| RAY CONDO AND HIS RICHOCHETS....HIGH AND WILD JOAQUIN RECORDS**** Ray Condo and his Richochets play an infectious blend of Rockabilly, Hillbilly Boogie, Western Swing, 1930� and 40�s Jazz, obscure Honky-Tonk and original instrumentals. The Band has gained a World-wide following and critical acclaim since they teamed up in 1994. It�s been reported that they upstaged The Squirrel Nut Zippers when they opened for them in Philadelphia. Their members came from two different bands: the Rockabilly oriented Ray Condo and his Hard Luck Goners and Jimmy Roy�s retro-country band The Five Star Hillbillies. Their first two albums on the Joaquin label: 1996�s Swing! Brother, Swing! and 1997�s Door to Door Maniac both earned laudatory reviews form critics all over. Ray grew up in a musical household during the good old 50�s and says there was always some kind of music around his house as a kid. Mainly The Pops and Country and Western. Ray heard Ronnie Hawkins, Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, and Jim Reeves to mention just a few. During Highschool, Ray got into the British Invasion and played in several bands. Ray recalls that there had been a definite �Mods and Rockers� scene going on at the time. Ray�s first album was released in 1966 when he was in a band called The Peasants. Up until the mid 70�s ray walked away from the music life for awhile and enrolled in art school. After that, he just bummed around the country, �Doin� that Jack Kerouac thing.� Then around 1975 he got back up on stage with �The Secret V�s�, who were a punk band. In 1982 Ray went Rockabilly and then in 1984 He formed Ray Condo and his Hard-Rock Goners who played Rockabilly, Chicago Blues, Country and the occasional Swing tune. Ray says today: �We were a multimedia band, a bunch of artists in the band, you know,...not the greatest musicians...we made a lotta videos for a while, we did have energy, it was a lot of fun, those guys.� A lot of the stuff they did then was for the British Label, Fury. The Goners recorded and toured for several years, Then Ray returned to Vancouver, his home town, and soon after Ray Condo and his Richochets were born. 1999 saw Ray�s new band line-up as it stands today. Jimmy Roy, originally with the Five Star Hillbillies plays steel guitar, guitar and vocals. He�s called a major underground guitar-god in hep-cat circles. Stephen Nikleva plays lead guitar, mandolin and arranges. Ray says that Stephen plays a crucial part in the band�s sound because he�s the only one who can actually read and write music. Steve Taylor plays drums, and is known as the �Gene Krupa� of the rockabilly scene, he used to play behind strippers. The band is rounded out with Pete Turland on Bass. The band�s passion, precision and Range show that they have a deep grasp of the music they play. This is a band that loves digging through the old forgotten music of the past, dusting it off, and making it their own. The new album �High and Wild� contains a full-bodied, driving intensity that avoids categories. �We�ve never been purists,� says Ray, �We�re not afraid of mixing things in.� This albums all over the place. We have Memphis Rockabilly Carl Mann�s �Baby I Don�t Care� and a demented take on Gene Vincent�s �I Flipped�. Jimmy and Johnny�s duet �I Can�t Find The Doorknob� is rescued from obscurity, and Texas Rockabilly is covered with a rendition of Glen Barber�s �High and Wild� as the title track. Ray Condo and his Richochets do Buddy Johnson�s Rhythm and Blues song �Be Careful, (If You Can�t Be Good), and then do a bluesy version of Mose Allison�s �Parchman Farm�. Ray, the jazz-cat archetype, says he has no interest in today�s �new country�. �There�s no hokum, no hoe-down in uptown country, in other words, no sawdust�. Ray calls the current pop culture: �Fake, counterfeit. I wish all these punks and kids would realize that their rock stars are decadent impostors, phonies. The greatest American musicians were dying in cheap hotels and drinking in old bars.� Finally, Ray says that �What we�re doing now isn�t retro at all, we�re just doing something that has been overlooked and left behind by the Rock culture.� Well folks, if you want to hear one of the best �not retro� retro bands pulling gigs and cuttin� discs in the World today, check out Ray Condo and his Richochets. You�ll be in for a history lesson in American Music styles that�s guaranteed to enlighten. |