Rick & the Ravens
| Rick & the Ravens | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | Blues rock, rock and roll, surf rock |
| Years active | 1961-1965 |
| Labels | Aura Records |
| Associated acts | The Doors, Butts Band, Nite City, Manzarek-Krieger, Tribaljazz |
| Members | Rick Manzarek Rob Stanfield Steve Cress Pete Tebow Paul Estrip Scott Ferris |
| Past members | Patrick Stonier Roland Biscaluz Vince Thomas Ray Manzarek Jim Morrison |
Rick & the Ravens (the "and" is always written with an ampersand character), founded in 1961, is the band Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Jim Morrison were in before renaming themselves The Doors in the latter half of 1965. The band recorded three singles on Aura Records and a historic demo tape that included later Doors songs "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love You".
The band initially consisted of Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on organ and harmonica, Patrick Stonier on saxophone, Roland Biscaluz on bass and Vince Thomas on drums. The drummer and bass player were initially not permanent members, but asked to join whenever a gig was upcoming. The moniker "Rick" in the band name was Ray Manczarek's brother Rick Manczarek.
In 1962 Ray Manczarek, having moved to Los Angeles from Chicago, joined on vocals and occasional piano. At the time the Manczareks wrote their name Manczarek, with the letter "c", as did Ray. He changed the spelling upon joining The Doors.
Because of his voice, with a timbre closer to the traditional blues delivery than rock and roll, Manzarek was also known as "Screamin' Ray Daniels" (Manzarek's middle name is Daniel), "Screamin' Ray", "the Bearded Blues Shouter", or simply "the Screamer".
The band used to perform on weekends for college crowds, mostly from UCLA Film School, at a bar on 2nd Street and Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica, California, called the Turkey Joint West, a British pub operated by the Santa Monica Soccer and Social Club, since 1974 known as Ye Olde King's Head. Their setlist consisted of their own originals, padded with standards such as "I'm Your Doctor, I Know What You Need," "Louie, Louie," Barrett Strong's "Money" and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man."
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