East Bay Ray

East Bay Ray (real name: Ray Peperrell) was the accomplished CPA-turned-lead guitarist for the well known West Coast punk band Dead Kennedys. Next to Jello Biafra's manic warble, East Bay Ray's tinny surf-inspired spastic guitar work was one of the defining factors of the music of the Dead Kennedys, and by extension, of the "second wave" of American punk.

Related Topics:
Dead Kennedys - Jello Biafra - Guitar

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The Dead Kennedys were a notably idiosnycratic "hardcore" band. Although they kept their music for the most part loud, fast, and aggressive, they threw in eclectic flourishes that were easy for casual or close-minded listeners to miss. These experiments were represented most prominently in the guitar playing of East Bay Ray, who took cues from sources such as film music (spy movie scores and Ennio Morricone spaghetti western scores), instrumental surf rock (the guitar stylings of Dick Dale and George Tomsco of The Fireballs), as well as the psychedelic music of the 60s (especially early Pink Floyd) with his trademark echo effects. With help from Jello Biafra & Klaus Flouride, East Bay Ray crafted a distant and driving guitar style that was clever, cinematic and epically paranoid in sound. His lyrical contributions were infrequent and weak, compared to the soapbox insanity of Biafra.

Related Topics:
Dead Kennedys - East Bay Ray - Ennio Morricone - Spaghetti western - Dick Dale - George Tomsco - The Fireballs - Pink Floyd - Jello Biafra - Klaus Flouride - Paranoid - Lyrical - Soapbox

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In interviews East Bay Ray has cited the playing of Syd Barret on Pink Floyd's first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn, as well as the music of the Ohio Players, and the guitar playing of Elvis Presley side-man Scotty Moore (with his trademark echo), as influences. East Bay Ray claims that he has never been conciously influenced by surf music, and attributes the recognizable elements of surf in the Kennedys music to "having grown up in California," although it could certainly be the influence of Klaus Flouride or Jello Biafra. East Bay Ray's fondness for spaghetti western music is evidenced by a 7" single he recorded in 1984 called 'Trouble in Town'/'Poison Heart.'

Related Topics:
East Bay Ray - Syd Barret - Pink Floyd's - Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Ohio Players - Elvis Presley - Scotty Moore - Klaus Flouride - Jello Biafra - East Bay Ray's - Spaghetti western

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East Bay Ray, with assistance from The Grateful Dead's legal team, headed the legal struggle to win ownership of Dead Kennedys intellectual property and to secure royalties from Jello Biafra. He authorized and had a production credit for a CD of live Dead Kennedys recordings, Mutiny on the Bay, which Biafra claims is illegitimate. Jello Biafra, proclaiming his abiding disdain of nostalgia, maintains a live album released fourteen years after the break-up of the band is nothing but an attempt to make more money on the parts of his former bandmates. East Bay Ray was responsible, along with his ex-bandmates Klaus Flouride and DH Peligro, for licensing songs such as Police Truck and Kinky Sex Makes the World Go Round to major corporations for use in video games and films, despite the Kennedys long time commitment to an essentially anti-corporate worldview. These actions were met with outrage from longtime fans and confusion from some astute new listeners.

Related Topics:
The Grateful Dead - Jello Biafra - CD - Mutiny on the Bay - East Bay Ray - Klaus Flouride - DH Peligro - Police Truck

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East Bay Ray has released several solo records & has been involved in leading a handful of bands since the initial breakup of Dead Kennedys. Both critics & fans have found these projects to be unremarkable and quite forgettable.

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