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The
Beautiful Losers are the musical duo made up of singer/songwriter Raj
Ramayya and
guitarist Brett
Boyd. Self-described as "electro-acoustic
Indian alternative rock", The Beautiful Losers'
music focuses on vocal melodies accompanied by electric
and acoustic
guitars
and adds elements of traditional East Indian instrumentation
and world music. TBL are influenced by classic artists
such as The Beatles, Led
Zeppelin, The Eagles, U2, Nirvana,
and Fleetwood Mac,
yet still represent the modern sound of artists like Travis, Coldplay, Nittin
Sawhney, and Radiohead. TBL's
live show features Ramayya and Boyd on vocals and guitars
accompanied
by musicians on bass, drums, violin,
and sometimes the use of digital backtracks.
Recent
activities include airplay on San Francisco radio station
KFOG and being featured on their Local
Scene 5 CD, a show at the Oakland
Art & Soul Festival sharing the stage
with The Indigo Girls and Matt Nathanson, and their own "San
Francisco Summer of Love" shows at popular venues throughout the Bay Are. Other
significant activities include playing the Fuji
Rock Festival 2005 in Japan, appearing
in San Francisco at the Radio
Alice Emerging Artist Showcase and the Recording
Academy (Grammy) Showcase, and working
with Amnesty International in their Songs For Human Rights
and Rock For Human Rights events.
TBL also appear frequently at Japanese animation conventions
in the U.S. where they are gaining popularity in the anime
community. Besides their frequent activities in San Francisco
and Tokyo, TBL have also toured Seattle and have pending
dates in the L.A and Orange county areas. In addition, TBL
are making roads into Canada and performed at Canadian
Music Week 2005.
Ramayya
and Boyd recorded their first full-length CD in San Francisco
with
producer John Rewind,
and it was released in Japan on March 23, 2005 by Neoplex
Records and Virgin
Music Japan. The album features a host of distinguished guest
artists including Pete Sears (Jefferson
Starship, Rod Stewart),
Habib Khan (the
premier Indian sitarist in North America),
Bobby Black (steel
guitar virtuoso for Commander Cody and Asleep At The Wheel),
and Eric Gorfain (James
Blunt, Christina Aguilera, Page & Plant). The
Beautiful Losers' latest CD "Peace,
Love, & Xmas" was released
in Japan November 23, 2005 on their own Beautiful Records
label, and has received critical acclaim and frequent broadcast
on Japanese radio and television.
TBL's
song "Alien Sun" has
been featured on National Public Radio's syndicated show "All
Songs Considered" where
it received rave reviews. Alien Sun is also now in regular
rotation on Tokyo's number one radio station (76.1 Inter
FM), and the Alien
Sun video is being in rotation on MTV
Japan and Sony Music On! TV along with their second video
"Fairweather
Friend" from the hit Japanese TV
Tokyo drama
Deep
Love.
Ramayya
and Boyd often perform in Japan where they do various work
in music.
Ramayya is well known for his collaborations
with Yoko Kanno having
sung and written the lyrics for Strangers on
the "Wolf's
Rain" soundtrack. He also sings "Ask
DNA"
and penned the lyrics for "Cosmic
Dare" on the Cowboy
Bebop movie soundtrack,
and is credited with voice acting work including Capcom's
Biohazard game Heroes
Never Die (known as Resident
Evil: Dead Aim in the US).
Boyd's
work in Japan includes producing and writing lyrics for
artists
such as Japanese punk super heroes Hi-STANDARD and
Hawaiian 6. He is also the guitarist for the Japanese digital
hardcore band Wiggle, which is known for their eccentric
pieces created for the TV ad campaign which launched Toyota's
revolutionary bB car
(Scion
XB in North America).
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Are you a beautiful loser?
Contradiction, freedom, pain, love,
hate.
Alone in outerspace in a city of millions, knowing yet denying that
change is the only thing that we can count on
in
this life. Are you a beautiful
loser?
These
songs are about you, for you, to comfort you,to bring you
peace of mind to know that
there are others just like you.
From the heart by way
of the soul, no anger just irony. Are you a beautiful
loser?
Family and friends, lovers and fans,
mockers and doubters but in the end we are drawn together.
We always find each other, the true fate of a beautiful loser.
Everything
that we have accomplished and will continue to work for
has come from the hearts
and pockets, skill and love
of those who believed in
us and felt moved by these songs.
Who could ask for anything more?
To
share our music with people all over the world, come as
you are, to put something
beautiful into this
world
is all we have ever wanted. Maybe there is a home for beautiful
losers.
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