Garrett Ray

Garrett Ray
Garrett Ray
Background information
Born	December 30, 1977 (age 46)
Origin	Venice, California
Instruments	Drums; Percussion; Vocals;
Associated acts	Fool's Gold, Vampire Weekend, Foreign Born, Big Search, Cass McCombs, Blood Orange, Sky Ferreira, Line & Circle, Luke Top, Peel'd

Garrett Ray (born 1977) is an American drummer and percussionist best known for his collaboration with Vampire Weekend, Cass McCombs, Sky Ferreira, Big Search, Foreign Born and Fool's Gold. His career as a studio musician has included performances on albums from artists such as ^[1]Sia ("Alive" from This Is Acting), Rostam ("Bike Dream" from Half-Light), ^[2]Cass McCombs ("That's That" from Dropping the Writ; "County Line" from Wit's End), Ra Ra Riot ("Water", "I Need Your Light" from Need Your Light) and Alex Clare ("Too Close" from Tail of Lions).

Early life and education[edit]

Ray is a third-generation native of Venice, California and second-generation drummer. He began playing at age eleven, ^[3]growing up watching his father, Gary Ray play for many artists in Southern California throughout the 1980s, including Jesse Ed Davis and John Trudell.

He began playing in bands at age thirteen, and attended LACHSA (Los Angeles County High School for the Arts).

In 1998, Ray met musician and producer Ariel Rechtshaid and began recording music in Rechtshaid's parents' garage studio in Van Nuys, California.

Career[edit]

Foreign Born[edit]

In 2003, Ray and Rechtshaid joined indie folk-rock band Foreign Born, alongside singer Matt Popieluch and guitarist Lewis Pesacov. ^[4]They self-released their first 12" single ("We Had Pleasure" b/w "Escape"), ^[5]after which StarTime International Records released their debut EP "In the Remote Woods.” While touring the US and UK with Rogue Wave, Jason Collett, Cold War Kids, Giant Drag and We Are Scientists, ^[6]they recorded their first full-length album, On the Wing Now, in the fall/winter of 2005. After self-releasing 500 copies, sold on the previously mentioned tours, the album was officially released with Dim Mak on August 21, 2007. ^[7] They were featured in Spin Magazine in October 2007. ^[8]They released their second album, Person to Person, on June 23, 2009, via ^[9]Secretly Canadian.

Fool's Gold[edit]

In 2007 Ray also joined the afro-pop band Fool’s Gold along with Pesacov, ^[10]a collective of L.A. musicians from bands such as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Foreign Born, and We Are Scientists. ^[11]releasing their first album in 2009. Fool’s Gold toured extensively in Western Europe, and their exuberant live show earned them invitations to The Hollywood Bowl; Summerstage in Central Park, New York City; and The Black Sessions in Paris. The band also played festivals including Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, Oya, Austin City Limits and London Calling Fest in Amsterdam. ^[12]^[13]In 2011, they toured in England with The Red Hot Chili Peppers and independently throughout Europe supporting their sophomore release, ^[14] Leave No Trace. ^[15]. They would also support the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012 for a very rare concert at Park HaYarkon in Tel Aviv, Israel. ^[16]^[17]^[18]Their most recent record, Flying Lessons, was released in 2015.

Other work[edit]

Between 2008 - 2017, Ray recorded albums with Cass McCombs, ^[19]Blood Orange, ^[20]Sky Ferreira, ^[21] Rae Morris, Sia, ^[22] Ra Ra Riot, ^[23] Declan McKenna and Rostam Batmanglij, among others. During this period, Ray also toured in the US and Europe with Fool's Gold, McCombs and Ferreira. Garrett is also an avid drum builder and handcrafts them out of his home in San Pedro, California. He has built a wide array of snare drums and other drums which he often uses in studio sessions. He has also built a small number of drums for friends working in Los Angeles in various avenues of the music business.

Vampire Weekend[edit]

In 2017, Ray began recording drums and percussion on sessions for Vampire Weekend’s fourth studio album Father of the Bride. ^[24] In 2018, Ray joined the current touring line-up of Vampire Weekend on percussion, drums and vocals, and will tour throughout 2019 in support of Father of the Bride. ^[25]^[26]Released on May 5, 2019, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, also marking the band's third consecutive #1 chart placement. ^[27]^[28] ^[29]

Equipment[edit]

Garrett endorses Drum Workshop drums, pedals and hardware, and Latin Percussion instruments.

