LA woman

Ever lay awake nights wondering what Tina Turner would’ve sounded like if she’d hooked up with the MC5 rather than Ike? Well, toss and turn no more ‘cause The Bellrays have just answered the question with an album that’s equal parts full-throttle female funk and radical retro rock.

Telling us all about it is Lisa Kekaula, lead singer with the aforementioned Riverside, California quartet and a woman who can strip paint with her bare larynx.

“We call it ‘Maximum Rock ‘N’ Soul’, which means you’ve got The Who in there, The Beatles, The Ramones, Miles Davis, Scott Herring, Lee Morgan and, yeah, a bit of the MC5. I’m not so sure about Tina Turner but, if you hear it sweetheart, fine!”

You’re too kind. The Bellrays first crept into the Clarkian consciousness last year when Lemmy cited them as an example of intelligent life on the LA club scene.

“Lemmy namechecked us? That’s really cool to know!” Kekaula purrs. “He’s good friends with Nashville Pussy who we toured with, so that’s probably the connection. I’m

reluctant to describe it as a ‘scene’, but there are a lot of different-sounding bands at the moment with the same attitude. Y’know, to hell with radio and record companies, let’s make the kind of music we want to make. Some of the other people who’ve been promoting themselves and doing rock ‘n’ roll when nobody else was listening are The Streetwalking Cheetahs, The B-Movie Rats and The Black Widows. They’re ‘garage’ in attitude as much as sound, and waiting to explode out of Los Angeles. Which we’re not actually natives of. We were claimed by LA ‘cause the place we’re from, Riverside, which is 50 miles away, didn’t know how to handle us. Or Alien Ant Farm who are the town’s other famous residents. We don’t know ‘em personally, but I was real sorry to hear about their crash.”

Like The Hives’ Your New Favourite Band before it, Meet The Bellrays is the result of Alan McGee happening upon the band’s back catalogue and deciding to release the best bits on his Poptones label. Were Kekaula & Co. aware of his, er, colourful past?

“When I found out he was interested in us, I did some web research and ‘colourful’ isn’t the word! The impression I get is that he’s most alive when breaking new bands. There aren’t that many hopeless music fans in charge of record companies, so we’re happy to jump into bed with him. Metaphorically speaking!”

Prior to the Poptones deal being done, The Bellrays managed to scrimp enough money together to stage their first European tour.

“Scrimp is right!” Kekaula laughs throatily. “We didn’t have a record company, publicity people or even a booking agent, but we made it happen and had a blast. Dublin’s on our list of places to visit when we come back again, so brace yourselves!”