the first concert that my brother and I went to. We got there and they had an opening band that no one had ever heard of and the audience was like get out of the way we want to see Slayer. In a song and a half the opening band had the audience in the palm of their hands and it was "The Sensational Alex Harvey Band" and Alex Hardy was one of the greatest front man that ever strolled this stage, so between them and Slayer we were ruined for life.

TM - Did they inspire you to play?

JG - They inspired us to play and the next year we said to each other ok we are going to form a band. It wasn't like the United States where After The Beatles there was a band on every block and all the kids wanted to play music. That didn't happen were we were. The only other person who played music was Paul who started the band. His sister had tried to play drums in a different band so she had a drum kit that we borrowed. We would make Fools of ourselves because we didn't have a drummer so we would have turns playing drums. We just learned it the hard way. Back then there was no YouTube or instructional DVDs you would have to figure it out by ear. We would go and see the bands and you would watch where their hands went so you could get an idea of how to play. It ended up being a lot harder and it took a lot longer to learn but you ended up being more original because of it. When AC/DC played in the Newcastle Ballroom you would get three thousand people in a two thousand person room it was like being shoved into a sardine can. We also watched Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow which I camped outside all night to get tickets. I also saw Ozzy Osbourne, Rory Gallagher, Wishbone Ash and Judas Priest that was our education and they were our teachers.

TM - Are you working on any new music?

JG - I am working constantly on new music, I have a lot of ideas and the room here is inundated with guitars. I have 22 at the moment so I will pick up a guitar and start noodling them. I will put my phone on to record it and then I will listen back to it and see if I can stretch it out or add something to it. Then I will play it to Mark or Mike and they might say that's a good idea why don't we put this and that together and Before Too Long you have a song. We are in that process now where we are going over stuff and trying to put stuff together because in the spring Mike have his new studio ready. We will go in and have some more concrete ideas based on the initial ones that we have.

TM - Does that mean you will bring out a new album?

JG - Of course, I have a lot of songs already together it's just a question of everyone being on board with the songs. Of course, Mark and Mike have a lot of song ideas that they are going to play to me. I will hear them as well and we put some arrangements on the vocals together and ask each other what we think. Then we bounce our ideas off each other and then I'll do a rough demo and send it to Mike. Then he will start coming up with drum ideas and that could Spark of changing the song because he could come up with a good drum beat and there is a lot of tugger war until we got an arrangement that we were happy with.

TM - Anything else you want to say to your fans?

JG - We are looking forward to coming back to the Great and Powerful Australia for sure. We are looking forward to our shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane we are looking forward to getting out there and kicking some butts.

TM - Thank You for having this interview with us today, we appreciate it.