Meet Shane Ragoonan | Keyboardist/Vocalist for Galaxy Beat & Co-Host for No Latex Needed

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shane Ragoonan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shane, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
With Galaxy Beat, I think what truly has helped us succeed in the six years and counting that we’ve been together is just being ourselves and being confident. Our audience, our fans are intelligent individuals and I feel that they can sense when you’re not putting your heart into something or you’re not confident in what you’re doing onstage. It’s like trying to sell cookies to the mean old man in your neighborhood, if you’re a nervous wreck while trying to sell him something, he’s not gonna pay you any attention whatsoever.

I’ve seen bands try to portray themselves as something that they are not which is not a bad thing, gimmicks are always fun but the problem is I feel they don’t believe in themselves or they don’t go all in with their onstage gimmick and the audience can sense that and when that happens, they ain’t gonna buy what you’re trying to sell them if you catch my drift. Whether we are onstage performing live, recording in a studio, or recording a video for some social media shenanigans, we put our heart and soul into it. Confidence is everything, it can go a long way and I truly think it’s Galaxy Beat’s greatest asset, Shane Ragoonan is The Champ That Runs The Camp, Julio Diaz is The Six String King, and 2-Stixx is Captain Crash-N-Bash, and that’s exactly what you will see when you watch Galaxy Beat perform live.

With No Latex Needed, Rosa and I are constantly trying to find engaging topics to discuss on the podcast whether it’s serial killers, what’s going on in the world of television and/or movies, or even bringing in various special guests to interview. It helps the podcast that we are not afraid to discuss any and all topics like the time we discussed our experience working at a court reporting agency alongside Luxrem’s Peter Alvarez and Bryan Lopez. Our goal in doing that episode was to help others see what red flags to look out for whether they are seeking employment or are currently employed. When we’re not doing episodes of the podcast, we try other ways to engage our fan base with our famous Trivia Tuesday every week on Instagram, in the future, we’d like to have more discussions for our fans not just when listening to the podcast but also in IG posts. For example, recently we had asked for everyone’s predictions in who they think is going to win in various matches at WrestleMania this year and I think a lot of people enjoyed participating in doing that so I would definitely love to do more of those.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
When I was a kid, I was brought up on a lot of hip-hop and rap music from the likes of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Ludacris, DMX, and OutKast just to name a few. While most kids dreamed about being an astronaut or a police officer, I often dreamed about being a musician, performing in front of thousands, making the crowd go wild, hearing raucously chant my name. I constantly dreamed about being a musician and my road to becoming one started back in middle school, I was about 13 years old, I was on the volleyball team and we were on our way to the championship game. We were on a bus and my teammates I remember were joking around freestyling, one of them was beatboxing and everything and I don’t know I felt something inside of me say, “you get in there and you lay down some sick lyrics”. I jumped into the cypher, I freestyled a little bit and all my teammates went nuts! (We ended up winning the championship that night and the year after)

After I graduated from middle school, my mom had me enroll in Miami Lakes Educational Center for their music program, it was at MLEC that I met a man named Matais Oxidine who taught me so many things in being a musician. He not only taught me how to play the piano but he also taught me how to present myself as a musician, he was very adamant about having his students not curse when they recorded music. I thought it was because we were teenagers in high school, I learned years later that he was trying to teach us that in certain settings and/or venues, it’s best to have music that isn’t explicit so that you don’t end up having a short set list due to having so many songs having explicit language in them.

While I was in high school, I would often record my own music, sometimes by myself and other times with some of my friends from my music class. After graduating from high school, I basically retired from recording music for the next five years of my life. I think I was so focused on my studies in college that I felt I didn’t have the time to do anything else. At one point in my life while I was in college, I was extremely depressed after going through what to this day the worst breakup of my life, it’s scary for me to think and/or even say this but I was constantly thinking about drinking myself into a coma at that time.

One day, I remember getting into a pretty bad argument with my ex and I was sitting by the lake at Miami-Dade College North Campus, I was approached by Julio Diaz (my best friend since we were 10 years old) and a man I was introduced to known as 2-Stixx. 2-Stixx was in a band recently and they had disbanded so he was looking for other musicians to just jam with. He found Julio and Julio remembering that I play the keyboard reached out to me to join them. Initially, I wasn’t very interested, I was too depressed but I didn’t want to say no so I agreed and the next day, I dusted off my keyboard that had been sitting in my basement for years and the three of us alongside another musician by the name of Deshantin Accius started jamming whenever we had free time on campus. One day, 2-Stixx suggested that we all start a band to which we all agreed, Deshantin would end up going on a solo career because at the time, I think he was just way too busy with classes in MDC so that just left me, Julio, and 2-Stixx. We spent hours upon hours trying to come up with a name for our new band, I thought my suggestion The Midnight Hour was a sure fire winner but alas, it was not. When all hope seemed lost, out of nowhere like an RKO from Randy Orton, Julio said, “what about Galaxy Beat”? And thus, the polarizing, controversial three man band was created. I regained my confidence and the drive I had to become a better musician and a better performer was over 9000.

In the six years and counting that Galaxy Beat has been together, one thing has been consistent, we love to play multiple genres of music. The way we see it, when you order ice cream, do you just stick to two scoops of vanilla or wouldn’t you rather have a scoop of vanilla AND chocolate with some hot fudge, sprinkles, and a cherry on top? The point I’m trying to make is that there’s a lot of great music out there and it’s not in just one genre, it’s in several. We’re not afraid to perform different genres of music from punk rock to Latin rock and even hip-hop. I think it greatly benefits us because it helps us reach out to an even wider range of audience members, MCs and headbangers alike are welcomed to any Galaxy Beat show!

