Manray

Dayton, Ohio rock and rollers Manray formed in early 2014 and are already making considerable waves in a city and scene known for musical innovation. The band already released a self-titled record, which they recorded a month after forming with Shaun O’Shaughnessy at FM Studios in Dayton and have their sights set on a new album, touring and a trip to SXSW.

Ghettoblaster caught up with guitarist/vocalist Joseph Beach recently to discuss the band’s recent past, interband chemistry, hometown, and promising future. This is what he said.

How would you describe Manray to those who’ve not had the pleasure of hearing you?

We’re a three-piece that plays genuine rock and roll music and we like to keep it fun.

Are there any strong musical or literary influences that have shaped the music you make?

The book “Holes” and the “School of Rock” soundtrack are a couple of our biggest collective influences, but we also like Captain Beefheart.

You guys have been together as Manray for a relatively short time, but have already released an album and played several well-attended events. Was it difficult to hit the ground running this aggressively? What have people’s reactions been like?

We’ve been playing in Dayton in other bands prior to the birth of the Manray child, so we had already developed some connections to make doing things like playing shows and recording the album a little easier. We also had a plan when we all got together initially, and we’ve managed to stick to that plan pretty well. We feel like Dayton has accepted us in the scene and such, and it feels good.

You and Alec (Snead) have been playing together in each other’s projects for quite a while. What is it about your styles that complement each other and breed creative chemistry?

We’re both open-minded when it comes to music, and we both appreciate really good music. Our influences are similar but different. We were also pretty much the only people at Oakwood (when we were there) that did a lot of home studio recording, so we ended up working together on a lot of things, though we were never officially in the same band. We kind of figured out a lot of things about songwriting and recording together, and it’s an ongoing process.

What was the experience of recording at FM Records like? Where there any major pitfalls or bumps during this process or did it come together pretty quickly and smoothly?

The environment there is really relaxed as well as versatile. We also had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it, so that definitely helped.

Who engineered the record and what did you do to help you shape the sound of the album?

Shaun O’Shaughnessy is the engineer at FM, and he knew what we were going for, so working with him was pretty easy. Alec and I have previous recording experience, including with Shaun, and I think that helped us ask the right questions to sort of expedite the process.

Are there any predominant themes or ideas that tie the record together?

Not really, we just wanted it be rockin’.

Have you begun writing new material?

Oh yeah. We’ve got like a whole new album written, but we’re gonna court it for a while before we make a move.

Will this be your first year performing in the Dayton Music Fest? Have you attended in the past, and if so, do you have any strong memories of the event?

This is the first time Manray has played “The Fest,” but I’ve played it with The Holy Smokes, and Alec’s played it with Amnesia. We’ve never had a bad time at DMF, that’s for sure.

Will you be doing regional touring in support of the record?

We’ve got a couple ideas brewing, but more than likely it would be to promote the new record. So figure like, Spring/Summer 2015.

(Listen to Manray here: https://daytonmanray.bandcamp.com/. Catch the band live at the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Music Fest, October 4. They perform at Oregon Express at 9 pm.) - Timothy Anderl/Ghettoblaster Magazine

This bluesy rock trio has been turning heads since forming earlier this year out of the ashes of front man Joey Beach’s short-lived gutbucket duo Holy Smokes. Manray, making its DMF debut, turns that ferocity up significantly with three-man interplay that is extremely tight for such a new group. - Alexis Larsen/Dayton Daily News

The popular rock ‘n’ roll band Manray will be opening at the Oregon Express on Saturday night. Catch Joey Beach on guitar and vocals, Alec Snead on bass and Matt Carey on the drums. “They are blowing everybody away,” Thrasher raved. - Janell R. Ward/Dayton City Paper

Although born out of a side project, Manray quickly became a band in its own right. With an album already recorded and releases, Manray is now stepping out on local stages and visited the WYSO studios for a live performance on Kaleidoscope. - Juliet Fromholt/WYSO 91.3

