This is an archived post from our old website. Please excuse us if it looks a bit off, we are working through old posts and making sure they look tip top!
Raven are an all-female six-piece band from Scarborough, blending medieval, folk and traditional songs. They have been together since 2004 and this year are playing a special part in the Orpheus the Mariner event at Coastival.
The band comprises:
Karen Chalmers – vocals, keyboard, piano accordion, recorder, percussion
Nia Davidson – vocals, ukulele, recorder, percussion
Sarah Dew – vocals, keyboard, penny whistle, bass guitar, percussion
Pat Edmond – vocals, guitar, recorder, percussion
Jaye Lewis – vocals, tenor recorder, flute, percussion
Sally Lidgeley – vocals and percussion
Yorkshire Coast Gigs met with Sarah Dew and Jaye Lewis to discuss the project.
Starting with some of the other things Raven have been up to recently, we chat about how playing Woodend at Christmas is a little tradition now, and Jaye recalls a lovely comment from one gentlemen there who said that, for him,”Christmas just isn’t Christmas without Raven”. One of the things this band manages so well is achieving a regular, paying audience. They played at Helmsley a few weeks ago, to a sold out venue, and Jaye reveals they have had an enquiry from Dalton, about two hours drive away, adding, “We’ve built up an audience over time, including performing at Grassington Festival for 3 years in a row; but you do have to pitch the price right to the audience or place. Quite often, we book a venue and promote it all ourselves.” The entire band plays a part in securing bookings and marketing, though Sarah is the key person working on the Raven website.
Sarah and Karen do the majority of the composing and writing, of which Sarah says: “I tend to kind of bring a song along virtually complete, and say, ‘can you do this, this and this with it?’, so everyone can pitch in ideas; Karen who also writes does the same. It’s amazing for me, writing it and then hearing it fully for the first time when the group gives it a go! As to inspiration, Sarah finds it in “the earth, mainly: life, death, everything – our ethos is spiritual without being religious. Things evolve all the time; I might get an idea in my head, like if I’m driving along marine drive and looking at the horizon, and thinking it’s really sharp, like the edge of a knife… and a song can be inspired from there; or I just hear a drumbeat I really like and base it around that.”
The group do mix some covers in, mostly at Christmas time, but mainly keep to their own repertoire now, which is extensive. When they do utilise a cover it might be something like All About Eve’s ‘Martha’s Harbour’, Annie Lennox’s ‘Love Song for a Vampire’ or ‘Mad World’ by Tears for Fears. Jaye explains that they also do a few medieval songs, albeit not as many as they used to, like ‘Star of the Sea’, and then there was ‘Trois Princesses’ which was all in French! Karen tends to arrange most of them, and the band remakes them in their own ‘Raveny’ style.
Sarah mentions that whilst Karen writes the more ethereal tunes, hers tend to be more uptempo, so they strike a good balance. “It’s the female harmonies that hold us together though. For Orpheus, they wanted a lament and a love song, so the lament fitted Karen’s style and the love song is a bit more upbeat so I’ve created that one. The two of us did have a go at getting together and working on them but we’re so used to doing it on our own, though there are thematic elements we’ve managed to share between them.
I ask how their involvement in the project came about and Jaye tells me that Dawn Dyson-Threadgold, who alongside Lee Threadgold is part of Animated Objects Theatre Company who have devised the project, had heard the band a few years ago and had remembered them, so when the time came, asked them to write, “which was great, so we are the voice of Eurydice! I must admit though, playing the songs to Dawn and Lee was nervewracking!” Sarah agrees: “But they loved it, it’s great to know they’re behind us.”
Jaye further adds that the band were delighted when Dawn and Lee then asked for more of their songs. “Sarah’s song ‘Deep, Deep, Deep’, which is perfect for the occasion, is being used in the performance – at the harbour, to mark the entrance of a giant sea monster! – and several others are being played for pre-show music.”
On top of all this, the band were asked if they could assist the various community choirs who are engaged in the event to rehearse their pieces, by virtue of Raven recording the pieces and then the choirs having them as examples to help keep the melody when practicing. Sarah also leads the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s Global Voices Choir, who will be singing as part of the event, albeit without Sarah on this occasion.
This being a theatrical extravaganza, they’re excited about the costumes too. I’m told they are big silk capes with hoods and pointy sleeves in midnight blue. Plus they’re big enough so they can wear plenty of warm layers underneath too!
Although we couldn’t get all the Ravens together for this interview, they did send along some comments about their feelings on involvement in Orpheus the Mariner:
Karen: I am thrilled to be writing one of the themes for the Orpheus project. As my style tends to be more ethereal and romantic, I decided to take on the song for the sad part of the story, when Orpheus journeys into the Underworld in order to win Eurydice back.
Pat: I am just so excited to be part of such a huge community arts project.
Nia: There’s nothing like community togetherness to cheer us all up in winter.
Sally: Being part of such an inspiring, amazing concept is so exciting. This is theatre on a huge scale, providing a wonderful opportunity to create something magical.
The Ravens do have other excitement to come in the year ahead, with some festivals hopefully on the cusp of announcement and plans to record which are long overdue, having about 30 original tracks they’d like to lay down; Sarah notes that they’re always happy to discuss bookings and particularly love unusual, historic and quirky venues. “Glastonbury would be a dream, of course!”
“And Castle Howard,” chips in Jaye. “We did a short set there as part of a larger event, but to have our own concert there – now that would be amazing. We’re also looking forward to a planned gig at the Treasurer’s House in York in spring – apparently the most haunted house in Britain! We did a little ‘busk’ in there previously and we’re really looking forward to going back.”
First and foremost though, they can’t wait for the thrill of Orpheus. As Jaye says, “It’s going to be exciting, it’s great to have this happening at the beginning of the year. We’ve done Coastival a number of times, we love it, and think it’s really important for Scarborough to have something happening in February, when it’s a bit miserable and cold, and this project is just incredible! And to have been specially commissioned to write some songs is just wonderful.”
Website: www.ravensong.co.uk and link to Raven Facebook
Orpheus the Mariner takes place during Coastival and is free to attend, involving a community cast of over 750 people. It starts at the Spa and journeys across Scarborough’s South Bay over the course of two evenings, 14th and 15th February.
See the following websites for further details:
www.coastival.com
