PipemanRadio and John Gallagher Discuss Raven's 50TH ANNIVERSARY EP

0:04 Hey, you have unto censure. Wow for you young. Wake up America. It's time for the Adventures of Pipe Man on W four c Y dot com. West pomp Beach is number one internet radio station. Here's your host, the White. Man, your guy's talk.

0:54 It is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio. And I'm super excited out this guest because one of my favorite bands. And man, I can't believe it's been fifty freaking years. Let's welcome to the show. John Galder from Raving hell Sair. Good to be here. Oh, man, Like, where does it feel like when you wake up in the morning and realize you've been doing this for fifty years? Like, that's kind of weird, right. It's very weird because it's, uh, you know, it seems like yesterday that, you know, we were sitting in our bedroom trying to fight over an acoustic guitar, and then you know, my brother and our friend down the street came up and said, hey, we're going to form a band and you can play bass. I'm like, oh, okay, let's go. And we had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for, because, like I realized like he in the States, like kids about our age. At the time, there was a bond on every corner, you know. Ever since the Beatles broke, everyone in America wanted to be in a bond. So yeah, and it continued, and that wasn't where we were. There was nobody around. No one in our area we knew was in a band. I mean, there was some people that ended up doing it, but

2:24 we didn't know who they were. We weren't hanging out, they weren't playing shows or anything like that. So we learned it all the hard way. There wasn't anyone on our level to kind of copy or steal ideas from. We had to steal them all from the big boys, you know. Yeah, and it is so true as somebody that has been listening to you since way back then, you know, it was a very different world of music like right now there. You know, there's the benefits of the fact that you know, anybody can pretty much put out music, but then there's also the disadvantages because then there's just a whole sea of I think a lot of same type of music because everybody's just trying to put this algebraic equation to music. Whereas bands like you guys were innovators that like, even within the same genre, all the bands were so distinctly different.

3:24 You've nailed it. That was the thing about especially the new wave of British heavy metal, which was an era, not a genre, not a sound. It was a graving but all those bonds sounded totally different. They all hot, passion and energy. But other than not, you know, we didn't sound like Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden didn't sound like Deaf Leppards. They didn't sound like Sampson, they didn't sound like White Spirit or Venom or you know, diamond Head. They all sounded different, which was cool, which is great. I thought it was great myself because it's like, I just think we need these different vibes and feelings that we get from different types of music, from different bands, from different artists, different musicians, you know, And I don't want to listen to the same song over and over.

4:22 No, you don't want to live in a world where everything's blue and you like, I'm going to eat their pasta every day for the rest of my life. It's like, you know, moderation, there's a spectrum, check it out. It's just absolutely, you know, absolutely. We shocked in everything when we were kids, and I still try to. I mean, what have I got floating the round here? What am I listening? Do Almond Brothers? Nice? I have a listen to Allmond Brothers and really, so this is cool. I'm checking this out. Freaking you too, Hendrix.

5:05 They redid the New Queen one. I see. I love that you're doing this right now because that is how we grew up with all these different varieties of music that we were into, and you know, it shapes who you are, and it shape as you as an artist. Then you give me unique because you're not You're not doing the same as everybody else. There's like influences from all different walks of life and blending genres. Uh yeah, you know, preach brother, you're saying the way it is because it's it's like having a vocabulary, you know.

5:46 I see, even to this day, you'll have opening bonds and it's like, oh yeah, so they've been listening to Rain and Blood for the last twenty years and nothing else. It's like Slayer already did it, you know, right, can't you? So? What was well? You think was the first album that ever really made you feel like? Man, this is my passion music. Slay Alive, nice album Overboard, It's still one of the greatest albums of all time. Absolutely May The first band we ever saw and the opening band for that gig was the sensational Alex Harvey Bond, who were mind blowing and after seeing those two, we were ruined for life.

6:47 I love it. I love it so yeah. For me, I was at I lived in New Jersey and I was at the Jersey Shore at the boardwalk playing some Carnie game and I I saw this Carnee game where you could win an album, and there's this album up there that I'm like, Oh, those dudes look cool, and so I played the game and I did win it. And it was Kisses first album when it first came out, very cool, and I was ruined after that, you know, yeah, same. Thing I mean those Yeah, those guys will tell you.

