“Blues is the teacher. Punk is the preacher“… and if this is not the greatest motto you have seen in a while, you’re probably too cool or too square for this stuff. The band living and playing according to those words is called The Bellrays and it was born in Riverside, California – just east of Los Angeles – in 1991.
Yes, you read it well. They’ve been around for 20 years, playing, sweating, recording, building a cult-like status and never getting all the huge recognition they deserve. In the early Seventies they sure would’ve been stars in the same league of MC5, The Stooges or Sly & The Family Stone… but timing has been really bad, so they just struggle and carry the torch.

The Bellrays, from day one, took everything they knew about music-wise: Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Who, Ramones, Billie Holiday, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams, DB’s, Jimmy Reed, Led Zeppelin – to name a very few – and pressed it into service. The result is a hyper-exciting cocktail of soul-punk: like Aretha Franklin singing with the MC5 as backing band.

They are currently touring Europe, so if you have the chance, catch them live. You’ll be more than satisfied.