The Sound and the Fury

"We know some bands that have gone into a studio and spent two months and $80,000," he continues, "and come out with something that sounds like shit. It doesn't sound like somebody spent $80,000 on it; it sounds like somebody jerry-rigged something and they played while they were asleep. You can make somebody sing on pitch with a machine now, but that's not going to bring any vibrancy to it. It's just going to make it sound mathematically correct."

"Shit, I just wish somebody would let Britney Spears get recorded on a cassette," Kekaula adds. "It might give her a little more body. I'm so tired of people thinking things have to be clean and clear to validate a record."

For whom the Bells toll: The BellRays let freedom ring on their new record.

Details

10 p.m. Monday, February 12,$6
303-572-0822

15th Street Tavern, 623 15th Street

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More About

• Lisa Kekaula
• The BellRays
• Bob Vennum
• Tony Fate
• Ray Chin

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While Grand Fury was released on Los Angeles-based UpperCut Records, "It's still us out there supporting our music, taking it out on the road," says Kekaula. "There have been no big advances, no big money to support us." Yeah, but with more and more buzz churning around the band, haven't the major labels come sniffing around? "Yeah, they sniff," she responds, "but nobody's thrown anything out there that I would say, 'That's something to call an offer.' It takes more than dinner to be an offer."

One has to wonder if the BellRays' DIY inclinations and brutal honesty would even mesh with the 'bottom line or else' philosophy of the major labels. It's an experiment, however, for which the band is a willing subject. "We're interested in the money," says Kekaula. "It's not that we're this big anti-establishment thing. We just want the establishment to know what they're doing."