Instrumental rock musician and San Francisco Bay Area music scene veteran ED RAWLINGS brings decades of material to life with his debut solo album A FOOLISH INCONSISTENCY. His original songs feature musical moods ranging from dark and melancholy to lazy afternoon music, some joyful romps, a few pop-ish tunes, and even a short detour into the blues. Produced by Bay Area veteran producer/engineer Michael Rosen at East Bay Recorders in Oakland, A Foolish Inconsistency is available October 25, 2024, on CD and music streaming services.

Ed Rawlings has been playing in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for over forty years. In the eighties and nineties, Ed wrote songs and played lead guitar with several local bands including the punk/new wave bands Hostages and Die Bossa Nova, and the instrumental band Lost Lake.

Hostages played often at notable clubs of the day like Mabuhay Gardens, Sound of Music, The Palms, The Stone, Berkeley Square, The On Broadway, The Stud, and The I-Beam -- in addition to their infamous South-of-Market loft parties at their San Francisco home base, The Crab Palace. Hostages released the single “Inside Houses” in 1983.

Ed and Hostages lead singer Ray Vaughn went on to form the band Die Bossa Nova in 1985 with a new set of songs. They continued to play in the San Francisco new wave scene at the DNA Lounge, Club 9, the I-Beam, the 181 Club, The Kennel Club, and more. They also made two appearances at the annual San Francisco Folsom Street Fair. Ed reunited with singer/songwriter Ray Vaughn in 2013 to back him up on his new solo adventure, playing guitar on the Ray Vaughn albums Way Down Low and Wounded Bird.

Following his time with Die Bossa Nova, Ed Rawlings joined the instrumental band Lost Lake, playing original music along with popular surf and instrumental music covers in San Francisco and East Bay clubs. Ed’s love for instrumental music was now starting to see the light of day. Lost Lake released their album Without a Paddle in 1999, featuring all-original instrumental rock songs written by the band and produced by Michael Rosen. Lost Lake followed up that release with their album Return to Whatever in 2012. Mixed and edited by Ed Rawlings himself, Return to Whatever features a set of live instrumental improvisation tracks and vocal covers of popular rock songs.

While playing guitar and writing songs in these bands, Ed also composed and recorded many rough versions of his own instrumental songs. During the COVID pandemic Ed had a lot of time to spend at home, in the headphones, at the computer. Writing new songs. Recording demo versions to flesh them out. Discarding some, reviving others. He found some surprising gems on old reel-to-reel tapes from the late seventies, along with more recent songs scattered about on cassettes and computer recordings – all waiting for their time to come to life. Ed Rawlings finally got the material into a proper recording studio with Michael Rosen producing and backed by bassist Uriah Duffy and drummer Jeff Campitelli (both veterans of instrumental rock music), and keyboardist Nick O’Connor. The songs are finally alive!

A Foolish Inconsistency is available November 1, 2024, on CD and music streaming services.