It’s Friday, October 7, about 11:30 AM pacific time. NWOBHM legends Raven are in the middle of a cross country trek of the States, travelling through a vast expanse of Oregon desert. The connection is shaky, but that doesn’t stop founding bassist/singer John Gallagher and I from having a spirited conversation, as we always do. In this brand new interview, Gallagher looks back on 40 years of Wiped Out, details a new compilation album, and gives us an exclusive sneak peek into Raven’s soon to be released 15th studio album.
Greetings John and welcome back to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
John Gallagher: I’m doing great man! It’s good to be back. Thank you for having me.
Thank you for coming on. I know you’re currently in the midst of Raven’s Wiped Out 40th anniversary tour. How’s that been going so far and what’s it like playing the album in full for the first time?
JG: It’s been quite excellent. We’re having a great time doing this. At this point, we’re maybe 11, 12 gigs in, so we’ve really got our foot in there, stretching it out here and there, but it’s cool. It’s the first time we’ve done anything like this. It’s exciting to add brand new songs to the set. There are songs we haven’t played in 35 years. There’s 3 songs off this record that were never played live. They’re 3 of the best songs, so it’s great *laughs*!
When did the idea for this tour come about? Had there ever been talk in the past of doing a commemorative anniversary tour?
JG: It had been mentioned, but it was a long time ago, around the 20th anniversary and stuff like that. We were like, “Yeah, that’s a cash grab. We’re not interested in that.” But once you start hitting the 40th anniversary of these albums, it really starts to mean something *laughs*. It’s kind of hard to avoid. Of course we’ve got all these things coming up. Last year was Rock Until You Drop‘s 40th anniversary. We tried to do something live, but just missed it by a few months. But we did a 4 CD box set of Rock Until You Drop as a commemorative thing. It was pretty difficult to figure out a tour due to the dreaded pandemic.
Yeah, but you guys still made it out last year. I saw you here in Chicago at the Legions of Metal mini fest, which was fantastic. What was it like getting back onstage after almost 2 years off?
JG: Yeah, our first gigs were in August, 2021. We played a festival in Belgium. I’m sure you could imagine all the bullshit red tape on that. Just getting the flights were crazy, but it was like we had never been away. We literally hadn’t played together in 18 months. No rehearsal, walked on, and banged it out. The tour was not long after that and it was phenomenal. People were so happy to come out and see a live show. There wasn’t a lot of people out on the road at that point at all. We weren’t doing all the nonsense you hear about being wrapped up in cotton wool and “the bubble” and they’re all wearing 42 masks and that stuff. We just went out and did what we do, and people loved it. It was great.
Absolutely, and now paying tribute to Wiped Out at that. Did the band go into the studio to record Wiped Out with any specific goals in mind? What, if anything, did the band want to achieve differently from Rock Until You Drop?
JG: We did the first album and were out touring. We did a lot of UK touring. We actually ventured into Holland in the latter part of ’81, and Italy. We saw the reaction to the fast and crazy stuff. The intention was to do a balls out, completely crazy record from start to finish, very, very intense. We succeeded *laughs*! The whole album was recorded and mixed, along with the songs from Crash Bang Wallop in 6 days. Not to mention that 3 of the songs were partially, if not completely, written in the studio during the process *laughs*. “Battle Zone” was written in the studio, “To the Limit / To the Top” was half written in the studio, and I think “UXB” was half written in the studio too.
Did those just come about from jam sessions? How were those written?
JG: Well we had the idea for “To the Limit / To the Top” right until the second cadence, the progressive section in the middle where it stops. We played up to there and we stopped and said, “OK, what do we do next?” *laughs* So we stole a melody from the classical guitar piece “Fugue en Ré m” and we came up with it very quickly. We were on fire as far as being creative and putting stuff together. It’s funny that those 3 songs, “To the Limit / To the Top”, “Battle Zone”, and “UXB”, were never played live, but now they are and we’re having a blast doing it. It’s great.
Wiped Out really cemented the band as leaders of the speed metal movement, alongside other NWOBHM acts like Venom and Tank. Did Raven ever feel a sense of competition towards these other bands?
JG: Only in a general sense where you were always trying to do better. It was more of an internal competition with ourselves more than anyone else because we knew we were different. Tank for example, back then, they were crazy offstage. Onstage, they were like bumps on a log. I guess we’re the opposite. We’re pretty calm and measured offstage, but where you need to be crazy is onstage and that’s done us much good.
Opening up for you on this run is Riot Act, featuring Rick Ventura of Riot. Did you ever cross paths with Riot back in the early 80s when they’d come over to play England?
JG: No, not in England. It was when we played our first American gig on Halloween, 1982. They were headlining the bill and it was old school sabotage. Somebody in their band or associated with their band tried to sabotage every other band on the bill *laughs*. Rick’s a great guy, the band is great, and they’re playing all those classic songs, so it’s really cool to have them out with us. They’re good guys.
No sabotaging this tour!
JG: No, not at all *laughs*. That was old school. People would mess around with the opening bands, and it’s kind of counterproductive. Why would you want to screw with the evening? You want every band to have the best circumstances possible.
