East Bay Ray
East Bay RayRaymond Pepperell, Jr., known pseudonymously as East Bay Ray, was the 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. The Dead Kennedys were a notably idiosyncratic "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.In interviews East Bay Ray has cited the playing of Syd Barrett 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.' 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 15 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 D.H. Peligro, for licensing songs such as ''Police Truck'' and ''Holiday In Cambodia'' 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.East Bay Ray has released several solo records, though both critics & fans have found these projects to be unremarkable and quite forgettable. They are now all out-of-print and unavailable.Category:Dead Kennedys