Ruben Ramos

Biography:

was born in East Los Angeles on April 1st 1965. Basically at the corner of the 60 & 710 fwys! There's a hospital called Santa Marta Hospital north-west of the two freeways. It was a tiny hospital at the time. My brother Claudio just got his first car a 49 Ford sedan which by the way, was the car that took my mom to the hospital. I was due on March 31st but the April Fool joke had me breathing smog on April 1st. The ironic thing was it was the same hospital my father died in. For many years we lived near Whittier Blvd and I witnessed the East L.A. riots on August 29, 1970. I remember billowing smoke three blocks away and wanting to see what was going on. My mom came running after me since I’ve always had a insatiable curiosity about life and what makes people do what they do. Years later we moved to Boyle Heights and I actually slept through famous 1971 Sylmar earthquake. I woke up on the aftershock. When our last move to East L.A. in 1973 right off of Whittier Blvd. My sister in law Elia gave me my first guitar at the age of 9 years. It was a cracked classical nylon string guitar that I played for a few months until it imploded into a cloud of dust. Claudio knew I loved playing music so when he took a trip to Mexico he bought me a cheap guitar from the town of Paracho to replace the old one. I played in all the school bands through Jr. High to High School. Eventually I bought a Silvertone guitar just like the one seen with Jimmy Page and an amp that I still have to this day made for Macy's dept store from the 1950’s. It cost me five bucks at a yard sale. But I could turn it up and get lots of natural distortion! During that time I also played in a rock band called Crimson. We played all through Jr. High and High School. I sang lead vocals and picked up bass, which was a real challenge, but I managed to become a good singer. I also played with my brother Joe in a wonderful Latin Americana folk music group called Los Huicholos. We explored music from from Mexico down to the tip of Argentenia. You could say that I was wide eyed with all kinds of music from Los Folkoristas to Jimi Hendrix with a twist of Brahms and Bootsy Collins.

Musical Influences:

The Beatles, Johannes Brahms, Rachmaninoff, DEVO, Led Zeppelin, Mental As Anything, Level 42, Inxs, Carlos Santana, Paco Peña, The Prentenders, Bob Dylan, The Buzzcocks, Richard O'Brien (The Rocky Horror Picture Show),Wes Montgomery, MIles Davis, Luis Bonfa, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Fear, Fantomas, Mr. Bungle, Squarepusher, Hank Williams Sr, Heart, Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, Trio Los Panchos, Los Lobos, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Stan Kenton, Van Halen (early), Crosby Stills & Nash, Cat Stevens, Mike Stern, John Scofield, Scott Henderson, Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Los Folkristas, Strunz & Farah, Paco De Lucia, Michael Crawford, Billy Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Pat Metheny, The Bad Plus, Medeski Martin & Wood, Meshell Nedeogocello, John Zorn, Frank Zappa, Mike Ness, Bootsy Collins, Jaco Pastorius, John Denver, Rage Against The Machine, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Neil Young, U2, Wynton Marsalis, Howlin Wolfe, Muddy Waters, The Ventures, Dick Dale, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Peter Gabriel, Henry Mancini, Alan Parsons Project, Geddy Lee, James Jamerson,Diagble Planets, Andy Narell, The Yardbirds, The Birds, Red Cross, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Nina Hagen, Doc Watson, Alice & Chains, John Mellencamp, Art Of Noise, Vangelis, Tomita, Jeff Linsky, The Hellcasters, Link Ray and his Raymen, Jerry Goldsmith, Edith Piaf, Neil Schon, Bjork, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ray Brown, Joe Pass, Lyle Lovette, Joe Jackson, Rimsky Korsakov, Jerry Herman, Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Phillip Glass, Ornette Coleman, Alison Kraus, Elvis Costello, Woody Shaw, Buddy Rich, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion, Jeff Beck, Gerald Wilson, The Cramps, The Gypsy Kings, Charlie Parker, Carl Orf, Paul Young, Howard Jones, Queen, Berlin, Screaming Headless Torsos, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Ravi Shankar, Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, John Coltrane, Cachao, Dixie Chicks, John McLaughlin, J.S. Bach, Dimtri Shostakovich and a that's where I'll stop since I could write a hundred more. One thing you can say is that I’m no musical zealot. In the scheme of existence, all good music is valid and has it’s place and we’re lucky to have so much diversity in the world. It's not a coincidence that "Super String Theory" has music references. This art form crosses many planes of thought, emotions, existence and love that we're just starting to learn about.

Future Plans:

Touring, writing and inventing new ways of creating good music.