The BellRays 'Hot Sweet and Sticky' album

The BellRays don’t need to explain, justify or proselytize themselves to anyone, and here’s why: in a music market saturated with new-young-next-big-things that sound like so-and-so and have blog shelf lives that are too often like roadside fireworks (cheap, bright and short lived), The BellRays exist in their own dominion. They define and exemplify what’s timeless, what’s passionate, and what’s real about playing music, and they have done it with a singular sense of devotion, innovation and skill that’s undeniably remarkable since the early ‘90s. Nobody sounds like The BellRays, and The BellRays have never before sounded exactly like they do on Hard, Sweet & Sticky, an album titled thusly because guitarist and songwriter Bob Vennum wanted to encapsulate what the band’s new songs were all about.

Vocalist and lyricist Lisa Kekaula, Bob Vennum and drummer Craig Waters had become accustomed to the way they had previously approached the recording process: map out a song first, work it out live on one of The BellRays’ notoriously volcanic club tours, then hit the studio. After all, Kekaula has one of the most explosive and incomparable stage presences in all of music. One minute, she’s wielding the microphone stand like a weapon, the next, she’s crouching down to meet the crowd’s eyes, or jumping off the stage to shake things up; meanwhile, the rest of The BellRays convulse, sweat and plow through hits expertly and with the momentum of a freight train. There’s a dialogue there between audience and musician: they give, demand and receive respect. This time, with the departure of member Tony Fate, the band was confronted with the challenge of attacking their new record in a studio environment—a first for everyone involved except for stand-in bassist and producer Billy Mohler, who had played with Liz Phair, Macy Gray, Herbie Hancock and the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex. As with any challenge that has ever come their way, the band prevailed and crafted the most dynamic album of their career.

After a short time in North Hollywood’s Regime studio with Mohler and the other half of the Heroes & Villains production team, Dan Burns, the band knew that the process was going to be a fun one that yielded results unlike any they’d achieved before. “Everyone would like to think that they’re ready for change, and most bands have to be kind of malleable because you have to live out of a suitcase most of your life” Kekaula explains of the process. That spirit of malleability allowed Hard Sweet & Sticky to evolve into its final form: an album that captures and exemplifies the band’s notorious strength, fire, licks and chops, while somehow transcending all of that and veering into territory explored by The Who (on “The Same Way”), AC/DC (“Comin’ Down”) and even Tusk-era Fleetwood Mac (“One Big Party”). Kekaula’s soaring, booming voice growls over tough guitar lines one minute, then purrs a softer tome the next. Whether it’s Gladys Knight-meets-Stooges or something more delicate and sultry, as in the smooth laments of “Wedding Bells”, The BellRays are experts at mining elements of music from around the world and from every style to achieve their signature sound. You can’t wait to see and hear Hard, Sweet & Sticky live, and you’re in luck: the band will be touring relentlessly in support of the album throughout 2008.

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The BellRays - Hot Sweet and Sticky