East Bay Ray

East Bay Ray live 2009

East Bay Ray (born November 17, 1958 in San Francisco , California , actually: Raymond John Pepperell ) is an American punk guitarist who was best known as a founding member of the Dead Kennedys .

Life

Raymond John Pepperell grew up as the son of two civil rights activists in the Bay Area of ​​San Francisco. Both musically and politically, these had a great influence on Pepperell's development. He started listening to jazz , country and blues at an early age and saw musicians like Muddy Waters and Count Basie at a young age . After high school , he wanted to be an architect and studied mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley . He had already learned to play the guitar at college and played in various bands in the Bay Area, where he was nicknamed East Bay Ray. Only one single from the band Cruisin ' remains from that time . After graduating, he discovered the Ramones and the Sex Pistols and began to write and play music more and more. Looking for fellow musicians through an ad, he met Eric Boucher, later known as Jello Biafra , and Klaus Flouride , with whom he founded the Dead Kennedys. Together they published the punk classics Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980), In God We Trust, Inc. (EP, 1981), Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982), Frankenchrist (1985) and Bedtime for Democracy (1986) from 1978 to 1986 . He was also involved in the independent label Alternative Tentacles and Decay Music , which took care of the Dead Kennedys. When the Dead Kennedys broke up after long simmering conflicts in mid-1986, East Bay Ray not only left the band behind, but also left Alternative Tentacles.

After the end of the Dead Kennedys, he played guitar on various albums by various bands, but without becoming a permanent member of the band. In the early 1980s he also began to work as a music producer . After a sensational process of incorrect royalty payments, Jello Biafra, together with the rest of the former band members, owns the rights to the Dead Kennedys' back catalog. In addition to the re-release of all albums except the debut album, the rights of which are with Cherry Red Records , he also released the two live albums Mutiny on the Bay and Live at the Deaf Club , which he remastered . Since 2001 he has also led a reunion of the Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra.

Discography

Solo projects

• 1984: Trouble in Town / Poison Heart (7``, Alternative Tentacles )
• 1988: Trouble in Town (12``, Gougnaf Mouvement)
• 2011: East Bay Ray and the Killer Smiles (MVD Audio)

With Dead Kennedys

• see Dead Kennedy's # discography

As a guitarist

• 1980: The Witch Trials - The Witch Trials (Alternative Tentacles)
• 1991: Skrapyard - Sex Is Sex (Alternative Tentacles, also producer)
• 1994: Cheikha Rimitti - Sidi Mansour (Absolute Records)
• 1994: Cheikha Rimitti - Rah Jey (Single, Absolute Records)
• 1995: Screaming Bloody Marys - Get In, Get Off, Get Out (also producer)
• 1995: Pearl Harbor - Here Comes Trouble (also mix and mastering)
• 1996: Frenchy - Bumps & Grinds (Dionysus Records)
• 1997: Frenchy - Che's Lounge (Dionysus Records)
• 1999: Gloria's Head - Sex Is Back (also producer)
• 2000: (hed) pe - Broke (guest appearance on Waiting to Die , Music for Nations )
• 2000: Cell Block 5 - Push It
• 2008: Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer (guest appearance on Guitar Hero , Roadrunner Records )

As a producer

• 1981: Social Unrest - Making Room for Youth (EP, Infra Red Records)
• 1981: Sampler - Let Them Eat Jellybeans (Mastering, Alternative Tentacles)
• 1981: Toxic Reasons: Ghost Town (EP, Risky Records)
• 1981: Tanks - Bongo Congo (7``, Mastering, Capital Records)
• 1982: MDC - Millions of Dead Cops (Remix, Alternative Tentacles)
• 1982: Sampler - Rat Music for Rat People (Mastering, Go! Records)
• 1982: Social Unrest - Rat in a Maze (Libertine Records)
• 1982: Sampler - Not So Quiet on the Western Front (Mastering, Alternative Tentacles)
• 1984: Part Time Christians: Rock 'n' Roll Is Disco (Alternative Tentacles)
• 1984: Sampler - Welcome to 1984 (Mastering, Maximumrocknroll )
• 1998: Cell Block 5 - King of Crowns
• 1999: No Alternative - Johnny Got His Gun '78 -'82 (Mastering)
• 2000: Strychnine - Born Too Lose (Mastering)
• 2000: The Oozies - Nation Out of Hand (Mastering)

Songwriting

• 1983: Siniestro Total - La Luna Sobre Marín on No Somos de Monforte (7 '')
• 1984: JFA - Pipetruck on Same
• 1997: Jumbo Shrimp - Mersey Beach and Trouble in Town on Thingie

Web links

Commons : East Bay Ray  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• East Bay Ray at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alex Ogg: California About Everything: Dead Kennedys - How It All Began . Mainz: Ventil Verlag 2015. ISBN 978-3-95575-008-4 . P. 21f
2. ^ East Bay Ray. Dead Kennedys Official Website, accessed March 28, 2016 .