He performed in the Chichester Cathedral choir and studied at the Royal School of Music before joining the D'Oyly Carte touring company in 1925 as a chorister.
Beginning in 1928 Rands played the principal baritone parts of Counsel to the Plaintiff and later the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury, Doctor Daly in The Sorcerer, Captain Corcoran in H.M.S.
Upon his return to England, he was reunited with his former colleagues to sing Captain Corcoran and the Counsel for the Plaintiff on the Company's 1949 Decca LP recordings of Pinafore and Trial.
In 1952, Rands and Eyre played the Earl of Essex and Jill-All-Alone in a week's run of Merrie England for charity in Priory Park, Chichester.
His recordings with D'Oyly Carte included Strephon (1929 Iolanthe), Grosvenor (1930 Patience), Giuseppe (1931 Gondoliers excerpts), Doctor Daly (1933 abridged Sorcerer), Pish-Tush (1936 Mikado), Corcoran in (1949 Pinafore) and Counsel in (1949 Trial).