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Ray Dorsey 

I used to write to Ray Dorsey who put out an excellent fanzine called Enlightened Chaos back in the day. After getting back in touch with him on Facebook I asked him if he would be interested in doing an interview and he said yes so I emailed him some questions and here is what he said to them:

MC: Ray thanks a million for doing this interview. When we used to write each other way back when I know you were living in MD. Are you still living there and is that where you grew up?

RD: I've lived in MD my whole life. The hospital I was born in is no longer there, so maybe that says something..lol. I now live on the same street I grew up on, next door to my parents who r now elderly. Only have lived off this street for 4 yrs when I had an apt in the late '80's. I'm soon to be divorced for the

2nd time, but I still, @ 53 believe the right one's out there for me. I have 5 awesome kids/stepkids.

MC: Did you come from a big family and what sort of child were you growing up? What were some things you liked to do as a kid?

RD: Growing up I lived with my parents & maternal grandparents. My mom had another son when I was 3 but he died at only one day old. Always wondered what he'd've been like. I liked Hot Wheels cars and sports as a younger boy. My dad and grandfather got me into baseball and football. I remember my grandpop & I used to sit out @ the kitchen table & watch Monday night football on a b/w 13 in TV with an antenna.

MC: Was music a big part of your life when you were say 10-12 years old? If so, what sort of music did you listen to? What were some of the first bands you listened to?

RD: Let's see, 10-12 yrs old. I got into THE MONKEES & then THE BEATLES. THE BEATLES really interested me around Revolver, the white album, etc. They were....they were really thinking outside the box...going from something like While My Guitar Gently Weeps to Why Don’t We do It In the Road. And it all flowed. Putting out a self-titled album way into their career, a double album and it had nothing on the cover. That was balls.

MC: What led you to discover the wonderful world of metal? What were some of the first bands that you listened to and when you first heard heavy metal music did you like it or did you think it was a bunch of noise?

RD: The first thing I remember that was heavy was seeing VANILLA FUDGE on the Ed Sullivan show, doing "Shotgun." all kinds of long hair, and it was way longer than your usual 3-4 minutes, long instrumental parts. I wasn’t sure what I initially thought of it but my dad was appalled. He was yelling to my mom "hon, come in here, you've gotta see this, it's AWFUL!!!" With that reaction from him, I knew there was sure as hell some potential to all this! Lol

MC: Do you remember the 1st album or cassette that you brought? If so do you remember where you brought it and do you still have it and are you still a fan of that band today?

RD: Well, the first album I bought was "Meet the MONKEES" or some such thing, then several Beatles albums. Of course I still love the Beatles & if The Monkees come on the radio, it’s still cool. First "heavy" album? Probably GRAND FUNK "Grand Funk." (2nd..red album). Funny story though...sophomore in high school, I was 15...SABBATH "vol 4" had just come out. We got off school cuz it snowed. I told my mom I was going over my friends. Instead, I went out in the snow, took 3 different busses to the record store to get "vol 4." I was gone all day but nobody ever knew I’d been taking busses all over town to get "vol4" instead of going to my buddy’s house!

MC: How did you end up discovering the "underground" side of metal? Were there any records stores in your area that a good stock of metal within its walls? Did you do any "tape trading" back in the day? What were some early bands that you were into?

RD: The so-called "underground" started with me before things were called "metal," per se. I guess it was just called hard rock even in the early '70's, but either way.... I would say the first instance of it came from happening to notice BUDGIE's "Squawk" in the Various B section in the record store. I had no idea what it was, but it was interesting because the guys looked like Sabbath, Grand Funk, etc....they were listed as guitar-bass/vocals-drums and there were a couple long songs. I took a chance on it and figured I'd thrown away $ 7 (that's how much records were back then!) but it ended up being as good as, possibly better than, the known stuff I had. I knew right then & there that you couldn't just trust the radio, mainstream, etc. You have to remember, back then albums like SABBATH Vol 4 were mainstream...they were selling as many records as anybody in rock...so here was something that was of the same style that nobody was talking about. I made friends with a guy named Doug who worked at a record store called Record & Tape Collector in Baltimore (where I would end up working from 1979-1986). He showed me a helluva lot of killer stuff during the '70's that was as good as the big boys or, frankly, smoked them. Albums by bands like MARCUS, STRIDER, DRIVER, STRAY DOG, WIGGY BITS, STEPSON, etc. This was REALLY underground! There was no network of fanzines to try and promote these bands. Sure, they had albums out but they died a slow death in the cut-out bin because nobody promoted them. By the time the NWOBHM, European metal and the early thrash movement came around, "underground" was old hat to me, I'd been prying into that world for years.