Later on in life, I was working for a court reporting agency, little did I know that I would meet my soulmate at this agency. First time I met Rosa, I was extremely nervous, I could hardly talk to her, I was as frozen as an iceberg. I’ll never forget the night I asked her to be my girlfriend, I was stammering constantly, I was honestly amazed she knew what I was saying to her. Initially, Rosa denied my proposal because I’m her words, she saw me as more than just a boyfriend. Fast forward to Mew Years Day in 2021, the clock had just struck 12 and I was hiding an engagement ring in an empty Wawa box, I gave it to Rosa and asked her to be my wife, she said yes and we’ve been married for two years now. Around the time of COVID and no one going outside, Rosa proposed the idea of she and I doing our own podcast, I had previously been in two different podcasts so I was more than happy to co-host another. No Latex Needed was created and after three years, it’s still going strong, what started off as us using one microphone recording at Rosa’s parents house transformed into us having an actual mixer, lapel mics, and recording episodes in our own home. Started from the bottom now we here!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If the area you’re referring to is my area of Fort Lauderdale then I would definitely love to stay at the Ritz-Carlton, it’s one of the greatest hotels I’ve ever stayed at in my life. Five star service from the staff, the rooms are beautiful, the pool is always good for a nice dip, what more can I say? Some of the places I love to hang out in are a bit of a drive but I think they’re totally worth it, let’s start off with Lauderdale-by-the-sea, the best beach in Broward County in my opinion. I’d head over there sometime close to 12 so my buddy and I can get a few drinks in and some food at Aruba Beach Cafe before spending some time at the beach. For later on at night, I’d probably take my homie to either The Pub in Pembroke Gardens for a pint or two, the Ye Olde Falcon Pub for the same thing, probably play a few rounds of darts as well, or definitely head down to Coral Springs to Game Night Arcade. Ever wanted to play arcade games all night without having to worry about constantly spending tokens while cracking a cold one with your friends? Game Night is the place to be for exactly that sort of thing! Of course if my buddy doesn’t feel like drinking, we can either head to The Capital Grill if they’re feeling fancy or there’s always old faithful AKA Flanigans. Other places I’d definitely check out with mi compadre would be the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens and the Hard Rock Casino, those are always fun (as long you’re winning when you’re at the Hard Rock at least).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to start off by thanking Matais Oxidine who was my music teacher in high school from 10th-12th grade. He was the one who taught me how to play the piano and grow a deep appreciation for it, he also taught me how to record music, the ins and outs of the music business, and the importance of not having to always rely on cursing in music (he was very adamant about that).

I’d like to thank everyone I ever worked with in high school regarding making music like Christian Ramos, Rachel Respeto, Ashley Revales, Lenx, Mandela Phillips, Camilo Ospina, McFly, Mike Cifuentes, Doming Colas, Jonathan Gonzalez, Joel Hernandez, Jose Diaz, and Stevie G. Working with these guys and gals really helped shape me into the musician I would later on become and I thank each and every one of them.

I thank my wife Rosa, she is my rock, she is my world, unquestionably the Sharon to my Ozzy. Her criticism is one that I take seriously because she holds no punches when it comes to Galaxy Beat and it brings me great joy that we co-host a podcast together and have been doing so for the past three years. There’s no one I’d rather have by my side in this life or the next than Rosa, I love her to the moon and back.

I’m thankful for the bois, Julio and 2-Stixx. You don’t stay in a band for six years and continue to do so without loving each other and I love my bois. Before the band was created, I was in a very dark place in my life after a horrible breakup and I remember I frequently used to go over to Julio’s house after class while we were in college and bring a six pack of beer to drink, I would usually drink it all by myself before he opened the door. He could’ve easily given up on me but he didn’t, he stuck by me every step of the way and that’s why we’ve been friends since we were ten years old. When 2-Stixx was brought in and we created Galaxy Beat, little by little, I regained the confidence I thought was long gone and then some. I can’t thank them enough for helping me up when I was at my lowest and creating this amazing three man band.

I thank my good friend Santi for inviting Galaxy Beat to perform at The Burgundy Hours back in 2018, because of that event, Galaxy Beat took off like a rocket ship afterwards and the rest they say is history. To this day, The Burgundy Hours is my all time favorite live performance, it was a night filled with live music and plenty of alcohol, I loved every minute of it.

I’m thankful for professional wrestling, it’s been my life since the day I was born and I have yet to have stopped being a fan of it and I don’t think I ever will. So many wrestlers have influenced various things I’ve done onstage as a musician like the time I dressed up as Ric Flair at a Nicaragua Benefit Concert at Miami-Dade College North Campus or the many times I have ripped my t-shirt off and played my championship belt like a guitar because I saw Hulk Hogan do it all the time on TV.

I’m grateful that I have such a supporting family from my mom to my dad, all the way to my uncles, aunts, and cousins. It’s funny, when I was in high school, I never told anyone about my live performances because I was so nervous to do so and now here I am nearly 30 years old and I’m like yeah guys come to the show, we’ll have a great time! We’ll go get a beer afterwards! I think it’s important to have your family support you in doing something you love and I’m grateful that I have one that supports me and my musical career.

Thank you DivineDonJulio for having us star in your music video “Dance With You”. Thank you 2Tre for having us perform at your album release party, thank you Elia and Seanetta for letting us perform at your various Open Mics, and thank you to everyone that supports Galaxy Beat and No Latex Needed.

Instagram: @____kemosabe____

Facebook: Shane Ragoonan

Other: Check out Galaxy Beat’s music on Apple Music and Spotify! Check out all episodes of No Latex Needed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Amazon, and more!

Image Credits
Brianna Acevedo