7:29 There's so many interviews for Gene Simmons goes if it wasn't for Slade, so there wouldn't be a kiss because you know, they took that concept and ran with it and went somewhere else with it. But absolutely, you know, we bombs, lots of hooks, big guitar riffs. Yeah, of course, you know you have influences, but you don't need to be like your influences. You just evolved from those influences. Yeah, like you see you pull from that. I mean, we religiously went to see every concept we could. So we saw Slayed and Alex Harvey. I think the next one we went to see was Status Quo, who were like one of the best live bands you would ever see.

8:17 Just ridiculous. Imagine two thousand people headbind crazy. Oh my god, Budgie, Oh yeah, I have a Budgy album right in front of us. First song bread Fine, place went nuts. It's a seated hall. Everyone just ran to the front. It's crazy. And then you know, I camped out in the snow for tickets for Richie Blackmore's Rainbow First tour. Yes, uh, you knows. Nowadays don't know what it's like to camp out to wait for online for tickets.

8:58 No, they're comping out in the living room on the laptop, hoping to you know, not get too badly ripped off. And we were lucky where we were because you know, yeah there was club shows and Jersey, but I mean a lot of your shows, you you were going to the garden or you were going to the meadowlands and it's you know, it's okay, but you're still kind of need your binoculars to see what's going on. And we were playing what would be the equivalent maybe the Capital Theater. That's where all the bands played, the Newcastle City Hall, two thousand capacity with a balcony, not a bad seat in the house, right. So that was our education seeing these bands coming in and watching the opening bards and saying, you know, they got a tough road here. How do they handle it? Do they win the audience over? And some of them did and a lot of them didn't.

9:53 And you would say, well, they suck because they're not connecting with the audience. They're not a bad bond, but they're not reaching out. They've got no showmanship, and you know you would figure it out. Connecting is the keyword right there, because Okay, So in nineteen eighty my dad moved me from New Jersey to la and I went to my first club show ever and that ruined me too because it was like I said, I'm never going to a real concert ever again. Because everything you were talking about, that intimacy, the connection, and so it was at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip, right, and it was Motley Crue before they even had an album.

10:39 Oh brilliant. Yeah, And so. They weren't glam they were more like horror punk and they were trying to set the Roxy on fire to bring Satan in. And I was I was, like, I think thirty or fourteen years old. I'm like, oh my god, this is amazing. You were there at the right time time. We were never. We were never on the strip. We played when whether we came. We played at the country Club out in Reseda. And I saw you guys at the country club in Reseda. There you go. I I even, uh, I think, I think I saw a show with you and Metallica Club in LA because I went to like Metallica's first shows ever and Slayers would be.

11:28 That would have been the country club. And then I think we did it again with m FROs. I think hereafter yeah. Yeah, so I'm like kind of famous at the country club. Because I was at a Savage Grace show and I ended the show by doing a stage dive. I was full squad Swan in the air crowd moved, I hit tea person to the floor and knocked out all my teeth. Oh Jesus Christ not recommended. Yeah, I don't do that anymore. I'll still I'll go, and I like being in control. I don't like other people being in control anymore. No crowd surfing, no stage diving. But I'll go on the pick because then I'm in control.

12:09 My brother did that once in Germany. We were on a opening for Running Wild and there was some guys flipping them off or something, so he just put his guitar down and dived on top of them. I love it, and U s brawled out while they were all trying to find him and start a fight. And they were all fighting each other. Oh my god, that's funny. Ah, good time. So what's it like fifty years later to write music? I asked that of all artists, I've been doing that long because I just think to myself, Wow, I'm just in awe of you to be able to still have more songs in your head to get out there.

12:54 You wouldn't believe this, but literally one minute before I clicked on here, I had that guitar. Oh that's a good riff, let's record it. So I pick a guitar up these days, and you know, thank you the muses However, it's usually one of the first thing or the second thing I played. I'll just put my hands on and go, oh, where do we go from here, and come up with an idea, record it and then you know, go back to it later and if it's it still sounds good, we'll go somewhere with it and we'll see where we can take it. But it's mysterious, and as you've probably heard from many people, you don't want to even get into it. You don't want to ruin the more jo it's just like right and so you know it's not from you. You are like receiving from somewhere. God knows where you're receiving, and it's that spectrum. You know, I'll receive this and somebody else will receive something else. We never get the same thing, and I don't question it.

