The BellRays 'Have a Little Faith' album

The BellRays’ forthcoming Have a Little Faith perfectly captures the band’s singular sound, which combines two seemingly disparate forms of American music: the raw power of garage rock and the emotional drama of soul. “Imagine Tina Turner fronting the Stooges,” goes one common description of the band, and although that hardly encompasses the BellRays’ artistry, there is some historical truth behind the hook: If the BellRays’ recordings and live performances are utterly of-the-moment, full of urgency and sheer presence, the seamlessness with which the Southern California outfit combines punk and soul also hearkens back to another time when the two were integrally connected. Detroit was the capital of both; Iggy, Ike and Tina actually shared the stage; and the MC5’s aesthetic and politics drew explicitly from black music and counterculture. Cheap Lullaby releases Have a Little Faith May 2.

On Have a Little Faith, the BellRaysdeftly navigate the spectrum of music comprised by their Maximum Rock & Soul moniker. The album opens with “Tell the Lie,” which epitomizes the style, with front woman Lisa Kekaula—whom The Chicago Sun Times’ Jim DeRogatis calls “an absolute force of nature”—singing over Tony Fate’s wah-wah guitar, Bob Vennum’s funk electric bass, and Craig Waters’ fast-paced, stop-start drumming. The group maintains the pace and distorts the guitar for “Time Is Gone.” The subsequent “Chainsong,” “Pay the Cobra” and “Snotgun” are screaming, assaulting rockers.

The album’s producer, principal band member Vennum, achieves an astonishing shift of mood and sound on the title track, which recalls such BellRays heroes as Curtis Mayfield and Etta James and features an arrangement reminiscent of Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra—replete with a string section and a chorus of backup vocals. Like ten of the album’s 13 tracks—all except the Vennum-penned “Maniac Blues,” “Change the World” and “Detroit Breakdown,”—the horn-laden “Third Time’s the Charm” is written by the BellRays’ Tony Fate, though it could easily be a track from the timeless Stax/Volt catalog.

Have a Little Faith promises to be a significant breakthrough for the BellRays, who in over 15 years together have garnered an ever-growing list of accolades. Anticipation of Have a Little Faith is high: Before the album was completed, its recording and the pursuit of it by various labels was reported twice in The Los Angeles Times. The excitement is due in part to a Nissan Xterra commercial that made the band’s “Revolution Get Down” a widely known anthem. Kekaula, who has also earned adulation as a GRAMMY-winning singer for Basement Jaxx and a vocalist for The Crystal Method, recently toured as a singer for the reunited legends DKT/MC5 and arguably channeled the spirit of Rob Tyner as no one has since his passing. The band’s last album, Red, White and Black, received praise from many critics, including The Boston Globe, which said, “The BellRays deliver gorgeously ardent soul vocals and dance breakdowns with a punk hunger that channels the passion and purity of late `60s Detroit innovators.”

The BellRays are known for their incendiary live performances, which have earned them touring engagements with such significant acts as the Pixies. Immediately following the release of Have a Little Faith, the group will begin a U.S. tour in May; they also will makes multiple appearances at the SXSW Music Festival in March.

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The BellRays - Have a Little Faith