A Dayton three-piece that toes the line of retro rock with a sneer and a snarl, Manray blends all of the intensity of garage punk with the accessibility of American Bandstand. Catch them most weekends playing around the city; Joey Beach's ragged howl, Alec Snead's rockabilly melodies and Matt Carey's breakneck drumming are best served live. - Vivienne Machi/Dayton.com

Young Dayton, Ohio, rock and roll trio Manray has as much in common with Buddy Holly or Captain Beefheart as it does with more current rock noiseniks like Ty Segall, Black Lips and Thee Oh Sees. Simply, it’s not afraid to innovate, even while holding itself to time-tested rock standards. With this modus operandi driving the band, it’s already released a ferocious self-titled LP, which was recorded a month after forming in early 2014 with Shaun O’Shaughnessy at FM Studios in Dayton. And there are no visible signs of the band losing momentum in the near future.

Dayton City Paper spoke with the band, guitarist and vocalist Joey Beach, bassist and vocalist Alec Snead and drummer Matt Carey about the band’s forthcoming recording and promising future.

Have you begun recording the follow-up to your 2014 debut?

Joey Beach: We’ve just begun tracking our second album, which has been in the works since we released the debut last year. Essentially we’ve already recorded it once, as we did demos for the entire album in my basement starting in October. We wanted to sit on the new songs for a while and make sure they were completely fleshed out before we actually released anything. The first album was recorded pretty hastily and a lot of those songs ended up changing quite a bit after playing them live so many times. With the new album we wanted to avoid that as much as possible and to concentrate on putting out the best record we can.

Is the new material more of the same, or are there some new tricks that you’ll be taking advantage of?

JB: This new record is a lot more diverse than the first, which was largely comprised of straightforward blues songs that I had written before the band came together. The new songs were written more collaboratively, and for that reason I think this album will be a better representation of who we are as a band.

Our songwriting hasn’t changed drastically, but an emphasis has been placed on writing catchier tunes that are still interesting and complex. There are also some jams and longer songs on this record, which are things we didn’t really have on the first, so it’ll be a nice mix of styles. We’re really giving this one all we’ve got.

Will you have label support to release it?

Alec Snead: We plan on releasing the album with our friends at Great Guys Records in Athens, Ohio. They’re running a crowdfunding campaign to fund our new release as well as five others from some awesome bands in the Dayton, Athens and Cincinnati areas.

Do you guys have a favorite show that you’ve played? Have you had any nightmare gigs yet?

Matt Carey: I’d say my favorite show was when we played Dayton Music Fest this past October. We started the night off playing at Oregon Express in front of a huge crowd and then got to enjoy all the other acts that were playing throughout the night.

I think as far as the nightmare shows go, we’ve all had our moments where we may have messed up or not played as well as we wanted to. But I don’t think there’s a defining nightmare show or anything, because you can always find a positive out of every show.

What is the best compliment you’ve ever received about the band?

AS: The best compliment we’ve received probably came from the guys in Motel Beds at Dayton Music Fest. After a really fun opening set at Oregon Express, we floated around for the rest of the night and ended up at Bob’s, where Motel Beds was closing the fest to a packed house. They gave us a shout out for starting the night off on the right foot and that means a lot coming from guys we’ve listened to for a long time.

Do you have a lot of spring and summer dates lined up?

JB: We’re going to be pretty busy this year. We’re booking into the summer at this point, but closest on the horizon is the show at Garden Station on April 11 with the Zygotes and Speaking Suns. I think it’ll be a cool and unique show. It’s also going to be one of Speaking Suns’ last shows for the foreseeable future, so you can bet they’ll bring their A game.

We’re doing a residency at Jimmie’s Ladder 11 in May as well, playing free shows every Monday night with some good friends that’ll surely be a good time.

Other than that, the goal is to maintain a full schedule through the summer with the album release sometime in July.

