When I was asked to do this interview, I thought that there wasn't much I didn't know about this man who I have known all my adult life, but I was wrong! Sure, I knew all about the days on the road with some of the greatest bands on the planet; the man who had been the personal assistant to Tull's Ian Anderson, Yes' Chris Squire, AC/DC's Angus Young, Wet Wet Wet….the list is endless! I also knew of his personal success and renown as a musician; the first Welsh Picture disc, the numerous TV appearances, Welsh Live Aid. In essence, I thought that the whole interview thing was pretty pointless and that I could just sit down and churn out the names, the appearances, a basic chronology of the man as a jobbing muso. I think that would have been a mistake. The whole thing was only supposed to take one evening. This was my second visit and I reckoned that there was going to be a third and probably a fourth. As I walked down the drive to the place Ray refers to as "Mon Repose" accompanied by the monotony of the Welsh weather and knowing that I had to make my knock heard over the rhythmic rumblings from his studio or any of a diverse collection of his personal taste in music from the CD player in the lounge and also knowing that I was going to be standing in the rain for some time before the door was answered, I was greatly looking forward to this evening. You see, the story is not just about the people he has rubbed shoulders with or about his success as an artist fronting the band, which bore his name, but also about what makes him tick, the highs and lows, his great successes and his bitterest disappointments and about his elation and disparity, his character and comedy.
The door opened by the bespectacled Jones in a grey jogging suit, still on from his visit to the local gym. Looking me in the eye quizzically, he asked
"Do you think I look fat?" Before I could draw breath to answer he added
"I don't think I look too bad for a man of my age, what do you think?"
"You're looking great Ray!" I replied
"Are you sure?...You're not just saying that…are you?" he asked, searching my face for the signs of reassurance he craved. The fact is that Ray is a very active guy who looks after himself. He used to play on the wing for his local rugby team, a position, which requires bursts of explosive speed.
"Well…come on in Bigun…Don't stand out there in the rain all night…you'll get soaked to the skin lad!"
He ushered me into the hallway and continued in a Northern accent…a mixture of Lancashire and Yorkshire.
"We've got lasagne for us tea lad and I've just made a brew so kick off your shoes and sit thee down. Your chair has been waiting your arrival tha knows" he informed me with an ingratiating smile and a gentle bow with his hands clasped firmly at his midriff.
As Ray disappeared into the kitchen, I duly removed my footwear and entered the lounge. For those thinking the removal of shoes could have a religious significance, what with Ray's taste for Tibetan quilted footwear and the large Feng Shui candle, which adorned as the centre piece of the oak table adjacent to the patio doors, you must think again! Ray is house-proud and he doesn't want his carpet dirtied. He visually combs the carpet for evidence of foreign debris and if he spots any…it's Shake and Vac time!
I sat in front of the fire looking across at the window sill and the collection of beautifully crafted broadcast microphones, which decorated it and although it is clichéd to say, they really don't make them like that anymore!
"Are you looking forward to us bate Bigun?...will tha be wanting a tomato wi' yourn?" He enquired. "I've got some Mr Kipling's Mini Bakewells wi' fondant topping for afters!" He added excitedly.
The tray arrived with the offering remarkably well presented, a beautifully crafted tomato at its heart and the lasagne, strategically placed but looking like the supporting act to the tomato, which was nestled in Lolo and Red Riding Hood. In fact, the lasagne was in great danger of being lost under the burgeoning mound of salad plants.
"Will tha be wanting salad dressing?...I've got French or Paul Newman" he offered as the tray passed hands. Ray had become Des! Des was the guy in Ray who his mates back home referred to with endearment. The extrovert, the guy who could steal the show if he so wanted and the sometimes cheeky and indignant schoolboy, which I think is still alive in all of us.
Ray's expression now changed as he searched his memory to continue from where we had left off the previous week.