14:01 I just go with it. And the more the MAREA. See that's a true artist right there, because that is what it's about, you know, to be being an artist. I don't think it's people think it's the physical person that that. It's like, it's just this vibe and energy that comes into you and it doesn't come into everybody. It's no certain you've got to you've got to be tuned into that, and you know there is craft involved following this where I say, oh, sure, I got a great idea. Where do I go from there? And then that's craft and experience. But you can't build a song purely on craft and experience because then it turns into Max Martin and you know, whoever's writing for Britney Spears this week. But you know that kind of thing, which is a it's a different talent, but to me, it's like bricklaying. Yeah, you know, there's a patent and you follow it and it works, and that's great, but that's not trying to do anything new, you know.

15:08 Well, you know it's kind of like I think of it this way too. Even you know, kudos to the performing artists that you know they perform, But somebody else writes a song, no hate at all. But I couldn't imagine myself doing it, Like I couldn't imagine singing somebody else's song or playing somebody else's song because it's not my feelings. Like I think songs are very personal to the artists and and I think us as the audience, we need to see that. And if you're just doing somebody else's feelings. People can tell they see it, and they can tell.

15:52 You can put yourself into it. But I mean, you know, a new one would doubt Roger Daltrey singing Pete Tonsend's songs. Yeah, bring some Delight, you bring another, you know, and people sing them and the different totally different when you hear his demos to what they did. So you can do that. But if it's a case of being the performing monkey, you know, here's the song, sing it and there's nothing coming in create it at all, that's a different story, you know. And I mean, would you say it's true when you're a band, like speaking Zap Lennard the Beatles, that even though one person's maybe writing it, you're collaborating. So you're part of that process anyway. So you do have the feeling because you have input into it.

16:41 Yeah, and once everyone puts on input into it, it elevates it. It turns into something exactly beyond what you started with. Yeah, absolutely, So can't take away the fire. I mean, it's it's as good or better than fifty years ago. And I think that's the plan. That's not only amazing, but that's it. It is the way it should be right, like you perfect your craft over the years, like I think of it. You know, we talk about the old days and it's so great now that we don't have the gatekeepers anymore and the division and all that. Because I remember speaking of Metallic, I remember when the Black album came out and me and my friends were like posers were never listening to them.

17:31 Again, blah blah blah. You know, stupid young shit. And you know the fact that the matter is is then you have to think of the musician. The musician wants to grow and wants to get better and learn and perfect their craft. You know, they don't want to stay essentially a garage band. No. I mean that's when I get the question. You know, you know when Metallic I rooted for you, did you ever think we would turn and do the phenomenon they now, I'm like, no, and they didn't. It was the band that had been on that tour and then went with other bands and learned and horned their songwriting chops and did the second record. Yeah, that's the band that grew into what they are now, not the first one. It's not like baraging the first album, but that particular band that would have never grown into what there was. There's no way.

18:30 We'll think about any band that puts out those type of original albums, that first album, they're usually teenagers when they wrote it. Yeah, and you know, so I think of anybody in any craft, if you've been doing something for twenty thirty fifty years, you know, you wouldn't do it that long if you weren't getting much better after all that time. You would hope. So yeah, Yeah, there's probably examples to the contrary, but you would hope, so, you know, so yeah, you know, in our case, we basically laid down the gauntlet on our first album, and it had quite a variety of stuff, but there was a common thread where it was all revved up and crazy, but there was, you know, an acoustic thing. There was tyrant of the airways with the quite a bit in the middle, so there was stylistically places to go. We weren't, you know, It wasn't like the Ramones first album or something where it was there, you are, that's it right, And Metallica could have done the same thing. They could have made Kill Them Are Part two, three, four five, They didn't.

19:42 They they branched out and the second album kind of did what our first album did where they had opportunity to go places. I mean, and they actually said to us on that tour, we love the All for One album because you guys have broadened what you do without changing who you are. See that's key right right there. So yeah, that's smart, that's good. Yeah, I get that, you know, because you do want to be true yourself, but that doesn't me Being exactly yourself is the way I can't think of it. It's like you become an additional part of you. Yeah, you can't, you know. I mean, we will let up the golden path at one point, you know, with the Practice Back album where it was like you know, do X and we will give you why And all they did is give us grief. And we sat and had a big meeting, I remember, because they weren't going to give us money for a video Atlantic Records, and it was like, why did they make so much of a big deal about, you know, trying to be more commercial and we were like naive andly, okay, we just went no, no more. Okay, if I have to live on cat food, well let's do an ep along the lines of who we are, you know, what we think we should be and make music for us.