Selected Discography[edit]

Year	Artist	Album	Credit
2019	Vampire Weekend	Father of the Bride	Drums, Percussion
2019	Big Search	Slow Fascination	Drums, Percussion, Vocals
2018	Tancred	Nightstand	Percussion
2017	Line & Circle	Vicious Folly	Drums, Percussion
2017	Rostam	Half-Light	Drums
2016	Declan McKenna	What Do You Think About the Car?	Drums
2016	Haroula Rose	Here the Blue River	Drums, Percussion
2016	Big Search	Life Dollars	Drums, Percussion
2016	Sia	This Is Acting	Drums
2016	Ra Ra Riot	Need Your Light	Drums, Percussion
2015	Fool's Gold	Flying Lessons	Drums, Percussion
2015	Young Buffalo	House	Drums, Percussion
2015	Line & Circle	Split Figure	Percussion
2015	Rae Morris	Unguarded	Drums, Percussion
2013	Ski Lodge	Big Heart	Drums, Percussion
2013	Sky Ferreira	Night Time, My Time	Drums
2011	Blood Orange	Coastal Grooves	Drums, Percussion
2011	Fool's Gold	Leave No Trace	Drums, Percussion
2011	Nikki Lane	Walk of Shame	Drums, Percussion
2011	Cass McCombs	Wit's End	Drums
2011	Active Child	You Are All I See	Drums, Percussion
2010	Best Coast	Crazy for You	Percussion
2010	Glasser	Ring	Drums, Percussion
2010	Big Search	Lay of the Land	Drums, Percussion
2009	Fool's Gold	Fool's Gold	Drums, Percussion
2009	Foreign Born	Person to Person	Drums, Percussion
2008	Cass McCombs	Dropping the Writ	Drums, Percussion
2008	We Are Scientists	Brain Thrust Mastery	Drums, Percussion
2007	Foreign Born	On the Wing Now	Drums, Percussion
2005	Foreign Born	In the Remote Woods	Drums, Percussion
2005	Solea	Solea	Drums, Percussion
2003	the Hippos	the Hippos	Drums, Percussion

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Garrett Ray Discography @ Discogs
Garrett Ray Discography @ AllMusic

This article "Garrett Ray" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Garrett Ray. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

[1] ttps://www.allmusic.com/album/this-is-acting-mw0002894912/credits

[2] ttps://www.allmusic.com/album/dropping-the-writ-mw0000750082/credits

[3] ttps://www.allmusic.com/artist/gary-ray-mn0000920834/credits

[4] ttp://www.rockfeedback.com/magazine/detail/foreign-born-we-had-pleasure-moshi-moshi

[5] ttps://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3347-in-the-remote-woods-ep/

[6] ttps://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10536-on-the-wing-now/

[7] ttps://www.spin.com/2007/07/foreign-born/

[8] ttps://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13123-person-to-person/

[9] ttps://secretlycanadian.com/artist/foreign-born/

[10] ttps://www.laweekly.com/music/the-alchemy-of-fools-gold-2161958

[11] ttps://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13494-fools-gold/

[12] ttps://swiperbootz.com/2011/11/21/snappscenes-red-hot-chili-peppers-fools-gold-live-at-the-o2/

[13] ttps://www.jambase.com/article/fools-gold-new-album-uk-tour-dates-wrhcp

[14] ttps://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15731-leave-no-trace/

[15] ttps://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Music/Going-for-the-Gold

[16] ttps://www.spin.com/2015/05/fools-gold-flying-lessons-album-stream/

[17] ttps://www.stereogum.com/1799920/stream-fools-gold-flying-lessons/music/album-stream/

[18] ttps://www.moderndrummer.com/2015/04/drummer-blog-salvador-placencia-and-garrett-ray-of-fools-gold/

[19] ttps://www.allmusic.com/album/coastal-grooves-mw0002166345/credits

[20] ttps://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18681-sky-ferreira-night-time-my-time/

[21] ttps://www.allmusic.com/album/unguarded-mw0002779535/credits

[22] ttps://www.discogs.com/Ra-Ra-Riot-Need-Your-Light/release/8080528

[23] ttps://www.discogs.com/Declan-McKenna-What-Do-You-Think-About-The-Car/release/13195091

[24] ttps://twitter.com/oiab/status/1008777500120346624?s=21

[25] ttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/arts/music/vampire-weekend-father-bride-billboard-chart.html

[26] ttps://www.stereogum.com/2043423/vampire-weekend-father-of-the-bride-number-one-billboard-charts/news/

[27] ttps://www.vulture.com/2019/05/an-ode-to-vampire-weekend-our-nostalgic-crushes.html

[28] ttps://www.pollstar.com/article/live-review-vampire-weekend-reborn-in-three-set-webster-hall-marathon-137904

[29] ttps://www.abc.net.au/triplej/news/musicnews/vampire-weekend-splendour-comeback-ezra/10022912

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