"I remember my mum bough me a Vox acoustic guitar from the catalogue about the time I went to secondary school -Dinas…a place where school bullies ruled and couldn't wait to flex their muscles on the new intake of vulnerable kids…anyway…I got through it with a mix of music and rugby…I loved rugby…I still do!...anyway, the guitar my mum got me, …. I never had lessons but found it quite easy to adapt what I'd learned of music theory and piano lessons. Viv had given me a bass tutor book and I learned quite quickly how to do blues bass riffs, R&B scales and twelve bar."
As Ray was reminiscing his fingers ran up and down the fret board of a pink Fender Precision, a replica of the guitar Ray refers to as his favourite instrument. A guitar, which his mother had bought him together with a Selmer crocodile case and which, he had been heartbroken over when it was stolen.
"You see this…"Ole Pinky!"…My mum paid sixty quid for the original, a lot of money back then! She bought it from Viv when he got married and moved away…it was fabulous Bigun!" he exclaimed. You could also still tell that it hurt by the anguish in his voice expressed how the van, carrying all the band's gear had been broken into and all the contents lifted.
"Anyway…I've got ahead of myself…Whilst I was in Dinas, in the second year I think, …there was this lad Tubs (Paul Davies) who was playing drums…and he got to hear of me somehow. He already had a band together, The Audition, however the lad playing bass wasn’t hacking it and he asked me if I wanted to play and invited me to a rehearsal." Ray looked across excitedly as he picked out the bass line to Shalalalalee by the Small Faces, one of the covers the band used to play when they started out.
"I remember that because I didn't have a bass, I had to borrow one…!" Ray again searched his mind before continuing.
"It was a Hofner Senator bass courtesy of a friend of Pete Cookson's, ……. a nice lad, Philip Astley…fuck! It would be worth about three or four hundred quid now! ... Some guitar! " he informed me as the furrows formed over his brow as he peered at me over the top of his glasses.
"I got the gig! Me and Tubs hit it off straight away…We were the band's rhythm section and we had it fucking locked…nailed down, even at that age!" http://www.raysmusic.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=423
There is something quite special about playing with a rhythm section of a band, which seems to have an almost telepathic link. It's what in music, can sort out the men from the boys but these were still boys, learning their craft. Although called The Audition (Tub's band) this is pretty much the birth of the legendary Smokestack and although the band throughout their chequered history had many different line-ups, the pairing of Tubs and Ray was never surpassed. The band was completed with Myfir Isaac and Clem Davies on guitars. Both of whom, were heavily into their instruments, Clem who had a Chet Atkins picking style and Myfir who could emulate any guitarist you could mention. Smokestack, however, really came about for real when Stan Davies joined; an irrepressible, left-handed rhythm guitarist who is still with the band today. Peter Cookson and Tom Jenkins were in the in-between bands, which had evolved in to Smokestack. “Pete had a Hofner Club 60 and a Wem Dominator ….. if he still has them today, ….wow, mucho Dineros!”. Ray added as his mind wandered.
“Pete knew a lad from Llanfarian,……a guy called Steve Evans, who knew Stan so that's how we met. Funny really! since Stan lived just a few doors up from Tubs in Rhyd y Bont!” he added. The band used to play covers from bands like the Small Faces, The Who and The Move. Ray had swapped instruments to the Washburn acoustic to his left.
"I'm just sitting watching flowers in the rain" he sung as he strummed along to one of “The Move" covers they used to do.
"It was great back then…starting off, we were all in this journey together, all with one aim…fucking fantastic!" he replaced the guitar and continued with a warm nostalgic sigh.
"It was then that my mum got me that Precision, but I didn't have an amp! ... but that was OK 'cos there was a guy called Renato Antoniazzi (sadly departed ) from one of the famous Italian-Welsh local café owners in the town…He used to play with a band called the Shadracks…well, he'd packed it all in and I had all his gear on permanent loan…We used to play all the youth clubs in the Mid Wales area. All the gear was transported by Tubs' dad, Sam. Sam was great, he drove us everywhere; Sam and Bet (Tubs' mum) and my mum were behind us 100%. It's something when people like that have belief in you. Fantastic people who would do anything for you…you never forget that. Although they aren't here anymore, they were real people who stay here forever!" he exalted beating his heart as he remembered.
