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For Those In Dire Need Of Some Funk Punk Rock & Soul
Here are the amazing TheBellRays doing the song “I Don’t Wanna Cry” from their album Punk Funk Rock Soul, Vol. 1 in a live video that I shot at TheeParkside in February of 2019. With the BellRays there is no conscious effort to ‘combine’ rock and soul because they don’t see them as divided in the first place. Blues is teacher. Punk is the preacher, and The BellRays were always listening.
I first heard the voice of Lisa Kekaula come booming out of the speakers at Red Devil Records in Petaluma about twenty years ago. I asked the proprietor is this was an old soul record I was unfamiliar with, and he said no, it was a new group called the Now Time Delegation, featuring former Big Boys guitarist Tim Kerr. It turns out he’d poached Lisa and her husband Bob Vennum to work with him in a special configuration that did some touring to promote their only release on the In The Red label circa 1998. (I’ll link you to some footage I shot from that tour when I get time).
Fast forward twenty years, and Lisa and Bob are still holdin’ down the fort and take it on the road as their main band The BellRays, mixing up hard rock, funk and soul into a fierce blend that is best caught live.
Join their mailing list at http://TheBellraysRock.com so you can stay up to date on their next run through your town. Chances are you won’t hear the BellRays on the radio, but you’ll hear ’em in your head and feel ’em in your loins!