LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE Posted July 7, 2010 Posted July 7, 2010 I dedicate this Topic to one of my closets BF'S, who's name i will not divugle, other than she is my SWEETCHEEKS Ra is an American alternative metal band from Los Angeles, California, taking their name from the Egyptian sun god. The band has been around since the 1990s, but did not actually evolve into its current form until 2002. Their music was described as "exotic not familiar, heavy not funky, direct not sophisticated, sensual not soulful, unrelenting not cathartic." [2] The band is known for their hit songs "Do You Call My Name", "Fallen Angels", "Don't Turn Away" and "Broken Hearted Soul". To date, Ra has sold around 350,000 albums in North America. Logo Ra's logo is simply the band's name in a font called mael, albeit with modifications. It has been suggested (by fans) that it looks like the Eye of Ra. Before Ra was signed, the band had a different logo which was featured on the cover of their EP called One. The current logo is often placed in the center of what looks like a sun. It has undergone countless changes throughout the years involving color, size, shape, etc. History Origin of band name "I sat down with a friend of mine, and we went over 25 different names, and I was thinking about the things that I write about. And there’s an underlying theme where 80 to 90 percent of the songs have the word sun in it. So I have a little sun fetish and I thought that Ra was appropriate. Besides the fact that I shave my head and I look like Yule Brenner in the Ten Commandments. I also had two reasons or two tricks. It’s a nice little short name that you can make jewelry out of. And the other is when you have a list of band names you have a certain amount of space. So if your name is Limp Bizkit, you’ve gotta fit 10 letters, so the letters are gonna be small. If your name is Ra you’ve got two giant letters taking up the same amount of space so it looks like your name is bigger. Ra was conceived in 1997. There was a movie called The Rage: Carrie II. They liked a song that I had called “Crazy Little Voices,” and made it the end credits song. So I needed a name for that album. So I said let’s use Ra." [1] "When I was naming the band I wanted to come up with something that tied the Sun into the image of the band. I was thinking of different kinds of things but, I like the idea of Ra because it’s short, melodramatic and sort of an odd thing and really unique." [2] - All quotes taken from interviews of Sahaj Ticotin Early years: 1996��"1998 Abandon Entertainment President Marcus Ticotin finances his little brother's first record while Sahaj was living in Greenwich Connecticut with his mentor and friend, Rob Jones. They held open call auditions to find a drummer, guitarist and bassist. Many of New York City's finest players showed up to audition, but it is Skoota Warner who absolutely bridges the gap between the funk and hard rock in Sahaj's writing. Veteran R&B bass player, Kirk Lyons steps in and on guitar and Ben Mauro who goes on to play with Lionel Richie and Britney Spears. The band was amazing but the sound was all over the place. One track did manage to make it through to become . "Crazy Little Voices" was Ra's first commercially released track, as the end title track for the movie The Rage: Carrie 2. 1999��"2001 The moderate success of "Crazy Little Voices" led to the band signing with Edel. Ra recorded many tracks including "Rectifier", "Fallen Rock Zone", "Only", "End of Days", "U Need Me", "What I Am", "Sky", "The Foundation" and the first real version of "Do You Call My Name". Edel, unbeknownst to the band, was on its last legs and was weeks away from closing shop upon album completion. One and From One: 2001-2002 "Do You Call My Name" received heavy airplay on WAAF in Boston, Massachusetts. Based on this local success, the band released the EP One with the guidance of their then manager, Arma Andon, in the Boston area and sold 7500 CDs in a month and a half, causing Universal Records to sign the band to a two album deal without even seeing them live. Sahaj's friend, Will Pendarvis (K-rock NYC, Sirius), introduced him to a friend, Hip-hop Producer/Engineer Paul Logus (Puffy, Jennifer Lopez, 112, Notorious BIG, Pantera) with whom the band spent over $170,000 redoing "One" and turning it into "From One". Duality: 2003��"2005 Ra live at The Bombshelter, Manchester, NH, in September 11, 2004.From One gets released, sells 180,000 CDs and "Do You Call My Name" goes to number ten in early 2003. Originally slated to Co-produce the next LP with Sahaj was super-engineer Dave Schiffman (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Mars Volta). A health condition of a close family member forced Sahaj to produce the record at home alone. Universal was unhappy with the album the band delivered to them and they recommended using Bob Marlette (Saliva, Seether, Shinedown) to record an additional few songs to give the album more radio potential. With a $400k plus budget there would be no need to skimp on production. With Bob, Ra would record "Got Me Goin'", "Take Me Away" and "Say You Will" and would submit these songs to Universal only to receive yet another luke warm reception. Desperate and very unsure of the right course of action, Ra goes out to Los Angeles to make one last attempt at a first single for "Duality". The outcome would be "Tell Me", a huge arena rock anthem shouting out to the world for guidance. The song is submitted and approved by Universal but it is too little too late. Universal executives decide to leave the record unreleased, rather than lose more money on top of what is already an expensive record. It looked very bad for the band but in the winter of 2004, Universal/Republic hired a hungry radio promotion director named Dave Downey. One of his first activities was listening to all the records that he might potentially work. After listening to "Duality" he made the executives upstairs aware that they may have made a mistake with RA and that they were missing out on a potentially great record. Unfortunately Ra's original drummer, Skoota, felt that he couldn't put any more time into the band and moves on