Surf and turf

The Ray Corvair Trio, and Boston in New Orleans

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

There's a great scene in the 1987 cult film Back to the Beach where Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello return to their old surfing haunts in Malibu and revisit the beachfront club where they first met. And who would happen to be playing at that club? Dick Dale, of course, with a sign out front that reads, "Held Over -- 25th Year."

One can imagine something similar happening in another decade at the Plough & Stars in Cambridge, where the Ray Corvair Trio have maintained a Sunday-night residency for the past four and a half years, appearing nearly every weekend that they haven't been on tour. They will, however, be moving across town to Jamaica Plain's Milky Way for their CD-release party this Friday, May 14.

The Trio are a classic example of a fun side project that took on a life of its own. It all started when guitarist Chris Dyas and bassist Pete Sutton were looking for a way to kill some time after the break-up of their respective bands (Orangutang and the Barnies). Eventually, Dyas, Sutton, and Ray Corvair drummer Nick White would double as three-quarters of the band Trona. But before that they were already getting their kicks as an instrumental trio, playing Link Wray numbers and surf tunes -- anything that didn't involve learning lyrics or rehearsing a singer. With singer/guitarist Mary Ellen Leahy having departed last year, Trona's future seems uncertain. But Ray Corvair are doing just fine. On New Year's Eve they played their highest-profile gig ever -- opening for Aerosmith at the Fleet Center. And their first album, You Think You're Going To Live Forever (self-released), is finally done. The fun side project, it seems, has outstripped the serious band.

"It's bizarre," Dyas admits, "but I'm not questioning it. We worked so hard to do well with Trona, and sure, we had our successes, but we were trying to go further. But with Ray we put in no effort at all. It's a different experience, and that's what people like about it. It's not a 45-minute barrage. I can't stress how much playing three or four sets a night has taught me about simple things like volume. You don't need to be that loud, and I know that makes me sound like an old fart. A lot of our fans weren't Trona fans, just people that hang out at the Plough. I believe they're called alcoholics."

"We're a backlash against all the fuckin' bad music out there," the ever-succinct Sutton explains in a separate conversation. "People are ready for some fun. And that's one of our beliefs: never learn a song that's too difficult. Our litmus test for a new song is to play it during all three sets in a night. If it doesn't sound good by the end, then screw it."

The bandmembers are the first to admit that they owed a lot of their initial success to Pulp Fiction. No sooner did Quentin Tarantino stick Dick Dale's "Miserlou" on that film's soundtrack than surf music became a retro fad of sorts. Ray Corvair were smart enough to learn a bunch of surf tunes when they saw it happening, but at heart they've got more of a film-noir sensibility. That's evident on their CD, which is slanted toward reverb-drenched, suspense-ridden instrumentals in the vein of Link Wray's "Rumble" or John Barry's James Bond soundtracks. Dyas plays more ripping solos than he did in Trona or Orangutang (where he was never the sole guitarist), but even without the vocals, Ray Corvair are no less of a song-driven band. Even the pair of Ventures homages throw in some offbeat-minor-chord changes.

"I'm proud to say we don't pander," offers Sutton. "We don't play 'Walk Don't Run' or 'Hawaii Five-O' or 'Wipe-Out.' When people request those, I give them my stock answer, which is, 'Those songs are way too hard for us.' And they actually believe me. So that just shuts them up without making me sound facetious or didactic. Which I really am, of course."

Dyas adds that the band found their niche after realizing they couldn't compete with the more faithful surf bands in town. "We did a track for the Tube compilation a few years ago, and we were planning to make it sound as old-fashioned as possible. But the band in before us was the Fathoms. They played their song and it sounded exactly like it had been recorded in 1962 -- everything was perfect, it was the real deal. I realized we could never do it as well as they did, so that's when we decided to go more for the soundtrack thing. I started doing things like overdubbing and studio tricks, which are against the rules."

Lately, Dyas has been involved in a different sort of soundtrack: over the last six months he's been in the studio with the Blue Man Group, who'll be releasing their first album in the fall. The connection came through drummer Todd Perlmutter, Dyas's old Orangutang bandmate, who's the album's producer.

"It's full of tracks with drums and crazy sounds," Dyas reveals. "I went down there to play some electric zither and do arrangements, and it turned into this sprawling project that laid waste to my life for about six months."

Meanwhile, Trona are on indefinite hold. The band went into limbo when Mary Ellen Leahy left, just as the song "Johnny Quick" became a local hit. And Dyas's Blue Man commitments kept them from moving forward with Trona anyway, as had originally been planned and reported. Now they feel less inclined to keep the name when their next vocal-oriented band gets off the ground.

