Rami Jaffe
| Rami Jaffee | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 March 1969 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, United States |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Keyboards, accordion, harmonica |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Website | http://www.ramijaffee.com |
| Notable instruments | |
|
Hammond B3 Mellotron M4000D Farfisa Organ Wurlitzer 200 |
|
Rami Jaffee (born 11 March 1969 in Los Angeles), is best known as the keyboardist of Foo Fighters and work for several bands and artists, including The Wallflowers, Pete Yorn, Soul Asylum, Stone Sour, Joseph Arthur and Coheed and Cambria.
Jaffee bought his first keyboard at age 13. He soon started to play with various local bands while attending Fairfax High School. During his high school years, he often spent time at Canter's Deli, down the street from his high school on Fairfax Avenue. Canter's Deli, or more specifically, The Kibitz Room (a small bar at the back of the deli), proved to be an important influence in Rami's musical career.
Rami briefly attended Santa Monica College after high school, but decided he'd learn more from the continued experience of playing music live. He began making a name for himself in and around Los Angeles as he developed his unique keyboard sound while playing with a number of local bands. Soon Rami was in high demand for studio work.
Around 1989, Jakob Dylan and his friend Tobi Miller formed a group "the Apples." They were looking for a keyboard player. While asking around, Rami Jaffee's name constantly came up, but was initially rejected due to his reputation for not joining groups. Jaffee heard about Dylan's search through a mutual friend, and after listening to their demo tape quickly joined.
A few weeks later the Apples had changed their name to the Wallflowers, and played in a number of local clubs. Their performances earned them their first record deal with Virgin Records. In 1992, the Wallflowers released their first self-titled album.
They toured extensively through the U.S. and Canada in 1992 and the Spring of 1993. They opened for bands such as Cracker, the Spin Doctors and 10,000 Maniacs and headlined some shows themselves. When they returned home there was a shakeup at Virgin and they lost the two contacts that had originally been interested in the band's talent. The album wasn't a huge seller and the band soon felt that Virgin had lost interest in them. In addition, Virgin began trying to use the Dylan name to sell records— a tactic the band, and especially Jakob, refused to cater to. Eventually they asked to be let out of their contract. Virgin agreed, and they left in the summer of 1993. Unfortunately, the word got around that the band was "difficult", which led to almost a year of uninterest from the record companies. Rami explains:
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