amicably in order to make more stable income. Universal reconsiders releasing "Duality" and the album hit stores in late June 2005. Promotion for the album is light but the record sells 80,000 CDs on the strength of tracks like "Fallen Angels" and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", a Police cover. Raw and Black Sun: 2006-2008 Ra live at The Machine Shop in Flint, MI, recording for their album, Raw.The band left Universal Records and signed with Cement Shoes Records. On October of 2006, Ra released their third album entitled Raw, which includes 11 live tracks and one new studio track, "Don't Turn Away". The new song (and single) was meant to be a teaser for their next album, Black Sun, which was said to be dynamic. On September 9, 2008, The band releases their third studio album, Black Sun, under Sahaj's new label, Sahaja Music Records. It featured their newest single, "Broken Hearted Soul". "Faulty Information" was going to be the second single and would hopefully receive a music video, but through a lack of funds and time, neither occurred. Another notable song is, "The First Step", in which Sahaj holds a note for 27��"28 seconds at the end of the song. Black Sheep: 2009-present On June 10, 2009, Ra released a fourth Studio Album called "Black Sheep". It is an album with thirteen rare tracks which includes their debut single, "Crazy Little Voices", as well as their new single, "Supernova". "Supernova" is receiving heavy airplay on Sirius. On December 9, 2009, in an interview with Sahaj Ticotin, Sahaj stated that Ra plan an international tour next summer. Sahaj's solo album is tentatively titled, "Sahaj - Another Minute", and the song "Another Minute" is confirmed to be on the album; an early demo of the song is on Sahaj's Myspace. Sahaj's solo album will be released on the second week of September, 2010. Ra is currently "on the shelf" as Sahaj finishes his solo album, but it is said that "new ra" will be worked on after his album is released. Musical style Ra playing an acoustic performance in Piere's, Fort Wayne Indiana - Jan. 2 2010Ra is generally called "nu metal with an exotic twist". [3] The twist is the Indian or Arabian scale that is used in many songs. Sahaj says, "The great thing about it is that you can play the meanest Meshuggah, heaviest rock riff you could possibly imagine under any scale and you if you sing over it in a harmonic minor scale it doesn’t lose its heaviness, but it also doesn’t lose its melody. It still manages to be cool, but also melodic." [4] Notable songs that use this scale are "Do You Call My Name", "Violator", "Skorn", "The Only One", and "Broken Hearted Soul". The band has also been said to use the genres of: progressive metal [5], modern prog rock, [6], and pop rock/metal. GarageBand.com says: "Twisted melodies, polyrhythmic beats, and heavy guitar chords fuse together with middle-eastern motifs, hip-hop, and melodic balladry to make a cohesive visionary statement percolating with emotional fervor." [7] Discography Albums Date of ReleaseTitleLabel2000One(Self-released)2002From OneUniversal Records2005Duality2006Raw (live album)Cement Shoes Records2008Black SunSahaja Music Records2009Black Sheep Singles YearTitleU.S. Mainstream rock positionAlbum1999"Crazy Little Voices"79The Rage: Carrie 22002"Do You Call My Name"10From One"Rectifier"30"Skorn"512005"Fallen Angels"(#29 on the Active Rock Top 40 chart)Duality"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic""The Only One"2006"Don't Turn Away"36, and No. 1 Most Added Track for Active Rock radioRaw2007"Broken Hearted Soul"DNC (#38 on R&R Active Rock)Black Sun2009"Supernova"Black Sheep Band members Sahaj Ticotin - (vocals, guitar) Andy Ryan - (drums) Ben Carroll - (guitar) P. J. Farley - (bass) Former members Skoota Warner (drums) Sean Corcoran (bass) Dave Aaron (guitar) Appearances Vocals by Sahaj Ticotin on "Drown You Out" by Crossfade Vocals by Sahaj Ticotin on "Ghost Town" by Action Action Vocals by Sahaj Ticotin on "Walk Around The Sky", "Eternity", and "Downfall" by Nate Bailey Vocals by Sahaj Ticotin on "Swimming Upstream" (cover) by Janel Elizabeth Quote
Sweet Lu Posted July 7, 2010 Posted July 7, 2010 That would be MY WIFE that this is dedicated to. Yeahhhhhhh. A very underrated band. And my wife grew up with and is friends with the guitarist. Quote
Sweet Lu Posted April 29, 2011 Posted April 29, 2011 Under the sun I standOver the wings of Fallen AngelsI can't believe the things you show meIn my dreams I have you next to meForever gone is loveOut of control I fall in trenchesAnd if you leave me emptyHow will I design the world I needIn your eyes you see it doneColors drained away like waterDistance all but disappearsAnd nothing can be doneDon't, Don't turn awayDon't let it take you overYou cannot give inDon't let it take you over nowAnd in your eyes I catchA tiny glimpse of heaven callingYou try to stay in touch but can youEnd what has no real beginningIn your eyes you see it doneColors drained away like waterDistance all but disappearsAnd nothing can be doneDon't, Don't turn awayDon't let it take you overYou cannot give inDon't let it take you over nowAnd I walk awayI leave you right where you standI'll never regret all that I said to youBut you never turned awayYou never turned awayYou never turned awayYou never turned awayDon't, Don't turn awayDon't let it take you overYou cannot give inDon't let it take you over nowDon't, Don't turn awayDon't let it take you overYou cannot give inDon't let it take you over nowAnd I walk awayI leave you right where you standI'll never regret all that I said to youBut you never turned awayYou never turned awayYou never turned awayYou never turned awayDon't, Don't turn awayDon't let it take you overYou cannot give inDon't let it take you over now. Quote
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE Posted April 29, 2011 Author Posted April 29, 2011 i dedicate this to someone who consumes me utterly and totally Quote
Sweet Lu Posted April 29, 2011 Posted April 29, 2011 that is a powerful song and a powerful dedication.that is a very lucky person to get that feeling from you. i'm sure he feels the same way Quote
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