21:12 That's that's the only way to do. From then on, people were like, yeah, yeah, okay, we get it. And that's you know, integrity and people. People can sense that and follow it and appreciate. It, and that's to me, that's a true artist. So how do people connect to you guys on social media and the web? How they check out the new album and all your music and all your We're. On there official raven as, the Facebook, on Instagram, I believe the Ravenlunatics dot com, which you've reminded me. I have to get them to update something, so we'll do that.

21:56 That's the web page. I'm on Facebook, John Gallagher as well. So you know we's thro yes, slings and arrows at me. I mean, I'm out there, ah, and it's it's you know, the Internet is a two edged sword, but the good parts of it are great. We have instant feedback with our fans. We can show them stuff we can you know, ah, do you have that connection, which is it's so cool. And then on the other side you've got Spotify ripping people off blind and then the great in music. I hear background music and you know, you go to someone's house and they've got the whatever the soft rock channel on right, and it turns into spinal tap. You know.

22:42 We're such a big fan of you guys, well not you guys, but the whole genre of rock and roll. You know, so when you've got music on that's faceless and you don't even know who the hell it is, but what's that? Yeah, I want to pay attention to what I'm listening to, you know. Oh, I talk about it all the time. You know, back in the day, we sat with our headphones on and we bought this album with our hard earned money. That so we played it like ten million times to get our money's worth, and we just dove into it with all the artwork and the and the lyrics. And you know, I was just saying the other day, people include my own kids, asked like, how do you know the lyrics to every single song that comes on?

23:28 I'm like, this is why. Because we sat with the lyrics and we listened to it. We didn't go from one track to another in every ten seconds. You paid attention, and when there wasn't lyrics, you made them up. I mean when we were when we were cats, we heard blue wasstuck cult em two six two on the radio on a hard rock show. That's a great tune. A tip it, let's play it. So we would play it and we didn't know the lyrics, and it was just watch me down the ball, sugar and shit Rubber's how rubbish because that's phonetically what it sounded like. You got like maybe ten words out of fifteen or something, you know it was, and nobody.

24:13 Cared, right, no, nobody. You got the chorus right, nobody cared. Nobody does, that's for sure. And they were probably spread in the word like the game and telephone that that's the lyrics. That's how that's how. If the lyrics come up, it's. But that's how music was. It was word of mouth, or you went into the record store and saw an album cover and went, oh, man, that looks cool. That's exactly what I did. Or or like in La they had Bam magazine and you would see like pictures of the gigs coming up and they're like, oh they look cool. You don't even know what they sound like. It didn't matter, or like it was funny. I love telling bands from back then the story. So we we would go to this record store in the valley called OZ Records, and there was a record clerk there that we got friendly with, and he always advised us what albums to buy, like he'd bring it out and stuff and and we would like just whatever he said, oh yeah, because it was always good.

25:18 And that was Brian Slagel when he was starting Metal Blade, who yeah, like except it was wild. I said to him a few years ago. I was like, man, that was like the most brilliant marketing ever, he goes. I wasn't trying to market. That was just a record store clerk. It's just that it's exactly what Johnny Z was doing on the East Coast exactly. You go to hear this, You got to hear this, you know, and the tape trading days and and all that. You know. I still have like a couple tapes that from that time that you can't even tell what is even on it. I just know what's on it because it was like taped over like fifty times from all the people.

26:05 You wouldn't believe do I have it here? Is it hid? No? I've been going through all this stuff. Oh yeah, you know, like, what have we got here? We have Newcastle Mayfair nineteen eighty three. We have Wrexham Festival. All these bootlegs and stuff. Wow, just checking through stuff and this is from nineteen seventy five, recorded in my mom and Dodg's front room. Wow. Me, Mark and Paul Bowden were taking terms on the drums. This is like scary bard and very clear.

