In a new interview with WRIF radio station, Raven frontman John Gallagher recalled Metallica opening for his band during their first-ever tour in 1983 and 1984. The frontman confirmed that even after the band’s huge fame, Hetfield was still a humble person.
“We had a long conversation with James a couple of years ago up at Metallica HQ [in Northern California]; we visited there. And [he was] very humble and very, ‘I don’t know how this all happened, but we’re very grateful and humbled that it did. And we’re gonna continue to do the best we can.’ You can’t ask for more than that,” Gallagher explained.
Raven went on their first big tour in 1983 and Metallica went with them. Since then, Raven has played with Metallica in different tour throughout their career.
In a 2019 interview, the singer also talked about opening for the band in 2014. “‘They’re playing stadium tour and they’re playing in Sao Paulo. Why don’t you ask if we can get on and open for them?’ And I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. But I’ll try.’ So I send a message expecting nothing and they came back and said, ‘Yes, we’d love you do.’ And we’re like, ‘Wow.’
“So we were over the Moon, we got there and the reality sunk in when you get there and the stadium is gigantic and it’s filling up with people. It was very strange, they didn’t play any music,” the frontman continued. “It was just filling up with people and it was like a bomb waiting to go off. And once we’ve finished, they invited us. They were doing the tune-up room thing. They said, ‘Come on down.’ And we hung out with them for like half an hour before they went on stage. And it was awesome, just to reconnect with those guys.
“They said some really nice things about us during the show when it went on. Like we were the band that gave them a shot, and if it hadn’t have been for us etc, etc. Really, really cool,” he added.
Raven is scheduled to release a new EP titled ‘Can’t Take Away The Fire.’ It’s set to be released on February 14 through Silver Lining Music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT52YH5kUUU&ab_channel=BeasleyMediaGroup
