Tim Ray & A.V.

Tim Ray was among the first wave of "new music" pioneers in Vancouver, releasing his first single Time Waves in 1977. Ray’s music always had more in common with the experimentation of the Velvet Underground or Television than the punk of the Ramones or Sex Pistols.

After seeing the Furies at Japanese Hall, Tim Ray and Bill Napier-Hemy set about forming a band in early 1978. They added drummer Brock Smith and bassist Randy Wright. They called the band AV. Colin Griffiths replaced Brock Smith, and in May they opened for the Patti Smith Group at the Commodore Ballroom. In August 1978, Tim, Bill & Colin recorded the four-song 7-inch AVEP, the inaugural release on the Quintessence Records label. Then Bill & Colin left to concentrate on their new band, the Pointed Sticks. By the time the AVEP was released that fall, Tim Ray had formed a new version of AV, with Martin Brown (bass) and Ronnie Cargill (drums).

In April 1981, Ray recorded Seen A Fight with Payola$ bassist Marty Higgs, Ronnie Cargill, and keyboardists Bill Barclay and Peter Helliwell. (Seen A Fight surfaced on the Zulu Records compilation CD Last Call: Vancouver Independent Music 1977-1988.) In June, Ray (whose band now included Alex Varty of AKA, and Danice MacLeod of UJ3RK5) was the opening act for John Cale on the west coast leg of his tour. In the mid-to-late ‘80s, Tim Ray moved to New York and pursued a visual-arts career. He also was an important figure in the underground “Anti-Folk” movement. Today, Tim Ray lives in Vancouver.

Les sez: Tim Ray was an innovator in the DIY movement. A great gentleman, but too eccentric for most. In personality and music he much resembled Captain Beefheart.