MC: Did you manage go to see any underground shows back then? If you did what were some of the bands you saw and did any of the bands "blow you away" when you saw them live?

RD: Sure, again, starting in the '70's, locally & semi-locally with bands like ROCK-IT, CIA (who put out a killer 4 songs 7" EP), POLESTAR (who put out a massive heavy progressive album in 1980), and of course, the early days of DEUCE, PENTAGRAM, etc. All those bands blew me away. I saw JUDAS PRIEST in early 1979 at a small nightclub in a shopping center in Falls Church, VA. Again, you have to understand this was way before they had any foothold over here, almost 2 years before "British Steel" had them touring even mid-sized halls. They then played the next week in Frederick MD, opening for UFO in an old movie theater. I saw METALLICA in a bar in Pasadena MD in 1983...this was the week after I saw them open for VENOM in NYC. Kirk Hammett had just joined & they were still playing the original version of "The Mechanix" (pre-Four Horsemen). In November of 1984, I saw THE OBSESSED, COC and SLAYER in an absolutely wonderful, shitty dive called the New Loft on Eutaw St in Baltimore. It was the hollowed out shell of an old row house. Yes, SLAYER. Two days later, MERCYFUL FATE & EXCITER played a club on the other side of town. Sprinkle in among all this various other shows with PENTAGRAM, DEUCE/TENSION, ASYLUM, HAMMERS RULE, and it was some eventful times around here in those days. I'm sure it didn't hold a candle to places like San Francisco where just the local bands included: METALLICA, EXODUS, ANVIL CHORUS, BLIND ILLUSION, etc.

MC: How did you end up discovering the mighty world of fanzines? What were some early fanzines that you read and did you do any writing for any other zines before you started your own?

RD: I worked at a record store & of course we got in mags like Kerrang! & Aardschock. One day we got in this b/w stapled together, raggy little xeroxed thing from San Francisco called Metal Mania, put out by a guy names Ron Quintana. He immediately became my mentor as far as putting out a music zine. Here was something in the format I could do, I thought. Great thing about Ron's mag (which confirmed what I already believed) was that it's stupid to be too genre-specific....such as "only thrash rules." Open mindedness rules! Ron would sing the praises of people varying from aggressive hardcore like ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT to the MENTORS to ULI ROTH to even high-energy, guitar-driven jazz/fusion like RETURN TO FOREVER. The key was, he knew what was GOOD! He understood why, for instance, at that time, a rhythm guitarist like Rudolf Schenker kicked more ass than a lead guitarist like Rik Emmett. Why Al DiMeola was better than Matthias Jabs. He just "got it" with what I was into and it inspired me. Ron was the master of the short review. He reviewed IRON MAIDEN - "Somewhere In Time" by simply saying "Gods!" It was all you needed to know. Another great one was one of, I think POISON saying "Glam fags put out an album." Priceless. I also liked KICK ASS MONTHLY put out by Bob Muldowney (R.I.P.). I frequently disagreed with him (especially on the subject of MERCYFUL FATE...lol) but he was very intelligent and knowledgeable beyond words. I wrote a few things for other people here & there but never much. I didn't (and still don't like) playing by other people's rules or being subject to deadlines.

MC: What led to the idea of starting your own zine? What names did you consider and how did you end up with the name "Enlightened Chaos"?

RD: Like I said, the idea of starting my own zine hit me the day I saw Ron's Metal Mania. I'd written before in high school & college & minored in creative writing in college, as well as doing music reviews for the Loyola College paper (my first published review was of "Stained Class" in 1978!) so I knew I could do that. Writing, at my own speed & the way I want has never been anything but a pleasure to me. I'm lucky in that way, it's never felt like an effort. I started with the first issue as "Metal Maelstrom." It then went through various stages of Chaos, Enlightened Chaos, Chaos Realm, Raysrealm (later on the net). I can't remember where I came up with the "Enlightened" bit. Now that I look back, it sounds kinda awkward. I like Chaos & Raysrealm the best.

MC: What was it like putting together your 1st issue? Do you remember the 1st band that you ever interviewed? How many copies of issue # 1 did you print and where did you get that issue printed at and what was it like holding that first issue in your hands when you got it back from the printers?

