Shilpa Ray is an American singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, New York with a blues punk sound. Her music has been compared to Blondie, The Cramps, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins and her singing has been compared to the style of Patti Smith, Nick Cave, and Ella Fitzgerald. Ray is notable for combining an Indian harmonium with a "big-voiced blues-rock howler" vocal approach. Her eponymous band signed a record contract with Northern Spy Records and has toured internationally. Ray formed another band, Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers, which Boston Globe critic Jonathan Perry described as the "best-named band" in a lineup of numerous indie bands in July 2010. Ray was the songwriter and band leader, and described her role in her band to being similar to being in a "democracy under a dictatorship". She has performed with Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye. They also toured extensively with Man Man and Acid Mothers Temple. In an interview, she commented about being a female artist: "I think Feminism in America went through a huge backlash during the W. Bush years. We are now going through a cool Renaissance. There are tons of amazing female musicians and artists on the scene with something to contribute and it's not cheesy, kitschy, or female centric. It's universal." Ray's band performed at the SXSW festival in 2011 in Austin, Texas and was invited to the Billboard event at the Buffalo Billiards venue. She offered advice to struggling artists: "The hardship of being an artist in this country is gender neutral. Own yourself, what you do, how you live and don't worry about the end results." After splitting with Her Happy Hookers in 2011, Shilpa toured Europe and North America with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds as a backup singer and their supporting act. She recorded a version of "Pirate Jenny" featuring Nick Cave and Warren Ellis for "Son of Rogue Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys released February 2013 by Anti/Epitaph. A new album entitled "Last Year's Savage" was released in 2015 on Northern Spy Records.
Ray's first project under the moniker of Beat the Devil, combining punk rock music with Indian time signatures in a new format. Beat The Devil was released in the latter half of 2006. The group disbanded soon after releasing their first and only album. Beat the Devil's cover of Suicide's song "Mr. Ray" was released as part of the Alan Vega 70th Birthday Limited Edition EP Series. Her Happy Hookers
A Fish Hook An Open Eye 2009, O-Gun Records
After dissolving Beat The Devil, Ray went solo with backing band members and formed Shilpa Ray with Her Happy Hookers. Produced by Jay Braun and Shilpa Ray. A Fish Hook An Open Eye was released on July 6, 2009.
Her second release with Her Happy Hookers, while also the first release on Knitting Factory Records. This 7" release was a limited pressing of 500 copies, which includes a track from her second release on Knitting Factory Records, Venus Shaver.
Teenage and Torture, 2011, Knitting Factory Records
Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers put out their second full-length record, and first full length on KFR on January 18, 2011. "Teenage and Torture, both refines and expands upon the arresting qualities of their first release. The result, 'isn't as thrown together as the first one' says Ray." The first record was like a series of thoughts, this is one big thought. You’ll slip into a different world when you hear this." Recorded with Black Dirt Studios’ Jason Meagher at Seizure's Palace in Gowanus, Brooklyn, the songs on Teenage and Torture are dark, sardonic looks inside Ray's own world and obsessions, augmented by the musical styling of her Happy Hookers – Nick Hundley on bass, Andrew Bailey on guitar and John Adamski on drums and percussion, and featuring Greg Lewis on organ, Jonathan Lam on pedal steel and Andrew Hoepfner on vocals and keys.". This record inevitably led to Shilpa supporting Nick Cave on a few tours in Europe as well released an EP on his label, Bad Seed LTD. Shilpa Ray
It's All Self Fellatio, Shilpa Ray, 2013, Bad Seed LTD
Nick Cave released Shilpa Ray first EP after disbanding Her Happy Hookers, "It's All Self Fellatio, Shilpa Ray" in 2013 on his Bad Seed LTD label after touring in Europe and North America with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman. As well as performing with Cave, Ray's current band has performed with Sharon Van Etten, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Nicole Atkins.
Make Up/What a Diffr'nce A Day Makes, 2015, Northern Spy Records
Make Up EP was Shilpa's first release on Northern Spy, which included two covers, Make up written by Lou Reed, and Dinah Washington's What a Difference a Day Makes. Personnel includes, Shilpa Ray on keys and vocals, Jon Delorme on pedal steel, Alistair Paxton on bass, and Russ Lemkim on drums. Make up was released on February 17, 2015.
Last Year's Savage, 2015, Northern Spy Records
Last Year's Savage was Ray's first full length on Northern Spy Records while also her first full-length solo record as Shilpa Ray.
Door Girl, 2017, Northern Spy Records
Door Girl is her second album on Northern Spy Records.
Musical style
A report in the San Francisco Examiner describes Ray's New Jersey upbringing as an Indian American from an immigrant family as contributing to her having a "scrappy" demeanor. As a youth, she was mistaken for an Iraqi and "pelted with beer cans" by hooligans. She dealt with restrictive parents who banned Western-themed music and learned to play the harmonium and piano beginning at age six. In her high school years, she became a stealth Goth and listened to music by punk rock bands such as The Cramps, Stooges and Joy Division. In her twenties, she moved to New York City and worked as a solo artist, singing a cappella at first and later accompanying herself on the harmonium.
Personal life
Shilpa Ray currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
Reviews
Music critics from the New York Times have focused on Ray's lyrics and voice. Jon Pareles described Ray's act as combining punk rock band shtick with a touch of Goth burlesque but with music which deals with the "contradictory pressures women face" such as being "cosmetically perfect but authentic". Another Times critic, Ben Sisario, summed up Ray's act in four words: "that scream is primal!" Critic Jacob Brown described Ray's voice as a "honey-toned wail" along the lines of Patti Smith merged with Nick Cave.
Music critic Tris McCall in the Newark Star-Ledger found a feminist message in Ray's lyrics and videos, and described her as "proud to own her discontent."
Critics in The Guardian described the music as "grinding blues, sleazy jazz, and bracking rock with punk immediacy and pop appeal." Shilpa Ray was "like a vulgar Ella Fitzgerald" singing songs with a "wall of distortion and thunderous, pounding rhythms."
