Ray Brandes

Ray Brandes is from San Diego, California, where he has been writing music and playing in bands for more than twenty-five years.

In the early eighties, his band THE HEDGEHOGS earned a substantial local following with its Merseybeat sound. He was the lead singer in Carl Rusk's legendary MYSTERY MACHINE, which played only a handful of shows in the summer of 1983. Then, along with Mike Stax, Bill Calhoun, Eric Bacher, and David Klowden, he founded THE TELL-TALE HEARTS, a sixties-influenced punk/rhythm and blues band which was signed to Greg Shaw's Voxx/Bomp Records in Los Angeles. THE TELL-TALE HEARTS, which performed with such notable acts as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Cramps and Jesus and Mary Chain, subsequently released an album, The Tell-Tale Hearts, an EP, The Now Sound of Tell-Tale Hearts, an Australian single, and a French compilation album.

Though the group disbanded in 1987, it continues to have a remarkably loyal following, particularly in Europe, where its records continue to sell. From 1987-1990, Ray's folk-rock group THE TOWN CRIERS developed a solid reputation as a San Diego club band. Following a short European tour with the San Diego power pop group THE SHAMBLES, of which he was a founding member, Ray began recording songs with Spun Records which became the nucleus of his first solo album, The Lonely Sock.

In 1999 Ray signed a contract with Madrid's Snap!! label, for which he has recorded his second and widely anticipated second solo CD, Continental Drifter. The album garnered critical acclaim in both the United States and in Europe, where it got a lot of radio play, particularly on Spain's largest national radio stations, Radio 3 and Radio Onda. Continental Drifter was nominated for a San Diego Music Award in the category of Best Pop Album of 1999, and was named by the San Diego Union as one of the top three pop albums of the 1990s!

In the spring of 1999, Ray formed THE RIOT ACT with San Diego music legends Bart Mendoza of the Shambles, Peter Miesner of the Crawdaddys, Hector Peñalosa of the Zeros and Victor Peñalosa of the Melanies. The Riot Act toured Spain and released a single, "This Town"/"Tried So Hard" on Snap!! Records later that year.

In 2002 Ray released his next album, The Rise and Fall of Ray Brandes, an eight song EP which again received tremendous press both in the United States and Europe. 2007 will see the release of an anthology which spans more than two decades of his recorded work.

Ray has been teaching English and History for 18 years, at Point Loma High School, the San Diego School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Montgomery Middle School, and now at the San Diego Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical High School (The Met). He lives in San Diego with the most beautiful woman in the world (his wife Raquel) and their adorable son Lucas.