As anticipation builds for the release of Riven By Ravens’ debut 14-song album, “Venerate,” we had the privilege to catch up with the band’s founding members. With a musical journey that spans decades and influences ranging from Tool to A Perfect Circle, the California-based hard rock duo shares insights into the creation of their progressive masterpiece and the driving forces behind their musical endeavour.
Can you take us through the journey of creating your debut album, “Venerate”? How did the concept and theme evolve throughout the songwriting process?
I’ve been making and playing music since I was 5 years old, and I have to say that creating this album was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. “Venerate,” may very well be the most interesting and beautiful piece of music and art I have been a part of so far. Brian and I are so incredibly proud and excited to share this album with the world.
What started as simply recording a song together instantly became a massive 14 song concept album and a full band. There was something so exciting and special in the studio when we recorded that first song. We both knew that we were at the start of something unique and we just let it unfold. Having a history in our previous band, Ghost Army, we had a foundation of riffs and ideas that gave us a nice template to work off. We spent the better part of a year and a half writing, recording, and mixing our music in our Visalia home studio.
Brian and I share a very similar drive and passion for creating music, so the writing and the recording came very organically. We have really good communication with each other and very comfortably feed off each other’s ideas. As we got deeper and deeper into the recording process things began to get more and more creative and the pieces of the album seemed to just naturally fall into place. The album concepts began to explore a variety of things including personal relationships, traumas, pain, loss, death, respect, the media and even government corruption. Both of us write and perform from a place of extreme passion, more than any sort of technical standpoint. So, in some way we just let the music send us in different directions. By the time we finished the entire album it had taken on its own strong personality and presence.
Your music is described as a blend of progressive rock with melodic metal tendencies. How did your shared influences from bands like Tool, Architects, and Deftones shape the unique sound of Riven By Ravens?
I feel like that’s a great description of our sound. We are super heavily influenced by metal and hard rock but we are not a metal band. I don’t even consider myself a metal drummer. I’m much more like a Abe Cunningham style of player than a Tomas Haake. Brians vocal style has an interesting range of heavy screams to super clean melodic tones. Representative of our favorite bands and influences like Tool and Deftones. I think we touch in the prog side of the realm with our songs averaging around 5-7 minutes and having some very different structures and odd rhythms. I think as musicians and music listeners we grew up with these bands being extremely influential on us developing as players and writers. Then there’s a point in your music endeavors where you step away from those influences and develop your own sound and image. I think we have achieved that with this project.
What drives Riven By Ravens to continue making music, especially considering your extensive experience in the industry? Are there particular themes or experiences that serve as a wellspring of inspiration for your creative process?
Being a musician can sometimes be a very odd thing. There’s this deep, primal urge to create stuff with little expectations. Creating music and playing live is so therapeutic for us. It’s the most comfortable way to really express how we feel. The drive to continue making music has never really been a question, it just changes form as we get older and have families and kids and different lives. Being a musician and a drummer has always been something that just makes sense to me. Life can be so complex and generally can be very difficult, but music has always been such a constant and grounding thing for us both. It’s so personal. I think the drive to be in a band is different though and it really comes down to the right mindset and the right players around you. I think what made this album so special was that Brian and I have the same understanding of this concept, so we were able to be very vulnerable and confident at the same time to create this music. Also, I think at the end of the day there is an addiction to the process of writing, recording and then performing. It’s just a satisfying procedure to repeat. So, as we continue to live and have experiences it’s easy to continue to have the drive to keep making music with new ideas and concepts.
Having been former, founding members of Ghost Army, how did the collaboration between you, Brian and Paul, lead to the formation of Riven By Ravens? Were there specific musical goals or ideas that sparked this new venture?
Back in 2020, Ghost Army had just performed for the second time ever live at Ace of Spades in Sacramento for a sold-out crowd of 1,000 people. Then the Pandemic hit and shut down all our shows. Like many bands, this difficult time caused us to ultimately part ways. After the smoke cleared, a few years later Brian and I got together and created Riven By Ravens. It felt much more like the evolution of where Ghost Army needed to go more than a new project. Being that there was just the two of us we started the project as just a recording project but quickly realized it was a living, breathing band. From the beginning we developed a much more serious plan and idea as to what we wanted to try and achieve with this project. We recorded the entire record ourselves playing all the instruments. Brian mixed and mastered the entire record. We both share the same goal with this project which is to create music we feel proud of and inspired by as well as to share it with as many people as we can around the world.
How do you perceive the current state of the music industry, and in what ways do you think people’s consumption of music has changed since your earlier years as musicians? How does Riven By Ravens adapt to these changes?
I think there are many new shifts happening in the industry. It can be such a vile, dark, corrupt place. It’s very easy to get sidetracked and feel hopeless and endlessly defeated in a massively oversaturated market of fame hungry hollow humans with zero attention spans. Overrun by rich suites and sleazy club owners with zero artistic credibility taking all the authenticity out of the bands and bleeding them dry. I think sadly for most bands touring has become a luxury that just isn’t financially available anymore. As the digital platforms take all the band’s profits and venues continue to take higher and higher percentages from bands merch, more and more bands will just stop touring. People just don’t really value music like they used to. They feel entitled to it for free.
I think on a positive note people are starting to miss tangible albums and art and it’s circling back. Brian and I come from the 90’s generation of music consumers that waited in line at a record store to buy a new album and physical tickets to shows. There’s a very important relationship that is built when people physically buy and get a actual product like a vinyl record or cd and really absorb the art work and think about what the band is saying and showing you. It builds this real connection with the band and the music listener. I think that’s something we lost over the years with digital media and hopefully will get back again. There’s a ton of good music and bands out there but if the industry doesn’t make some major shifts soon to actually support these artist things will just keep crumbling.
Find out more about Riven By Ravens here.