Cool Rays

Cool Rays was a rock band formed by five Evergreen State College (Olympia, Washington, USA) students in late 1980. The band is especially notable as Calvin Johnson's first ensemble and one of the earlier expressions of the Olympia music scene that developed in the 1980s and 1990s.

Related Topics:
Rock band - Evergreen State College - Olympia - Washington - USA - Students - 1980 - Calvin Johnson - Olympia music scene - 1980s - 1990s

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The band members were as follows: Calvin (vocals & electric guitar), Cathy (electric bass), Ed (saxophone & vocals), Tony (electric guitar) and Tracy (drums). During its short existence, the band played several engagements in Olympia and one in Portland (Oregon, USA). The band was longer on musical creativity than on musicianship, with two of the band members having taken up instruments for the first time just to be able to participate in the band. While certainly not the first amateur girl and boy band to come along, Cool Rays embodied what would become some of the motivating ideas (and ideals) of the Olympia music scene, namely, that one need not be a formally trained or professional (or stereotyped) musician to make music, that local people should make their own music (rather than passively relying on the "corporate ogre" music business to provide it) and that girls should play a much more active role in the making of rock music and its derivatives.

Related Topics:
Vocals - Electric guitar - Electric bass - Saxophone - Drums - Olympia - Portland - Oregon - USA - Ideals - Olympia music scene - Stereotyped - Musician - Corporate ogre - Music business - Rock music

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Cool Rays benefited from a devoted following among certain students and downtown Olympia residents, however, the group was not without its detractors. In the late 1970s, many younger music listeners in America?s northwest had not embraced the edgy sound (or styles) of punk and other emerging genres, and local tastes tended toward hard rock, psychedelic and folk-rock musical motifs. Cool Rays, on the local vanguard of both a new sound and a new approach to music, was not embraced by all.

Related Topics:
Olympia - 1970s - Northwest - Punk - Hard rock - Psychedelic - Folk-rock - Motifs - Vanguard

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Calvin wrote most of the band?s songs, with assistance on lyrics from Ed. The entire band worked together to set Calvin?s lyrics to music. Cool Rays played at least one cover song, Jonathan Richman?s ?Modern World.? The songwriting characteristics associated with Calvin's later work (simple stories, childlike sensibilities, use - for their own sake and for calculated expression - of catchy phrases from the American vernacular, quirky juxtaposition of words and ideas, etc.) are present in their earliest form in his Cool Rays compositions.

Related Topics:
Lyrics - Cover song - Jonathan Richman - Modern World - Phrases - Vernacular - Juxtaposition

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In the spring of 1981, Cool Rays made an unpublished audio cassette produced by Steve Fisk and recorded in the recording studios of the Evergreen State College. A few of the compositions from that cassette were subsequently released as part of compilations of Olympia- and Seattle-based artists (see SubPop5 (Sub Pop, 1981), Absolute Elsewhere (Mr. Brown, 1982) and Let's Together (K, 1984)).

Related Topics:
1981 - Audio cassette - Steve Fisk - Recording studios - Evergreen State College - Olympia - Seattle - Sub Pop - Mr. Brown - K

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Odd notes: On more than one occasion, band members emphasized that the name of the band was "Cool Rays" and not "The Cool Rays." In the spring of 1981, Tracy, the band's drummer, fell from a skateboard and broke both of her wrists. This resulted in the need for a stand-in drummer for performances. Cool Rays is briefly referenced in "Our Band Could be Your Life" by Michael Azerrad (Little Brown, 2001).

Related Topics:
Drummer - Skateboard - Wrists - Stand-in - Performances - Our Band Could be Your Life - Michael Azerrad - Little Brown - 2001

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The band dispersed in the summer of 1981, after the end of the Evergreen State College academic year.

Related Topics:
1981 - Evergreen State College - Academic year

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