It is never a bad idea to kick off a sound check with copious amounts of eardrum-demolishing feedback. The sound of an amplifier screaming in frustration is the perfect tone to set for a rock ‘n’ roll show. So it was a good thing that when the darlings of Riverside, Calif., The BellRays, took to the stage for their pre-show warm-up, power chords and feedback were suddenly the rule of the day.

After nearly two decades of almost constant touring, The BellRays seem to approach the sound-check process as a matter of course; something like brushing your teeth when you get out of bed in the morning. It is all the same tedious sound level teeter-totter and tuning of guitars punctuated by a drum roll and a cymbal burst. It is all the same, that is, until Lisa Kekaula walks onstage.

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