Released 2006
October 31 Label Eleven Seven Records | Recorded 21:05 Heads Will Roll
(2006) Set Me Free
(2007) | |
Genre Alternative rock
Post-grunge
Modern rock
Hard rock Producer Desmond Child, James Michael | ||
Heads Will Roll EP is Marion Raven's first EP that was released on October 31, 2006. All of the songs were written by Raven in collaboration with numerous artists including Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe), Scott Stevens and Freddy Herrera (The Exies), Keith Nelson and Xavier Muriel (Buckcherry), and Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace). The EP was made available for downloading from iTunes while the hard copy was exclusively released in the US. In Raven's own words, the tracks on the EP are fun rock songs that are meant for jumping around to.
Contents
The EP's title track, "Heads Will Roll", is a re-recorded version of the same track that was previously released in Raven's 2005 internationally released album, Here I Am. The new version, produced and mixed by James Michael, removes various sound effects used to muffle Raven's voice and has Scott Stevens providing backup vocals. "Heads Will Roll" is the result of Raven's writing collaboration with Nikki Sixx and James Michael. In an interview with Exclusive Magazine, Raven's meeting with Nikki Sixx was the result of being able to acquire backstage tickets for Alice Cooper's concert in Oslo, Norway, in which Sixx was a supporting act. Sixx invited Raven to head to L.A. to work on tracks for her album, including "Heads Will Roll".
The song was inspired by Sixx's bass line, which can be heard in many parts of the track, as well as Raven's original idea for a song titled "Heads to the Wall". "Heads Will Roll" and the other 5 tracks prominently marks Raven's shift from the teen-pop songs of M2M (band) to a harder rocking, more mature effort. The song was featured on the "Van Wilder 2: Rise of the Taj" movie soundtrack.
The “Heads Will Roll” video, which features scenes of a half-naked Raven on top of ten naked women crammed into a futuristic box, also features Xavier Muriel from Buckcherry playing drums and Scott Stevens’s backing vocals and playing the electric guitar and Freddy Herrera on bass, both from The Exies.
Raven said on the music video and on being a female rocker. The video caused controversy as it featured exposed breasts. A censored version of the video, without nudity was made available for daytime airplay on music video channels.
Music video personnel and details
Director: Charles Jensen
Producer(s): Kevin Muir/Elyciphus Siler
Editor: Charles Jensen
Director of photography: Peter Richardson/Jason Wawro
Artist name: Marion Raven
Label: 10th Street Entertainment
Total Running time: 3:17
Reception
Reviews of the EP were generally positive, with IGN stating, "Calling Raven's vocals 'pop' is not a slam, as she has a strong enough voice to make her worthy of some attention." Sixx also praised Raven, he said, "I’ve written with artists as diverse as Josey from Saliva(band) to Meat Loaf and Vince Neil, but Marion is the most talented new artist I’ve worked with since I’ve been making music."
Trivia
"Let Me Introduce Myself", is a song meant for Raven's ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. It has three versions, the band version and two acoustic versions, band version is included in her debut album Here I Am, the second version is featured in her first EP Heads Will Roll and contains some explicit lyrics, and the second and censored acoustic version appears in the album Set Me Free as a hidden track that comes after "All I Wanna Do Is You". The acoustic version also features an intro to the song. Raven was quoted as stating that the band version did not capture the essence of what the song is about.