RAISING RAVENS: Reaching For The Light (2023)

By BRIAN GIFFIN

JESS Finlayson began writing for a solo project in 2019. After several years with The Mis-Made, she released a track or two under her given name before deciding on Raising Ravens and making a start on an album – then our universal friend COVID turned up.

“The original plan was,” she begins, “I was going to put the album out in 2021, but obviously all types of hell and shit ensued, so that wasn’t a good idea. So we decided to put an EP out and just keep writing and recording, and that turned out to be a better option anyway.”

The studio became a haven from the everyday drudgery of the pandemic. While still able to work as normal due to her role in health care, Finlayson faced the same every day restrictions as the rest of us and so she relished any opportunity to go in and work on material with producer Lachlan Mitchell.

“Being able to go into the studio and record when we couldn’t really do anything else was like heaven,” she says. “Through the 2021 lockdown, the big one, we sort of paced it out. We got all the drums and bass a week before they locked us down, so it was still possible to finish the recording. I paced it out throughout the whole lockdown so there was always something to look forward to. I owe my sanity to going into the studio with Lachlan.”

Prefaced by the 2021 EP “In My Room” and several single releases including the most recent, “Don’t Stay”, Leaving With the Halflight is a collection of dark and spirited heavy rock songs recorded essentially as a solo album with contributions from various musicians she has worked with over the years including members of the current live line-up, bassist Tara Doyle and drummer Andi Dyson. The nature of the recording has made live transition a little bit of a challenge.

“There are a lot of guitar parts, which was a lot of fun and I don’t have any regrets, but it’s a little hard to translate live. It should be fun. I’m looking forward to it, and obviously looking forward to playing with Andi again.”

Currently also nailing down the beats with desert rockers Sand Viper and garage punks Cousin Betty, Dyson played with Finlayson in all-female demolition crew Nitocris, a band they formed in high school. Jess has high praise for her life-long friend.

“She’s probably one of the best rock drummers in the country as far as I’m concerned, and she played on a large proportion of the album, as well, so she already knew the songs. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Their combined history will create a solid chemistry on stage during the Raising Ravens album launch tour that kicked off in Wollongong on March 31, and, Finlayson warns, “they know what to expect! I doubt it will be as bad as when we were young. It will be a lot more tame than the old days.”

The old days of the 90s and early 00s saw Nitocris ripping through big crowds – and partying heavily – for weeks and months on end at times. Like many other bands playing at the time, they could sometimes do three or four shows just in Sydney alone and pull crowds to all of them.

“The 90s were crazy! We were on tour all the time with Nitocris, 30 – 40 days in a row. Now an album tour is like six gigs, in capital cities. We were really lucky in our youth. We were in the zeitgeist of music and it’s a different world now. I don’t think it will ever be like it was in the 90s, and I don’t think it’s just to do with venues closing down. That’s obviously part of it, but we didn’t have social media, either, then, so in order to have fun and do what you wanted to do you had to go out and that’s not the same anymore.”

Since the return of live music post-COVID there’s been a significant increase in attendance at shows, along with a rise in demand for venues and dates as touring acts get back on the road. Booking a tour was challenging for Raising Ravens as a self-managed band, but Finlayson was prepared enough for what she calls the “avalanche effect” of everyone wanting to play again and was able to get the shows she wanted. After getting through the last run of shows, including a Sydney support with D.A.D., without a cancellation or a rescheduling, the guitarist is seeing some light at the end of a long dark tunnel for the local live music industry, although not without a caveat.

“Obviously there’s a lot [of venues that are] gone, but a lot have popped up,” she says. “There’s always a war on live music going on. Now that we’re back out of [the pandemic] and people are able to go out and play again, we’re seeing it pop again – people making noise complaints and those sorts of things, so it’s always going to be hard. But I think there’s quite a lot out there. There’s room for improvement, and having a Liberal government for so long didn’t help. [Sydney] did have the lock out laws before this, so there’s only so much the industry can take before it starts to bend on its knees, but I think everybody’s still going. Everyone’s still got a lot of fight in them. There’s lots of gigs to go to. You just have to look for them.”

Following the Australian shows, the trio – with UK-based drummer Michael stepping in for Dyson – does a July run through Britain, Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands before finishing up at Blackpool’s enormous punk rock celebration, the Rebellion Festival, where they’ll be appearing with the likes of The Damned, Descendents, Anti-Nowhere League, TSOL and literally dozens more. It will be the first time Raising Ravens have played but a fourth return for Finlayson herself.

“I’ve done that three times, twice with The Mis-Made and once solo. This time there’s a solo set and a full band set, so it’s going to be good and I’m looking forward to seeing all my crazy punk friends over there.”