The St. Divine Band
Jesse Barnes
Jesse Barnes is a lifelong musician and graduate of the prestigious New School with a concentration in Jazz. Jesse lends his his extensive talent to St. Divine, playing both stand up and electric bass. Before joining St. Divine, Jesse toured Europe and the United States as a founding member of the folk rock band, Oakley Hall (Merge Records) and also played with Will Croxton in Them Sinners, a Brooklyn based studio recording band with numerous acclaimed releases.
Jesse is also an accomplished and creative immersive audio visual artist as well as an extremely versatile musician known for his ability to perform in any genre from jazz to punk, country, hard rock, reggae, and funk. Soft spoken and adored by his bandmates, kids, and certain species of wildlife, when not recording or performing, Jesse can be found staring at squirrels. Sometimes, the squirrels blink first.
Michael Ratti
Michael Ratti is the drummer for St. Divine. Michael is also a well known and in demand session drummer with unrelenting talent and too many credits to list. Michael has played with Them Sinners with Will and Jesse. He has played with Ivan Julian & The Magnificent Six, Hot Hero Sandwich, Morgen, the Nails, Rex Smith, Jay Black and the Americans (along with Walter Becker and Donald Fagan of Steely Dan).
Michael is a highly sought after drummer on the New York City and New Jersey circuit. He has recorded on numerous albums on a multitude of labels including Columbia, United Artists, CBS, and RCA. It is rumored that Michael Ratti may be the only drummer who has played both Madison Square Garden and the Parkside Lounge.
Philip Y
Philip is the lead guitarist for St. Divine. He previously played with Will in the band DriverX. In addition to St. Divine, Philip is also a member of the band The Side Effect as well as Modern Beast. An expressive and intense guitarist, Philip is also very mysterious and enigmatic. His quiet reserve is an intriguing contrast to the energetic power of his performances. If you are curious about the charisma and mystique surrounding Philip Y, well too bad. He won’t even tell us his last name. In this day and age, it might seem that we are entitled to know everything about everyone. We’re not.
Site photography: Otis Casey, Maegan Dolan, James Roy, Sean Younger Thomas.