Jimi from Raven Vandelle Interviewed

This is Lee Walker from www.PlanetMosh.com conducting an interview with Jimi from Raven Vandelle.

LW – It doesn’t seem that long ago you were playing Highway to Hell taking part in a battle of the bands competition with another 24 bands to win places on this festival. How have things been since then ?

Jimi – Things have been great, HTH was a great platform to perform on and build up from. There were 23 great bands on the bill, we were very happy when we learnt we had gotten through.

LW – Was Hard Rock Hell what you expected it to be ?

Jimi -Yes and more, it’s a great concept to hold a festival indoors! And what a great line up! It’s the only festival I can think of that supports new music too, which is something to be admired!  It gives bands and punters a great opportunity to be heard or to discover new material.

LW – For those people out there who are just discovering Raven Vandelle as a result of this festival appearance how did the band come into being?

Jimi – Nick (guitarist) was drafted in to a band which included Taylor (vocals) around 4 years ago, the band was managed by Nicky Chinn of Chinn and Chapman- after a short while Nick and Taylor realised the music direction was not for them. They stuck together and continued writing music together. I was playing bass for The Quireboys, they are a great band with great songs but I wanted my own mind and direction, so it was a natural progression to leave the Quireboys and join my brother and Taylor in Raven Vandelle. This was the early part of Feb 2009, and then by late March we were on tour with UFO.

LW – What bands/artists have been your main influences over the years ?

Jimi – Its hard to answer, as we are all influenced by different artists at different times I guess for me The Who were my main inspiration growing up, John Entwistle got me addicted to the bass guitar! For Nick, he comes from a rock background with influence from bands like Zeppelin, The Doors, Soundgarden, a lot also comes from guitar players in general such as John Mayer and SRV…Taylor comes from a metal and rock background, but a lot of Soul finds its way into his voice and style…artists like Jeff Buckley and the Soul greats have made a big impression on him as an artist.

LW – In terms of the bands that played Hard Rock Hell this year which ones were you looking forward to watching the most ?

Jimi – There were so many great bands, Black Stone Cherry are good friends of ours as John Fred loves Raven Vandelle – he wears our shirt on stage sometimes! Also Bonafide, from Sweden, Raven Vandelle toured with them and Nazareth in Austria in 2010, they’re a fantastic live band!
Gentleman of Distorted Sound are a great band too, so looking forward to catching their set!

LW – You are currently working on your debut album How’s the recording process coming along ?

Jimi – It coming along great, we have just had the record mastered by David Mitson, former Director of Mastering at Sony music- he worked with Alice in Chains, Pearl jam and Michael Jackson – so we are very happy with how the record is sounding and cant wait for people to hear it as a representation of what Raven Vandelle stands for.
We are set for release on Itunes etc in March 2012.

LW – Can you tell me what to expect from it ?

Jimi -There are 10 tracks, all potential Singles! There is a great mix of Hard Rock, Melody and Anthemic Stadium Epics!
All the tracks are real, written from experiences we have dealt with in life, every emotion is covered on this Album. We are very proud to have this as a statement of our personnel lives and times- it’s an album that will make you think and feel.

LW – Are there any bands from the rock/metal scene do you recommend keeping any eye on right now ?

Jimi – There are lots of great bands around, it’s a great time for live music…Gods of Distorted Sound, Heavens Basement, Casino there are many more too..

LW – Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to your fans ?

Jimi – Be happy and keep Music live.
Look out for Raven Vandelle in 2012, we will be doing a lot of shows up and down and side to side of the country.

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