They love Andy Warhol, Darwin, Jimmy Page and Beethoven. Their MySpace friends include Phil Spector, Houdini and Napoleon. Their frontman loves shaking his hips on Steinway pianos. They love playing theremins, going crazy with synthesisers, turning their guitars up to 12 and singing exuberant songs about love, drugs, and girls. They are Raygun – the brand new British band who want to bring excitement, Pop, and magic back to Rock and Roll.
More about their frontman? He's called Ray Gun. He's the man on "lead vox and sonic experimentation". Blue-eyed, slinky-limbed and razor-cheekboned, he looks and sounds like the velvet-voiced, finger-waggling progeny of a promiscuous session between Jagger, Bowie and Iggy pop. Then there's The Adj, the band's scarf-swaddled, beard-sporting songwriter, on "war guitar and audio discovery". Add Ben Lyonsmyth on bass ("hip shaker and bottom end") and Sam Embery on drums ("pace maker and heartbreaker"). Together, they summon up the razzle of New Wave and the dazzle of the Scissor Sisters' disco, the filthiness of INXS, as well as the rock nous of a band long ready to start a revolution.
But where do they come from? The mystical lands in the suburbs of London that bore The Stones and The Jam – those places where the pleasures of the big Smoke is tantalisingly close but far away to dream about, and inspire fantastic music. And why are they Raygun? Because of David Bowie who, like this band, sowed his musical seeds in Brixton, who sang about ray guns on his song, Moonage Daydream, from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Raygun’s musical blueprint mixes pop, art and melodies that move your heart, head and heels.
The band's story, quite fittingly, is bright and exuberant. Their journey began when Ray Gun met The Adj in 2004 in a dirty dive, when Ray blew everyone away singing The Beatles' Oh Darling. They began writing songs and gigging together in Brighton, where Ray, ever the showman, liked to dress up, paint his face, and bounce around the walls.
In these days of ubiquitous Indie bands, skinny jeans and skinny ties, the world wasn't ready – not for the clamour of their songs, nor for a group who treasured excitement and entertainment over soul-sapping durge, but by 2009 things have changed, and the world is more than ready for Raygun. With Ben and Sam recently recruited to this noble cause, their backbone is stronger than ever, and their pulse is ready to race.
And then come their songs. Imagine huge, catchy tunes that simultaneously simmer with simplicity and sparkle like silver. Take ‘Waiting In Line’, their urgent, sexy finger-clicker about the passage of time. Then enjoy ‘In The City’, their space-age homage to urban life that mixes the shimmer of Blondie with the glam thrust of T-Rex. Then there's the dirty guitar rush of ‘See You Later’, fusing the hunger of the Stones with wry, lustful lyrics and ‘Rocketblast’, an epic disco monster which sees the band become synthesiser superheroes.
Live, Raygun soak up the weight of music they have loved all their lives. Guitars whirl and electronics shimmer as Ray leaps around the stage to an insatiable drumbeat, pausing only to throw himself into the crowd, or make another instrument squeal. But at the same time, this is not a band who think that they are untouchable, and nor are they content to think that the audience should just glory in their presence. Instead, they want to animate their fans, and use fun and energy to get them lusting and living. At a typical gig, Ray will banter with the crowd; almost swallow the microphone, dance on a bass drum, and climb onto your shoulders.
Raygun want to set a new blueprint for pop-rock. They don't think any other band tries hard enough to pump our blood, or move our feet. By obsessing over the stars of the past who embraced art as well as pop, they are remembering the times when musicians didn't only pretend to be stars, but became them. In 2009, they are bound to make that transition too.
Play Raygun's Online Game!
Chat with Raygun on the MYX Live Chats on October 18, 2009, 3:30 PM Manila Time.
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