THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN!
April 2006
On my way to meet The Rifffs at their rehearsal pad, I found myself
thinking back to the good old days of Tigne’ and Rokarja AST. That was
when I first got to know of and hear The Rifffs. They were one of
countless bands who occupied the deserted former British Army barracks,
every nook and cranny converted into a primitive mess of cardboard,
jablo and old carpets we preferred to call rehearsal rooms. As often
happens over a stretch of time, memories do get blurry, but I distinctly
remember all of the guys as well as a couple of their gigs, possibly
because I have also come across some of them occasionally over the
years. When I get to Santa Lucia (where they’re now based at), I am met
by Rayvin, Twanny (Najju) and Ray ‘L-Ingliz’, who informs me that Ray
(Cooks) is on the way, and that unfortunately, the other Ray (Humbalance)
was unable to participate in the reunion. In his place, they have
drafted in keyboardist Antoine Faure’, a former member of Characters
alongside Ray.
As we settle in around my cassette recorder, having spent the odd moment
or two thinking of where to begin, I decide that, since the band’s
origins have already been covered in previous articles, it’s perhaps
best to pick up from around their time in London onwards, and,
anticipating what an interview with four persons at one time cab like,
play it by ear as we go along. And so we beckon the spirit of ‘81 - Ray
had been the first one to go to London, primarily to suss out the scene
and make contacts. When Alternative Music Records eventually expressed
an interest in signing them, the rest of the band upped and followed
suit. After a few rehearsals, they were whisked off to Wave Studios in
Elephant & Castle, where they recorded Dance Music for the 80s
Depression for the label with producer Pete Dodd (a founder member of
80s act Thompson Twins) and engineers Ian Marlow and Warne Livesey.
Livesey would later go on to work with top names like Midnight Oil,
Julian Cope, The The, Paul Young, House of Love and Mark Hollis of Talk
Talk.
After 7 weeks that included gigs, rehearsals and what not, the band
returned to Malta without Ray and Rayvin who had stayed on to follow up
on the single’s progress, which included a full-page feature about the
band on the prominent Sounds music weekly. When the single became a
local sensation, they too came back to Malta, mainly to perform gigs,
entertaining rowdy crowds at the Savoy and Ambassador in Valletta. In
between commuting the Malta-London route, The Rifffs also performed with
Urban Dissidents at the Alhambra Theatre in Sliema in 1982, which could
easily go down as the most notorious gig in Maltese music history to
date. They would perform a further two gigs on the island that year, the
latter of which, on Christmas Eve at Raffles, would be the band’s last
official public appearance. Unofficially, the last concert would take
place almost a year later when they played at drummer Najju’s wedding!
When their UK label folded, so did their contract. Ray and Rayvin stayed
on in London, forming an early incarnation of The Characters, while
Humbalance, Cooks and Najju returned to Malta, the latter two remaining
musically active ever since.
That would have been the end of the story, really, if Rayvin, hadn’t
decided to relocate to Malta from New Zealand at the beginning of this
year. He wasted no time in hooking up with his old buddies from the
band, and of course, the idea to get back together came up in the
conversation. “The Rifffs never really came to a proper end. It was
still an open book”, Ray tells me. It was a thought they all shared, and
as Cooks explains, “They were good times for all of us. We didn’t need
to think twice about it.” Rayvin decided to contact Alex Grech of Reflex
Promotions, to see if he was interested in any way about the band’s
comeback. He obviously was, and The Rifffs announced their April
comeback gig officially at the Reflex 80’s Party last March. “To be
honest, it was all happening very quickly”, a beaming Rayvin adds, “so
we’ve been really driving ourselves hard to bring it all up to scratch”.
Luckily, the chemistry was still there, and, inspired by the good vibe
during rehearsals and the thrill of the upcoming gigs, Ray wasted no
time in penning some new songs in the Ska vein of Dance Music. They
booked themselves into Robert Longo’s Padded Cell Studios, throwing
themselves into the process heart and soul, and recorded a few songs,
including Hey Little Girl and Who’s The Spy? from way back and a new
tune, Life of Crime, which will be officially launched as their new
single at tonight’s gig. Life of Crime is an in-your-face Ska stomper
choc full of those same skanking grooves and twangy guitars first
brought to us by the likes of Madness, The Beat and The Specials back in
the early 80’s. It is a sound that is currently also making big waves
(again!) in the UK. The plan now is to play more gigs and release the
album which, as Ray puts it, “was meant to be released all those years
ago but never was!” Before the tape comes to an end, I ask what
expectations they have of their comeback gig, and of course, they’re
pretty much excited about it - except Najju actually, who is his usual
relaxed cool self. Just before I press the stop button, Cooks asks me to
also add that “all this wouldn’t be possible without God’s help.” “Of
course I will”, I tell him, “and after tonight you can be sure many will
be thanking God for it too!”
Recommended weblink:
www.therifffs.com
