Raven in Seattle 10/01/10....AND I FINALLY MET JOHN GALLAGHER!

What can I say? I am still stunned and in shock! Linda and I arrived at the club early, and quickly found John. He and Joe were heading out to eat, so after they returned, we hooked up again and we all hung out together backstage until Raven took the stage. I cannot tell you Guys just how cool and genuine John, Mark, and Joe are. Really polite, funny, and no ego whatsoever.

I got to play John's infamous red Explorer, and I have to tell you this was extremely surreal holding the thing, as this bass has been the stuff of legend in my mind for so many years. John was totally right about the thin strings, as they were almost like playing a guitar. The custom trem was also something see and try out! It floats, so it only dives so far down, but can also be pulled up. You can clearly see in the pictures that the bass has had the crap beaten out of it. You might also notice that the DiMarzio X2N is gone. Both John and Mark told me that DiMarzio's don't take beatings too well, and that eventually they crap out. So John used another favorite of his, this being an EMG. I do not remember if he said it was active or passive, but it sounded HUGE.

I have known John through the web for the past several years, but we never had a chance to meet face-to-face until last night. He was just as kind in person as he has always been to me over emails and such. He not only met my expectations, he exceeded them by a mile. A really great guy, as are all the guys in Raven.

They took the stage, and kicked MAJOR arse! Everything was loud, hard, heavy, and precise. John even treated us to two different bass solos, with one on his eight-string bass as part of a song intro, then later in the evening, he grabbed his infamous red Explorer to do another totally blistering solo. Once again, he demonstrated why he is absolutely my biggest influence.

We took a ton of pictures, and here is my Photobucket album that has all of them in it: https://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/ehaven777/Raven%20-%20Seattle%20October%201%202010/

Here are a few to give you an idea of how the evening went:

Raven stickers and a patch that we got at the show:



John and Mark's autographs. John's is in red pen, and Mark's are in black:

alright! that looked like it was tons of fun hangin out with those guys.

and that bass is unreal. i get a little particular when i do repairs and mods and i end up with a nick, ding or a job not ending up cosmetically as i had planned. seeing this makes me feel a whole lot better about my work and tells me that i need not be so nutty about it.

that trem is friggin nutz! it looks like the whole thing is hangin on to that fulcrum by the skin of its teeth. the whole playing plane looks like its sitting up real high ... almost like the body is sloping away from the plane of the neck. truely ... a frankenbass!

John told me years ago that the Explorer is really a cheapo at it's core. But again, this goes back to my philosophy about buying cheap basses. If the body and neck are solid, you can always upgrade the hardware and electronics, and you'll walk away with a pretty decent guitar. John has done all of these upgrades, and I can absolutely assure you that the bass plays great, and sounds even better. I was standing right in front of John at the show, and his bass rig was literally clobbering me, so I got to hear how great the Explorer truly sounds. But it simply wasn't an expensive instrument to begin with, and with all of the beatings John has put the thing through, it looks like it might fall apart one day! Nonetheless, it's a great bass!

yep, that explorer is a good example of cheap = workhorse without worry of damage....lol

god is that thing a POS, but just like my favorite lefty quote "dont look, listen"


congrats on finally getting down to see your friends, and have a few pics taken with them for your memorabilia collection

You Guys might not ever know just how much this meant to me. I am still in shock over it! I am already looking forward to the next time Raven comes to the Northwest!

Looks like you guys had some fun! That explorer definitely looks as if it's been picked up a few times (and dropped )