What are your loftiest goals for the band?

MC: We want to take it as far as we can. All three of us are extremely devoted to this and we love being able to express our creativity through our own music. I think we would love being able to play shows every night, go on month long tours and continue to create music in our free time, or better, for a living.

Being in a band is no simple task by any means, so that’s easier said than done. But there’s a reason we love doing it, and that motivation is enough for us to keep working hard so we can reach that goal. Overall, we just want to be happy with ourselves and our music and to always keep it fun.

Manray performs at Garden Station, 509 E. Fourth St. on Saturday, April 11 doors open at 5:30 p.m.. Zygotes and Speaking Suns are also on the bill. For more information, please visit Manray at facebook.com/daytonmanray. - Tim Anderl/Dayton City Paper

Manray is a nice band. They play instruments and sometimes baseball in Dayton, Ohio. Rock and roll is kind of their “thing.” Joey Beach is a guitar and a mouth, Alec Snead is a bass and a mouth, and Matt Carey is a drum and has no mouth. They have a self-titled album, being released in April 2014, it’s available online from all major outlets, and their second record is due out late 2015.
http://Facebook.com/Daytonmanray
https://daytonmanray.bandcamp.com/ - Terry Martin/Gem City Podcast

​Manray was only together a month when the trio recorded its self-titled, digital-only album in early 2014. The musicians began recording the followup 12 months later, and what a difference a year makes.

“Classic Jurassic,” getting its official release at Blind Bob’s in Dayton on Friday, Sept. 4, is a major leap forward for the bluesy garage rock band. Joey Beach (guitar, vocals) and Alec Snead (bass, vocals), both 21, and 18-year-old Matt Carey (drums) sat down recently at the Trolley Stop to discuss the smoking new album.

Beach: “We did that first one right after we started. We just got together, learned some songs and recorded. It’s a lot more collaborative now. On the first one, I had eight songs already and Alec wrote two, so it’s definitely more spread out.”

Carey: “We’ve been playing these songs live for over a year.”

Beach: “We wanted to give the songs time to evolve on stage before we recorded them. After you play a song for a while, you always change little things a lot here and there. We realized that after playing the songs from the first one. We ended up recording demos of the entire album at my house. We critiqued that to see how we could make them better, and I think it worked.”

Studio sessions

Songs such as “Sun on My Back” and “Time Sutures” have an obvious studio polish, but the rollicking songs retain the vibrancy of tracking live in the recording studios of Hocking College, in southeast Ohio, with Garrett Deal.

Snead: “Hocking College was great. They had nice gear, and it was fully automated. We were all in separate rooms with windows, so we could see each other. We did the whole thing over two weekends.”

Carey: “We originally thought we’d get it done in one weekend. We underestimated how long it would take.”

Beach: “It still only took us three days in the studio. We went in there with a very detailed plan of what wanted to do and what we needed to accomplish. We recorded the basic tracks live, and then we did some overdubs.”

Snead: “Garrett did a great job. He’s really professional.”

Polishing at home

Beach spent another two months at home adding keyboard and guitar overdubs and mixing the songs. Shaun O’Shaughnessy, who recorded Manray’s debut, mastered the album.

Beach: “I like working that way at home, because I can spend my free time working on it and then have someone like Shaun master it. We’ll probably go more that route on our next album.” - Dayton Daily News

Manray is a Dayton, Ohio three-piece that plays a spectrum of tunes grounded in the best of rock n’ roll. While retro garage rock and traditional blues riffs provide the foundation of Manray’s high energy catalogue, they never pass up the opportunity for a psych influenced jam. Manray has already self-released two full length albums in two years and is gearing up to release their new EP, feelin’ alright, on February 19 through Gas Daddy Go!.

Today, we’re pleased to bring you the premiere of Manray’s new song “goin’ thru the motions” (listen below). The band comments: “Man, I need a release…” - New Noise Magazine