the murmurations
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BIO
The Murmurations is a creation of Jamie Drake, a songwriter, musician, and novelist from Fort Wayne, IN. Formed in 2017, the band grew out of the Bird Queen writing and recording period (2012-2016) and in fact received its name As an outgrowth of the bird theme and of Jamie's fascination with watching large groups of birds fly, swoop, and stand still on power lines and cellphone towers. While the group's lineup has changed somewhat since the initial rehearsals in 2017, Jamie continues to play guitars and sing, and he is joined by Chris Ratsabout on bass, Tyler Damerell on lead guitars, and Sean Wooldridge on drums. As of September, 2020, the band has resumed recording Box of Stars. The band prepares to enter Silverbirch Studios together in April.
Chris Ratsabout is from Fort Wayne, Indiana. At a young age, trading CD's and discovering new bands with friends led to his interest in rock and heavier music. He started taking bass lessons in 2004 and transitioned to guitar shortly after. As a guitarist, he played in various bands in high school. He also had the privilege to be an instrumentalist in the Carroll Show Choirs backup band which allowed him to travel and play shows in cities like Orlando, Chicago, Nashville, and New York City. Currently, he has returned to playing bass and dedicates his time to The Murmurations and his own studio project DEL AURA. These creative outlets give him the chance to experiment in genres such as rock, metal, progressive, electronic, and jazz. He constantly seeks opportunities to grow and learn to further improve his skills as a musician and artist.
Sean Wooldridge is busy constructing his bio for this site. He plays the drums, sings harmonies, and is the lead engineer on Box of Stars.
Tyler F. Damerell is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from Fort Wayne, IN. As a child, he was surrounded by music but received a crash course in rock, thanks to the musical tastes of his family. With their further encouragement, he got his first guitar as a Christmas gift at age 7, and he took off into the world of music from there, teaching himself by ear and learning his favorite songs by his favorite artists, though he eventually began formal lessons to learn technique and music theory. He played in various rock groups and jazz ensembles before studying briefly at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. After returning to Fort Wayne, Tyler reconnected with Jamie, who recruited his talents to bring In the Shadow of the Bird Queen to local audiences in an explosive live show with a full band. He’s been a member of The Murmurations ever since. In addition to rocking guitar, backing vocals, and occasionally keyboards for The Murmurations, Tyler also records his own studio music and composes written music for various ensemble types.
Jamie Drake was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He taught himself how to play the guitar but not seriously until after he finished graduate school in 1999. Within two years, Jamie was playing nearly every day and he began to write his first songs. Between 2003 and 2012, Jamie produced seven home recordings of original music, albeit not of the best quality. Regardless, Jamie's songwriting continued and improved, and it eventually led to writing of a different kind: fiction and the novels The Appleseeds (2012) and The Places We Lived (2016) . A turning point occurred with what became the Bird Queen sessions. Working with a large collection of songs, Jamie finally found his voice and it emerged from the album In the Shadow of the Bird Queen (2016) and the novelization of the Bird Queen character, Testament (2019). Jamie and the band were in recording sessions when the Covid shutdown occurred. Unable to record together at first, Jamie continued on his own and produced The Stars Were Made to Love You (LP) and Requiem for the Bird Queen (EP), while also working intermittently on the second Bird Queen novel, Covenant.