We got into a packed Borderline just after the support act Black Moth had finished playing which of course didn't stop one of the band members doing a good job of trying to flog their vinyl to me.
Soon enough it was time for THE BELLRAYS: a band I really ought to have seen by, now having previously seen Lisa Kekaula singing with her other band the MC5/DTK who the Bellrays were playing with a few days later along with The Jim Jones Review and Iggy & The Stooges in what sounds like an incredible day's music.
I'm also sure that I have met and seen Justin Andres the bass player before not that long ago, but I don't recall with whom or who introduced me to him. Still they came on out and it was like being hit with a Hurricane of power as they launched into us at a thousand miles an hour with Whose Sorry Now. The answer to that question was obviously anyone who wasn't in the Borderline for this barnstorming show. Soon enough, Lisa was bellowing that she was On Top and no one was going to argue with the force of her incredible belter of a testiyfying soul blues vocals.
She came over all hurt on Not the Way It Should be as the band pulverised us with ever harder and faster riffing blues punk power trio with Bob Vennum regularly jumping up as his hand came down on another chord. They were moving at speed now and there was barely a moment to breathe between songs as Lisa convinced us that it was going down tonight and who were we to argue with her as we watched in awe as her skin tight dress didn't just rip apart at the seems as she shook and ground every ounce of power out of her voice to rip through Anymore off of the excellent new album Black Lightning.
If anyone could show us The Way to turn a wednesday night into a Friday night as Lisa kept insisting we should it is, then it was surely The Bellrays. It was exhausting watching them belt it out at this pace and yet they claimed to have Power To Burn, which would be incredible as they have more power coming from the 4 of them in one song than many other bands put into a whole set!
I hate to think who Living A Lie is about as I'd never want to start that sort of argument with Lisa as she wails that she's "Living A Lie" as this band sound about as real as its possible to sound. Still we had all better make sure Everybody Get Up and damn if you don't feel up just listening to The Bellrays there is something wrong with you. Not only are they infectious, they were now singing Infection as well, and The Bordeline was infected with shaking, sweating fans melting in the heat.
|
They brought it down somewhat with Sun Comes Down, the only remotely slow song in the set and done mainly as a duo with just Lisa and Bob Vennum on stage for most of the song, being joined by Justin Andres towards the end on handclap duties and then Stefan Litrownik got back behind the drums in time to pummel his way into the classic It's All Over Now. Though of course it wasn't and soon enough Lisa was giving us a hard look at ghetto life and telling us her Mama is in Jail and how that has destroyed the family. She ripped hard at the heart strings while doing it.
Black Lightning, the title track of the current album, was an urgent tornado of a song with the lightning literally ripping through the place and laying us to waste just in time for some Revolution Get Down during which Lisa shook so much I half expect her to fall to the floor and start singing in tongues and praising Jesus and bringing us all closer to the lord instead of which she was now giving us the Blues For Godzilla and screaming at us that they do this All For You, well thank you.
Of course they were hailed furiously back for an encore and ripped through Sister Disaster at supersonic pace and soon enough Lisa was belting it out at us that she had been Buried Alive. Surely not as just by sheer lung power she would burst out of that hole. They finally closed with Give it all to You and well they surely had given us every ounce of power and energy they had. A true whirlwind of a show from a band that should be playing far bigger venues than this.
Check out The Bellrays Black Lightning album at Fargo Records
|
