the return of jesus de la cruz

we don't often venture out on monday nights, but had to make an exception this week for the triumphal return to the fort of jeremy diaz a.k.a. jesus de la cruz. that's the handle he went by when he played with dead sexy, denton-via-como's entry in the glam-cum-detroit ramalama sweepstakes, and i was reminded of it by the praying hands motif on his gtr strap. the boy knows the good schitt and is the most alive presence on any stage he's ever graced; monday night, he supplied the sting in this damn town's three-gtr assault as the austin garage punkoids kicked off a week-long post-sxsw tour with seattlites the new fangs at the little wreck room.

this damn town has undergone a few lineup changes since the last time i saw 'em, and the more subtle, rootsy, solo-john-doe-ish vibe of their first set o' recordings has been replaced by something a lot more primal and louder than fuck (and we all know how loud fuck can be) -- imagine if the sonics had recorded at sun studios using blue cheer's equipment. chalk it up to tom kodiak's gtr taking the place of kari luna's pianner (altho kari's all over the freshly minted 7-inch -- "tattered" b/w "i got no use," on pink vinyl, no less -- that my sweetie scored from the merch table along with some stickers for her bike). jeremy's got my old twin reverb (had to deal it off to pay an attorney coupla summers back but i wanted to keep it in the family) and had it cranked all the way up to 7 (loudest i ever ran it was on 5 and that sent the kid at craig's music in weatherford running out the street with his hands clasped over his ears). i overheard soundman jon teague (whose own band, the great tyrant, are no strangers to extreme volume their own selves and open for shaolin death squad this saturday) telling this damn town front / ex-gospel swinger alex cuervo, "your amps are louder than my whole p.a.!" in response to a monitor beef. drummer (and alex's fiancee) alyse mervosh hits hard and keeps things moving forward onstage, and the whole mess was swimming in a sea of swampy 'verb. the crowd (better 'n usual for a monday night, as befits such a momentous event) seemed to dig it real fine.

jeremy's got another project percolating that sounds like one to watch. on paper, the strange attractors might look like a dead sexy reunion -- the lineup includes frontcat kevin pearce and bassist jen tran -- but they insist it's not. from j.d.'s description, sounds like spacey psych with mind-melt gtr, but we'll have to wait until they get some recordings out there. can't wait to hear 'em.