The Performance was founded by James Ray and Carl
Harrison in 1985. An early demo of the tracks "Mexico Sundown Blues",
"Dance" and "Edie Sedgwick" (the latter named after the
actress) was sent to The Sisters of Mercy's Leeds based record label, Merciful
Release. Additional demos recorded in Hamburg included a cover of Alex Harvey
Band's "Faith Healer" and a track entitled "PBR
Streetgang", in which the vocals were almost entirely sound bytes from the
film "Apocalypse Now", including the song's title. The band was
signed, and after Ray's contribution to The Sisterhood project Gift, the label
released their debut single "Mexico Sundown Blues" in July 1986. Merciful
Release subsequently released the next two singles "Texas" and
"Dust Boat", followed by the compilation album A New Kind of
Assassin. Although the band had recorded a song with the same title, it was not
featured on this album, although it did appear on the odd Gothic Rock
compilations. As we already know (keep up at the back), James Ray contributed
vocals to Andrew Eldritch’s Sisterhood project "Gift", which was
recorded between The Sisters’ First and Last and Always debut album and
Floodland after the departure of Gary Marx (who went off to form Ghostdance),
Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams (who went on to form The Mission). Ray and
Harrison can been seen "playing" keyboards during The Sisters' TV
performances promoting songs from 1987's Floodland.
After The Performance, Ray formed James Ray's Gangwar.
Ray was still contracted to Merciful Release for one remaining album, so the
band recorded Dios Esta De Nuestro Lado, a more aggressive sounding album,
still with the southwestern American influence. The album's final track was a
cover of Alvin Stardust's "[My] Coo Ca Choo". The opening track,
"Rev Rev Lowrider", was released as a single. Further singles
"Fuel", "Another Million Dollars" and "Without
Conscience" were not included on the album.