Their story has many elements familiar to other musicians and music fans. Always on the verge of a breakthrough, the group recorded for major record label projects, met endless record company recording studio and radio executives met and became friends with some of their rock star idols, had a fanatic following, traveled the earth, paid their dues, paid their lawyers, and broke up.
The Raves actually began life as 'Nod' way back in 1971 When the Yoakum family moved to Birmingham, Alabama that year, brothers Chuck and John transformed their earlier teenage band ventures into a more serious effort. Although they'd started playing music several years earlier, they began utilizing their growing songwriting abilities to turn out professional studio demos while continuing to play club and concert venues. Ken Kennedy, one of John's high school friends, was recruited on lead guitar in 1972 and more recording and playing followed. In the next few years they began to define their style and sound.
Then after a succession of drummers, brother Jim was added permanently in 1976. The chemistry that was created with this line-up frequently took Nod in the studio to make some of the best pop sounds available in 1977. At that time, the band also began to make videos of their music (a rarity) and talk with some record labels. But, the music business was interested in the Disco money machine... miles away from the sounds of Nod. It seemed that pop/rock music was gone. Thankfully, the Punk and New Wave movement came along at the end of the decade and killed the dreaded Disco monster (not counting the mutant version alive today) making the world safe for good music again.
In 1978 the band moved to Atlanta and began to make waves in the burgeoning music scene there. Change was coming. 1980 saw the birth of the Raves with the perfect marriage of sound and image. New and even groovier songs were recorded resulting in their inclusion on a pop compilation LP 'The London Side Of Nashville' in 1981. They launched an award winning cable television series entitled 'Eh, Wot's This?!' , a cable special called 'Bats On Skis', played endless concert dates made more videos of their music and moved up the ladder towards the shiny brass ring in 1982. Unfortunately, 1983 was the last year for The Raves in their original incarnation. Making music and contract litigation divided their time. As usual, the lawyers won. A posthumous release aptly titled issued later was compelling listening, but an all too abrupt end to their tale.
A few years later a young music fan with fabulous taste discovered The Raves recordings and was hooked. David Takis (that fan) single-handedly undertook getting The Raves to work on the project that became 'Past Perfect Tense'. This collection of their music is essential listening for ANY fan of power pop, Brit rock, or just good music.
The story is not over. Because the prolific writing in the band left many more unissued recordings, additional Raves and Nod material was compiled and recorded. This volume of Nod and Raves material entitled "Inside Looking Out" (issued in May, 1999) chronicled the origins of the songwriting team of Chuck and John Yoakum and included material spanning 1968-1983, with the greatest concentration on their recordings in the 1970s as Nod. Their most recent release (January, 2000) is a collection of their music videos and clips from their television programs entitled “As Seen On TV”.
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