"Everything was going great then until I broke my leg playing rugby…fuck! That was 1967!! That's the best part of 40 years ago! ……....anyway, you'll be ready for your Mr Kipling's Fondant Bakewell now Bigun!" Des informed as he sprung to his feet and headed for the kitchen.
The cakes duly delivered and devoured, Ray continued.
"Yes, I broke my leg and was stretchered off on a school blackboard! That was me out of action for a while but by the time I was better, Myf had left the band to pursue schoolwork and Clem went on to lead guitar. That's when Stan joined…Stan came from Rhyd-y-Bont, just down from Tubs and he was a left hander who had a Burns guitar back then."
Stan was a great rhythm player and was from the local Grammar school. This was a departure for that time because there was almost a tribal rivalry between the Grammar school (Ardwyn) and the Secondary Modern (Dinas).
There were several local bands in Aberystwyth those days; Smokestack, The Shakedown Sounds ,The Nightriders , The Mini Set (Ray remembers a very sexy Carol on organ) and it was the halcyon period not only for music but also for musicians. Rock music was still evolving. People like Jimi Hendrix were emerging, the Beatles Sergeant Pepper album had broken new ground and the underground scene was taking off with bands like Pink Floyd. It's easy to take it all for granted today but these were pioneers of rock music from an era, which has never been matched for its integrity and in some cases its absurdity and Smokestack were the peers of these revolutionary icons.
The best band in town in the mid to late '60s were the Shakedown Sounds. Their drummer J.C. (Lloyd) left to join the Nightriders (Arnos Grove) who were more into soul music and were one of the original Aberystwyth rock bands along with the Xenons with whom Ray's cousin Viv had played. The Xenons are still playing, mainly in the South of England with the occasional, intermittent Aberystwyth gig. Ray remembers them fondly and still thinks that they are a great band.
Anyway, the best band in town needed a drummer. Who did they get…?Tubs! So the story goes, the schoolboy with the satchel walked into the rehearsal room for his audition and the members looked at each other in disbelief at the prospect of a kid just out of short trousers could have the effrontery to be considered to grace their line up. He was asked in a patronising manner what song he would like to play. To which, he replied "I don't mind…..anything really…Hey Joe?....Purple Haze?" They were gobsmacked as the boy put down his satchel and sat behind the kit. By the time he walked away from it, he was their new drummer.
"So with Tubs gone…we needed a drummer and John Hallam joined the band." Ray recounted as a smile came across his face and his hands raised making peace signs, his eyes began to roll as he continued
"We got quite psychedelic…man! We were using echo chambers and stuff."
Ironically, shortly afterwards, the Nightriders called it a day.
"With the Nightriders finishing…they had all this gear they didn't need anymore…so we bought the lot! A Park PA and amp, 4 Shure 57's with stands - 18 inch bass cab and Marshall JTM Plexy. Guess how much that would be worth today?" Ray posed.
"I don't know!" I replied
"Guess!" Ray ordered, again head slightly bowed and peering over the top of his glasses.
"I really have no idea!" I replied again
"You really are crap at this aren't you Bigun!....Seven…thousand…pounds!" Ray paused to let the figure sink in before continuing,
"All that gear right…made us the best equipped band outside South Wales!...And we got it all on the understanding that we paid £6 a week…I had to go round to Barry Evans every week and pay the money for which, he gave us a receipt from his book."
By now Smokestack were playing all the big dance halls in Mid and North Wales, playing a minimum of two gigs a week out the back of a Bedford van.
"We were still hanging out with Tubs…as a mate, it was just after I left school, Tubs bought a motor bike. He was going down Rhyd y Bont hill one day and bang!" Ray exclaimed as he punched his right fist into the open palm of his left hand.
