SoCal soul-punk favorites the BellRays return to the Bay Area
Riverside rock-and-soul greats the BellRays bring songs from their brand new album Heavy Steady Go! when they play two shows in Oakland and San Francisco this weekend.
Built around the core partnership of guitarist (and former bassist) Bob Vennam and soul siren Lisa Kekula -- who first started playing together in the band the Rose Thorns in 1988 -- the BellRays have been dealing out their distinctive blend of raw, garage-punk fury and fiery R&B grit for a number of different record labels since the band released its eponymous debut in 1990 (the same year the duo got married). While such descriptions as "Tina Turner fronting the MC5" or "Aretha Franklin sings with the Sonics" could be dismissed as pithy music-journalist shorthand, they are strikingly accurate when it comes to the BellRays.
The band issued a series of celebrated albums during the late 1990s and early 2000s with a line-up featuring drummer Ray Chin, keyboard player Jim Kerwin and guitarist/producer Tony Bramel (aka Tony Fate), including Let It Blast and Grand Fury, leading up to the band's 2003 effort for Jello Biafra's Bay Area based punk imprint Alternative Tentacles, The Red, White & Black. The group established itself as a high-octane live act through it's relentless touring, sometimes opening for such notables as Rocket from the Crypt and the Dirtbombs.
Fate's departure later in the decade would lead Vennam to return to guitar as the couple soldiered on through a rotating door of line-up changes while still maintaining their high standard for ferocious onstage performances. The BellRays were forced to put their usually busy touring schedules on pause during the pandemic, but the band continued playing virtually, holding shows on Facebook and Instagram while refining new material. The quartet included a couple of new tracks onto their 2020 retrospective compilation, It's Never Too Late to Fall in Love in Love with the BellRays.
The band's just released new effort Heavy Steady Go! finds the group dealing out crushing riffs that nod to the brutal simplicity of AC/DC and Motörhead. Recorded with two different rhythm sections -- Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds members Mark Cisneros (bass) and Ron Miller (drums) and returning classic-era drummer Craig Waters and new bassist Nico Miles -- the collection of hard-hitting tunes stands alongside the group's best work. The digital version of the album includes a pair of bonus covers with versions of the Temptations track "Ball of Confusion" and "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road," a ballad popularized by Elvis Presley.
The band returns to the Bay Area this weekend for a pair of shows. On Saturday, the group plays Thee Stork Club in Oakland where they will be joined by Middle-Aged Queers -- a Bay Area supergroup of seasoned punks featuring ex-members of the Cost, Fang, the Insaints and the Shondes on a mission to make punk rock gay again -- and openers Haardvark, a new group featuring Hot Lunch, Mensclub and Wig Torture guitar wizard Aaron Nudelman and Hot Lunch and Harold Ray Live in Concert bassist Charlie Karr.
For the free show being held Sunday at the Kilowatt in San Francisco's Mission District, the BellRays will be joined by local favorites Musk. Offering up a pungent mix of noise rock and bluesy punk since first coming together in 2011, guitarist Chris Owen's corrosive six-string squall was inspired in part by Australian punk bands like the Scientists and feedtime. Owen (ex-Killers Kiss) bonded with singer Rob Fletcher at a San Francisco reunion show by the latter band as both lamented the lack of real hostility in modern garage rock and were soon forging their uniquely malevolent sound.
The band's unhinged early demos featuring Fletcher's demented howling and Owens' hyper-distorted guitar abuse led to the debut Musk album coming out on Holy Mountain Records in 2014. A solid approximation of what the Jesus Lizard might have sounded like if iconic instrumental great Link Wray took over on guitar, the band's menacing self-titled effort produced by regular John Dwyer studio collaborator Chris Woodhouse earned a slew of rave reviews, as did their woolly, chaotic live performances at clubs on both coasts.
While it took some time for the band to get together a follow-up, in 2016 the even more caustic sequel entitled Musk 2: The Second Skumming finally surfaced on 12XU records. Introducing elements of downtown NYC jazz skronk reminiscent of John Zorn's Naked City, the band produced an even more baleful cacophony that balanced against woozy, Neil Young and Crazy Horse-style lament "Weathervane." After a period of working in new members Warren Huegel (drums) and Jim Vail (of the band FNU Clones on bass), ramped up its activity with several shows including an appearance at the 2019 edition of the Burger Boogaloo in Oakland. That same year, Musk also issued its first new music in ages with the ferocious "Animal Husbandry" 7-inch single for Total Punk Records. For this first show the band has played in over a year, the quartet will expand to include guest saxophonist/harmonica player Jamin Barton (The Barney's, Friendo, Mr. Lucky, Big Meat Combo and many others).
The BellRays
Saturday, Sept. 7, 8 p.m. $15-$20
Thee Stork Club
Sunday, Sept. 8, 8 p.m. Free
The Kilowatt
