Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands? Each of us have played in other bands before we got together forming a Evanescence Tribute band in 2006 and later Raven Tide in 2009. All of us came from different backgrounds, styles and music tastes.

How is it that you started playing music? All of us started playing music very young, everyone taking different roads to express our creativity and improving musical skills. I guess playing music it's just a natural need.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? I'm Cheryl, vocals and piano and i'm 41 (hello everybody :)), the guys are Shark, guitars, 38. Fred, bass, 38, Mark , drums, 38.

Have you had other previous members? Raven Tide have always been these four guys!

Did you make music even when you were young?As i said before,actually we made music since we're very young.

Where are you from? We're all from Italy.

What year did the band form? Raven tide was born in 2009.

What's your style of genre? It's rather hard to give an answer to this question as we actually are a blend of many different genres. I guess we came from a goth metal basement but we've changed so much throuhgh the years. We've always worked with electronic sounds, studying new ways to mix modern music to symphonic themes, creating a brand new genre with the "cinematic" sound of our latest Lp "Novarize".

What inspires you? We took inspirations from many different faces of music. Personally, i have a great classical influence, but i love very much all the modern end futuristic evolution of sounds. We all are very inspired by the great bands of the past, they are an endless source of ideas.

How often and where do you reherse? It depends by what we are doing in a specific moment. During the production of new stuff we need to meet very often as the writing process is always a full-time work. Otherwise, when we are preparing a tour we meet 2/3 days a week to set up the shows.

How have you developed since you started with the music? Of course, we've changed a lot. We've learned so much from live performances and studio recordings. We've grown as musicians and as persons. But there's still road to go. It's important to never stop improving ourselves.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? We have other interests but music is actually our main occupation.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We are always open for good collaborations. A good booking agency is very important for a band. We've woked with many good agencies in the past.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We've had a label contract for several years in the past, but now we're working as indipendent. The music business have changed very much in the last years and now is rather easier for a band to manage itself. As i said, we're looking, first of all, for a good and loyal collaboration.

What made you decide to make this music? I guess it's not a real decision. It's simply the way our music naturally evolved to what we are now.

What are your songs about? They talk about emotions and all the hidden sides of our feelings. From the lights to the dark sides.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Simply telling a story, something we live every day or a special memory.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? There is no rules. Somethimes words are the spark, sometimes all starts from a guitar riff or a bass solo...

Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Not really. Ispiration may comes suddenly everywhere. In that case, you have to fix it immediately.

Have you done any covers live? Yes, we use to play some covers during our shows. Some of them have been included in our albums, like "Frozen" (Madonna) in Echoes of Wonder, and "Dark Horse" (Katy Perry) in Novarize. We've tryed to give to this hits our personal touch and we like to share our versions with our fans.

What language do you sing in? English

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? It depends by the venue and the type of event, but we are glad to say that we've always get a good number of attendants. Expecially in the USA shows.

What ages are most of your concert attendants? We're very happy to see various ages between our fans. I can say from 20's to 60's

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We use to decide the set lists every time as every venue and every shows can be different.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? Not really. We use to perform on special stages everytime we're touring, like Whisky a Gogo and Skinny in Hollywood , as they're always a guaranty, but we really like to change places and rock around.

What was your first gig like? I guess, scaring and exciting. Unforgettable.

What was your latest gig? Whisky a Gogo, Hollywood, with Dio Disciples.

Have you had to cancel a gig? Not for our fault. We're very professional and we always do our best to respect the schedules.

Where have you played live this year? We've been playing live across west USA during the "Novarize" promotional tour.

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We're planning some European dates, Uk and Spain, and a new USA tour.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We started selling merch from Echoes of Wonder release in 2011. You can buy our official shirts and CD's.

Where can people buy your merchandise? You can find all our merch on our official Bigcartel page, on our official Facebook page Market or simply asking us by mail at theraventideçgmail.com.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It's unavoidable and that's a shame right because artists need support from the fans. Anyway there are a great part of people that buy our songs from the official streming channels and we really have to say thank to those people, as they are the ones who keep us alive.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? I guess everything has changed and we can see it from the increasing prices of concert tickets. Live shows have become the principal resource for musicians and i think we have to get back to a balance trying to buy more music to have more quality and fresh air in music.

What do you think of my work? I think that your work is one of the reason why underground music is still surviving. Keeping high the light on new bands keeps alive the new music, you're doing really great!

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? It's always a great chance to be heard and that's a great opportunity.

Do you have any role models or idols? I think that every band has to find its own space and identity following inner inspiration. Models or idols could be a good starting point but it's important to create something original.

Why do you think that they exist? Everybody, more or less, take example from something or someone and that's good when it leads to a personal improvement. People need to have an aim, an arriving point to reach.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? We love very much 70/80' sounds and experimentations, but we must be constantly updated as music business and standards are changed very much. For a band now it's unavoidable to keep a high visibility on social media and music is not the only things that you have to deal with.

What have been your biggest obstacles? As many others, we've been involved in wrong partnership and we've been forced to make choices and accept compromises. I't in the game, but the risk of wasting time and motivation is very high.

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Believe in what you do and in what you feel inside. Never let any other get you down. You have to practice a lot and play live to get confy and free to express all your potential. Lean to do the most of your work by yourself, and select the best collaborations when you need a hand. Don't be afraid to be different or strange. Put your heart in what you do.

How do you get psyched for a gig? Just thinking about sharing my music with the audience. Before we get on stage we're always very excited, it's always a new adventure, but the best thing is to know that out there some people are waiting to listen up you're music and have fun. Specially if you're thousands miles far from your town. It's amazing.

Do you have any new material? We're now working in the production of new singles and an upcoming album due to release in late 2019/early 2020.

What are your web sites? http://www.raventide.com/

How can people reach? On our Fb page:https://www.facebook.com/raventideofficial or writing us at [email protected]

What are your plans for the future? We are very excited to present our new stuff and we're working hard right now to give our best in this new project. We're planning to release as soon as we can and we're planning a new tour. Just stay tuned!!

Do you have something to add? Thank you again to you for this opportunity and thank you to all of you reading this, we really hope you'll find the time to listen up to our songs and follow us in the future.