• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

RAVEN Frontman Reveals Top Musical Influences

April 28, 2010

Vocalist/bassist John Gallagher of the veteran British/American heavy metal trio RAVEN counted down his Top 9 musical influences with Ranker.com. His list is as follows:

01. THE WHO's John Entwistle
02. RUSH's Geddy Lee
03. FREE's Andy Fraser
04. URIAH HEEP's Gary Thain
05. SLADE's Jimmy Lea
06. YES' Chris Squire
07. KING CRIMSON's John Wetton
08. CHEAP TRICK's Tom Petersson
09. LED ZEPPELIN's John Paul Jones

Read Gallagher's comments about each of his selections at this location.

RAVEN will play a very limited number of North American dates in September/October in support of the band's new album, "Walk Through Fire".

Tickets are on sale at EnterTheVault.com and all normal ticketing systems.

"Walk Through Fire" was released in the U.S. on March 30 (one day earlier in Europe through SPV/Steamhammer) via Metal Blade Records. The CD, which came out in Japan in March 2009 via King Records, was recorded at the Assembly Line Studios with engineer/mixer Kevin 131 (PROJECT: FAILING FLESH, DECEASED, DYSRYTHMIA, GARDEN OF SHADOWS).

RAVEN's first album since 2000's "One for All" contains 14 new songs and two live bonus tracks.

In an April 2009 interview with Powerline A.D., John Gallagher stated about "Walk Through Fire", "We took a lot longer to get this one done... and usually after you record an album, you mix it quick and its done. We had the chance to sit with it and tweak it, if needed. I don't think we have ever had that luxury before, so it's got the good songs that were worked on over years in some cases — but recorded in a burst of lunacy — and then listened to and polished to a fierce shine. This album just rocks from start to finish and sounds and feels fresh — it's the real deal. It's varied but it's all 100% RAVEN!"

Regarding the band's decision to cover MONTROSE's "Space Station #5" for the new CD, John said, "We used to do it back in the clubs in the northeast of England. It seems we always come up with a fun cover and this one was cool to do. The middle part is nuts with the crime jazz/surf guitar and fretless bass, but overall it's pretty brutal."

Following a forced layoff through half of the last decade due to Mark Gallagher's long recuperation from a serious accident where Mark's legs were crushed after a wall collapsed on the musician, the band has fought back with a number of European festival appearances, a U.K. tour in 2008 and a triumphant jaunt to Japan in 2009.

RAVEN is:

John Gallagher - Vocals, Bass
Mark Gallagher - Guitar
Joe Hasselvander - Drums

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).