“High Priest” is Gray’s Nick Talyor. DJ High Priest is Nick’s DJ name, he created for himself when he first became a hip hop DJ, back in 1981. Nick is one of the very first, white hip hop DJs, spinning for the New York City Breakers performances, as well as at historic, hip hop venues, like Negril, the first truly “all elements” hip hop night club in the world, located on 2nd Ave. & 12th Street in Manhattan. This Gray song celebrates DJ High Priest’s skills and flavor on the ones and twos.

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“Pillar Of Salt” is a short, moody tune, featuring Michael Holman on the keyboards. You can hear a sample of Basquiat, mumbling in the background. Nick Taylor is rocking a percussive sample as well.

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Us Girls was a name Michael Holman came up with for this impromptu rap group. Made up of Sha Rock from The Funky 4 Plus One More, Zulu Nation rapper Lisa Lee and new comer Debbie Dee, the group was created to appear in Beat Street. Michael Holman managed them for a short while, taking them to Paris with the New York City Breakers in 1985.

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“Drum Mode” is probably the best known song by Gray, with Basquiat still alive and in the band. The song was meant to be used in Glenn O'Brien’s film, Downtown 81. O'Brien brought us all into the Daily Planet studio in midtown NYC, to record the song. Basquiat plays triangle, Michael Holman plays percussion – including pulling masking tape off a miced snare drum head. Nick Taylor plays guitar and violin, and Wayne Clifford plays drums and a wooden, African xylophone, to great effect. It took about three hours to record. Michael Holman and Nick Taylor mixed and finished the song.

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“Figure it out for yourself” is a response by Basquiat, to our friend, Zoe Leonard’s (who today is an important, art photographer) question about something he wrote on a drawing, which she couldn’t decipher. She thought it said, “Wig.” Basquiat’s annoyed response was: “That’s what everybody tells me all the time, man! Figure it out for yourself.”
This all happened backstage, before a Test Pattern (later to be called Gray) gig at Arleen Schloss’s club, A-Space, in 1979.
This track features Deantoni Parks (from Bosnian Rainbow) on drums.

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Ashely Bickerton (yes, he is real) weighs in on some important matters

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