New RAVEN Documentary Is In The Works: 'The Last One Was Difficult, Because It Wasn't Funded Right'

In an interview with Jimmy Kay of Canada's The Metal Voice, RAVEN bassist/vocalist John Gallagher and guitarist Mark Gallagher confirmed that a new career-spanning documentary on the influential British/American metal trio is in the works.

RAVEN previously released a documentary DVD, "Rock Until You Drop - A Long Day's Journey", in 2013. That effort documented the band's then-almost-40-year career and highlighted RAVEN's high-energy approach and influence on the development of thrash.

Regarding RAVEN's plans for the upcoming film, Mark told The Metal Voice: "We pretty much worked out the details and we're starting work on it. There's gonna be a RAVEN documentary, like a full documentary. The last one was difficult, because it wasn't funded right. And, actually, I did a lot of the editing stuff for it, and it was such a learning curve for me. If anybody's ever been involved in something like that, it's just a huge learning curve. And so now this time we have really professional people involved, and we'll be able to do, I think, a better job of telling the story. 'Cause it's quite a tale, when you look at all the different angles and things that we've been through. And we were just talking earlier about it — a lot of the people who were involved in the beginning of this are gone. Even like people like Jonny Z [Megaforce Records founder Jon Zazula], who was really integral to our success in the States, and a lot of the different players are not around anymore." John chimed in: "Even just our contemporaries, a lot of them are gone."

Mark added: "So, it's pretty cool that we're still standing. And this [spring 2026 North American] tour has been amazing. I mean, the response we've got and the shows are just off the chain as far as the excitement and everything that's happening. It's pretty cool."

"Rock Until You Drop - A Long Day's Journey" was released in July 2013 as a two-disc DVD digipak in North America via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort contained four hours and 30 minutes of concert footage from around the world, in the studio, backstage, interviews with the band, the fans musicians and producer.

When "Rock Until You Drop - A Long Day's Journey" was first made available 13 years ago, John told Songfacts about how the project came about: "The genesis came a few years ago when there was a company in New York that wanted to put out a 'best of' RAVEN, and it kind of fell apart — they flaked out on us. I put all this stuff together and we said, 'You know, let's just do a box set with all the stuff everyone's never heard before,' and we put out an album called 'Raw Tracks', which was all the demos that never came out. The idea was kicked around back then, and I said, 'Wow, it would be great if we could do a DVD along the lines of this.'

He continued: "We'd done a DVD back in the early '90s called 'Electro Shock Therapy', which only came out in Europe. It was basically filmed when we were on tour — it was live stuff and us clowning around. It was very entertaining. It was a lot of fun. We just figured it would be good to 'longform' this at some time, because my brother had been collecting and archiving for a few years. Then we were talking to our record company, and they were, like, 'Let's do it.' So my poor brother locked himself in a room for the best part of a year, turned his eyes into road maps, and put this together. It's pretty much the history of the band from when we started all the way through. It's not really, 'Oh, let's just sit down and watch this,' because it came in too long. It's three hours, plus the actual so-called documentary part, so it's really for the diehard fan. We didn't want to compromise this into a fluffy little one-hour thing. Very little is left on the cutting room floor. It's all in."

Last month, John Gallagher told The Five Count radio show about the progress of the songwriting sessions for RAVEN's next album, following the arrival of last year's "Can't Take Away The Fire" EP. He said: "The EP really points to where the next album's going to be, which we have pretty much all the songs written. We have an awful lot of songs, and I think we have everything we need. We just have to go through them and see what would be a good starter, what would follow that, what would be a good end and fill in the gaps. And we will probably be recording that in the summer, [around] July, August. So we'll be able to, in our down moments on the [spring 2026 North American] tour, which won't be many, we'll be playing songs and going, 'What do you think of this one? What do you think of that one?' But I'm excited. The stuff we've got, it's yet another step ahead — more intense, more melodic, more heavy, more crazy. [Laughs] A little bit of everything."

John went on to say that there will be an extensive tour to follow the release of the next RAVEN album. "Yeah, we're already planning for 2027," he said. "It's looking really good so far. And I'm just excited to kick it all into gear, get it going."

He added: "We'll be discussing title and cover idea for the new [album] when we're out there [on the road]. Because we're spread a little bit all over the map — Mike's [Heller, RAVEN drummer] out in Texas, [RAVEN guitarist Mark Gallagher and I are] here Florida. But we shall be throwing ideas at each other."

In August 2025, it was announced that RAVEN was postponing its previously announced summer/fall 2025 European tour so that John could undergo emergency brain surgery.

In February, John told Metal Mayhem ROC about his health: "I call 2025 our medical gap year. My brother [RAVEN guitarist Mark Gallagher] had an ankle replacement and a knee replacement, which were kind of planned, but me getting knocked on the head and being in the ICU for two weeks and bleed on the brain wasn't planned. I'm just very, very lucky to pull through with it, with very little to show for it. Medically, I'm doing okay."

Speaking in more detail about Mark's surgeries, John said: "Well, the ankle, Mark needed the ankle for an awful long time. I mean, you guys have seen him running around like a crazy man, but you don't see him curled up in a ball after the show. He's been in a lot of pain for many, many years, and this is something he's wanted to do. And [it was] basically bone on bone, no cartilage, so it really needed to be done. And the other thing that followed from that, of course, is all those years of compensating for the ankle with the other leg, and the knee got shot because of that. So he got both of them done. So he's a little bit more metal than what he was before."

As for how he is feeling at the moment and whether he is prepared to return to the road, John said: "Well, with my thing, I'm currently still on anti-seizure medication, which is being reviewed later this week. We'll see how we're doing. But I was basically given the green light to do whatever only a few weeks after with the caveat that 'you won't be strong enough to do any of that.' And they were right, 'cause [when] you get a head injury like that, it kind of sucks all the power out of your body to try and fix that. So it was humbling, put it that way. It took a hell of a lot out of me. But I'm doing pretty good now. And it was a little weird, a few strange things. As soon as I got back, I picked up a bass and started trying to play a few of my favorite MONTROSE riffs, and the fingers weren't going where they were supposed to go. So I put it down for a day or two and came back and realized I was about 80% of what I should have been. And I just had to work real hard and getting back to where I am — currently a little better than I was before. So I'm happy about that."

According to John, his inability to play the bass properly after being released from the hospital was "totally mental. Literally my fingers weren't going in the right place or were out of sync," he explained. "[It was] just a brain thing. Compared to a lot of people, I'm incredibly lucky. So it was just a small hurdle to work on, and it did scare me a little bit, but I was getting improvements almost immediately on that. And it only took a few weeks, and I got back to where I was supposed to be."

Referencing KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, who died last October after a fall at Ace's home, John added: "Believe me, very few moments go by where I'm not reminded [that] I could be where Ace Frehley is, and Ace could be where I am. God bless. I'm very, very lucky. My family, my friends, they've all been amazing. The doctors, the nurses, the whole deal."

Considered part of the "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal" movement of the early '80s, RAVEN is perhaps best remembered for its trailblazing tours in America in the early '80s that gave groups like METALLICA and ANTHRAX their first taste of the road.

RAVEN's classic albums "Rock Until You Drop", "Wiped Out" and "All For One" virtually invented both the speed metal and power metal genres, with the band consistently pushing the envelope while retaining its unique sound and attack — both in the studio and in their true element: onstage.

RAVEN's latest EP, the aforementioned "Can't Take Away The Fire", came out in February 2025 via Silver Lining Music.