The Raven Age Interview; Vocalist Michael Burrough on Touring Their Debut Album, Daytime Shows, and The Chicken or The Egg

This is Damian here with PureGrainAudio. It is Download Festival and, oh… my… God… the Sun is out and I’m with Michael of The Raven Age. How are you? Are you good?
Michael: Yeah, what is that thing in the sky? It’s very different from last year.

Last year it was biblical let’s be honest.
Michael Burrough: Yeah, last year I left my shoes here, not out of choice but because they were in the ground left behind me and I suddenly realised that and bah!

Now, the first thing I want to ask is about your debut album because it was originally supposed to be released in December. It came out in March, what happened?
Burrough: It was just one thing after another. We wanted to release it even before that and mostly it was ready to go but we had a few little things with the artwork to adjust. We were kinda lucky on that front as we met a guy called Adam Ford who designed the front cover for us. We met him when we were on the Maiden tour and had we released the album before that we wouldn’t have the front cover, backdrop, banners and stuff we’ve got. Basically it got pushed back and we decided it would be better to release it after we had been on the Maiden tour so there were more people who had seen us and heard of us. Then we did the live announcement in Luxemburg saying it was going to be out in December. It just wasn’t meant to be because we got signed by BMG and it got pushed back again but it is finally here.

For the record for the first time in a long time I actually got to catch a band I’m interviewing and you guys were fantastic, it was a kick ass show you guys did. Now, this is the third time in a row you guys have played Download, is that correct?
Burrough: Yes, I believe so. We were here last year and we were also at Paris Download last year which was an experience, and yeah, we were here the year before that playing a smaller stage. Download is always the thing, isn’t it? Any metal band ever wants to be at Download.

So, how did this particular show fare up against your other gigs?
Burrough: Again, because of Download being Download and this being the biggest stage we’ve played at Download, it was awesome from the first moment we set foot on stage. As a vocalist, I don’t know if anyone shares this, I’m sure they do, I don’t like playing daytime shows because you haven’t warmed up enough, just general chit chat, warm up without doing any kind of routines which you do. Daytime or afternoon shows are usually a lot more difficult so it was tough but the crowd were great, the weather was good so no complaints. We’ve just come from the two in Germany, Rock Im Park and Rock AM Ring but that was awesome.

Now you’ve finished playing and after you’ve suffered all this press rubbish, who are you looking forward to most seeing? Are you hanging out for the rest of the festival?
Burrough: We’re leaving tomorrow, it’s awesome news that we’re heading off to Ireland to play with Gojira which is fun, but to be honest, Five Finger Death Punch, I always mention them because I absolutely love them so those guys but, to be fair, I’ll probably just be getting a lot of alcohol down me because I’ve got a day off tomorrow.

Check out the video for “Promised Land”

Well you just handed me a cider so I’m very happy about that, thank you and this is my only interview today so I’m happy.
Burrough: Now I’m flattered. You can give me one next time.

Deal. We’re going to move on to more of a fun question, what came first, the chicken or the egg?
Burrough: Well this is going to really piss off a load of people but, I’m not religious, but I also don’t believe in the theory of evolution, I think it’s full of flaws and holes. I guess they came at the same time because, apparently, humans evolved from single-celled life forms and that’s just so much no! When a genetic mutation happens 90% of the time it’s fatal to the life form so, how we had this string of beneficial mutations over and over again… It’s like getting a dog and tying a hammer to his tail, everything you need to build a house is in a pile on the floor, he just runs around wagging his tail. He can do that for billions of years, he’s not going to build a house.

That’s one of the best answers I have ever heard, most people will scratch their heads and say damn you for that question! It’s a tough one but you came out on top. Now, what’s next for the band? Your album came out recently so are you going to being doing some touring?
Burrough: Yes, we’ve just began the festival run, we’ve just played those two shows in Germany and we’ve played Download today, we’ve got the gig in Ireland then we’re going to the Golden God awards that’s going to be fun, we’re not nominated for anything but to hang out will be great. Then we’re off to Europe playing shows with Anthrax ad a couple more with Gojira.

Thank you so much for talking to PureGrainAudio today, enjoy the rest of the festival.