Ray Mondo

Raymond Taylor-Smith (born in Sierra Leone) was a drummer for several notable British post-punk and gothic rock 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 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.

"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 remained with Sex Gang Children until January 1984, when he was deported back to his native Sierra Leone. He now lives in L.A., California, US and works as an independent audio engineer .