RD: Putting the first one together was like taking a journey I'd never made before but the love of the music is what drove me because even though I could write, I had no idea what the hell I was doing other than that. The first band I interviewed was Olly Olsen of TROUBLE (the drummer) in 1984, I think it was. Number of copies of the first issue? Probably 100. I never made any more than a couple hundred of any particular issue, but they seem to have made their way around, which is nice to know. Getting that first one back was like Christmas Morning. Then again, they were all like that. :)

MC: So what type of response did you get from the 1st issue. Do you still have a copy of that issue and all your issues? So when you were putting together issue # 2 did you do anything differently? Did you at this point start getting some bands sending you demos and labels sending stuff to review?

RD: I remember that I got enough of a response from that first one that it made me certain the idea to go on made sense. I was bit by the bug! lol Oh, yeah, I definitely have a copy of that first one. It was the first and only to be released under the name METAL MAELSTROM and it had GARY MOORE on the cover. As far as putting together Issue #2, the first thing I did differently was to give it another name, which at that point was CHAOS. My friend Doug (yeah, the same guy who was the '70's hard rock guru) had a brother who was a very good artist and he designed the first logo, with the skull & the guitar necks and the word CHAOS. The cover (JUDAS PRIEST) looked mildly more professional than the first one because of that alone. It seemed like bands started sending things right away, although I can't remember exactly how many and how soon.

MC: When you started putting issue after issue did you feel that the zine was getting better issue after issue? Did you have any bands write you nasty letters because of a band review? Was the zine always in black and white xerox format? Out of all the issues you put out, does one issue stand out as your favorite and do you have a least favorite?

RD: I don't know that I'd say it got better and better, I tended to look at each issue as its own baby, its own thing with its own set of problems and good aspects. I think that my writing probably did improve because I'd gone awhile between my college paper critical writing and the first issue, so I was a little rusty at that kind of writing when I first started. With the volume of writing increasing, I tended to feel as though I was getting sharper. I never had one single band write me a nasty letter, interestingly enough and I sure did pan some stuff...but never, I don't think, unfairly. The greatest thing was I actually had a few bands, over the course of time, send me their NEXT product after I'd critiqued them harshly, and actually tell me they'd tried to make the improvements I'd mentioned. One funny time I reviewed a band from around the area (no names) and didn't really crush 'em but was pretty critical. A few months after the issue came out; a knock came at my door. It was like 9:30 at night and I opened the door to find 4 guys there, the one saying, "Hey Ray, we're...(Insert Band Name Here." I figured this is it, this is the time I'm gonna get my ass kicked. In reality what happened was that they had brought me their latest rehearsal, having made some changes I'd mentioned in the review & wanted me to hear it. They had done well. That's special stuff. There was an incident...NON-PRINTED...with Nuclear Assault...ask me about it if you want. As far as the B/W format, yup, never anything else. And, no, no favorite or least fav issue. I thought each had its own merits and, yes, its own faults.

MC: Did you do any sort of tape trading at all? Was it kinda nuts back then getting mail everyday and stuff? About how much time in say a given week was spent doing zine stuff? How did you come up with the name?

RD: Yeah, I did quite a bit of tape trading. I did it for several years and, you're right, there were padded envelopes, cartons with records, coming every day. I finally sat there one day and realized I had like 30+ EXODUS live tapes from 1985 alone. I said to myself, "Ray, this is at the point where it's ridiculous" and stopped tape trading. lol The weirdest thing anybody ever sent me was a small bag of toad shit. Guy from Florida mailed me a bag of toad shit to "prove he was insane." Never forgot that one. As far as time a week, hell, I can't measure it but it was probably too much. The good thing was I worked at a record store during a lot of it. When I got a job at an investment company a few years down the line & got married, I cut it back a bit. The CHAOS part came from the design my buddy's brother did with the CHAOS logo. The name just seemed to fit with the graphic. The ENLIGHTENED part I think, as I recall I did to try to make it seem more intelligent. Like I said, in retrospect, it sounds awkward to me now. CHAOS REALM was a nice change & RAYSREALM was also not bad.

MC: How was the underground scene down in the MD area at the time? Did you become friendly with any local bands at the time and what are some bands that you thought were overrated in your eyes and what are some bands you thought were given their due so to speak?

