This band is stark Raven Mad
by Dave Schwartz davybass@dabelly.com
Photos by Keith Durflinger photoguy@dabelly.com

Raven Mad is a band on the cusp of the metal scene in Los Angeles. For several years now they have been playing the local clubs, blazing a metal trail. But this isn't a case of a band recognizing a trend and running to jump on board the bandwagon. The members of Raven Mad are true fans of metal music and, long before it was cool, they were in their basements and in their bedrooms crunching out chords and honing their art. And with any emerging musical trend, these are the people who will capitalize on the growing popularity. Why? Because they have put in the time and stayed committed to their vision. We were fortunate enough to have the entire band on hand for this interview, William, guitars and vocals, Melanie, bass, Joe, percussion, and Dustin, guitar.

As with any good interview we opened with condoms. Raven Mad uses them to promote the band. Naturally, this allowed me to become the butt of many jokes. You see, the condom I received was black and, for the record, regardless of the camouflaging effect, I haven't been able to sneak up on the wife in the dark yet!

First a question to establish some background, how long have you been together? How did the band form?

Melanie started with a small novel, "Raven Mad itself has been around for about three years. William and I met through a mutual friend and, at that point, neither of us really had any experience in bands, we just wanted to jam. So we used to get together every weekend and just jam out our favorite covers - we must've learned a good portion of Metallica's song catalog in those days! Finally, we hooked up with a drummer and started writing originals. As it turned out, the drummer didn't work out with what we were trying to do, and William and I stopped our weekly jam for a while; he had moved to San Diego. One day, out of the blue, someone responded to an ad that we had placed a long time ago searching for a second guitarist. The guy seemed very enthusiastic and said he knew a couple of drummers that might work out. And so, we got together with this guitarist, Brian, who now plays guitar for a popular Metallica Tribute band called Creeping Death, and jammed some covers. Brian had a different vision than we did, wishing to pursue covers, while we were interested in originals, but the drummer he brought was a perfect match. We clicked with him really well and knew instantly that he was 'The One' -- this was our current drummer Joe Verastegui.

"We carried on as a three piece for a couple of years, scoring some high profile shows including opening spots for Yngwie Malmsteen, Anthrax and WASP. It was at the Anthrax show that a young guitar player, Dustin Swad, first saw us play. He signed our mailing list and wrote 'If you're looking for a second guitar player, call me!' We had talked about adding a fourth member and had tried out a few people, but nothing had ever come of it. I had almost forgot about the mailing list when Dustin e-mailed me a WAV file with him playing a solo and mentioned again that he was interested in trying out. He fit our style and influences perfectly and has added a dimension to our music that we were missing - all that from someone whose age difference from the rest of the band is nearly a decade."

What are your backgrounds and interests?

"Our backgrounds vary, of course. I love everything from the heaviest and darkest of metal to the sweet sounds of a symphony," William admitted. "My interest is humans in general. We are so varied and many times so completely stupid and downright evil. Yet, we continue to coexist and somehow find ways to work with each other. Believe it or not, I use a lot of these basics in human essence when it comes to song writing."

Melanie took us a bit deeper into the womb, "I've always loved music, since I was eight years old playing my mother's 45s on my Mickey Mouse record player. I always knew I wanted to be in a band. I took up clarinet in sixth grade and played clarinet and bass clarinet through high school graduation in marching band; then briefly in college. Once I got to college and out of the parental household, I took some of the money I had saved for college and bought a bass. There's been no turning back since."

Music is constantly changing... What changes have you seen? Where do you think music is going?

"The biggest change I have seen is that popular music is relying on a good beat and groove instead of melody and energy," explained William. "Lately though, it seems people want the melodies and the energy which has been missing. I think music will take a direction towards something more fun and entertaining instead of constant anger. That gets old real quick. I mean, take the basics of Elvis, Chuck Berry, the Beatles, and any other good rock band. People had fun with the music and it was a way of escaping from their problems in life."