Next week, the band will return to Reggies in Chicago. What are some of your favorite memories of playing Chicago over the years? I imagine the ’83 Metro show is up there.
JG: Yeah, that was probably one of the best gigs on that tour, certainly the best gig on that tour up until that point. It was really well attended. Everyone knew the songs and were all crazy. We met so many cool people there who are still friends to this day. That was awesome. We played a show in Chicago a couple years later with Tank funny enough. So Tank played and…what was that big theatre you’ve got there?
The Aragon Ballroom?
JG: The Aragon Ballroom, that’s right. They had a wrestling ring in the middle and they had a wrestling match in the middle of the ballroom.
Oh wow!
JG: That was insane. They did their thing and then we played. That was awesome. That was really crazy *laughs*.
I’m sure you guys fit right in. Talk about “Athletic Rock”, literally!
JG: Oh yeah! We got to see Howard Stern really, really physically *laughs*.
Speaking of Metallica, I know you guys are gonna be reunited with them in about a month’s time down in Florida for a special gig. How did that show come about?
JG: We were putting stuff together for the anniversary of All for One, which is next year. We were shooting all kinds of video content, and the concept came up, “Why don’t we get in touch with James (Hetfield) or Lars (Ulrich) and see if they’re interested in sitting down and discussing the Kill ‘Em All for One Tour?” We hit them up and James was like, “Yeah, absolutely.” About a month ago, we went out to Metallica HQ, got the gated tour. Met Lars, met James, and we sat down and discussed the tour, how they came across us and we came across them, but it was really, really fun.
James seemed to be drunk through the entire tour. I asked, “How much do you remember?” He said , “I don’t remember anything, ever. But I remember everything about THAT tour!” At the end, we said, “You know, if you ever need an opening act, we’re available.” It sprang from that. They’ve made this a tribute to Jon and Marsha Zazula, which is fabulous. They changed all of our lives, so they’re doing a special old school set for the occasion.
At this point of the interview, the Zoom audio cut out for about 30 seconds…
Hey John, can you hear me? I think the audio’s cutting out.
JG: Yeah man, it’s cuz we’re out on Mars here. The whales of the Oregon Trail or something *laughs*!
I hear you *laughs*. There’s so much going on in the Raven world besides this tour. Last week saw the release of a new compilation entitled Leave ‘Em Bleeding. Could you give us some background on this realease?
JG: Yeah, that’s kind of our “bye bye” to our old record company, SPV. It’s a reflection of where we are at the moment. We figured it’d be a good idea to put it out, and then all the extra tracks, like our covers of Montrose’s “Space Station #5” and Thin Lizzy’s “Bad Reputation”, the Japanese extra track off Walk Through Fire, which was “Necessary Evil”, and all that kind of stuff. There’s a live version of “Stay Hard” which was unavailable anywhere. It came from a show in 2017. It’s super heavy and it’s great to put on. It’s a flag being planted saying, “Here we are. This is where we are now, and you gotta wait until May of next year when our new album comes out to see where we’re off to next.” That’s what we’re mixing right now and it sounds incredible. We’re really, really stunned over that.
Which is perfect, because I was going to ask if you could give us any details on the new Raven album.
JG: Yeah, we’ve recorded a lot of music for this. There’s a couple of cover tunes that the record company begged us to do, so we had fun with that. I can tell you there’s a Christmas song *laughs* but it’s not a frickin Christmas carol, let me tell you that! It’s a good rocker, a good song. There’s a cover tune by a well known band, which is going on another compilation. I can’t tell you that yet. Other than that, we recorded about 16 songs, so we’ve got 10 for the album, 2 extra tracks, and enough tracks for a very cool EP. We figured we had the songs, let’s record them and fight it out later once we get them all done, over what goes on the record. It’s pretty much sequenced in itself. It’s coming out great.
We’ll all be looking forward to that. Over the years, Raven has been covered by countless legendary underground bands, like Voivod, Kreator, and Deceased to name a few. Do you have a favorite Raven cover?
JG: There’s quite a few. There was a Raven tribute album that came out last year. I thought there was a great version of “Inquisitor” by our old mates Avenger, over in the UK. I think they did a great version of that. I also heard a version of the same song by Huntress, that was done specifically for one guy. He paid them a lot of money through a crowdfunding thing and they recorded that song. Jill Janus actually played it for me and it was fabulous. It was really good, but unfortunately, she’s no longer with us. She was a nice girl. It’s a shame, a great shame, but their version was killer too.
In closing, where is Raven playing tonight?
JG: Today we’re playing at Denny’s *laughs*! There’s no gig today, so it’s gonna be IHOP and Denny’s and Longhorn Steakhouse, there you go *laughs*. Tomorrow we are playing in Salt Lake City. It’s gonna kick ass. It’s one of our favorite cities to play. Saturday night, it’s gonna be a good one. Then we’ll see you on Tuesday in Chicago. We’re gonna bring the rafters down! Oh yeah!
Raven will be playing Reggies Rock Club in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, October 11 with Riot Act, Acracy, and Idol Throne. Their new compilation, Leave ‘Em Bleeding, is available now on Steamhammer. For more information on Raven, visit www.ravenlunatics.com.