With Antichrist's Halloween 'Rock 'n' Roll Voodoo' party almost upon us, SinZine presents one final word from the folks haunting the stage at this spooky shindig. Lending his infamous illustrations to the event flyer, both opening and closing the 'Theatre de los Muertos' stage with his band The Boneshakers, and then treating clubbers to DJ set including 3D visuals with Alien Sex Fiend's Ratfink - the 'Vince Ripper and the Rodent Show', Vince Ray is firmly the star the night. Andy James quizzed him about what he has in store in Friday.
Whichever way you look at it, Vince Ray is one seriously cool cat. You may know him for his awesome '50s style cartoon artwork (as epitomised in his book "The Weird & Twisted Tale of Vince Ray") which can be seen everywhere from the albums of bands such as the Yo-Yo's and the Dead IDentities through decorating London rock hangouts such as the Intrepid Fox and the late lamented Gaff to T-shirts and even tea sets. Or you might know him for his work with his current psychorockabilly group the Boneshakers (and, prior to that, early noughties rock 'n' rollers the Razorbacks and '80s psychobillies Vern Vein & The Blue Veins) who've just released their third album "The Sound Of Sex & Horror", a cracking collection of revved up Revillos-style B-movie influenced rockabilly classics-to-be. But just in case you're not familiar with him, you hopefully soon will be as the Boneshakers are playing at Club Antichrist this coming weekend followed by their own special Halloween party at the 12 Bar on All Hallows' Eve itself. And that could only mean one thing - yours truly was dispatched to catch up with Vince via e-mail and see what was going on in his world at the moment...
"The Sound Of Sex & Horror" has been out for a few months now. Are you guys happy with the reception it's got?
Yes, it's an album that we've wanted to make for years with a big sound, mixing the old rockabilly stuff with all the other influences, kinda like Motorhead playing Eddie Cochran! It's good to be able to get some of this mixture of styles across to a wider audience who maybe missed the Stray Cats first time round! I remember thinking that rockabilly was going to be the new punk rock back in the early eighties when I first saw them.
This is the third album you've done with the Boneshakers - how does it compare to your previous work with The Razorbacks?
The main difference is the double bass. Songs have to have a certain beat or swing to the rhythm to make the stand up bass work so there's more rockabilly in the Boneshakers...but we still like the heavy stuff too!
How would you describe what to expect at a Boneshakers gig to the uninitiated?
Party music really, it's good time stuff, nothing serious, just a celebration or rock and roll music through the last fifty years.
Have you got any artwork projects on the go at the moment?
There's always band stuff happening, I really like working for bands and try and keep the costs low so they can afford it! I know myself that no one gets rich through playing rock n roll apart from the chosen few! Right now, I'm working on the flyers, posters and T shirts for Viva Las Vegas which is a huge event in the States, mainly for 50's rockabilly and the custom car scene. We're doing a custom Vince Ray bike this year so I'm looking forward to wobbling around to the shops on that when it comes out.
Are the things that influence your art similar to the things that influence your music?
Yep, exactly the same. If I'm stuck for a song idea, I take a title or theme from one of the pieces of artwork. There's a track on the last album called 'All Men Are From Earth, Women Are From Hell' which was originally a painting. That was a piss take of the book Men are from earth, women are from venus. It's my chance to have a pop at political correctness and sing a song about devil women of course!
You've been involved with psychobilly bands since the '80s heyday when the likes of the Meteors were around - how does the scene now compare with how it was back then?
It's down to young blood really. It was just kids when it started but now it's mainly guys in their forties who are still up for it. Less booze, less wrecking but it's still rockin' along and bringing in new people. It's a hard scene to define, the music is very varied and no one ever wrote the rukes of what it means to be a 'psychobilly' so folks just bring what they want to it, warp it and reinvent the style.
Are there any up and coming bands out there right now that you'd like to recommend to our readers?
Just been looking at Bo Ningen who are kinda cool. Only the Japanese can do that kind of thing! Dunno if they're new, but they're new to me. We played with Atomic Suplex recently, I liked them. Garage punk is great, I'm always amazed at the extreme places you can take it.
Finally, what are the future plans for Vince Ray & The Boneshakers?
JAPAN please! We're working on that and a tour of the States. There's some film soundtrack stuff coming up which should move things on for us, it's a big project.
Many thanks to Vince for taking the time out to answer these questions. In the meantime, you lot know what to do - get yerselves down to Antichrist this weekend, see them in the flesh and get your Halloween started with a bang! Over and out.
VINCE RAY OFFICIAL: www.thevincerayexperience.com
VINCE RAY & THE BONESHAKERS: vincerayandtheboneshakers.com
