Music / american rock n roll
Interview: The BellRays
One of the world’s most exciting live bands is back in town: The Bellrays play the Louisiana on Thursday, January 16. They will undoubtedly blow your mind, burn down the stage and fill you full of vim and vigour. Their guitar slinger (and all-round fine fellow) Bob Vennum agreed to submit to the Bristol 247 Enquirer and the results are below. Some entertaining thoughts and choices and we’ll even forgive him his comments about Budgie….
What was the first record you ever bought and where did you buy it?
The first record I ever bought with my own money was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John. I think it was at White Front in San Bernardino.
What was the most recent record you bought and where did you buy it?
Probably a reissue Beatles CD. I don’t buy a lot of music. When you’re on tour we somehow end up with a year’s worth of CDs from other bands/labels, etc.
What album do you stick on the deck to soothe your soul?
It depends on what’s going on with my soul. There’s no one go-to album. I listen to a lot of Beatles and a lot of classic rock / pop. Anything Cheap Trick put out is an obvious target for me.
is needed now More than ever
What records do you turn up to maximum to get into that party mood?
Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan and Wayne Kramer’s The Hard Stuff.
Have you bought an album based on a great single and then been disappointed by the rest of the songs? If so, dish the dirt…
Audioslave’s eponymous first LP. Every song on there kicks ass, but I can’t listen to more than two at any one time. They’re all the same key, same tempo, etc. I get bored really quick.
Ever bought a record solely because you liked the sleeve? If so, what was it and did it delight you or disappoint you?
Budgie, Bandolier: It’s a picture of a parakeet dressed up Planet of the Apes style. My band at the time covered I Can’t See My Feelings. They were a mediocre hard rock band from Wales, I think.
Meanwhile, what’s your favourite record sleeve? Tell us all about it (and whether the music gives you as much pleasure as the sleeve)?
My favourite all-time record sleeve is our own Grand Fury. The picture of the flaming middle finger is one that I just can’t get over. And yes, the music kicks just as much ass.
What’s the greatest live album of all time? (You may skip this question if you’re under 40).
The Who, Live at Leeds: it’s my bible for a live band to live by.
Statistics I have just made up show that 80% of all pop songs are about boys / girls, cars, drugs and politics…what’s your favourite song from each of those?
She’s Got the Drugs by Cretin 66 takes care of drugs and girls; Rocket 88 by Ike Turner is my favourite car song and Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who pretty much spells out my view on politics.
The resurgence of the LP has seen all manner of coloured and multicoloured vinyl, yet some purists believe a record should only ever be black: what’s your opinion, and what are both the most delightful and the most obnoxious coloured records you own?
I’ve never been one to buy “special edition” stuff. I buy things for their ultimate use, so I don’t own much coloured vinyl. The stuff I do have is just… coloured vinyl.
Back in the olden days there were all manner of shaped discs, got any cracking examples in your collection? And if you had freedom of design, what song of yours could be best represented by a shaped disc?
Again, I never really got into that collect weird stuff thing. I bought records for the music and I don’t really remember “having” to buy an oddly shaped disc just to get at the music on it. I’d love to see a sphere-shaped record though. Not a disc, a sphere…that was packaged in a six-sided cube!
There’s a long (and mixed) tradition of artists recording tribute LPs, most of which are curates’ eggs to say the least. So, we’re going to give you an old fashioned 12” EP and four covers to reflect your influences: what would make the disc?
Surrender, Cheap Trick; While My Guitar Gently Weeps, the Beatles; Crossroads Blues, Robert Johnson and probably Proud Mary, Creedence Clearwater.
If we had the ability to land you at the recording of one classic LP so you could witness the whole recording process, what would you choose and why?
Robert Johnson’s recordings, I’ve heard some of the original 78s and it’s the closest I’ve ever felt to God.
Oh no, your house is burning down, and you can only rescue one record! What would it be and why?
Let ’em burn, I’d save photos – you can buy more records.
Morbidity alert: what records would you like played at your funeral?
Whatever whoever’s left wants to play in order to have a good time, whatever it is probably would like it, besides, I wouldn’t care. I’d be dead.
All pix by John Morgan
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