Rai Thistlethwayte – Thirsty Merc / Joe Satriani / Sun Rai

We speak with the amazing Rai Thistlethwayte on his incredible international career as an acclaimed keyboard player across a range of genres. As you’ll hear / see, Rai is an incredibly down-to-earth and insightful musician with some great perspectives on the keyboard playing life. Enjoy! To listen / watch: Audio-only: click on the play button in the audio player above, or: Video: watch the embedded video below or check it and previous episodes out on our YouTube Channel Discussion topics covered during the show (links will open in new tab):   Rai’s website Moving from ‘nerdy’ keyboard player to guitar wielding front-man of a rock band (and doing both) Rai’s musical upbringing Early exposure to the music industry and record contracts Rai and Thirsty Merc in action – The Grind Thirsty Merc Live Balancing the different aspects of a music career in both Australia and overseas Rai’s inspirations Starting out in the US: ‘It’s Sixty bucks and a punch in the face’ Rai in action with Louis Cole and KNOWER: Overtime Working with Joe Satriani Rai with Joe Satriani – The Elephants of Mars Rai’s Joe Satriani tour gear video Cosmic Psychos – Better in the Shed Working with Aaron Sterling Aaron Sterling – Sound of Sterloid Vol 1 Sun Rai – San Franciso Street (featuring Aaron Sterling)  Rai’s inspiring song Man Oh Man  Dealing with imposter syndrome / times of feeling down Lianne La Havas – Weird Fishes On setting up sounds for a Joe Satriani tour using Nord keyboards only The Embertone Walker 1955 Concert D Love for Spectrasonics’ releases Question from listener Walter Galindo on hand independence Joe Satriani band pre-show ceremony Tag a Keyboard Player:  Dennis Hamm, Aaron Parks Desert Island Discs: Machine Head – Deep Purple, The Sixteen Men of Tain – Alan Holdsworth, Mr Bungle – Mr Bungle, Standards Vol. 2 – Keith Jarrett, Mama Said – Lenny Kravitz, honourable mention to Hejira – Joni Mitchell Key links: Buy some keyboard related merchandise Drop us a line via the website, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter , TikTok or LinkedIn Complete our listener survey to help us improve the show, it only takes 90 seconds. Support us on Patreon and receive bonus content Check out our podcast guest playlist on Spotify to get a taste of each guest’s creations.The post Rai Thistlethwayte – Thirsty Merc / Joe Satriani / Sun Rai appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.