Welcome to The Storm Project
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Considered one of the foremost guitarists in Las Vegas as well as everywhere else he has performed, Raven Storm began by taking up classical guitar at the age of 9. He was converted to rock and roll after going with some friends to see Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same" at about 14. Seeing Jimmy Page on stage fueled Raven's desire to someday own a Les Paul guitar...a dream that took a couple years of saving money and a little help from his father for him to achieve. Along with Page, Raven spent many years studying the stylings of greats such as Gary Moore, Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Vai, and most of all, Randy Rhoads. Much of Raven's playing reflects the influence of his heroes, and although he draws many comparisons to these guitarists, he has managed to form these influences into his own unique style. By the age of 17, he was a much sought after local guitarist and joined his first band, Crystal Tears, which also featured the amazing Liquid Skye drummer, Kevin Tutaj.
All of this practicing soon led the Las Vegas native to landing his first guitar endorsement with Carvin Corporation, and became one of their featured performers every year at the NAMM Conventions in Los Angeles throughout the '90's. The first Vegas-bred musician to become a regular performer at NAMM, Raven quickly became a crowd favorite, sharing the bill with such names as Allan Holdworth, Steve Vai, Craig Chaquico (Starship), Angelo Jannotti, Bunny Brunell, Joey Tafolla, Tony MacAlpine, and many others. He also landed endorsements for Seymour Duncan pickups, GHS strings, Pickboy picks, and Line 6 Amplification.
Raven's loyalty to Carvin was tested when the owner and founder of B.C. Rich Guitars, Bernie Rico, Sr., heard Raven "screwing around" with a guitar at their booth and offered an endorsement on the spot. However, Raven stuck with Carvin, at least for a couple more years. Changes in the Carvin organization brought on Raven's decision to take Mr. Rico up on his offer. Tragically, Mr. Rico passed away a few months later, prompting questions and doubts of B.C. Rich's survival in the music community. They were eventually bought by Hanser Music Group and are curently going strong, however Raven ended up briefly with Washburn, First Act, and Epiphone. He still remains very fond of his Carvin guitars and continues to have a very soft spot for the company.
Raven holds no exclusive endorsement deals at this time with any particular guitar company, and enjoys being able to play a variety of guitars, including a Carvin, two B.C. Rich Mockingbirds, a custom white Epi Les Paul, a custom First Act, and two Washburn Mercury Series guitars which serve as his main axes. All but one Washburn and one Mockingbird are Raven's trademark white with gold hardware...his favorite color combination.
Raven has also played many guitar clinics and special performances, including appearances at several of Guitar Center's "Guitarmaggedon" guitar contests, which Raven won in 2000 and was sent to Los Angeles to perform for an audience which included Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, and Deloris Rhoads (Randy's mother).
Unfortunately, the NAMM Shows and other appearances were the only chances Raven had to perform live during the '90's and into the new millennium. Few musicians survived the changing musical landscape of the '90's without trading in their chops for flannel shirts and knee-length shorts...and the belief that it was no longer cool to actually be able to play very well. Raven stuck to what was in his heart and continued to practice and develop his skill on the guitar. In 1993, a failed project called Pirates and Thieves became the band he would use to record his first album, "The Storm Project." The record sold well at his NAMM performances and occasional guitar clinics, but live Storm Project performances were extremely rare, with booking agents and club owners opting for Pearl Jam and Nirvana clones instead of good rock and roll bands. Even finding musicians to play with was getting more and more difficult.
It was these difficulties while trying to line up players to record his next album in 1998 that led him to approach one of his heroes, legendary Black Sabbath and Dio drummer, Vinny Appice. Raven had gotten to know Vinny at the NAMM Show, and claims that asking Vinny to play was originally a "joke," thinking that he was way too busy with Dio to consider anything else. However, Vinny was happy to oblige, and came to Vegas a couple months later while on a break from the Dio tour to lay down some tracks at Digital Insight, and later in the old Huntridge Theater. Unfortunately, the pitfalls didn't end there. The bass player Raven was depending on flaked out, and numerous auditions failed to find another.
While being recruited for the international performing troupe, "Up with People," in 1990, Raven met bassist, Olof Sanner, who hailed from Sweden. Raven never joined the show, but forged a long friendship with Olof. This led to Olof inviting Raven to Sweden to continue the recording in a studio owned by popular Swedish pop group, Sonic Dream. So in mid-1999, Raven was off to Upsalla, Sweden where he recorded with Olof and keyboardist Monica Hermanson, and also recorded some guitar solos for Sonic Dream's album, "Dustproof." Some more recording with Monica took place at a couple locations in Stockholm, and he then recorded most of the guitar solos at Hoxton Studios in London with engineer Benji Lefevre of Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant fame.
Raven then went on a seemingly endless search throughout London, Stockholm, Vegas, and L.A. for a singer, going through several before finally producing the "Raven Storm" CD with local Vegas singer, Reggie Richards, in 2002. Raven and manager, Ulf Wahlberg, presented the CD at the MIDEM Convention in Cannes, France in 2002 and gained interest from several labels, including Mausoleum Records who had a contract in the works before going out of business in 2003. The other labels wanted to hear improvements before committing to a contract due to vocal tracks being rushed in the face of a deadline, so it was back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, Reggie was no longer available, so the singer search continued.
Finally, in 2005, Raven met singer, Lee Edwards, who resides in Southern California. Having always wanted to work with a female singer, Raven feels that Lee is the final piece of the puzzle to make the CD work. The first two songs recorded with Lee have achieved positive feedback from Ulf, and they are currently in the process of finishing the rest of the tracks at Audio Art in Las Vegas. Raven will then be going back to Stockholm in the summer to mix and master the record at XTC Productions with Ulf. The CD will also feature the revived name of "The Storm Project." Interestingly, Raven is the only local Las Vegas element of the project, with all other performers being from other locations around the world. The writing and recording processes have taken place in numerous studios in several cities in three different countries!
So, hopefully Raven's perseverance will pay off with the completion and success of the new Storm Project CD by the end of 2007, and keep your eyes open for some full-band performances by next summer.Bio by Sandi Wilson