"He was very seriously hurt…ending up on a life support machine! We were all very worried…!" Ray paused, staring at the carpet and then looked back at me.
"Fuck!...He was lucky to be alive! He was in plaster for ages when he came out of hospital…the other thing was, the Shakedowns didn't have a drummer now and were using John!...But as it turned out…Tubs really wanted to play with us…he missed the vibe!...and we were brilliant together! He came back to the fold…we did this gig and Tubs played with his leg in plaster…come to think of it, everything in plaster!"
Smokestack, by 1969 were starting to cause quite a fuss on the Welsh circuit, they now had two roadies and a new van! Tommy and Mac Evans (no relation!).
"Life was hectic back then…we were gigging sometimes four or five times a week. I had just started a day job in the National Library Photography department…which, was really good, 'cos it meant I could sleep off the night before in the dark room." Ray leant to his right and lifted the Alvarez 12-string from its stand and started to pick.
"Recognise this?" He asked. I recognised it as "The Court of the Crimson King" by Robert Fripp's band, King Crimson.
"I really wanted the big time…I was phoning the ads in the Musicians Wanted section of Melody Maker every week…and then…I got lucky! I got an audition with King Crimson!...I went down to the audition with Dick and Jed, in Jed’s car….The audition went really well! They called me back for a second …and that went well too!...I didn't get the gig but Robert Fripp recommended me to other bands like Renaissance where I was on a shortlist of three and Flash…I didn't get those either!...I started to doubt my ability and became a little disillusioned with it all…. I was so fucking green it’s not true”.
It wasn't Ray's ability, which was called into question. He was one of the finest young players in the country. The problem as Ray recounts it was that he was a 17 year old from Mid Wales and about the hippest thing he'd done was have unpasteurised milk in his tea!
"I was still a young boy from the country and the gulf at that time was too great to cross. They didn't want just a musician…they wanted someone who fitted with their Karma…Man!" Ray threw a peace sign again and sniggered at the irony of it all.
Back home in Aberystwyth, the band was busier that they'd ever been. Now they were in great demand. The University had just opened the Great Hall…a regular gig for Smokestack. The Great Hall attracted some of the best bands, not only on the UK circuit, but also the U.S. The small seaside resort, set at the heart of rural Wales was one of the major venues in the country. Smokestack supported some of rock's major names and it looked like it was just a matter of time before they broke in their own right.
Humble Pie were to play at the University’s Going Down Ball and during take-in, that afternoon, Smokestack's two strong permanent road crew and a host of friends and family were bringing in the band's rig, which compared to the American outfit's equipment was quite rudimentary. Humble Pie's crew foreman must have felt a little sorry for our Mid Wales heroes and offered the band the use of their equipment. Ray stood with a Wem column speaker balanced on his shoulder, which was destined to join the other three on the left hand of the stage to afford the Smokestack PA.
"Hey, do you wanna use our P.A.?" The foreman asked.
"Why…what have you got?" Ray enquired.
The foreman reeled off a list of the most cutting edge equipment available in the world for live rock music at the time.
"Oh…OK…if we must!" Ray accepted as if Smokestack were doing them a favour using it! But such was the belief back then. This band could hold their own with anybody. Many a headline act had ended playing second fiddle to their support. They sensed that their time was coming. It was just a matter of time before the day jobs were dismissed and the band turned pro and in 1972, the inevitable did indeed happen. With Myfyr back; he, Ray and Tubs together with a new singer, Jan Musson took the big step of turning pro and pursuing their dream. They followed in the footsteps of the Beatles, travelling to Germany to take up a residency in a club, only in Bremmerhaven not Hamburg. Of those who didn't go were Stan, Clem and Perce. Perce 'Clive' Evans was the youngest member of the band and still at school. Perce had joined the band as a singer in 1971.
What would happen next? Stay tuned!