About Us
The Ray Jones band are a three piece heavy rock covers band from Wiltshire UK.
Ray Jones is a Guitarist, Singer & Entertainer, specialising in 70's 80’s, 90’s and modern day Classics.
He has also Written a handful of tracks & released an Album called "The Right Way".
John Phillips on Drums/Vocals and Simon Ridler on Bass/Vocals provide a tight rhythm section.
Having shared a long relationship of musical interests.
They now provide a foundation to this Tight Trio.
It is an awesome combination that must be seen.
Its hard to pin point their style or genre, people have said they sound like ACDC, Black Sabbath, Wishbone Ash.
Have a listen yourself and decide...
Meet the Band
These are The Ray Jones Band members.
Ray Jones, John Phillips and Simon Ridler
Guitar and Lead Vocals
Ray Jones
Ray started his career at 15years old playing gigs at schools and village halls, he then toured Scandinavia and Germany. On his return he was the founder member of Raven, soon after he did a stint with Public Nuisance. During the 80s Ray was playing in the very successful band Remember playing various types of gigs around London and home counties. After 15years together Ray moved to the west country where he had a very successful solo career touring pubs, clubs, hotels and holiday camps. in 2007 the original line up of The Ray Jones band was formed and recorded The Right Way album, the band worked extensively playing pubs, clubs, biker events and festivals while also releasing the second album The Live Way. Sadly the pandemic hit and the line up disbanded.
the new line up was formed through Ray playing a solo gig and meeting drummer John who then recruited Simon through their previous Lautrec connection. the band started work in august 2023 playing a range of classic rock with a bit of glam thrown in for good measure.
Drums and Vocals
John Phillips
John has delighted audiences over many years on the rock circuit with his powerful and dynamic drumming.
He was in the same class at school with the world-famous session drummer Simon Phillips of Toto and as they lived across the road from each other they spent many hours playing drums together after classes had finished! John played drums for the Welsh band Lone Star and 80's rock bands Lautrec, Megaton, Weapon and Cliff Moore's Heroes, to name but a few! He also had the privilege of playing drums in an audition session for 2 months with Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz, featuring the late guitar legend Randy Rhoads, just before Lee Kerslake joined the band as their permanent drummer
Bass and Vocals
Simon Ridler
Simon started playing bass aged 14 forming a band at school eventually playing parties and social clubs, playing pop and rock covers, in 1978 Reuben Archer moved into the village and was looking for a bass player for his band playing original songs. Over the next 2 years the band now named Lautrec started getting a following around Bristol and in 1980 they supported Def Leppard and 2 tours with Saxon. Following that they went onto record Mean Gasoline. After a couple of frustrating years without a major record deal the band split and Simon went onto start his own Building company, playing now and again in the 90s
in 2016 Mean Gasoline was put on a Bristol band compilation album, the following year they reformed for a one off gig in Bristol (video you can watch in our gallery)
This gave Simon the music bug again and when John contacted him to start a band with Ray playing 70s and 80s rock covers with a couple of Rays own songs he jumped at the chance and is enjoying playing Live again.
