Welcome to THF blog! Getting to know: Raina Mullen

Let me introduce myself...

Welcome, Happy Fits friends - it’s an absolute pleasure to have you here!

I have the honor of kicking off the first post to our Substack community, and I’d like to share a little bit about myself! Before we get started, maybe you’d like something to listen to in the background while you read: Raina’s Spring Playlist. Making playlists for chapters of my life has always been a fun hobby of mine and it forces me to discover new music, too.

Recording in Woodstock, NY August, 2024

Throughout my entire time in college I was heavily involved in the radio station we had on campus. It actually lead me to my first job in the music industry - Hospitality at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself - let’s go back a bit further, shall we?

Born and raised in Old Lyme, Connecticut, I spent my childhood with three older sisters, a dog, two cats, and a chinchilla I had until he was about 20 years old. From early on, I was involved in music: forced piano lessons (I wish I never quit), choir in every school system, school musicals, and local talent shows. My parents owned a local blues/biker bar, and my dad booked musicians from all over the country. Looking back, I realize that must have been one of the first few musical seeds planted in my soul. For years, my dad hosted vintage car shows at Ocean Beach Park in New London, CT, and he played the greatest Motown, rock, oldies, and doo-wop music you could find. Music was always in the air.

A photo I took on my most recent trip home to Old Lyme.

From age seven, I knew I wanted to be a singer. Every summer, my family would go to a campground that hosted a talent show for kids. I mustered up the courage to make up a dance and sing Christina Aguilera’s “Come On Over Baby.” Age appropriate? Nope. Did I win? Yup. I was changed forever. It was the confidence boost and affirmation that I could do whatever I wanted.

When I was in middle school, my sister Kayla started attending a summer camp for the creative arts. The camp is called YPI (it’s still going strong), and it’s been a pillar of my life in so many ways. I think I was 12 at the time when I went to my first week of sleepaway camp, and I loved every second. I made friendships that have lasted throughout my life and, more importantly, I learned how to write songs. Real songs. I was expressing my emotions through music for the first time, and it made dealing with being an insufferable teenager a little bit easier. I loved that camp so much that after I aged out, I became a counselor and eventually a songwriting teacher there.

My second write up for music in The Day newspaper in New London, CT and The Lyme Times. 2017

When I graduated high school, I really didn’t want to go to college. I wanted to pursue music but was encouraged to focus on education first. I’m glad I did — it all worked out anyway. I attended Manhattanville College (now University) in Purchase, NY, and got my BA in Music Business. My freshman year, I got involved with the campus radio station and built a strong community of music lovers around me. I helped host events and concerts on campus and performed my songs at “the pub.” Performing my originals and learning covers helped build my confidence on stage.

Performing on Manhattanville’s quad, 2013

The radio station got connected with a local venue — one of the best theaters in the area — The Capitol Theatre. I became friends with the head of the marketing team, and she suggested I apply for a job there. I got the job in my senior year and worked there until I graduated. That job changed my life because of the people I met.

My future changed in one night. New Year’s Eve, 2014, I met the person who I would collaborate with for the next ten years. My future band mate, Tom Hamilton, was performing in a band called Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, one of the best Grateful Dead cover bands. I was listening to the music of the Dead from underneath the stage and beginning to understand what it really meant to be a true artist in music. That catalog of music grew to be my most comforting thing to listen to.

Tom and I began to collaborate on finishing my very first EP. I would travel to Philadelphia in my last semester of college and understand what it meant to work in a real studio. Tom asked me to join his band, American Babies, and move to Philly after college. I said yes without a doubt in my heart that this was the path I was meant to travel. In the following three years I toured the country with our band and honed my chops as a jam/rock guitar player and singer. We performed my songs as well and I watched them blossom into something I had only dreamt of.

American Babies with Bob Weir at Sweetwater Music Hall 2016

American Babies was my foundation, and our next project, Ghost Light, became my life force. We started a new band together and recorded our first album in 2017/2018. It was my world. We toured the country, played music cruises, and even got to play with Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead. In such a short amount of time I went from my dorm room to hotels, vans, greenrooms, and festivals. I co-wrote the material with Tom and our bandmates and we became family. But sometimes families can fall apart. In 2022 we released our second album, The Healing, and went on one fall tour to push that record, and then our piano player quit the band. I cannot understate how much I loved this project, what we were creating together, and what it taught me every time we stood on stage and played together. We were at a standstill and needed time to figure out our next steps.

It was in rehearsals for the very last festival we played as a band I got message from Calvin asking if I’d be interested in auditioning to play with The Happy Fits at Lollapalooza. I got the gig, focused on learning the material, and before I knew it I was in a new chapter. This is a vlog I made from that time: Vlog.

My boyfriend, Joe Lee, had created a couple music videos for The Happy Fits that I got to be apart of. I was just a helping hand, moving lights and equipment, and it was the “She Wants Me” music video that introduced me to the band. If you look really closely in the final dance/disco ball scene you can see a yellow beanie behind a counter, that’s me running lights. At that time it was the middle of the pandemic and Ghost Light was working on our second record. It was so much fun to work on that video as well as the “Around and Around” video as well.

And that, ladies and gents, is how we got to where we are now. This new chapter of The Happy Fits is one that I’m thrilled to be apart of. To make music for a living is one of the greatest gifts in the world. To play that music for people all over the world is an extraordinary thing. I am so excited to get to know this community and for you all to get to know me, and this era of “The Fits” as I like to say in casual conversation. Thank you for welcoming me into your world and I can’t wait to see what this era holds for all of us.

Be well and be kind.

with love,

Raina Mullen