By TANIA PHILLIPS
BLUES is the teacher, Punk is the preacher and the Bellrays are bringing it all together and spreading the word.
For American band the BellRays it’s all about emotion and energy, experience and raw talent, spirit and intellect.
Exciting things happen when these things collide. And Coolangatta audiences are about to witness all the above things when the BellRays hit town on 15 June.
To coincide with the tour, they have released their album ‘Black Lightning’, a stunning mix of high octane garage rock, laced with soulful vocals.
VIDEO: ‘On Top’ single http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJq_pSWhu8
Bob and Lisa made the BellRays happen in 1991. They wanted to play music and they wanted it to feel good. They wanted people to WANT to get up, to NEED to get up and check out what was going on. So they took everything they knew about; the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, The Who, The Ramones, Billie Holiday, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams, the DBs, Jimmy Reed, Led Zeppelin (to name a very few) and pressed it into service. It was never about coming up with a ‘sound’, or fitting in with a scene. It was about the energy that made all that music so irresistible. It was the history before Led Zeppelin that led them to that point.
The Beatles thought they were playing R&B. It just came out like ‘Rubber Soul’. The Ramones were trying to be Del Shannon or Neil Sedaka and out came ‘Rocket to Russia’. With the BellRays there was no conscious effort to ‘combine’ rock and soul because they didn’t see them as divided in the first place. Blues was teaching. Punk was preaching. The BellRays were always listening.
The BellRays are: Lisa Kekaula – vocals (Lisa was the powerful voice behind Basement Jaxx hit ‘Good Luck’), Robert Vennum – guitar, Justin Andres – bass, Stefan Litronik – drums.
Who: Bellrays
Saturday 15 June at Coolangatta Hotel
Interested?:Tickets: $35 + booking fees
Oztix www.oztix.com.au (1300 762 545)
