I can only speak for myself (Rob). I wanted to get a sound that was a bit like Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett, Captain Beefheart, John Cale, Bob Dylan of Highway 61 Revisited era. You know the sort of thing. That wasn't at all where Andrew and Mike were coming from and so that created a sort of tension that can be productive.
Got some comments from Andrew :-
Where Rob brought psychedelia to the table, and Mike his own special
combination of funk & melody, the drummer felt it necessary to explore
the uncharted waters of punk-prog. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it
didn't. But the idea was always to make the drums musical, a full
third of the sound, not a click track. Perhaps the rhythm section
sometimes took up a bit too much space, but as Rob says, it was the
clash of ideas that made it work. I am proud of my role in Dry Rib,
trashing around underneath Vasey's wonderful songs. To be mentioned
in the same sentence as Wire (see Edward Ball's comments here) is an
honour. Our best tracks were Memento Mori & Suspense, so I make no
excuse for trailing their forthcoming re-release via Chuck Warner's
Messthetics series.
Dry Rib were a band formed in 1978. Briefly known before as Dial 192 and then Red they are best known as a 3-piece - Rob Vasey on guitar and vocal, Mike Mulholland on bass and Andrew Goodwin on drums. In 1979 they released an EP called The Dry Season on Clockwork Records. A thousand or so copies were sold and it got some airplay, principally from John Peel. Later in 1979 Rob Vasey left the band and was replaced by Paul Kendall on saxophone, Bernie Martin on guitar and Joni Dee on vocals.
Chuck Warner's Messthetics series last year released Whose Last Trickle, a compilation of Rob Vasey's songs from Dry Rib, as hem syrup and some solo stuff. It's available from the usual outlets.
alreet rob, i really love the new suspense track... lush vibe... i'm gonna pop over to the ''as hem page'' to check the other version out...i noticed your also pals with kevin coyne... the 'whispers in the offing' tribute cd is great.. well worth your pennies i reckon.hope you are well mate. big hugs x
I'm listening closely and can hear the roots of your current guitar style in germinal form here -- a little jazzy, a little troutmaskreplica, a little Bernard Sumner maybe?
I once saw you in 1979 playing in the garden of a squat in London, must have ended up there 'cos I was friends with Doll by Doll.Their manager Bruce had the Dry Season ep and there's the rub.. in my head for years I thought you were called Dry Season not Dry Rib!!!!!!I remember the squat set being very powerful, not long after early Section 25 reminded me of you. Am I right that there you did a song called "The Dry Season?..that was great, nagging guitar riff and lovely tempo changes, Peel played it on Radio one did he not?