RD: Oh, there were some great bands in the Maryland area....of course; you probably are very familiar with PENTAGRAM (the grand daddies of them all!) and DEUCE / TENSION as well as HAVE MERCY (who had a record on Combat). But of course there were also great bands like RANCID DECAY, THE OBSESSED (and all of Wino's continued greatness thru the years like SHINE, HIDDEN HAND, etc.), and more like the aforementioned CIA, ASYLUM, INTERNAL VOID, REVELATION, etc. You can't forget to mention what came later, I mean CLUTCH is from the area & they are gods. Also now AGAINST NATURE, CHOWDER, ADMIRAL BROWNING, and a bunch more. I can't think of any from the area that are over-rated because there was a very large amount of quality stuff from here. And, looking more nationally & globally, I can't really see the point of bad-mouthing any bands from back then now. The things I didn't like, some people did, I think and they probably had a good reason for liking it. No accounting for taste a lot of times.

MC: How many issues did you end up putting out? Did a few issues in, did you actually get some labels to advertise in your zine? What were some other zines that you liked back then and did you ever go on the road with any bands or go on any road trips like the Milwaukee Metalfest, etc?

RD: I ended up putting out 37 printed issues. I never had any labels interested in advertising in the zine and never solicited such ads. To me, the whole thing was fun. I didn't WANT to put out several thousand copies. I wanted to keep it "in hand," as a hobby that I enjoyed. I already had a job & didn't want another one. As far as traveling, I used to go to NYC constantly to see bands. We probably saw Nuclear Assault 100 times (Chris, if you want a truly funny story...ask me in the next set about it if you want...it's funny as hell). We went up a few times with Rob Michael of HAVE MERCY when he and those guys were doing gigs up there. Saw MEGADETH up there the first time they played on the East Coast, saw CELTIC FROST, etc.

MC: You mentioned earlier that you saw Venom and Metallica up in NY. Tell me a bit more about that show and did you ever get to go to either Ultimate Revenge shows or any shows at Lamour's back in the day?

RD: I'm trying to think of the name of the place that show happened, the Paramount Theater, that's it. METALLICA opened and kicked ass...we'd never heard them before, but I had gotten the No LIfe demo from Ron Quintana so I had a feeling they'd rip. VENOM was great, but in some twisted, bizarre way. They were terrible musicians...truly awful. Mantas did one of the flat-out worst guitar solo spots I have ever seen in my entire life. But it was "heavy" and certainly entertaining, despite them being sloppy and nearly indecipherable musically. They set off a huge pyro thing at one point and in doing so, caused the curtain (it was an old theater) to burst into flames. They set off a huge thing of explosives and that resulted in part of the ceiling plaster to crack and fall down into the audience. Like I said, they couldn't play their way out of their own assholes but they sure as hell put on a show! Great memories!

MC: Ok you told me to ask you about Nuclear Assault so tell me the story with them.

RD: Sure, NA played a lot back in those days and Baltimore really accepted them with open arms. One time they played @ a Union Hall about a mile from my house. The draft beer was really flowing that night, and I had "a bit" too much. Unfortunately, the band had terrible sound, not their fault & more the product of a daft PA and the hall acoustics. This didn't stop me from marching...ahem...tipsily around the venue, declaring things like "they sound like shit" and "they're an embarrassment to the East Coast." Of course, I was oblivious but word got back to them about my rantings unbeknownst to me.

A couple weeks later NA played Baltimore again, this time at the New Loft. As it would happen, a buddy of mine & I went to NYC that weekend and weren't in attendance. At that New Loft show, however, on a Saturday night the band performed the song "Butt Fuck" and John Connolly dedicated it to me, saying "This is for Ray Dorsey, who's opinions change like the wind!" Like I said, we were in NYC and on that Sunday afternoon, we decided to roll by CBGB and see what was shaking. As we got there, we say NA's bus in front of the place. They were playing a matinee there that afternoon. Oblivious to the events the night before at the Loft, my buddy & I parked and ambled right onto the NA bus to say hello. I don't know what the guys were thinking when we stepped on the bus, but since we had no idea what had happened the night before, we were acting cool & loose. They looked at us like we had 3 heads and were acting very strange. I think they thought we probably knew about what happened so, it probably freaked them out that we were smiling, being friendly...they probably thought I was either the most cool-handed, Clint-Eastwood-styled motherfucker in the world or completely crazy. At any rate, we spent a few minutes then left, and as we got in the car, said to each other "Man, they were acting weird...must've been tired after the show in Baltimore!"

