“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers.
You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”
Mahfouz Naguib
I’m a fan of the Atlanta and Athens music scenes from the 70s and 80s. Drummer Randy Delay was associated with a number of great indie bands during that time. I haven’t heard of him since. What happened?
Michael and Butcho – Sadly, Randy passed away in 1993 after an extended battle with cancer. We played with Randy in a later line-up of Ravenstone and agree he was one of the top drummers in the Georgia music scene during those decades.
Randy did studio session work and performed in concert with a number of groups including the Georgia Satellites, the Hellhounds, the Desperate Angels and Drivin-N-Cryin.
His work can be heard on Drivin-N-Cryin’s “Honeysuckle Blue” and the Georgia Satellites’ “Keep Your Hands To Yourself.”
Randy is missed by friends, family and fans.
What do you think rock & roll smells like?
Ralph – The Waffle House at 2 a.m.
Dwight – Purple.
Willi – Like a purple motorcycle in the morning dew.
Michael – Usually warm beer and stale cigarettes, although sometimes it can smell like three-day-old Ahi Tuna when you first wake up after a hard night of rock n’ roll.
Butcho – Like a pot of some good ole stew on yo’ mama’s stove. She starts off with some Georgia barbecue, and mixes in a little Tennessee sour mash with some jalapanos and hot pepper sauce. Then she adds a lot of rice and crawfish, and onions, and a big ole chunk of cheese. Then I’d be junior comin’ along and tossin’ in a little napalm.
How old is too old to play rock?
Butcho – When the hearse drives up to the doorstep. I guess it’s a few minutes before that. Just enough time to turn off the amp and say goodbye.
Michael – I think it’s like most things. You stop doing it when it stops feeling good.
Willi – Old rockers never die. They just go into ketosis.
Ralph – When it’s too loud. I’m sorry, did you say something?
Dwight – There’s no upper age limit as long as you can afford the proper prosthesis to maintain that rebellious attitude.
Is rock dead?
Michael – No, but sometimes it has a fever and a runny nose. Rock has been pronounced DOA so many times I’ve lost count. It keeps coming back from the dead like Dracula. In the early 60s, critics ass kicked rock when the Pelvis got a crewcut and started singing GI Blues. About the same time, Chuck Berry was in prison for violating the Mann Act. Then ol’ Jerry Lee, god bless ’em, married his 13-year-old cousin and a whole lotta jailbait shaking was going on. But then along came the British invasion and everything changed almost over night.
Ralph – No, but it probably needs reading glasses.
Butcho – It’s alive in garages and little neighborhood dives everywhere. It’s back to its roots where it will always be. Whether it’s in fashion is, of course, in cycles. But it’ll never go away. A good rock song is one of the treasures of the world.
Dwight – One of my friends argues that sedimentary rocks are dead because of the lack of exercise. However when I point out that all rocks are sedentary and get very little exercise, the question quickly shifts to “If it takes a chicken and a half a day and a half to lay an egg and a half, how long does it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick the seeds out of a dill pickle?” That question is much more fundamental to the relationships that bind us together as a band.
What was the first album or single you remember buying?
Ralph – Raining In My Heart by Slim Harpo.
Dwight – The first album was “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by The Four Seasons. The first single was “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the Tokens.
Michael – The album was “Elvis Presley’s Greatest Hits Volume One.” I got it for a birthday when I was a kid. I remember my mother asking me why would I want an album with all those old songs. The first single I owned may have been "Blue Bayou" by Roy Orbison. I literally wore the grooves out. As a kid, I also loved Ricky Nelson. Wanted to be him. When I got my first radio, I'd turn it on under the covers at night and listen to WERD in Atlanta. 860 AM. I read it was the first radio station owned by an African American. It opened up a new world of music for me. I heard Big Mama Thornton with the Muddy Water Blues Band. Totally reset my head.
Butcho – Some of the first singles I remember spinning were “Peppermint Twist” by Joey Dee and the Starlighters, “Be Young Be Foolish” by the Tams, and “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel.
Willi – My dad had lots of music — jazz, Dixieland, big band, some gospel like George Beverly Shea, Billy Graham’s soloist. An early single I remember buying was by the Athens Rogues when I was in high school. My bud McGhee was in it. When I got my first drum kit, I bought several albums so I could practice to them — Cream, Herb Alpert TJB, Blood Sweat n Tears, Iron Butterfly, Five Blind Boys of Alabama.