Rainmaker

Rainmaker is a 4-piece band from the San Francisco Bay Area. They blend vintage and modern sounds and draw upon Roots Music, Indie Rock, Funk, and Soul. Since forming in 2005, Rainmaker has released two studio albums and logged hundreds of shows, spreading their infectious grooves, strong songwriting, and family style vocal harmonies throughout California and beyond.



Rainmaker began when John-Paul McLean (bass/vocals) and Jonathan Chi (guitar/vocals) met on their first day at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. They immediately began writing and gigging together wherever they could. After leaving Boston and Berklee, they moved to Northern California, and began working in recording studios while continuing to write and gig as a duo. Since then they have played just about every conceivable studio role, from engineering to producing, playing as session musicians, and recording and producing their own records. They’ve had the opportunity to work with artists including: Jolie Holland, Galactic, Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussein, Bernie Worrell of P-Funk, New Monsoon, Vinyl, Garaj Mahal, Bill Frisell, and many others.



After playing with dozens of musicians in hopes of forming a 4-piece band, Jon and JP were lucky enough to connect with drummer Inkx Herman. Inkx was the house drummer at the legendary Shifty Records in Johannesburg, South Africa. After leaving South Africa, he has worked with artists such as Paul Simon, Sting, Hugh Masekela, and Vusi Mahlasela. Inkx’s funky grooves, and song-oriented approach to drumming instantly clicked with JP and Jon.



Shortly after, Rainmaker began playing with keyboardist Jordan Feinstein. Jordan’s vintage keyboard stylings and gritty harmony vocals rounded out Rainmaker perfectly. Jordan has played with artists including: G Love, Brett Dennen, George Porter, Tea Leaf Green, and many more.



Through countless hours on the stage and in the studio together, Rainmaker has developed an undeniable chemistry. They have appeared at festivals, theaters, and clubs in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Colorado. In 2007, they were named runnerup in Relix Magazine’s Jamoff!, a national competition for unsigned bands. After catching a live Rainmaker show, Jim Greer, producer for Galactic observed, “They are one of the tightest bands I’ve seen in quite some time. Rainmaker is a band worth paying attention to.”