L. Kent Wolgamott: Expect greatness at Friday's BellRays show
Imagine Tina Turner fronting the Stooges and you’re on the way to getting The BellRays, one of America’s greatest rock ’n’ roll bands.
Actually, the guys who play the instruments in The BellRays are better, more polished musicians than the rough-hewn Stooges.
But they can still rock hard and, more importantly, provide perfect settings for the powerhouse vocals of Lisa Kekuala, who easily blows away Amy Winehouse, Duffy and other pretenders to the queen of soul throne.
Determinedly independent, the Riverside, Calif., quartet has just released “Hard Sweet and Sticky,” its eighth album and the first it recorded with songs that hadn’t been road-tested.
The result is a disc that’s more varied than some previous BellRay efforts. There’s a newly prominent shade of arena rock, and “The Same Way,” a big beat ballad, sounds like a radio hit (if there were such things for rock songs these days).
But it’s not a great departure from the rock ’n’ soul that has made The BellRays a contender since the band was put together by Kekuala and her husband, bassist Bob Vennum, 17 years ago.
Kekuala sounds particularly Tinaish on the opener, “Infection,” and the raucous “Psychotic Hate Mix” and shows she can handle the smoldering ballads on “Blue Against the Sky,” a timeless deep soul number, and the shimmering, dark, back-to-back combination of “The Fire Next Time” and “Wedding Bells.”
And any band that has a song about a kid riding his BMX to drop a quarter in the slot at “Pinball City” really gets it.
I got the mixes of the 11 tracks that make up “Hard Sweet and Sticky” a couple weeks ago and I’ve probably listened to them a dozen times on my iPod, eschewing any kind of shuffle or playlist for a daily dose of The BellRays.
I came late to the BellRays party, missing most of the fun until they played a Duffy’s Tavern show a couple of years ago.
Now they’re among my favorite bands and, at least in the times I’ve seen them, they’ve never failed to live up to their reputation as an incendiary live act. Rock ’n’ roll doesn’t get better than The BellRays on a good night — and they all seem to be good nights.
I’m expecting the same tonight in a great venue when The BellRays play Omaha’s Slowdown. Cover is $8. The show’s at 9 p.m., with The Architects opening.
Be there. Aloha.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
Actually, the guys who play the instruments in The BellRays are better, more polished musicians than the rough-hewn Stooges.
But they can still rock hard and, more importantly, provide perfect settings for the powerhouse vocals of Lisa Kekuala, who easily blows away Amy Winehouse, Duffy and other pretenders to the queen of soul throne.
Determinedly independent, the Riverside, Calif., quartet has just released “Hard Sweet and Sticky,” its eighth album and the first it recorded with songs that hadn’t been road-tested.
The result is a disc that’s more varied than some previous BellRay efforts. There’s a newly prominent shade of arena rock, and “The Same Way,” a big beat ballad, sounds like a radio hit (if there were such things for rock songs these days).
But it’s not a great departure from the rock ’n’ soul that has made The BellRays a contender since the band was put together by Kekuala and her husband, bassist Bob Vennum, 17 years ago.
Kekuala sounds particularly Tinaish on the opener, “Infection,” and the raucous “Psychotic Hate Mix” and shows she can handle the smoldering ballads on “Blue Against the Sky,” a timeless deep soul number, and the shimmering, dark, back-to-back combination of “The Fire Next Time” and “Wedding Bells.”
And any band that has a song about a kid riding his BMX to drop a quarter in the slot at “Pinball City” really gets it.
I got the mixes of the 11 tracks that make up “Hard Sweet and Sticky” a couple weeks ago and I’ve probably listened to them a dozen times on my iPod, eschewing any kind of shuffle or playlist for a daily dose of The BellRays.
I came late to the BellRays party, missing most of the fun until they played a Duffy’s Tavern show a couple of years ago.
Now they’re among my favorite bands and, at least in the times I’ve seen them, they’ve never failed to live up to their reputation as an incendiary live act. Rock ’n’ roll doesn’t get better than The BellRays on a good night — and they all seem to be good nights.
I’m expecting the same tonight in a great venue when The BellRays play Omaha’s Slowdown. Cover is $8. The show’s at 9 p.m., with The Architects opening.
Be there. Aloha.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.