About

JamesRafteryHIRES1byTimGerken.jpg
 
 

It all started when…

I asked my mother at 5 years old if I could take piano lessons. I played and studied classical piano through my late teens but put it aside to concentrate on an acting career. In 1993 I starred in a low budget horror movie called Night Owl which has since received some notoriety, but around 1995 I picked up an old guitar and songs started flying out of me and I put my head shots on the shelf. I started recording under the name Rat Wakes Red and released 3 albums, 2 EPs and three videos. After decamping the city for upstate NY, I began to record and produce myself in my home studio under my own name. In 2017 I released Everything, an album which used only synths and beats; two videos followed. Last year during the pandemic, I discovered some piano fragments I had been working on and proceeded to write and record my next album, Tornado; a return to form of sorts and also a passion project during a tumultuous time.