Day 523

Astragal: the Houston band is releasing a split 12″ with another band from their town, Bug Bites. The two songs by Astragal are up on their Bandcamp as well as pre-order links. The record is out on October 13 and one of the songs the trio formed by Jimmy, Sam and David, is up for preview. That song is called “Felt the Pain”, while the other one is called “Pendulum”.

The Crystal Furs: another trio, now from Portland. We are familiar with the great music The Crystal Furs make. So always excited to know they have more songs. Two new ones this time, “Miss Hughes” and “Please Fade Away”. Both up for streaming, both catchy and fun. Good stuff.

Kidsmoke: a new song by the Wrexham quartet. “Speaker Avenue” is a very nice effort. I am not that familiar with them, but I am reading here that the band is formed by James, Sophie, Ash and Lance and they make shimmering dreamy pop. I think that description is on target!

Maty de Planeta Tierra & Martu en Marte: this weirdly named band from Avellaneda, Argentina, is a very nice discovery. Their latest song “Pet Society” is catchy as hell. It sounds fun and you want to sing along their quirky lyrics. We should keep an eye on them!

Lurve: I got confused by the label name, Library Group Records from Australia. Do not confuse them with Library Records also from Australia! After I understood this fact, I discovered Lurve and their song “Right Moment”, a nice breeze of dreamy pop!

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Checking what are some of the latest discoveries of our pal stoneeyedkiller and his Youtube channel to find out this US band called The Earl Rays who I have never heard before. So as usual I went to look for any info about them.

The song that was shared on Youtube was “Smile”. This song was included in a 1988 demo tape that had two other songs, “Animal Friends” and “Ya’ Know?”.

We know the band hailed from Cleveland, in the US, and was around between 1987 and 1992. The band was formed by Steve Henry on guitar, Mark Simpson on bass, Jeff Craig on drums and Bernie Jungle on guitar. All of them sung.

Some more info about the demo. We know the songs “Animal Friends” and “Ya’ Know?” were recorded at White Room Studios in Detroit, Michigan by Mike Nehra and Al Sutton. “Smile” on the other hand was recorded at Kopperhead Studios in Canton, Ohio.

They didn’t have any proper releases but they did appear on at least 5 compilations.

“Animal Friends” appeared on “Exhibit ‘B’ – A Special Music Sampler” that was put together by Play Records in 1987 (PLAYC104241). This one was released on tape and CD. The next year, 1988, their song “Ya Know” appears on “Exhibit C: Ohio’s Undercurrent”, also released by Play Records (104244-C) on tape and cassette.

Kopperhead Productions released a tape in 1988 called “Rockin ‘U – The Class of ’87 Rocks!” (K10188). This tape would include the song “Smile”.

1989 would see a song not on their demo being released. “World for Tomorrow” is included in the CD compilation “Certain Damage! Volume 24” that came out on the College Music Journal (CMG-CD 024). Lastly, in 1991, their song “Phil” appears on “Clearing the Air” a 2CD compilation put together by Jim Clevo Presentations (JCP004 A/B). I believe this compilation also had to do with CMJ.

Another name I see involved with the band is Tim Ratley. It seems he was in the recording for “World of Tomorrow”. He was previously part of a band called The Wombats.

I have a suspicion too that the band’s name was based on James Earl Ray. Could it be?

James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive and felon convicted of assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty plea—thus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentence—and was sentenced to 99 years of imprisonment.

Then I stumble upon a Youtube video with all of their songs. Or most of them. This video has their “Red Tape” demo that had “Smile”, “Pretend Friends” and “She Knows” and the “White Tape” that had “Brand New Day”, “World for Tomorrow” and “9 Outta 10”. The first tape dates from 1987 while the second from 1988. Listen them here.

Then I find more information about them, a proper post about the band on The Listen Project. There’s a trove here including photos. Here it mentions that the original drummer was called Doyle Rice. Don Owens was also part of the original lineup but he would leave the band to be in The Outcasts.

They played gigs supporting the Stray Cats and The Hoodoo Gurus and playing gigs alongside Max Crucial and the Krushers, Scruffy the Cat, The Holy Cows, King Missile (at the Babylon A Go Go) and The French Lenards. The band toured from Chicago to New York and played a gig at CBGB in February 1989. Another gig they played was at the Living Room Set in Cedars in Youngstown.

An interesting thing is that in 1992 the band recorded eight songs with Bill Korecky at Mars Studios. I don’t know anything about these songs. Sadly it seems they never got released. But are they anywhere online?

Steve Henry and Rex Knots (Tim Ratley) formed the band Hadji’s Fruitbasket. Rex went to play too in Balloon Knot.

It seems the band regrouped at some point. There is a video dating from October 6, 2013, of the band playing the songs “World for Tomorrow” and “9 Outta 10” at the Lava Lounge in Pittsburgh.

And that’s it. That was a good amount of important details about the life of this cool band. I think it is the first time I dedicate a post to an Ohio band. That’s super. Let’s see if we discover more soon!

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Listen
The Earl Rays – Smile