Raybeats

...The Raybeats were one of those great post punk bands that never really got their due credit, the landscape of this era is littered with bands that suffered much the same fate. They were labeled as No Wave, which is a slag against the commercial elements of the New Wave scene during the early 80's. But like New Wave / Alternative bands of the time, they drew on mish-mash of styles such as rock'n'roll, punk, jazz, blues and funk to create yet another sub genre of music quite unique but hard to categorized. There were no rules for bands in the 80's, just idea's and choices.

...Originally formed for shits and giggles (as a hobby) in New York 1979 the Raybeats consisted of Jody Harris on guitar, Don Christenson on drums, Pat Irwin on keyboard/sax/guitar and original bassist George Scott. They quickly gained prominence on the New York club circuit and decided to make the group permanent. When George Scott died from a drug overdose in August 1980 he was replaced by Danny Amis shortly after they signed a recording deal with Don't Fall Off the Mountain, a subsidiary of British recording label Beggars Banquet. There first EP was completed in late 1980 called "Roping Wild Bears" and in 1981 their first full album, "Guitar Beat" hit the shops. Amis's departed in 1982, the Raybeats recorded one more album, "It's Only A Movie!" which was released on Shanachie Records in 1983 I have no information on sales or singles unfortunately . They disbanded in 1984 and that's a shame, I'll include video at the end of this post so you can see how talented they were. It's a sad reality that true genius is often not rewarded...

The Raybeats are...

Jody Harris - guitar
Pat Irwin - Keyboards, sax, gutar
Don Christense - Drums
Danny Amis - Bass
George Scott III - Bass

other musician that played Base post Amis - David Hofstra, Bobby Albertson and Gene Holder

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Raybeats - Jack The Ripper