# Rajiv Patel

Rajiv Patel is an American musician and solo guitarist.

## Career
### Patel's Bands

Soon after Before Braille recorded its debut LP, The Rumor, Patel was recruited and joined the band as its new lead guitarist. Although only in high school, Patel would influenced the style of Before Braille's music.
Patel is also known for his work as lead bass player in the band The Letterpress. Unlike many other bands, The Letterpress lacked any guitars, featuring only two bass players and a drummer. This, however, allowed the band to showcase Patel's skills in quite a different way to make up for the lack of guitarists.

### Patel's solo work

In addition to his work as a member of various bands, Patel garnered attention as a solo guitarist. Because of his unique style, which draws on rock and Middle-Eastern influences, many critics agree that his music might take a couple listens to get used to, yet all appear to enjoy his work, noting that "If you take the time to get into it, you’ll REALLY like this." Ron Trembath at FensePost.com provides another example of the critical acclaim for Patel's solo work, calling it "the fresh cigarette on a Sunday morning or, if you prefer, the black coffee for the unsurpassed rain. This is just plain wonderful."
Critics are "blown away by what an amazing guitarist he is" and finding it "hard to believe someone could make that much music with just one instrument".

### Patel's musical hiatus and return

In 2004, Patel took a two-year hiatus from the music industry to do missionary work in Peru for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). After returning from Peru, Patel got back into music. However, because Before Braille broke up while he was still in South America, he initially pursued other projects. One of them, for example, was a venture with former members of Before Braille and Jared Woosley of Fivespeed called Red Means Red, although it does not appear that this band ever really got off the ground. Then in 2009, Patel released his first solo recording in five years, the Get Phased EP, and toured with Dear and the Headlights as both an opening act, as well as its bass player.

## Discography
### Solo albums

| Release date | Title | Label | Notes |
| 2003 | Obey the Cattle | Sunset Alliance | |
| 2004 | Of Black Water | Sunset Alliance | |
| 2009 | Get Phased EP | Sunset Alliance | This was initially released as a tour EP, that later became available to the broader public. |

### Albums with bands

| Release date | Band | Title | Label | Notes |
| ? | The Retaliation for What They Have Done to Us | Self-Titled | Sunset Alliance | Patel's song Bipolar Bear, which appears on his Of Black Water album, is a hidden track on this album. |
| 2003 | The Letterpress | Input/Output | Sunset Alliance | Ravij Patel played bass in this band instead of guitar. |
| 2004 | Before Braille | Cattle Punching on a Jack Rabbit EP | Sunset Alliance | |
| 2004 | Before Braille | Balance and Timing EP | Sunset Alliance, Bad News Bears Records | |
| 2005 | Before Braille | Tired of Not Being Away From Here | Sunset Alliance, You and Whose Army? Records | |
| 2009 | Before Braille | Kill the Messenger, Keep the Message | Sunset Alliance | |
| 2009 | Before Braille | Spring Cleaning | Sunset Alliance | The songs Ticker Tape Charade and Oh Well appear to be directly influenced by Patel's Make Like a Tree and Deer in the Headlights, respectively. |
| 2011 | Before Braille | Instrumentals | Sunset Alliance | |

### Solo Contributions to Compilations

* Americopa Mantle, Vol. 1 (Sunset Alliance, 2003)
       Song: Rock 'N Roll Friends Check Each Others' Books Back In