Wednesday 6th July 05 - Farewell to the Raywells? (4/5) By Joe Hakim Photo Gallery By Michelle Dee

(1/5), (2/5), (3/5), (4/5), (5/5).

Photograph Gallery   The Vels Gallery,    Gallery 1,    The Landaus Gallery ,    The Raywells Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3,    Gallery 4,

Anyway, crap jokes aside, I begin to settle into my environment a bit more. This is helped by the appearance of this really nice looking blonde at the bar wearing cowboy boots and a short denim skirt. And then The Raywells take to the stage. As soon as they take to the stage it's made apparent that this is a no-messing-crowd-pleasing-get-yer-rocks-off kinda band. Pedgie, their lead singer grabs the mike and says, Are you ready to rock 'n roll? Everyone at the back move forward, we're having a party, and then they launch into their first number, Open Your Eyes, a tight tune with a boogie beat that makes the crowd go fuckin' nuts.

Pedgie pulls all the classic front man poses out of the bag, and the crowd follows his moves like rats following the pied piper.

After the song finishes, the crowd whoop it up and begin chanting, Raaaay-weeeells, Raaaay-weeeells. For the second song, I Gotta Hold On, Pedgie moves into full-on Iggy Pop mode, unbuttoning his shirt and flipping himself around, and Baz Barraclough, the guitarist and founding member of the Dirty Dreamers, locks into a nagging, chunky Led Zep-esque riff.

It's good fuckin' stuff, and I'm cursing myself for not getting into this band a lot earlier. Goddamn the last two years of my life working in the slave trade, I should have been out and about following this lot instead.

This might jog a few memories, Pedgie says, and the band move into a total stoner groove, cocky and funky. I need some good advice, Pedgie is singing and by the time the chorus kicks in the band have really hit their stride. Shout it out and raise the roof! Did it sound like it did two years ago? Widj, the bass player, asks the crowd, and the crowd are totally into it. I notice one of bouncers throw out a fucked-up indie kid, too far gone on booze and tunes to know what's going on anymore.

Pedgie asks, Does anyone remember Bad Blood? and then the band kick in. The song has a fantastic chord heavy feel to it that makes me think of The Stones' Gimme Shelter, before moving into an uplifting chorus. All we need now is for a gospel choir to come on stage, but they don't, so we have to settle for the crowd's backing vocals instead.

The lights dim for the next number, giving the crowd the chance to dance. Gonna take you for everything that you got, Pedgie intones over a slinky, phase shifted riff, which breaks into wild Dave Navarro late Jane's Addiction style guitar gymnastics for the chorus. As the song fades, Pedgie vocally imitates the closing guitar line. Absolutelty fuckin' chonkin'. I'm impressed by the sheer weight of influences, stripped and wrapped up in a unmistakably Hull attitude. It's plain to see that the band love doing what they're doing.

The next couple of numbers bring in a Doors influence. Pedgie hops around, chanting sub-Indian vowels along with the tribal drums, coloured by a fantastic bass groove, and John Squire style wah-wah stabs on guitar. It's a song that The Coral would give their right testicles to have written.

Before their next number, Widj takes the mike and says, I'd like to wish the Dirty Dreamers all the best. It's a bit crazy, because I'd completely forgotten that this is a reunion gig. It's my own fault for getting into them two years too late I suppose, but it suddenly seems like a total shame that this might be the first and last time I see them play together as a unit. There's a jogging kinda rhythm for their next track, Autopilot. Sounds like The Kinks being molested by The Doors in their Roadhouse Blues era.

For the entire duration of the song, a bouncer stands next to me while I'm scribbling notes and I start to get a bit paranoid. Thankfully he fucks off for the end, where Baz becomes a vessel to channel the spirit of Hendrix for the closing guitar solo.

Continued... Next page (5/5).

Check the thisisUll.com Gallery Photographs courtesy and Copyright ©  Michelle Dee 2005

Photograph Gallery   The Vels Gallery,    Gallery 1,    The Landaus Gallery ,    The Raywells Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3,    Gallery 4,

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