As anticipation for their brand new album Venerate continues to grow, and while riding the wave of their stunning title-track release Ten Years Ago Today, alt-rock outfit Riven By Ravens kindly took part in an interview.
We talk about the project, the history of the band, the depths of their writing, live shows, and plenty more. Here’s how it went.
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Hi guys – thanks for the interview! How has 2024 been treating you so far?
Hello Stereo Stickman! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. 2024 has been a beehive of band activity so far. As well as a meditative practice in patience as we finalize things to get this album out to the world. It’s very time consuming. We are excited and more than ready for this release.
How did the band get together, and how would you describe your style?
Brian and I worked in a previous project called, Ghost Army, for a number of years prior to Riven By Ravens. I auditioned for the band and that’s how we met. The band ran its course and then we threw the Ghost Army corpse on the couch like Weekend at Bernie’s pickpocketing all our best ideas. It immediately grew wings and evolved into the band we are today. In a general sense, the band’s sound is heavy, melodic post-rock, having a snuggle fest with metal, prog and alternative.
Huge congrats for the upcoming album, an immense sound, nostalgic and powerful. Tell me about the inception of Venerate – what was the first idea, why this title, and how long was the creative process?
Thank you! It’s been years of hard work and effort. The definition of Venerate is to regard with feelings of respect and reverence. A nice metaphor for the entire album’s theme. Brian and I simply share the same drive, passion, persistence, aggression, ambition, and relentless discipline in music. The kind of thing that keeps you up at night and gets you out of bed early in the morning.
We want to create and we want to do it our way, our style. The creative process for this album, start to finish was technically about a year but elements that contributed to this piece of music from both of us have been in the works for decades. The creative process never really ends, just pauses, I guess. We are already working on the next album.
10 Years Ago Today acts as a strong indication of your style and the emotional intensity you bring to the project. How did this track come to be, and how do you decide upon the dynamics from the gentle to the explosive as things roll along?
It feels like we wrote this song quickly and it was actually the first song we recorded. Brian usually comes to me with a pretty put together song structure and melodies to write drums to. We then finish building the song together. This was one of those songs that as soon as I heard it once, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and it worked perfectly. Sometimes for us the song’s dynamics just naturally lay in place with little fight.
From the guitar-led ambience to the atmospheric synths of Death of an Ego, versatility is a clear strength. Do you jam things out to begin a writing session, or write new songs and concept ideas beforehand then build the music around this?
We typically don’t start jamming a songs part until Brian has a good 70 percent of the song written structurally. Then we jam on that structure and find other pathways to explore and finalize. From there it still leads to Brian taking that main idea chunk and working on it separately for some time before we fully finalize the track together. We will jam on new riff ideas here and there too.
What inspired the song Death of An Ego?
Corrupt Politicians, hypocrisy, and entitlement.
Which song from the album would you play for new listeners who only have time for one, and why?
Probably Trainwreck since it potentially has the widest audience appeal to it. The song has a little of that Sleep Token appeal. I feel like it can lure in someone who likes Metallica as well as someone who likes the Counting Crows.
What’s the live rock scene like where you’re based, how easy is it to get gigs, and do you thrive on stage?
The live rock scene in our area is dead. Very few bands come through and there is really no scene. Riven By Ravens have not begun to play out yet but it can be very difficult finding a live audience. People just don’t seem to crave local live shows like they used to. But we love playing shows and really can’t wait to get out there. More than likely we will be performing in bigger neighbor cities when we do.
Things soften up for the mellow and emotional track Drift – how different does your mindset
and connection as artists need to be for the shift to a song like this?
I don’t think we do a big mind shift when we do songs that aren’t as heavy as others. I would argue it’s just as intense as the other songs, it’s just in a different shell. Strong angst ridden emotion and intensity don’t have to only be in the form of distortion, it can be in the lyrics, the buildup, and the song climax. I think we attack each song with the same chokehold until we get out what we think is the best version and exhaust all possibilities.
What’s your plan of action for the bulk of 2024, and what’s your most ambitious aspiration?
We would love to hit a million streams on Spotify, someday. We dream of performing on beautiful
iconic stages like the Red Rocks in Colorado or the Fillmore in San Francisco as well as landing some placements in a film. The goals are to keep growing, recording, performing, learning and laughing.
What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?
“If someone asks if you are a God, you say yes!” – Ghostbusters
Is there anything else we should know?
Follow us on Spotify and lookout for our debut album, Venerate! Coming soon!
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Find Riven by Ravens on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Soundcloud & their Website.
