A CONVERSATION WITH RAVENEYE

One of the great things about working for RockRevolt is learning about new bands. As a cold-hearted cynic, I’ve been stuck in the past, a past that I’ve never been a part of. The mainstream had poisoned my mind. I thought that real music was endangered, on its way out, that it would die when the last great from decades old cashed in his chips. What I learned with the help of a few super groups that took the new guys on tour with them, and the aforementioned  RockRevolt Magazine, is good bands are still emerging; you just have to look for them. You can’t depend on your TV to tell you what’s going on in the music industry. Some of the groups to emerge from the past decade and a half are pretty quite good. My gig as a music journalist has helped me meet some of the greatest rockers of the modern age, the last great hope, as it were. Guys like Highly Suspect and Rival Sons, just to name few, have been great bands I’ve been able to interview, who really scratch my soul where it itches. That’s a saying, right? Music comes from the soul and enters the soul of others. So, yea, that works. It’s a saying now, anyway.

The latest band the magazine introduced me to was Raveneye. In the words of this cold-hearted cynic, this is the band that can carry Rock and Roll on through the next century. This three piece band has a sound more powerful than most large bands. Raveneye, like ZZ Top and Rush, knows that the size of the band isn’t important. It’s the size of your sound that matters.  The band was formed two years ago when Oli Brown, a musician who like some of the greatest rockers, i.e. Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jimmy Page, transitioned from Blues to Rock, teamed up with master drummer Kev Hickman and thundering bass player Aaron Spiers in Milton Keynes, England. Their first single “Breaking Out” received over 100,000 listens on Soundcloud in less than a month. Their first EP, also titled Breaking, has five of the best songs I’ve heard in ages.

The band has been recognized by some of Rock veterans, such as Slash featuring Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Deep Purple, and Joe Satriani. They have toured with the best and are no doubt in a running for that title themselves.  I got an opportunity to interview Oli Brown the other day. It was one of the best interviews I have ever been a part of. It can be nerve wracking talking to a Rock star of his caliber, knowing the right things to say, not sounding nervous, etc., but this man was so friendly I felt at ease in no time. He described experiences and details of music only a seasoned Rock star would know, but I felt like I was talking to a normal person – a normal person who could play the guitar like Jimmy Page. The point I’m making here is talent and fame have done nothing to challenge this man’s humility. No big head for Mr. Brown.

During the interview, we discussed Oli’s transition from a Bluesman to a Rocker. It was Anders Osborn’s album, American Patchwork, that inspired him to explore the darker side of blues. While writing Breaking Out, he realized it was more of a Rock album, and with the help of Kev Hickman and Aaron Spiers and producer and personal hero, Anders Osborne, Raveneye was born. The concerts and crowds have changed a bit since Oli switched to Rock. He enjoyed both experiences and their different qualities equally. Part of what impressed me was how humble Oli was. I asked him what it was like to go from opening for Blues legends like Buddy Guy to Rock giants like Slash. He talked about how great it is to get to play with some of his heroes. He’s an extremely talented musician with a large fan base of his own, but he never got caught up in his own celebrity and when it comes to other bands he’s as much a fan as you or I. He was always eager to learn from other musicians and other cultures. During the interview, I got to ask one of the questions I’ve been dying to ask since I started listening to the five-track Breaking Out EP: will there be a full-length album in the near future? I didn’t get an exact date on the next album, but he told me that it would be in the next year or so. He had a decent amount of material from songs that didn’t make it on to the EP. Oli Brown and his fellow musicians have to choose what fits in EPs and albums, and it’s always nice to have something put away for later.

I can tell you this: Raveneye is a band to watch! I suggest you see them now so, decades from now, you can say, “I saw them back in the early years. I was a part of that Rock and Roll revival.”  You can check their website for tour dates. Breaking Out is available on iTunes and directly from their website.