When I got home there were repeated messages left on my machine from another friend of mine who'd been @ the Loft show, imploring me to call him! When I finally did and he told me what had happened, it was my turn to freak out!!! Suffice it to say, with the clouds of alchohol & being pissed out of everyone's system, cooler heads prevailed. I ended up calling Dan Lilker and we laughed it all off. He said,"If we'd really been pissed off, we'd have sent Billy Milano after you!" They ended up "getting me" good when they put a whole long Thanks Section on the "Game Over" record and way at the end, listed me last saying "and oh yeah...Ray Dorsey." Great stuff, great band, great guys!

MC: Wow I didn't know you put out 37 issues! Do you have copies of all 37 issues and were they all b & w and stuff? If they were did you ever want to try to go color or that wasn't in the cards so to speak? Did you circulation go up much after say issue 10 or issue 20?

RD: Yep, I have a copy of each one...all B/W. I had no interest in going color or to a larger print-run. Would've ruined the underground fun for me.

MC: Do you feel your writing got better as issues came out? Did you start to get more and more critical of stuff that reviewed as time went on with the zine? Was do you feel was your best interview you ever did and was there a band or label or somebody that you never got to interview that you wanted to?

RD: I think my writing was pretty consistent the whole way, although I guess I got a little sharper as time went by. Best interview? Couldn't say...that would be unfair, as all the bands, circumstances are different. People I wanted to interview but didn't? Let's see: Tony Iommi, Tony Bourge, Roger Bain, Les Binks...those are some.

MC: At any point while doing the zine did it get to the point of insanity like with you getting so much stuff to review and stuff? How did you go about spreading the word when a new issue came out? Did you go to shows like me and try to sell your zine and how much did you sell it for?

RD: Nah, if it got too much, I just stopped for awhile. I never let it become un-enjoyable. If things got too much, I stopped for awhile and let people know I had other, family, business, and more pressing things to do. I would trade ads with other zine people to spread the word, talk it up @ the record store I worked at, those sorts of things. I didn't really sell it at shows. I went to the shows to enjoy them, and that would've gotten in the way of it. I never let it become anything more than a hobby or the fun would’ve been gone. Of course, I did talk it up, talk about it at shows.

MC: What do you think was your best issue and worst issue and why to both?

RD: Never ranked them like that, I thought they all had a purpose.

MC: What led to the demise of the zine? Did you know at the time that your 37th issue would be your last issue? What year did your last issue come out? After you stopped doing it were you a few weeks into not doing it anymore have the urge to start it up again? Did you do any writing for any other zines at all?

RD: I think I may have answered this one already but...Yeah, I just had enough. The drive wasn't there and I had other things to do. I'm thinking the last printed issue may have been 1997 but I can't remember. After the printed zine stopped I did it online in a couple different formats but I stopped that a year or so ago. Now I just put mini-reviews on Facebook and that's fine for me now.

MC: In your eyes what makes a great zine? When you reviewed a cd or tape ha ha what was it you were listening for when reviewing stuff? Do you still have any of the stuff that you reviewed around in some old trunk somewhere?

RD: To me, a great zine can do a few things. It can turn you on to bands that sound interesting that you've never heard before. The writing, the descriptions (and, knowing the writer's style, likes/dislikes going in can help this) should make you want to check things out...or get the idea you may be repulsed by them! It can also simply entertain. In a lot of cases, with people like Ron Quintana and Bob Muldowney, I'd already heard albums they reviewed and had my own opinions formed but wanted to read what they'd written anyway, simply because of how good and entertaining the writing was. When I listen to something for review, there's just something there...no way to quantify it in a lot of cases. When something hits you, it hits you, in a good or bad way. Then you've gotta try to express that....Of course, sometimes there are the nuts & bolts of it you want to talk about...for instance if a particular problem is noteworthy (eg. drum sound, etc.) and that kinda thing is just pretty obvious. As far as if I have any of the stuff, sure, if it is stuff I liked, I kept it & it was assimilated into my collection. If not, it either got forwarded to someone I thought may appreciate it more or it got tossed.

MC: What were some zines that you read back in the day and what was it like getting up every day and having mail at your address whether it be a tape or another zine or a band interview. Did any of your mailmen ever give you any funny looks?