Melanie adds, "An example that metal is coming back in L.A., my friend Denis 'The Moshking' Recendez runs a Web site that lists all the metal shows coming to Southern California (the Moshking's Southern California Metal update, www.moshking.com). He started doing this because the metal shows were few and far between, very difficult to find and no one would show up to them. So he listed them on a Web site. Over the years the number of shows have grown exponentially, so that before, you were lucky to find one metal show a week, now you're torn between which of three or four you want to attend! It's coming back, and for that I'm very glad. Now is a very good time to be in a metal band."

I noticed on the racks at Metalfest that there is a new Raven Mad CD out, do you want to tell us a little bit about it?

"Well, actually, what we have now in our hands is the EP called 'A Bit of Madness,'" Melanie explains. "The full CD will be called 'Madness Rains.' We did the EP because we didn't have the time to get the whole CD out by Metalfest. So instead we put out this four-song EP. There are three new songs and one from our first CD that we re-recorded."

And what about "Madness Rains"?

"It's a CD of all new music," William continues. "As well as three older songs that we had released previously. Now that we have added this young man, (William motions to his right) Mr. Dustin Swad, it includes his solos and some guitar harmonies; a lot of good work. In general, the whole sound is much more full and much more professional then what we have done before."

I remember months back I had caught one of the first shows that Dustin sat in with Raven Mad, I think it was at the River Bottom, your sound has really changed with his addition.

When do you expect to finish "Madness Rains"?

"Hopefully by next year, January or February," Melanie replies.

"Yeah, January is the date we are aiming for," William adds.

How are you putting this CD together? Is there a producer involved?

William responds, "We are putting this CD together ourselves. Some things have been recorded in the studio and others we have done at my house."

I can't count the number of bands that tell me they are self-producing their own music. These days the technology is available to musicians at almost every level that will allow them more control over finished product.

"Quite honestly the finished product that we have done ourselves has been much higher in quality than the studio because we have much more time to work on each song," Melanie says. "We found that in the studio we were making compromises due to expense, whereas now we have the luxury of a closer review and the time to fix all the little bugs."

William continues, "We also did a smart thing by bringing in another person, a third party so to speak, that is not in the band. She has allowed us to be more objective. It's been great having someone there to give us perspective and to motivate us; her name is Ana Greco."

There is a great advantage to having a producer on hand. Someone who is not in the band and can be more objective to the product. Someone who understands where the song originated, but also has the vision to know what the song can become.

"Ana is great," announces Melanie. "She has a real good ear and is a musician of top caliber and she loves metal music."

Joe finally shows he has a voice too, "She has contributed many good ideas that we didn't even have written, especially in the areas of vocal and guitar harmonies."

How did you get involved with November to Dismember (Metalfest)?

William is elected to tell the tale when in essence the rest of the band takes one giant step back, "I have always wanted to go to the Milwaukee Metalfest. The way I found out about this show is more than a year ago I went to a porn convention. I was talking to Jasmine St. Claire, you know the gang bang queen--" The laughter begins. "No, but seriously, she told me about November to Dismember. She told me that she was going to be at the show, so I went onto the Web and researched the promoters and we talked and that's how this whole thing hooked up."

It was a grand opportunity to go down there. There aren't many places you can find that crowd.

"We came to Metalfest because these are our people," William concludes. "This is a metal crowd and we can sell CDs and put people on our mailing list and really promote our band."

"Yeah, it's cool to like metal again," Melanie finishes. "And it's cool to see a lot of young kids here too. It's not just a bunch of guys at 35 reliving their youth."

As you can see, musical integrity is paramount in Raven Mad. They are who they have always been-- a metal band. With ever-evolving musical paradigms, the members of Raven Mad have remained true to their hearts and their vision; they have allowed music to come back to them, all the while plotting a scheming way to take over the metal world. Success can only be earned through hard work and promotion and I have little doubt that you will be hearing more from Raven Mad. Check out their Web site at www.raven-mad.com. They have CDs and T-shirts for sale and a ton of photos. More importantly, get off your ass and support local music no matter where you live. Later people.

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