GraveRaven Studio

01/18/2024

It's with a heavy heart that I announce my departure from Grand Mal. It's been an amazing few years being in a project of this genre and I wrote and played some of my favourite material alongside some of the most talented musicians I've had the pleasure of working with. But life has a way of catching up with you, priorities change, and creative inspiration shifts direction.

Between a growing career and family obligations, I've been finding more and more that I don't get the same enjoyment out of live performance and the rehearsing and time commitment that come with it. Musically, this is where all my little available time was being spent and there was just no time to write new music - the thing I enjoy most and the reason I became a musician almost 2 decades ago in the first place. I've always been a creator before a performer. Even still, my drive to write new GM material has been lacking for some time now and I always find myself wanting to try new things. As many artists can attest, this is natural and not a process that's easy or even healthy to fight against. Nor is it fair to hold the band back because of this.

As such, moving forward I've decided that this is the indefinite end of my time as a live musician and I likely won't be joining any new bands unless I have some kind of midlife crisis in like 20 years. I will be on hiatus from music in general for a while until I find a groove in my new schedule for new stuff. This will not be the end of me as a musician/composer as I have been wanting to work on more solo/studio project ideas for years now and will likely be committing more in this direction.

To close, I thank all the guys in Grand Mal for an excellent few years and wish them absolutely all the best moving forward. It's been an honour calling you guys my band mates and friends. And thank you to all those who have supported us all this time. If anyone knows of a guitarist that would be interested in filling my role please send them their way and of course check them out and give them a follow if you haven't yet.

Cheers brothers, and all the best to you 🍻

02/20/2023

For anyone who has yet to hear it, please check out my most recent work with Grand Mal, for whom I am the rhythm guitarist and one of the composers. I also did a good amount of the recording and was the mixing engineer for this album.

I hope you enjoy. Cheers 🍻

9 track album

02/20/2023

Hello everyone.

A bit of a revamp to this page was in order. Moving forward I will be rebranding the 'GRS Archon' page simply as my studio page. It will still represent me and all that I do musically but I would rather have the focus be on my work than on me as an individual. I will continue to post anything related to my audio and composition work as well the ongoings of my current band Grand Mal to this page, so anyone who has liked it previously will not be seeing vastly different content than they intended.

Of particular note, the old logo (left) was in need of an excellent revamp (right), courtesy of Carnivalistic Designs. Cheers to you, friend for your excellent work on this!

I am hoping as life pushes forward to have more time to invest into this part of my life, and I thank you all for your patience with my relative silence on this front.

Cheers to you all, and keep your horns raised high.

06/08/2022

Edmonton, AB and area musicians: We are searching for a new bass guitarist to join our ranks. If you feel you fit the description in the ad below, are intrigued by our music (see the Bandcamp code to the right), and would be interested in playing alongside us, please send us a message and if possible any examples of projects, shows, or other works you may have been/are currently involved in.

For everyone else, any asking around or sharing of this ad is greatly appreciated.

02/29/2020

A good day for some overdue maintainence.

07/23/2019

Greetings, friend! Our warparty is undergoing some lineup changes due to our frontman and lead vocalist, Archon, and Accordionist, Sevi, parting ways with the band. In this ad we will focus on what we are looking for in a vocalist/frontperson. Forsaken Rite is an established band of 7 years. We have...

07/20/2019

It is with a heavy heart that Sevi and myself announce that our time with the warparty, Forsaken Rite, is coming to a close. We have had a good long journey with the band, Sevi for 5 years and 7 for myself, since the beginning. It was a hard decision for us to come to, but we have long felt the forsaken flame that once burned in our hearts has started to fade, and our lives, both musically and otherwise, are beginning to embark on and yearn for new directions. We would like to stress that there is no drama or animosity surrounding this decision, our departure is on good terms and we remain good friends with our comrades.

We will always remember our time with the warparty fondly, in many ways it helped us grow into the musicians and performers we are today. Through 2 printed releases, countless shows, radio play across the globe and even a tour across Canada, we will always hold these memories and accomplishments dear to our hearts.

This is not our departure from music, we each have our own projects and ideas in the works for what is yet to come, some may emerge sooner than later. My own newest project (TBA) is already underway with exciting new material and equally exciting musicians involved, and we cannot wait to take the land by storm. I would also like to mention, I will not actively be in a Folk Metal band after this year, but I have a strong feeling that this does not mean the end of my time in the genre, we will see what the future holds. Either way, rest assured you will hear more from the both of us in the future.

This will not mean the end of Forsaken Rite. We have discussed with the others and have concluded that we will remain with the warparty for this year until suitable replacements have been found. Though it may seem like quite the change, their journey is not yet over, and their last tale is not yet told. I will be writing up the appropriate advertisements shortly, and will update the band page once auditions are open.

We are glad and humbled to see how well our tales, songs and melodies have resonated with you all, fans both old and new, and we thank you for sharing so many wondrous times with us over the years. A horn filled to the brim raised to the warparty, and to you all this day!

Thank you all for helping us do our part in showing the world that Folk Metal is not dead in Canada.

Cheers to you all, friends!

01/07/2019

I am absolutely loving this plugin. First night working with it and it's already one of my favourite amp sims on the market.

11/29/2018

A thought occurred to me while writing tablature for new material tonight, would it be considered strange that I often write/record demos of new songs first before writing the tablature separately rather than writing the song in a tab writing software BEFORE recording a demo?

I've noticed more and more that a large majority of musicians tend to do their writing in say Guitar Pro, Tux Guitar or Finale before anything has even been recorded. It doesn't really suit my work flow but I find it interesting and can appreciate that it probably saves some time.

What are your thoughts? Tabs or recording first when writing? How does your writing process flow from your mind?