We all know how music journalists love to place bands into categories ... The Sex Rays has been no exception. But don't listen to the writers who've compared this band to The Plasmatics, The Butthole Surfers, The Runaways, The Germs, and Fear. It's not true. Other writers have compared The Sex Rays to Alien Sex Fiend, Judas Priest, the Dead Kennedys and the Gits. Don't listen to them. That's not true either. They've called The Sex Rays theatrical and edgy, okay, maybe that's true. They've called The Sex Rays high energy punk, okay, maybe, they've called it cock and shock rock, well that's stretching it a little. The Sex Rays shows are campy, yes, there has been blood and gore, guitars have been pulled apart on stage, drumsets knocked over, amps thrown across the room, there have been humans dressed as various kinds of animals (including dogs, monkeys and giant pink pigs), audience members have been handcuffed, some hot girls have spontaneously stripped, a few even brought themselves off with dildos naked at one show, so, you might say, The Sex Rays stage show can be sorta twisted.
No one's really quite sure why things happen like this. If you talk to them you will see that most all the The Sex Rays band members are very low key and soft spoken people. Okay, so yeah, one show was ended abruptly when a couple of cops busted in the front door and carried the lead singer off the stage and out of the venue. Did anyone in the audience do anything about it? Naah. Some fans.
The Sex Rays are fronted by singers known for the long trails of broken hearts they have left behind them. They are led by x-Punk Rock Orchestra chanteuse Barb Wire and the stylish Suicide Grrl dancer and performer Serena Toxicat.
Since 2002 audiences have been bewildered by this band and to this day its true that no one ever quite knows what to expect when
The Sex Rays take the stage — lookout William, the only safe bet is that
anything can and will happen.
There are musicians in the band. One of these is KC/DC on guitar and
backing vocals, a punker with a classically trained singing voice who has been known to brag about how he got kicked out of the Punk Rock Orchestra, which he used to sing for, because he wore eyeliner onstage. KC/DC is a very shy person who rarely talks about himself, so we had a hard time getting this information out of him. But it's actually true that he has shared the stage with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and with several of the Dead Kennedys, Snakefinger, the poet Allen Ginsberg, and in the 90s he toured coast-to-coast with his guitar as a Bob Dylan/Billy Bragg-style solo act. KC doesn't like to talk about it but he achieved national prominence in the 90s for some balls-to-the wall freedom of speech activism, when he fought (and beat) repressive laws in New York City. He also managed to put a squadron of punk show poster police out of business. What a guy.
One of the more prominent lunatics behind The Sex Rays' approach to rock and rule is Kao Cayou, a longtime punker and metalhed who breaks all the rules everytime he shows up. He just can't resist the lure of playing pranks especially through his music. Fortunately for the band Kao Cayou plays lead and rhythym guitar like a madman and effortlessly burns up the fretboard. The energy onstage and the sounds that come from K.O. guitar are seen by many, even by some who know what they are talking about, as nothing short of amazing. Its no wonder Sound Devil magazine said, "Who needs a smoke machine when you got Kao Cayou?"
On drums is Adam Knievel. Never mind that this guy is a relative of Evil and a crazed daredevil in his own right. Most bands would kill for a drummer like this. This guy has a second brain and that second brain is in his hands. Adam's intuivitive rock and roll feel seems to mesh well with the straight ahead style of The Sex Rays. A bundle of contradictions, he does also seem to thrive on things original and unpredicatable, at least, that's what he says. But, one should take him at his word. Adam is probably the most honest member of the band, if you really want to hear the dope on the rest of the band, ask him and he will tell you straight up. Problem is, you may not want to hear the skinny once you get it, so, be warned ... think twice before you act. |
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