RD: Back in the day, the zines I read with great interest were METAL MANIA (SF) (Ron Quintana), KICK ASS MONTHLY (Bob Muldowney), GRINDER (Jim Powell), POSER (Mike Meals), GRAY MATTER (Chris Orloski) and a few others. The only comment the mailman ever gave was about how interesting some of the mail from overseas looked some times. Mailmen deliver all sorts of things to all sorts of people; it's not that unusual for some people to get a lot of packages.

MC: What was your favorite metal genre that you liked best? Was there any that you absolutely hated? Is there any band that you never got a chance to interview, but wish you did. When you read other zines interviews, what sort of stuff did you like to read as far as interviews went?

RD: It would be hard for me to pick a particular genre and say I liked it best or that I hated any the most. I've never been "genre specific" and really always liked other zines that covered a wide variety of things as well. Like I said, Ron Quintana was the granddaddy of them all and he was the king of doing that and making it flow. He had a radio show (still does) called Rampage Radio on KUSF in San Francisco and would go from playing ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT to RETURN TO FOREVER in a heartbeat and it all made sense. He was my mentor, zine wise. I always have loved a variety of music. It's nothing for me, sitting at home to go: BLUE OYSTER CULT, DEATH, BILL MONROE, IRON MAIDEN, DISCHARGE, ELOY, etc. All that being said, I just love '70's hard rock power trios (BUDGIE, CACTUS, THIN LIZZY w/ERIC BELL, etc.) and dual harmony guitar hard rock/metal (WISHBONE ASH, mid-period LIZZY, BIBLE OF THE DEVIL, HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE, VALKYRIE, etc.)

MC: You said after you folded the zine that you did some on-line stuff. Was it tough at the time deciding to quit doing the zine? Did you ever consider writing for any other zines and did you ever have a big or bigger publication offer you any sort of job writing or what not?

RD: No, it wasn't really hard at all, it was just time. People ask me the same thing about having sold my vinyl collection a few years back...not hard at all. It was time, it needed to be done. With the zine, I'd accomplished a lot, and had the internet in the future. With the records, I had most of it burned to CD or knew, deep down inside that certain things I'd never listen to again anyway. I had an offer to write for a large magazine once. It was against my better judgment and my better judgment ended up being correct. They sent me a bunch of uninteresting shit to review and gave me deadlines to do it by....TILT!!!! They sent me to 3 shows, all of which were bands that were of little interest to me and bored me to death...TILT!!!! No fun in it, no enjoyment, no passion? Not for Ray.

MC: If you could have you own record label, what 5 bands would you like to have on that label and what advice would you give somebody that wants to start up a fanzine?

RD: Wow, that's a good one! Let's see...my own label, eh? CORSAIR, BORROWED BEAMS OF LIGHT, ROSETTA WEST, AGAINST NATURE & RESISTOR. How bout them apples?!?!?

MC: Do you still go to shows at all and if you do what are some recent good shows that you have seen?

RD: Yes, I definitely still go to shows. I don't go to as many now but I pick my spots. The best shows I've seen this year have been BORROWED BEAMS OF LIGHT @ The Velvet Lounge in DC a few weeks ago, MORGLBL @ Orion Studios, PHIDEAUX @ Orion Studios, BIBLE OF THE DEVIL @ The Sidebar & a few others.

MC: When you think about the good ole days, what stuff pops into your head?

RD: More than even the music itself, which goes without saying, the thing I think about most are the friendships, the fun, the people. With me, that was always the most fun of it, turning other people onto the music and having fun hanging around together, the conversations, etc.

MC: I see you’re on Facebook like me. Have you connected with any people from back in the day besides me?

RD: Well, some of the people I'd been in touch with all along but then there are some others like Ron Quintana, etc. who I had lost touch with and thru the magic of the internet, I talk to them again these days. That's a nice thing.

MC: Ray mega thanks for doing this interview and taking us both down on a trip down memory lane. Any last words and if anybody wants to contact you, what is the best way to get hold of you?

RD: As for last words, always enjoy the music. There are two rules with that, that I borrow from Peacedogman: 1) If it sounds good, it is good. 2) When in doubt, refer to rule # 1. Remember not to take the mainstream media at face value. There is always underground stuff and you have to make the effort to find it. At the same time, don't ignore everything mainstream because it's mainstream. Good things do make it through. Very few things bother me as much as some "scene elitist" who ignores or puts down good bands like MASTODON, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, BARONESS, or even artists like LESLIE WEST because they won't listen to something they can actually get at Best Buy. That's just stupid as hell.

The best way to get in touch with me is to look me up on Facebook.

Email: raysrealm@aol.com