Rockin' on Air: A weekend with Kirby Ray — DJ, musician, catwalk model

Whether keeping the airwaves full of up-to-the-minute music news, lending a hand in community service or cranking out delicious black metal music, Kirby Ray is a man on the go. Last weekend, he was able to pack all three of his passions into a three-day span. Spoiler alert: it rocked.

Local rock DJ Kirby Ray performs with his metal band, Emaciation, on Oct. 20 in Cape GirardeauTYLER GRAEF

Friday

Step 1 was turning up the music.

"Nothing better than having good music to listen to while you're working," Kirby Ray mused in his fitting DJ baritone. He smiled, easing on the volume knob on his switchboard. "I've blown several speakers out here over the years. They've put a limiter on it so I can only turn it up so loud now."

DJ Kirby Ray adjusts a control panel in his booth at River Radio 99.3 Real Rock on Oct. 18 at River Radio in Cape Girardeau.TYLER GRAEF

Step two in preparing his daily radio show on the Cape Girardeau-based River Radio 99.3 Real Rock, he explained, was scouring the latest rock headlines to make sure his planned bulletin was still sufficiently current.

"I gotta look and see if since 6 o'clock this morning anything huge has happened," he said.

After all, Ozzy Osbourne could have expired between Ray's leaving home and arriving in the office.

DJ Kirby Ray's signature ponytail and black clothing are seen as he climbs a staircase at River Radio 99.3 Real Rock Friday, Oct. 18, 2019, at River Radio in Cape Girardeau.TYLER GRAEF

"That's always my example when people ask, 'Why are you always looking at every moment?'" he said. "That's what we do; our specialty is that and the listeners are counting on that so the moment Ozzy dies, I gotta have that information online. Now that's just an example. I hope he never dies."

Ozzy, by all accounts, was fine, but the same could not be said of the interview Ray had previously recorded, which had somehow been accidentally deleted from the on-air queue.

Kirby Ray uses social media to promote an upcoming interveiw in his office at River Radio 99.3 Real Rock on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019, at River Radio in Cape Girardeau. The paintings behind his desk both depict him in his stage makeup performing as the frontman of his band, Emaciation, and were made for him by fans of the band. Ray, as a member of the board of directors of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, said he wholeheartedly supports area artists of all media.TYLER GRAEF

Having spent the day promoting the interview and with only minutes to go before it was to air, Ray admitted he was in a pickle. But with more than two decades of experience in a radio booth, his reaction was that of a consummate professional. In short order, he'd recovered an alternate version of the lost audio, reset the queue and sent a courtesy text to the interviewee, just in case he was tuned in.

"This is my job. This is what I do. This is the station I count on," he said. "I live for it. It's exciting. And people depend on it."

Saturday

As an emissary of the radio station, Ray has become arguably the most identifiable local media personality in Cape Girardeau. That's due in part to the waist-length red ponytail, but it's also due to his way with people. He's quietly gregarious and seldom without his red point-and-shoot selfie camera.

He said when the organizers of the annual VintageNOW fashion show asked him to participate as a model, he said the fact it was a charity to benefit the Safe House For Women made it a no-brainer.

TYLER GRAEF ~ tgraef@semisssourian.com Kirby Ray walks the runway in Norse-inspired fashion during the VintageNOW fashion show Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. TYLER GRAEF

Stalking the runway Saturday evening, he cut a striking Norse-inspired figure, his hair in twin braids, eyes painted black, his rail-thin torso dotted with angular tattoos and crossed with furs and straps.

The typecasting made sense; the costume wasn't too far from the corpse makeup and goth spikes he wears to front Emaciation during his metal shows.

But backstage he was jovial as ever, mugging for cameras and genuinely enjoying the company of his fellow "vikings."

Dressed in Norse-inspired fashion, Kirby Ray, center, waits in the wings a with fellow model (and percussionist with Ray's band, Emaciation) Brodie Silla, left, during the VintageNOW fashion show Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. Though not a professional model, Ray said he was eager to help the fashion show since proceeds went to help the Safe House for Women, and he has grown to love community involvement through his various charity work at the radio station.Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian

"It's an honor to be a part of [this event]," he said. "I think a lot of us are just happy to be able to help out."

Sunday

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a DJ, Ray doesn't quite give a straight answer when it comes to a desert island album.

Local rock radio DJ Kirby Ray, left, performs with his metal band, Emaciation, during band practice Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, at a shed owned by Ray's friend, Kev Steger in Cape Girardeau. Also pictured is drummer Dustin Farrar.Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian

"AC/DC from the '70s," he said. "With Bon Scott, 'Dirty Deeds,' 'Highway to Hell;' that's my perfect band the way it sounds."

But then again, he added, Jethro Tull holds a timeless appeal.

"They sound like maybe a harmony or melody that could sound a thousand years old," he said.

And in Ray's mind, somewhere between those two paths lies his own black metal band, Emaciation.

Local rock radio DJ Kirby Ray, left, signals guest vocalist Brant Hutchcraft, right, of the band Cycle of Ruin, while rehearsing with Ray's metal band, Emaciation, during band practice Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, at a shed owned by Ray's friend, Kev Steger in Cape Girardeau.Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian

Their music, he admitted, can at times be polarizing, considering its harshness, loudness and elaborate showmanship, but they try to incorporate riffs that might appeal to fans of more mainstream rock.

I don't care about limits or boundaries on what people say our genre is," he said. "We create what we want."

And just to be clear, he added, playing black metal is about playing black metal, not burning Scandinavian churches.

"To me it's just I like the cross picking guitar," he said. "The sound of the, 'EEEEERRRGGGGHH,' the grinding [vocals]. I could do that all day if you want."

Local rock radio DJ Kirby Ray, right, rehearses with guest vocalist Brant Hutchcraft, right, of the band Cycle of Ruin, during band practice with Ray's band Emaciation, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, at a shed owned by Ray's friend, Kev Steger in Cape Girardeau.Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian

So every Sunday, his band gathers in an old shed owned by Ray's friend Kev Steger to rehearse. Tuning up, Ray said the weekly practice is rejuvenating in a way he thought most creative people would understand.

"This is a no-drama environment," Ray said, twisting an earplug into place and shaking his hair out of its ponytail. "This is a place where we can all just relax and make music."

And with a four-count from drummer Dustin Farrar, they let it loose.