RAVEN bassist / vocalist John Gallagher is featured in a new interview with Rock & Rolla. An excerpt is available below.

Q: You guys have been kicking since 1974. Thirty-six years later here you are. What’s the secret behind the band’s longevity?

Gallagher: "Yeah, we’ve been playing since ’74. We’re going into our 4th decade of our career. As for our longevity? It’s pretty simple really; we enjoy what we do. We feed off the energy of the music. When we hit those big power chords it’s like getting a shot of 240 volts into your body. We put on a very physical show, there have been times where I’ve been sick and I’ve been walking around prior to the show like a little old man but when we get on stage we have a show to do. We have a reputation as a good live band and when we are on stage we deliver."

Q: Your vocals have held up pretty well. You sound much like you did 25 years ago when I first heard Raven.

Gallagher: "I take care of myself. Singers are at times a hypochondriacs. I’m no different, my voice is my instrument and I have to take care of it. It also helps that I’m healthy. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I’ve never done any nasty stuff, which certainly helps. When people are partying all night the first thing to go is the voice. We have a reputation, therefore I have an obligation to deliver live. When someone has paid his hard earned money to see us we need to give them a show."

Q: Raven are one of the pioneers of metal. One of the bands that lead the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. You’ve made a contribution to the metal scene world wide yet you’re still the underdog. What are your thoughts on this?

Gallagher: "Yeah, that one of those things that you can look at it in two different ways. The first would be on a business level and the second would be on an artistic level. We didn’t get into this on a business level we got this on an artistic level; no one sounds like us, we’re the best Raven sounding band there is because no one sounds like us. That was one of the cool things about the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands they are were different from one another; DEF LEPPARD, SAXON, IRON MAIDEN, DIAMOND HEAD and Raven. We were all heavy but we all had our own identity. These days that’s harder to find because everyone seems to be copying each other. We have a lot of music left in us as you can hear in the new album Walk Through Fire. This year has been a great year for us as we have played in places that we haven’t been to in a while because of the trials tribulations that we’ve had over the course of the past few years."

Go to this location for the complete interview.