Raymond Taylor-Smith (born in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

) was a drummer for several notable British

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

and

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

groups during the early 1980s. He is best known by his stage name, Ray Mondo.

Biography

Ray Mondo first appeared on the British music scene when he joined the Harrow-based post-punk group

Ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

upon its formation in 1981. He drummed for the group for nearly two years, appearing on both of their records, the " Mind Disease" single and ''Kangaroo Court'' EP. During this period, he was going simply by "Ray". In March 1983, Ritual dissolved. Mondo was recruited by

Ian Astbury Ian Robert Astbury (born 14 May 1962) is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived band Holy Barbarians ( ...

and

Billy Duffy William Henry Duffy (born 12 May 1961) is an English rock musician, best known as the guitarist in the band the Cult. Early life Duffy was born and grew up in Manchester, England. He has Irish and Jewish heritage and ancestry. He began playin ...

in April 1983 to drum for their newly formed group Death Cult. It was Mondo, now going by the moniker "Ray Mondo" and alternately "The Reverend", that suggested Jamie Stewart (his bandmate from Ritual) for the vacant bass guitarist slot (after Astbury and Duffy had auditioned some 30 hopefuls). Mondo drummed on the group's eponymous '' Death Cult'' EP and during their summer 1983 European and United Kingdom tour. By September 1983, the group had decided to eject Mondo. Astbury's reasoning was documented in a 1983 interview: :"The thing with Ray is, he's so good at his style of drumming that he couldn't do the style that we needed for our songs. That wouldn't have been being true to himself. So I thought it would be better if he left and got involved in something where he could be his own man, as opposed to my man. We thought Ray was restricting our individuality. When you feel that what you're doing isn't getting across enough because of another member then they've got to go. I mean, ultimately I started this off, so I'm not willing to compromise to Ray's individuality. It was really fucking hard. We all really love Ray as a mate." Mondo played his last gig with Death Cult on 19 September 1983 at the Brixton Ace in London. Shortly afterwards, he essentially "swapped" places with drummer

Nigel Preston Nigel Preston (4 April 1963, Birmingham, England – 1 April 1992) was an English drummer. He was a founding member of the Cult. He also played and recorded with Theatre of Hate, Sex Gang Children, the Baby Snakes, the Gun Club and DeLuca. ...

(who had previously worked with Duffy in Theatre of Hate). Preston was drumming for

Sex Gang Children Sex Gang Children are an early gothic rock and post-punk band that formed in early 1982 in Brixton in London, England. Although the original group only released one official studio album, their singles and various other tracks have been packa ...

at the time. Duffy recruited Preston as the new drummer for Death Cult and Mondo filled the vacated drummer's position with Sex Gang Children in September 1983. Mondo remained with Sex Gang Children until January 1984, when he was deported back to his native

. His subsequent activities and current whereabouts are unknown.

References

{{Authority control The Cult members Sierra Leonean musicians