East Bay Ray

Raymond Pepperell, Jr., better known 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.

Career

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 & sound.

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 consciously 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."

After Dead Kennedys stopped touring in February 1986, East Bay Ray played guitar on a range of projects including an Algerian Raï music album for Cheika Rimitti called Sidi Mansour, which also featured Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and Robert Fripp, to garage-pop with Pearl Harbour and exotica lounge music with Frenchy. He composed and recorded a sound track for an early independent film by David Segal and Scott McGhee, who later made the film noir movie The Deep End. Ray also added his guitar to (hed) pe's CD Broke on the track "Waiting to Die."

East Bay Ray was involved in all the band's early studio recordings and is credited for mixing and producing the band's first single, "California Uber Alles"/"Man with the Dogs," the band's first LP Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables with Oliver Dicicco, the EP In God We Trust, Inc. and he mixed "Holiday In Cambodia"/"Police Truck." Ray was one of the founders of the original Alternative Tentacles Records, set up for other artists and Dead Kennedys, and was a partner in it until the mid-1980's. Ray recently mixed and produced two CD's of live Dead Kennedys recordings, Mutiny on the Bay and Live at the Deaf Club.

East Bay Ray headed the legal struggle to win ownership of Dead Kennedys intellectual property and to secure royalties withheld from the band by Jello Biafra. Biafra was found guilty of defrauding the band, Appeal Verdict, Dead Kennedys v. Jello Biafra, Case No. A094272. Ray authorized and had a production credit for a CD of live Dead Kennedys recordings, Mutiny on the Bay, which Biafra claims is of poor quality. However, several reviewers disagree, RockZone.com and Alt.Culture.Guide. 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. However, these fans appear to be ignoring the fact that Biafra, along with the other band members, approved the use of Dead Kennedys' songs in the major film corporation releases Neighbors, 1981 and Class, 1983. And recently, Biafra approved the license to Tony Hawk's video game, May 5, 1999 Fax (fromUli Elser, previous manager of Alternative Tentacles).

East Bay Ray has been involved in a number of side-projects since the Dead Kennedys' break-up, though these in general have been few and far between as far as official releases are concerned; most of East Bay Ray's post-Dead Kennedys output is out of print and not widely available.

Ray was a featured artist in the April 2006 edition of Guitar Player magazine talking about recording production techniques and in the January 2006 issue of Guitar World.