DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Raven Shelley
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find Raven Shelley sat on the beach. The island is far from her home, so how did she end up here and how did she cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
You're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Please tell me there’s also have a CD or record player on this island?! Can you imagine how tragic it would be to have saved the album but be unable to listen to it?
I think it would have to be a Bob Dylan album, and I’d probably end up saying Blonde on Blonde. Listening to it is like taking a trip through some surreal world with a whole cast of different characters. You can just get lost in the stories and the poetry. It would be really hard decision to pick between that and Bringing It All Back Home, though. I think there’s a distinct possibility that I’d end up drowning because I couldn’t choose between them haha.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
This is sounding like a decent island, you get your own shack and everything! Tough decision, though. Possibly Hejira by Joni Mitchell. I love the album, and the opening track, ‘Coyote’, is one of my favourite songs in the world.
The cover art is a really striking image in black and white, with a vast icy landscape in the background. She looks so beautiful and ethereal in it, and I love the way that the road is superimposed over her, so it looks like it just extends right through her. It makes me think of the joys of travelling, the need to keep moving on. It makes you just feel like there’s a limitless expanse to explore.
Mind you, it could be a tad depressing thinking about the places I want to go if I’m trapped on an island!
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
This island just got better! A very difficult question to answer though. I love a good pint – preferably Amstel – but I think I might have to choose a nice bottle of red wine, because I could cook with it as well. Although I could choose rum and just pretend I was a pirate the entire time…
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
Good question! I think I’d pick a book of lyrics. Probably a Leonard Cohen one – his songs are basically poetry set to music, so they work well on a page too, and I’d definitely need something to read on this island.
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
Being a solo artist I’d be thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with myself for all eternity”! I’d obviously want to say close friends or family, but they’re probably my only chance of rescue by organising a search party! So I might choose my dog. He’d provide good company and entertainment (he’s a bit of a clown), but not get on my nerves.
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
The concert David Bowie played in Berlin in 1987. It’s a historic performance: the wall was still dividing the city, but the music transcended it. Reportedly, there were thousands of people on the Eastern side of the wall who gathered to hear it. Apparently the guys in the West could hear them singing along and cheering. It’s incredibly moving.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Honestly this is sounding like a decent island – I think I’d want to stay a bit longer and have a little holiday!
You've been stuck here for a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
I’m in trouble then, unless I start nibbling my own arm or something!
(Note to self: find a backing band so I can eat one of them in desperate circumstances.)
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
Possibly Ani DiFranco. She’s influenced me a lot lyrically, and I am in awe of her guitar-playing. I also really admire her outlook, and the fact that she set up her own record label when she was really young. I think it’s great that she continues to change and evolve, experimenting with different styles of music.
