THE BELLRAYS, who have always revolved around the core of the raw guitar skills of Robert Vennum and the soulful female vocals of Lisa Kekaula, are back with a new album, the appropriately titled ”Heavy Steady Go!”.
After 34 years, The BellRays developed a unique style that blended punk, soul and rock along with the the spirit of the original 60s / 70s garage bands. Well, The BellRays 2024 isn’t punky anymore, but Classic Rock.
To be released next August 30th ”Heavy Steady Go!” is a palatable collection of retro-sounding rock n’ roll, driven by the venomous guitar work of Robert, and Lisa’s impressive bluesy / soul-rocking voice. The Bellrays continue to blaze a path with the original 70s Detroit sound, that now has been transplanted to Sunny California.
This is pure rock n’ roll, vintage, soulful – the kind of music that unfortunately isn’t being made anymore.
”Heavy, Steady, Go!” has been a long time in the making and was recorded over two locations, Tucson, AZ and Riverside, CA, and with two distinct rhythm sections – from Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds completing the line up in Arizona, whilst the California recordings feature the return of drummer Craig Waters and the latest member of the The BellRays family, Nico Miles, on bass.
Over the years various ham fisted attempts have been made to describe The BellRays collision of styles. 2020’s they are Classic Rock.
From bluesy polished timess rock & soul, which seems to dominate the ‘A-side’, while the second half of the album is dirtier, rocking raw. Anyway, the last 2 cuts, some kind of bonus tracks, are also different: a revved up cover of The Temptations‘ ‘Ball Of Confusion’, and a soulful bluesy take on ‘True Love Travels On A Gravel Road’ that was originally recorded by Duane Dee and popularized by Elvis Presley.
Lisa Kekaula’s vocals can, and frequently have been, compared to the classic soul era, but when she lets loose there’s real power in that incredible voice, this is matched by Robert Vennum’s unique sonic approach the melds the best elements of everyone into a soundclash that no one has even attempted to copy, probably because you couldn’t recreate this unique cocktail even if you wanted to.
”Heavy Steady Go!” reflects two different sides of The Bellrays, one is more polished, smoother, maybe more rock and soul, the other unleashes their wild, raw side. The bonus tracks reflect a few of their influences, that and The BellRays have always loved a well chosen cover.
True rock here folks.
Highly Recommended
01 – I Fall Down
02 – Hard Drive
03 – Snakes
04 – One More Night
05 – California
06 – C’mon
07 – Wolf’s Sun
08 – Down On My Knees
09 – All the Rage
10 – Whatever Turns You On
11 – Ball of Confusion
12 – True Love Travels on a Gravel Road
Lisa Kekaula – vocals
Robert Vennum – guitars, bass
Craig Waters, Ron Miller – drums
Nico Miles, Mark Cisneros – bass