Welcome To The Official Website For Dead Kennedys

East Bay Ray, guitarist of the Dead Kennedys and Skip McSkipster, singer from the Wynona Riders are back in the recording studio at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA for more work on a rock album with producer Paul Leary. Paul is best known as the guitarist for the Butthole Surfers and for producing Sublime's self-titled break out CD and their single "Santeria" and producing the Butthole Surfers and their single "Pepper." He has also worked in the studio with U2.

Along with drummer Steve Wilson from Tatu and bassist Greg Reeves of Cordovan Music, they have recorded tracks at Eldorado Studio in Los Angeles, CA, for an album to be released later this year. Eldorado use to be owned by Marvin Gaye and has recorded such bands as the Offspring and My Chemical Romance.

Both Skip and Steve have filled in on recent major Dead Kennedys' tours and two of the new songs were played live on those tours to an enthusiastic response.

• Photos in the studio on East Bay Ray's Facebook page

• Photos on East Bay Ray's MySpace page

• East Bay Ray on Twitter

09.04.09-East Bay Ray’s electronic music release “Labyrinth” Sept. 15

Dead Kennedys’ guitarist EAST BAY RAY’s electronic/ambient music release LABYRINTH will be available September 15 on iTunes, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody and other music download sites. Please go to East Bay Ray’s Facebook page or MySpace page . The CD version will be in stores November 17.

06.20.09-Nate Denver of SLAP Skateboard Magazine Interviews Klaus Flouride

What interested the Dead Kennedys in playing the Eco Cup/Harmony Fest?
We haven’t played for a year- I’ve been out of commission with an illness, DH has been out of commission… it may be one of our last shows, we don’t know, but we wanted what might be our last show to be when everybody is healthy. So there’s that, and the other thing is that the Harmony Fest hasn’t been known for having acts such as ours in the past, but they’re having Bad Brains and Cake and it just sounded like good company.

Do you guys have to practice your songs much before you play?
We have practices before tours and stuff because we want to get loose with each other again, but what we find out is that we haven’t forgotten any of it. But it’s fun to play and loosen up together and figure out what the set is gonna be.

Are some of your favorite songs to play also some of the fans’ favorite songs, like Holiday In Camobdia, Moon Over Marin, etc, or do you have different favorites?
Certainly the first album is the one we’re trying to top, so there’s a lot from that, but there’s tons from other albums. We don’t know what we’re going to put into the set list yet. What we did when we first reformed and started touring back in 2001 was at the merch table we’d have a sheet of paper and people could request songs. At the end of the tour we’d look at it and see what people liked most and add things to the set based off that. It makes it have a democratic feel. It’s not just a greatest hits thing though; I like hearing new material from bands and we will be playing some new stuff people haven’t heard yet.

How do you think the ideals of the Dead Kennedys do or don’t mesh with skating and environmental consciousness, as those are the focus of the Eco Cup?
Well we’ve been involved with the skating scene since forever. Environmental consciousness just goes back to some of our songs. One of the most environmentally aware songs is “Moon Over Marin.” It’s also a social commentary. A lot of our songs are about getting inside the head of a politically powerful person or just a normal person who isn’t normal.

Did you guys play much with the Bad Brains in the early days?
Yeah, we played quite a few gigs together. Not constantly or anything, but at least 10 times I’d say.

Who were some of your other favorite bands to play with back then?
Butthole Surfers, DRI, The Minutemen, and The Screamers here in San Francisco.

What is it about the Bay Area that has kept you there all these years?
The general openness of mind and attiutude. It’s a little dot of intellect on the map.

What bands are you listening to these days?
Oranger is one I’m liking, and Rock and Roll Adventure Kids.

Anything you’re scared of in the world?
There’s more things that I’m angry about than scared of.

Click Here to Read Full Interview

06.19.09 - NOISE Reviews DKs Harmony Festival Performance

Click here to read the NOISE review.

04.25.09-DKs to Perform at Harmony Festival

Dead Kennedys, featuring East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride, D. H. Peligro with Skip (from the Wynnona Riders), are doing a rare one-time performance on Friday June 12, 2009 at the Harmony Music & Arts Festival in Santa Rosa, California - http://harmonyfestival.com/

Event posting:
DKs - Harmony Festival
Friday June 12, 2009 time 7PM
Harmony Music & Arts Festival
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
1350 Bennett Valley Rd
Santa Rosa, CA
US 95404

One time performance of DKs at Harmony Music & Arts Festival

04.16.09 – Very Special Event!

Keep an eye out for a rare and special event on Friday June 12, 2009

02.09.09 – East Bay Ray - Remembers Lux Founding Memeber and Singer of The Cramps

Lux Interior, lead singer of the Cramps, passed away February 4, 2009 at age 60 from heart failure. (He did not go from what some of you might be thinking.) Even at 60, the Cramps were still out there rockin’ it up. They just finished doing shows last November - good for them and good for the audience. I had no idea that he and Ivy met and were originally from Sacramento, CA, which explains a bit of their unique character. I’ve seen them and hung out with the Cramps at different times in my life. In the early days at punk shows, and later I played a truly great show in San Francisco on Halloween with them when I was with Pearl Harbor.

Despite the sometimes cartoon-like horror imagery, they were one of the rockinest bands around, and they truly captured the sprit of rockabilly and made it fresh and new. They were definitely not the museum piece like some other bands who just captured the form but not the spirit, they were the real thing. May Lux keep on rockin’, wherever he is.

01.20.09 – And here we are, a new president.

Some Personal History from East Bay Ray

The inauguration was very moving for me. Both my parents were involved in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's, in particular working locally against a practice called "redlining." Redlining was the outling by a red line on a map a neighborhood based on race where banks, insurance, supermarkets, other businesses, etc. would not supply services or increase the cost of them. It was a form of behind the scenes, economic racial discrimination. I also remember them watching on TV the violence reactions to Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent marches.

When I was a small child, my parents took our family to Washington DC for sightseeing vacation, touring the White House, Jefferson and Lincoln memorial, Smithsonian. We also got tickets to hear a Supreme Court session. Though at the time I did not understand what was going on, I remember my mother turning to us children and telling us as we were leaving that we had heard a historic decision being handed down, "one man, one vote." Before that ruling, state legislatures could create voting districts with unequal representation, often used to disenfranchise certain classes of people, like people in cities and black districts.