I'm a loud, fun guy in a good mood, and my enterprise is delivering the big choruses. I received a bass guitar from my parents in 1993; one year prior to exhibiting back-to-back Jon Bon Jovi Halloween costumes, and recording a self-titled heavy metal cassette tape; The Sinisters, with my cousins Steve & Lisa. By the late 1990's, I was meeting all of the gentlemen in Glen Ellyn, IL whom I still consider to be my closest friends. When we weren't playing in basement bands together, we were attending local punk rock/hardcore shows which ironically led me back full circle to revisit the Oasis & Bon Jovi-esque pop sensibilities of hook-driven alternative artists like Weezer, The Killers, and Jimmy Eat World.

I began to record original material with my friend Jerry Brady in 2007 with the serious intent of releasing a full-length record echoing the simple, melody based rock of Weezer's Pinkerton and The Killers' Sam's Town. During this time, Jerry and I continued (and still continue) to play in the Chicago cover band outfit known as Prom Band. Prom Band is a group comprised entirely of the aforementioned gentlemen, along with myself, whom have maintained a tightly knit circle since grade school. Only occasionally would we welcome a new face to join the camaraderie, but one such musician was multi-instrumentalist Nate Baker whom is responsible for a significant portion of songwriting and guitar work on Pragmatic.

My Mom & Dad provided me the tools and freedom to create, and my cousins introduced me early on to the music that I needed to be listening to. Prom Band taught me how to unapologetically thrash the loudest cover songs in Chicago live, while Jerry & Nate taught me how to write the music that I wanted to record. Many of them and more contributed their talents to my ten-years-in-the-making 2016 record: Pragmatic.

They are my New Band.

- Billy Raff