JIM RUTH - Bass & Vocals
From his first band in junior high school - Beefy & the Meatballs - Jim has been a rock and roller. Cutting his teeth in Yellow Knife Mines in Reading, Pennsylvania, during the mid-70’s, Jim has played in a myriad of bands and small groups, in settings from bars to churches, in PA, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois. A versatile musician, through the years he has migrated from keyboards and alto sax to acoustic guitar, and is now concentrating on bass guitar. All the while, his vocal skills have been front and center, as well as in back, filling in the harmonies. Previous IL bands include Back in Time and Gray Matter.
Jim’s musical tastes span the spectrum from classical to classic rock, from prog rock to contemporary. His favorite bands include Genesis (Gabriel era), Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead (we miss you, Jerry), The Eagles, Emerson Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, and CSN&Y. His rock idols include Keith Emerson, Tony Banks, Tony Levin and Jimmy Paige. Jim loves to play live, feeding off the energy on the dance floor.
Jim gigs with his Ibanez SR700 4-string bass through a Peavey MAX450 amp. His keyboard collection includes his original 1974 Fender Rhodes 73, a Korg SV-1 stage piano, and a Korg Triton 61 workstation. His guitars include a vintage 1976 USA Fender Stratocaster, an Alvarez 6-string A/E, and a Takamine 12-string A/E.
Meet the Band
Launch Code came together over a few glasses of beer and spicy chicken wings. Jim (bass) and Tom (drums)had been playing with another band 'Gray Matter' which had recently disbanded. Sumit (guitar) and Raj (vocals) had played together in another local area band 'Power of Circus' which played the western suburbs for over 7 years and then disbanded as well.
When these four seasoned veterans of the local rock scene met in a sports bar in the summer of 2013, Launch Code was born. The details of how the band decided on the name are still a little fuzzy due to the copious amounts of beer consumed that night.
Starting out as a 4 piece band, Launch Code has been playing the local circuit. With Will (keys), also ex Power of Circus, joining the band in late 2013, the lineup was complete. Subsequently, Will had to leave the band in 2015 due to personal reasons.
Lorraine joined the band in January 2017 bringing her keys and bass talents to the band .
Give us a call or use the booking inquiry form and lets talk about what we can do for your next event.
RAJESH CHAR - Lead Vocals
Rajesh has been singing in bands since high school. Watching music videos on MTV (when it actually was a channel about music!) in the 80s, he imagined himself with a mic in hand serenading a crowd of screaming fans. Not much has changed since those days - well, except the screaming fans.
Fast forward 25 years - " I still feel the same excitement and nervous energy I did the first time I got up on stage to front my high school band. When I perform, I like to feed off the energy of the crowd. Playing songs that my audience relates to and can sing along to is very important to me, and interacting with the crowd is a big part of that. " - says Rajesh.
Rajesh draws on influences from musicians and bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd, Lenny Kravitz and Maroon 5 just to name a few. Favorite vocalists are Annie Lennox, Phil Collins, Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, Michael Buble and Rob Thomas.
SUMIT ROY - Guitars
Young enough to rock’n roll – never old enough to die! (with apologies to Jethro Tull). That has been Sumit’s mantra since he first picked up the guitar at the late age of 18. And the album that inspired him to do so? Yes , you guessed it – Machine Head by Deep Purple. Ritchie Blackmore’s smoking solos on Lazy, Pictures of Home and of course Smoke on the Water started a love affair with the guitar that continues to this day.
Sumit loves to play a wide variety of music. From classic rock to contemporary, he makes sure to enjoy the music together with his audience. From local Battle of the Bands contests, to bars, private parties and college festivals, Sumit likes to keep rocking. His favorite bands are Deep Purple, Queen, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Santana, The Beatles, Dream Theater and of course, Sir Paul. As you can tell, its mostly classic rock. But wait! he has also been caught listening to Bruno Mars, Daft, Avicii and his new favorite, Muse.
Sumit’s current guitar collection includes a Fender Strat Plus, ESP Ltd 1000 EC Goldtop, a PRS CE 22 and his pride and joy, a PRS Signature Limited from the PRS custom shop. Lately, he has been playing his Dean Tagliare Z Glide quite a bit. He mostly gigs with a Line 6 DT25 Head going thru 2 12” Celestions but has been known to also pull out his Mesa Boogie Stiletto and 4X12 Marshall cabinet for bigger gigs. Although he has been a big fan of Line 6 pedals in the past, he has currently simplified his pedalboard with all analog pedals, from TC, Boss, EH and Pigtronix to name a few.
TOM BEATTY - Drums & Vocals
Tom has been a member in numerous Chicago area bands since the 1980's. Previous groups such as Vaulted, Ali and the Thieves, Wavelength and Blind Reality, to name a few, all met with varying degrees of success on a local level. In his earlier playing days, drumming greats like John Bonham, Ian Paice and Carl Palmer were a huge influence. As the decades have passed, more recent guys, both session players and band drummers have made quite an impact, as well.
Tom uses mainly Ludwig drums and Zildjian cymbals. In addition to employing solid musicianship to the drum beats, fills and patterns that he plays, he also is contributing vocally, singing both background and lead parts to help round out the diverse variety of songs within the Launch Code set lists.
