Tuesday, October 05, 2010

cameron rafati interview!



Cameron Rafati was kind enough to answer some questions for The Sound Session!


Introduce yourself: who are you, where are you from?
My name is Cameron Rafati. I am a singer songwriter/crossover electronic artist. I am originally from Salt Lake City, Utah.

How much does film (and living near Park City, Utah... the home of the Sundance Film Festival) inspire your music? Do you have a favorite film score?

Sundance Film Festival has been a massive help to my career. When I was nominated for best score in '08 I was still a Commercial Real Estate Broker in the Wells Fargo Building on MacArthur and Main in Irvine. I didn’t think about showing up to the ceremony because I thought the award and the pursuit of my dream was not “realistic.” When the Market crashed, I left and knew that was the time to get back into music. Since then I was an Official Artist of Sundance in '09 and was the guitarist this year for PRAS from Fugees as we rocked the Sundance Haiti Fundraiser.

Film has been such a huge influence on my sound because of all this and I am so grateful to be so connected to the festival. I think my favorite scores are Ennio Morricone's “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” and the whole soundtrack for “Last of the Mohicans.”

What have you been listening to lately?
Lately I have been listening to a lot to electronic music. After the popularity of my song “xOx” and after just releasing my new Remix Album, I'm realizing that this is the direction I want to go. It's fun and it fits me more. I'm tired of being another Jack Johnson or Jason Mraz. My voice is loud, I’m 6’6 and I’m a little more flashy and passionate than that genre.

What band/musician, dead or alive, you would love to play with?
I want to one day work with Danger Mouse and Damon Albarn of GORILLAZ. U2, Radiohead and Coldplay are also my heroes. I did get a chance to jam with Hanson [the other] night as I opened for them in Salt Lake and as cheesy as people think they are I was really in the presence of greatness.

Do you have a favorite guilty pleasure band/artist?
HAHAHAHA Celine Dion. I love her song called “I’m Alive.” Sometimes I dance around the house in the morning in my boxers singing it at the top of my lungs.