Many would remember Jessamine Finlayson from fronting all-female hard rock outfit Nitocris, but since then she has busied herself with other projects including The Mis-Made and now her latest venture, Raising Ravens.
Finlayson has been a massive presence on the Australian hard rock circuit for a number of years and now, with Raising Ravens, has found her niche once more.
HEAVY sat down with her for a chat this week, starting with the question of whether Raising Ravens is more of a solo project.
"Yeah. It is,” she measured. “It’s different because it is essentially a solo thing but there are other people involved with it too. I have Suzanne Rex on bass and Lara Chrystal on drums but it’s more focussed on the recording and that sort of thing rather than focussing on being a touring band like the last ones I've been in. There will be gigs but probably not as many."
Raising Ravens unleash their debut single “Careful What You Wish For” on November 13, with Finlayson promising more of what fans love about her music with the single.
“It’s very rock but also a bit more bluesy,” she said. “It was kind of written in lockdown about how the government are completely greedy and quite happy to leave everybody to die. It's well-timed with Trump being gone because now he's gone and now my single is out!”
When referring to the lack of government assistance for the general population, Finlayson voices the fact strongly that “Careful What You Wish For” was written with a global viewpoint, not just that of our own country.
"The world over," she stressed, "not specifically Australia. I think we probably did better than a lot of places have. It's a strange time".
In the full interview, Jess talks more about the single, upcoming new music from Raising Ravens, playing music from the heart the film clip, regenerating the local live music industry and more.