Two decades have passed since SONS OF RA emerged onto Chicago’s scene with their fusion of heavy prog, jazz, math rock, and elements of avant garde music. Initially a line-blurring experiment, the trio’s most recent work has proven the band’s sound to jazz fusion aficionados, math and progressive rock purists alike while holding their own on bills on the Midwestern heavy music scenes.
Formed by guitarist Erik Oldman Vecchione (Mare Crisium, Afrofuturistics), drummer Mike Rataj (Arbogast, Mine Collapse), and saxophonist/bassist Keith Wakefield (Jan King And Medicine Ball, Afrofuturistics), SONS OF RA independently released four EPs since 2016, culminating with the internationally critically acclaimed six-part suite Tropic Of Cancer in 2024.
Having drawn deeply from individual passions and stories, SONS OF RA’s evolution continues with their full-length album debut, Standard Deviation, diving deeper into their roots of avant-garde jazz, fusion, math and progressive rock, while maintaining a powerful metallic crunch. The album features interpretations of compositions from jazz legends Carla Bley, John Coltrane, and Don Ellis, balanced with a collection of original compositions reflecting the group’s diverse influences.
Standard Deviation was recorded and mixed by Spenser Morris (Saor, Panopticon, Vukari) at Palisade Studios in Chicago and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Alan Douches at West West Side Sound in New York. Additionally, the album features guest performances by bassist Stephen Reichelt (Morgue Supplier, Drug Honkey, Mare Crisium), percussionist Paul Abella, and flautist Isaiah Sanderman. The cover art is a painting commissioned by the band from Chicago-area artist Nick Gurley, layout was handled by Erik Oldman Vecchione with photography from Sam Castellano at Doozy and Vacant Era Photography.
“For the overall concept of the album, we started to experiment with these different facets of performance and arrangement paradigms live while working through some jazz standards and compositions. We grappled with being a heavy band at our core. Erik didn’t want to just keep writing more of the same troupe of prog-metal riffs from our first and second EPs. Mike was interested in exploring other genres and infusing different elements while maintaining intensity and heaviness. Keith was rediscovering the tenor saxophone while we were looking at a way to be able to perform with more than three instrumental roles live, bringing in live looping and synthesizers. A lot of rhythmic expressions from math rock, funk, free and avant garde jazz, made their way into our sound and influenced the selection of standards and compositions we decided to record for the album. The original pieces stemmed from the desire to explore other genres. Some of the compositions were brought fully formed to the group, while others went through a newer, more collaborative, rhythm-driven writing process to bring out the different stylistic flavors.”
Standard Deviation will be released on April 11th on digital, CD, and LP through the Lasers Edge Group’s instrumental branch, Free Electric Sound.
A band constantly on the go, SONS OF RA is booking live events and tour dates surrounding the release of Standard Deviation, including a hometown listening party for the album April 4th, a hometown release show on April 12th, and shows in Indiana and Kentucky April 25th and 26th, with more being booked. Expect a flurry of live updates to post over the weeks ahead alongside additional videos/singles from the LP.
Sons Of Ra
Standard Deviation
- Sons Of Ra – Disintegration (Alabama Revisited)
- Sons Of Ra – Outside Looking In
- Sons Of Ra – Don’t Know Yet
- Sons Of Ra – Intrepidation
- Sons Of Ra – Vashkar
- Sons Of Ra – Upstart
- Sons Of Ra – Porous Silver
- Sons Of Ra – Nature Boy
- Sons Of Ra – Lividity and the Ascension
SONS OF RA Live/Events:
4/04/2024 Bokeh Lounge – Chicago, IL *album listening party
4/12/2025 Reggies – Chicago, IL *album release show w/ Wave Cage, Puke In The Icetray
4/25/2025 North End Pub – Lafayette, IN
4/26/2024 Planet of the Tapes – Louisville, KY
FOR FANS OF:
Gordian Knot, Zombi, Aziola Cry, Secret Chiefs 3, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, early-The Mars Volta, Consider The Source, The Aristocrats, Pyrithe, Nero Di Marte
GENRES:
Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Instrumental
More Info:
https://www.youtube.com/@sonsofra2813
https://www.instagram.com/sonsofra2014
https://www.facebook.com/pg/sonsofrachicago
