Eyes of the Raven @ The Rumpus Room

Dave Horan: Vocals Damon Cartwright: Drums Matt Walters: Bass Guitar Ross Pickett: Rhythm Guitar, and Vocals James McHugh: Lead Guitar Eyes of the Raven were formed early 2009 by ex members of Hybrid Mathew Walters and Ross Pickett and Ulrich Pflanz of German based band Footgang. Initially it was a small NWOBHM project with only a 6-8 month plan and basic set up under the name Hellbound, in the coming months the 3 founding members felt they had latched onto something and decided to keep the project alive and turn to a more practical format, knowing that Ulrich was to return to Germany later that year the hunt was on for a drummer. Enters 17 year old Damon Cartwright, Ross had previously mentioned a project to Damon some months before and now Ulrich was departing it was the right time for him to get involved and add his influence to the mix. At the same time this was happening Ross was already talking to Dave Horan about an opportunity for a front man, Both Ross and Matt had worked with Dave in previous Bands such as Deviant and Moment of Isolation, understanding each others influences and combining what they all wanted to produce paved the way for Lead Guitarist James McHugh. Following an advert placed by Matt on a musicians board James came along for a jam and straight away fit in and Dave and James joined within a week or so of each other. The Band was now complete however Hellbound needed a new identity as there were a lot of bands out there from Pantera covers to original bands all using the name, Eyes of the Raven became the official title and banner to which the band stood and worked for.