26:47 Oh my god, you know that is way cool, you know, it's like I mean, there's so many things like that from back then. I think that's why music was so creative, because you have had to be creative. You know, you made it. It wasn't handed to you on a plate. We learned. We had to learn by using our ears and watching. And there wasn't the you know, the tablature or the DVD instructional videos or YouTube or you know, and there was none of that at all. You know, maybe when VHS came out down it kind of started or you know, you could see the song remains the same on videotape or whatever page. But before then you had to watch a band and use your ears and you got it wrong.

27:43 And when you got it wrong, it was still cool and you're going, oh it's wrong, but I like this better, or maybe it leads to me differently. And you know, I suppose that when it's all spoonfed. I mean you'll see kids now that have been playing two years, three years, they can play rings around me technically very unbelievable. But is it original or. Is the heart? Yes? Some of them, yes, some of them, because there's there's you know, some special kids who are just gifted and you know, you give them a head start like that and they're often running and who knows what they'll end up doing. But you know, by and large, if it's just given to you by rout and you're not adding anything.

28:31 To it, you know, well like look now AI, you can write a song to a music video and everything with AI. And I'm like, no, no, well, all you need to do now is your If someone was telling me they were looking for stuff up on on the bar to research for the for an interview, and he says, the guy you know put it in and it's just half the stuff that was in there was wrong mhm. Or believe that miss leading. It's just like you can't trust it. And yeah, some people are going to use it as a tool. I mean, especially for some of it, like lyrics. It'll kick some stuff out and you lay they use it as is or steal from it. But there's a fine line there somewhere, you know. It's it's like the batting tip thing. It's like, nah, I don't go there.

29:24 I don't want that. Yeah. So my research is. Being in the car with my bro in the eighties playing parts of your songs over and over again, sometimes for the high pitched, unbelievable screams like we would be so like enamored that we would we gotta listen to that again. Come on, no way, you know. Touch Wood, I've still got it and still do all of it. I know. That's that's why I bring it up. This new album, you know, I'm listening to New Hour, I'm like, how does he have the same voice?

30:11 Because then it is better it should be. I've been practicing see that. That's a pretty good new album that that ep can't take away the fire you put that first track on Black and Blue. That will clean your clock, that will not your head, your hair piece will fly through the air. That's that's as vicious as anything we've ever even dreamed of. And we're very lucky where a legacy bond we've been around forever, we have all that history, but it's not who we are. We're a bond making new music and continuing to do it and push the envelope. And that's exciting. That's cool, you know.

30:53 Oh, I'm totally excited about it. And so is there anything else you want to share with the listeners that you have coming up live shows and stuff like that that you are. We're doing Hell's Heroes in Houston on March twentieth, which is a cool festival, like a European one that they've been the last couple of years. So we're happy to be on that. We're going to be writing, writing right now. As I said, Mike's building a new studio, so on SUTs ready, we'll be in doing that. European dates being booked for September and hopefully the States say the right before that or right afterwards. Nice. Well, I'm sure i'll be at one of those. Actually, it's funny because I go on tour doing coverage at music festivals all over the US, UK, Europe, and I saw that Hell's Heroes festival. I'm like, hmm, I'm gonna look into seeing maybe covering that one. And now that you said what you did, now I'm like totally convinced, you know, because you never know if you.

31:54 Never know, but if it's not like one of these, you know when you see all these horrible nighteties, is you know, fake metal bounds planning. This is like Headbangers open air or it's like keep it True or one of those. It's it's uh, you know. Well, the minute you said like Europe, yeah, the main Like when you said like a European festival, I'm like, oh, then it's gonna be a good festival and. I'm gonna have to check it out. Absolutely. Yeah. Well I'm totally stoked about this new music. Fiftieth Adversary. Everybody's got to check out the new album, check out your live shows, buy your merch. It's limited edition, one thousand copies, all are signed. I just broke my hands signing a thousand booklet's yesterday and passed them on the mark. And the actual release date is February fourteenth. And the video for Can't Take Away the fire lyric video came out on Monday, I believe, or maybe Tuesday, but it's out there. Look it up and a know your neighbors, turn it up.

32:59 And what a great Valentine's gift that would make it's a massacre. Definitely there it is. Thanks again for making great music and thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man. You got a brother, take care and see you soon. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man. I'm w for CUI Radio. Hello there, ladies and gentlemen and maniacs. This is John Gallagher from Raving and you are listening to the Pipe Man on W four CY Radio. Turn it out.