Rana

There are two artists with the name Rana (1) Raised in New Jersey and rising in Brooklyn, RANA is a rock band of its own design. Independently, the band has built its own audience, bridging gaps between several different New York City scenes and styles. By 2003, all four bandmembers had graduated from college. Matt Durant (Keyboards & Vocals), Andrew Southern (Bass & Vocals), Scott Metzger (Guitar & Vocals), and Ryan Thornton (Drums) have grown up together, playing in bands with each other as far back as middle school.

(1) Raised in New Jersey and rising in Brooklyn, RANA is a rock band of its own design. Independently, the band has built its own audience, bridging gaps between several different New York City scenes and styles. By 2003, all four bandmembers had graduated from college. Matt Durant (Keyboards & Vocals), Andrew Southern (Bass & Vocals), Scott Metzger (Guitar & Vocals), and Ryan Thornton (Drums) have grown up together, playing in bands with each other as far back as middle school.

As the band began taking its shape, opening for acts as diverse as Ween, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Avril Lavigne, Chris Robinson, and Camper Van Beethoven, it took its own direction from the breadth of its influences. There is as much Talking Heads as Velvet Underground in RANA's sound, as much Bruce Springsteen as Neil Young, and as much of The Band as The Clash. The first two albums, Here in the USA (2002) and What It Is (2005) were released by the band's own label (Bonesaw Records, Inc.) and were supported by two national tours and constant touring of the Northeast. The band also issues select live CD releases on Rockslide.com.

This fall, the band joined with producer David Lowery (Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven) at his Sound of Music Studios to begin recording tracks for their third album.

www.rana.com
www.myspace.com/ranarock

(2) Axel Pulgar, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a young artist of the sound, dealing with them in all its forms.