"I'm doubting it will be called Trona," says Sutton. "I don't want people coming to our shows and saying, 'The old version was better, this band sucks.' I'd rather they just say, 'This band sucks.' "

BOSTON DOES JAZZFEST

The past few weeks saw music lovers of all stripes descend on New Orleans for the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival, and it's no surprise that there were a few handfuls of Bostonians in the crowd. It's usually impossible for an unsigned out-of-town band to get a gig in the Crescent City during Jazzfest, but this year turned out to be an exception for Boston artists. New Orleans now has its own music conference, LMNOP, which falls between the two Jazzfest weekends, and Boston was well represented, with songwriters Mary Gauthier and Jess Klein performing at an acoustic showcase at the Kerry Pub, a small Irish bar in the French Quarter.

Also representing Boston, Slide played a showcase gig at Checkpoint Charlie -- the first music club I've ever seen that doubles as an all-night laundromat, complete with vintage Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man machines. Later, Slide keyboardist Suzi Lee realized a dream when she got to sit in with New Orleans piano professor Eddie Bo at a happy-hour gig at Tipitina's in the French Quarter. Lee and her bandmates were shouting requests for some of Bo's early '60s singles that he'd forgotten how to play. So she was invited on stage and they jammed together on the Motown standard "Money." She left with Bo's card and an invitation to return.

Boston's favorite primal blues duo, Mr. Airplane Man, were one of the few visiting bands to play a showcase at the Louisiana Music Factory, a French Quarter record store where the music ran pretty much continuously -- and the two Cambridge women had an easier time fitting onto the small stage than the nine-piece Rebirth Brass Band did the following day.

Crescent City rockers Dash Rip Rock offered their own salute to Boston rock with a set at the Jazzfest fairgrounds that featured two well-chosen covers -- the Flies/Titanics tune "All Hung Up" and the Dogmatics' rocker "Pussywhipped." Dash frontman Bill Davis then namechecked all the Bostonians he'd run into.

There are far too many reasons to love the Jazzfest, whether it's septuagenarian blues guitarist Snooks Eaglin accompanying the sound of dropping pins at the Rock'n'Bowl or the Continental Drifters playing a massive five-hour club set at the Howlin' Wolf (with Adam Duritz among the guests, previewing a new Counting Crows song that sounded just like "Love the One You're With"). But one of my favorite sights was a gentleman known as Beatle Bob -- a coast-to-coast eccentric and music fan who dresses like Austin Powers and has made a career out of jumping stages and breaking into not-quite-synchronized dances, usually for bands who recognize him and proceed to work him into the lyrics. I managed to catch him at six different stages over a two-day period. I'm told he's been spotted just about everywhere but Boston. But then, we've already got Billy Ruane.

BAD GRRLS WANT YOU

The Jamaica Plain space Bad Grrls Studio (at 209 Green Street), lately a hotbed for progressive music and performance, is under threat and needs your help. A performance two weekends ago was shut down by a representative of the mayor's licensing committee, who claimed the club was operating without a license. In fact the space has been running on a nonprofit basis, with all proceeds in the form of donations that are then channeled back into the club -- which means it should be free to operate without the usual licensing requirements.

The case is set to go to court next week, and the Bad Grrls are hoping to gather enough letters of support to keep them afloat. If you've been to performances there, e-mail Jessica Brand at redbackpack@massart.edu. Specify that you attend the studio functions, that it benefits the community, and that it operates legally on a donations-only basis.

OOPS

Last week's "Cellars" incorrectly stated that Roadsaw had signed to the label Roadrunner and were scheduled to have their Nationwide album re-released on that label this year. In fact, Roadsaw have signed with MIA, which is re-releasing Nationwide nationwide this Tuesday, May 18.

COMING UP

Reflecting Skin have a CD-release party at the Middle East tonight (Thursday) on a strong bill with Sabot and the Moors. Lars Vegas are at the Milky Way, Club d'Elf convenes at the Lizard Lounge, and, yes, it's Devo covers at the Linwood with the tribute band Duty Now for the Future. Frigate and Binge open. And blues great R.L. Burnside wraps up two night at the House of Blues; kindred spirits Mr. Airplane Man open . . . Another strong Rumble prelim at the Middle East on Friday with Half Cocked, Sheila Divine, Big Lick, and Red Eye Nine. Meanwhile, Julia Darling is at Bill's Bar.

Northampton pop hero Ray Mason has his CD-release party at the Lizard Lounge Saturday; old-school plunk lockers Stiff Little Fingers are at Axis, gospel's Holmes Brothers are at Johnny D's, Beverage and Tidal Wave are at T.T. the Bear's Place, Calendar Girl have a CD-release party at the Linwood with Star Ghost Dog and Meaghan McLaughlin, and the Rumble prelims wrap up at the Middle East with Superhoney, Seventeen, Quick Fix, and Brass Monkeys . . . Cute popsters Of Montreal are at the Middle East Sunday . . . Expanding Man are introducing new stuff this month in a Monday residency at the Kendall Café . . . Brazil's tropicalia legend Tom Zé makes a rare US appearance backed by Tortoise at the Middle East on Tuesday; Ramona Silver is doing a Tuesday-night residency this month at Toad . . . And on Wednesday Patty Giurleo plays the Lizard Lounge and the Cranktones are at Toad.