1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
Hi, we are fine, thank you. We are in our home studio, L'Imparfait, in Alençon, Normandy, France. We are surrounded by guitars, basses and speakers !!!
2. You´re about to release your debut album this October 26th., Are there any kind of particular points of inspiration for these 11 tracks that you would like to discuss? what was the writing process like for this one?
We released our album on 26th october during a concert in Paris and it was gorgeous !!! Our inspirations are mainly vikings stories and legends because they are our ancesters, We never talk about actualities or serious things because we thing music is an entertainement,
3. How do you record your music? A pro tools set up? Garage band? Are you selftaught or do you have a friend that helps out with the mixes etc?
We record in our home studio built by our singer and bass player Zing, We use Fruity Loops for the guitars, sings and bass and we record drums in another studio, We mix and masterise ourselves,
4. Band is from France… What genre of metal is most popular in France among younger generation of metalheads?
Younger generations don't listen to metal in France, unfortunatly... Lol. The most popular band and genre is Gojira thanks to the Olympics. But seriously, some bands are great such as No one is innocent, Loudblast, Mass Hysteria and Akiavel.
5. What is the theme of the album you would say? What is your favorite song off the album and why? Any particular message that you guys carrying out to the world?
The themes are the vikings and our favorite song is Prayer for the energy on stage, Victory for the vocal perfomance and its speed. And also Vinland for the story and also the reaction of the audience. We dont' have any message, just fun, sex and rock'n'roll... Lol
6. In your songs you guys use clean vocals and screams. How do you determine which song will have cleaner vocal and vise versa?
It depends of the atmosphere of the lyrics and the song, Zing adapts his vocals on the music and violence or not.
7. As a musician, how mandatory is the process of coming up with new ideas or incorporating new influences as opposed to staying within the style you are known for or that you are most familiar with?
We compose fist the musics and after we find an idea about a viking story or legend and sometimes the lyrics could be read on different level and could have a way in our present. Our influences are many because we listen to different styles of metal and music.
8. Your music includes so many influences. How would you describe your music as genre?
We see our style as a melting pot of many metals We listen to black, death, speed, trash, heavy... and also rock or some pop bands so it's very hard to describe and give a name to what we do. Maybe Ravn Metal... Lol
9. Is it important to use terms like “pagan” as well when discussing the music of RAVN? Could there be typically pagan influences in your sounds, and if so where would it locate?
We were pagan at the beginning of the band because we had a guitarist who wanted to play that but now, our intro on stage is pagan with the use of bodhran and also some lyrics but that's all.
10. If you could go over your whole career (since 2020) and pin point the events that you are most proud of what would they be?
We had a lot of problems with drummers like a lot of bands. Drummers are a pain in the ass... Lol. The most fuuny souvenir is when we played in a public library with a lot of students who wanted silence. We also played in a front of a church and it was very fun when played our song Two Worlds with the lyrics « Nuns raping »...
11. How much time and effort do you spend on the band to get everything to look and sound the right way?
We don't count our time but a lot of hours.
12. If we divided the history of metal into decades--70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s... Which do you prefer and why?
The 70's were the pionners but there are good things in every decade.
13. Playing live is a totally different beast to studio work. How does your music work in a live environment?
The energy is the same but our music is really a live one because we play with the audience. We play live what we play in studio and that's why the audience like us.
14. What have been some of your favorite shows or touring memories as Ravn? What have been some of your favorite venues and shows through the career that you’ve played?
Our best show was in Paris but we take pleasure at each time. We like to discver new cities and peaple and we hope to discover new countries in the future.
15. Are there some parts of the world that really impress you due to the quality of the bands coming from the same area? I mean are you involved with what happens in South America, Asia...etc?
North of Europe and South America are probably the best metal scenes because bands are very originals and brutals.
16. It's time to conclude, perhaps you could tell us about your future projects or something?
We will defend our album on stage during 2025 and we hope to see you on the road somewhere.
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