Holiday Inn Spain - The Field Guide To The Raybeats

At times it can be frustrating to ‘discover’ a band only after they’ve already split up…  I guess I might have encountered some of (The) Raybeats’ instrumentals before on a compilation, but despite my love for this kind of music, somehow it didn’t register enough.

That finally happened once their ‘lost’ 1982 session with Philip Glass was released, because his name for sure piqued my interest. The minimalist guy teaming up with a neo-surf rock combo? Unreal!  Three tracks: Pack Of Camels, Black Beach, and A Sad Little Caper got the full Glass treatment with Michael Riesman on keyboards which certainly made a difference… 

Another sign was the discovery of Neville Brody’s sleeve of their Holiday Inn Spain single…  From there on I backtracked and started listening to their other records as well, which sadly enough weren’t that many.  Altogether they released only 3 albums and a couple of 45s between 1981 - 1984…

The Raybeats formed in 1979 out of the ashes of the New York no-wavers, The Contortions. They decided to focus on Link Wray style guitar instrumentals and combine this with Dick Dale surf/space age/spy movie/no-wave, an interesting mix to say the least!

Lineup was George Scott (bass), Don Christensen (drums), Pat Irwin (guitarist/keyboardist/sax), and Jody Harris (guitar).  Scott sadly enough died of a drug overdose in 1980 and was replaced by Danny Amis (bass, guitar).

Their records output started with an EP Roping Wild Bears (1981), followed by an album, Guitar Beat (1982), which was recorded in England in Martin Rushent’s brand new studio.  According to Greg McLean’s Bar-None rerelease liner notes: This is modern American music-each song a chapter in a Bill Burroughs novel, cutting up sci-fi secret agents with the pulp of travelogues, voodoo recipes and bartending texts. 

Only one more album followed: It’s Only A Movie!, before the band decided to throw in the towel in 1984.  The band members moved on; Jody (The Golden Palominos), Pat (B-52s), and Danny (Los Straightjackets).  

No official compilation was ever released, therefore leave it up to Jokonky to correct this serious omission! It includes several tracks from their albums and as they apparently had quite a reputation as a live band, I added 2 examples from a live Stiff Records album as well.