Anthony Raneri (born August 9, 1982) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, who is the founder and lead vocalist of the American
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band,
Bayside.
Early life
Raneri grew up in Glen Oaks Village, Queens, New York for which the band takes its name. He founded
Bayside while still attending
Benjamin N. Cardozo High School
Benjamin N. Cardozo High School is a state school, public secondary education in the United States, high school in the Bayside, Queens, Bayside neighborhood of Queens, New York City. The school was named for Benjamin N. Cardozo, who served as List ...
in the late 1990s.
Solo career
By way of his blog, Twitter account and various interviews, there has also been talk of a solo release from frontman Anthony Raneri. On December 4, 2009, at 12:00 am he released a demo version of "The Ballad of Bill the Saint" on his personal Myspace page, the first recorded song from his upcoming solo album.
According to Raneri, the song was recorded one night in
Chris Kirkpatrick
Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick (born October 17, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, music producer, and occasional actor, who is best known for his work as the founding member of the pop group NSYNC, in which he sang countertenor. He al ...
's studio in his own home, after the two met at one of Raneri's solo shows in Orlando, Florida.
On January 22, 2011 in an interview with Alternative Press, Raneri stated that he has no plans to release a solo album any time soon, as he only does his solo work for fun. However, as recently as August 20, 2011, Raneri stated at a solo show he was playing in Rhode Island, "I was thinking about maybe putting out a solo record next year," and also went on to say that he had not revealed to his record label of his intentions about putting out a solo album yet, but joked that they would know of his intentions after he would post a video of the show on the internet.
Raneri began recording his solo EP on December 13 in Los Angeles, CA. Steve Choi from RxBandits, Davey Warsop from
Beat Union
Beat Union was a pop-punk band from Birmingham, Bromsgrove and Redditch, United Kingdom. They were formerly known as Shortcut to Newark. The group has garnered comparisons to Elvis Costello and The Jam, as well as pop punk groups like Green ...
and
Jarrod Alexander
Jarrod Fletcher Alexander (born August 13, 1981) is an American musician who has played with many hardcore punk bands. Alexander has been the drummer for the bands The Suicide File, A Static Lullaby, Dead Country, and more recently, My Chemical ...
of
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...
were announced as his backing band and collaborators on the recording. On December 20, 2011, it was announced via
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
that the solo EP was named ''New Cathedrals'' and was scheduled for an early 2012 release. On December 31, Raneri posted to his
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page that the EP would be released before the start of the "Where's the Band? Tour" in January.
On January 10, 2012, the first song from the EP, "Sandra Partial", was released for free streaming on
Alternative Press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
. Also, via his
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page, Raneri released the artwork and track list of the EP. On January 16, another song from the EP, entitled "Please Don't Leave", was released on
AbsolutePunk
''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to fea ...
. That same day the full EP was released on
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
, and within hours made it to number seven on the iTunes Store Top 10 Alternative Albums chart.
On June 30, 2015, Raneri put out his second solo EP titled Sorry State of Mind. The album was released through Hopeless Records.
Personal life
In late 2015, upon returning to the United States from Bayside's European Tour, Raneri and his wife divorced, whereby each would retain some custody of their daughter. While he was going through this process he lived in a motel in Franklin, Tennessee, unable to return to his native New York, due to his daughter's proximity to the Nashville area, he was essentially stuck in Franklin. Lyrics for Bayside's seventh album ''
Vacancy'' were mostly penned by Raneri while he lived alone in a motel. The album would later get the name ''Vacancy'' with the front cover showing a picture of the motel Raneri stayed in.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raneri, Anthony
1982 births
Living people
American people of Italian descent
People from Queens, New York
Hopeless Records artists
Guitarists from New York (state)
American male guitarists
21st-century American singers
21st-century American guitarists
21st-century American male singers
Benjamin N. Cardozo High School alumni