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ALEX CUERVO (Capinch Zine - May 2005)
A Feast of Snakes never actually broke up. James moved away from Dallas, and so we've been inactive for quite a while, but now that I've moved to Austin and am closer to him - we're talking about doing more recordings. There's still a 7" coming out on SSLD. I don't know if we'll play live very much, but it looks like we'll probably do more recordings, which I'm happy about. Talk us about the TDT and The BOE. Is one of either a kinda side-project, or? The BOE are Seattle-based whereas you live in Dallas, right? This Damn Town is my full-time band. The other members are still in Dallas, but will be moving down to Austin by the end of the summer. We've got a bunch of stuff coming out this year, and we're still playing live, just not as much (until they move here). We're only playing once or twice a month until everybody gets moved. The Brotherhood of Electricity is a side project with Dave Bessenhoffer (from the Gimmicks/Blow Up/New Fangs) and my girlfriend Alyse (who was in the Winks and currently plays in a great band called the Manikin - She will also be playing drums on future a Feast of Snakes recordings). Dave and I have been wanting to do something together for years, so we finally did it. We recorded 6 songs at Sweatbox here in Austin with Tim Kerr. We've got a 3-song 7" coming out on Super Secret, and are looking for someone else to do another 7" from this session. Alyse and I want to go up to Seattle sometime in the summer to do more stuff with Dave because we had a great time playing with him. So do you live in Austin? What about its scene? I just have got some news about good bands in town… Yeah - I moved to Austin to be with my girlfriend - and since the rest of the band wants to live here too, it worked out great. I love Austin - there's so much going on here. Lot's of great bands like the Kodiaks, John Schooley and his One Man Band, the Manikin, the Nervous Exits, the Apeshits, the Golden Boys, Scott Biram, Ghost Writer, the Winks, the Video Screams, the Skullening to name just a few. Our friends the Riverboat Gamblers just moved here too. There's always fun stuff to do here and lots of cool small galleries & video stores & an incredible movie theatre called the Alamo Drafthouse that I love. Plus, there's Beerland and Emos which is where most of the touring bands I like usually play.
The band was named after Dallas, but I think it's more the idea of being frustrated with whatever town someone lives in. To tell the truth - I've been trying to get the hell out of Dallas for years now, and I finally escaped. I have lots of great friends there that I miss, but my time had come to leave for good. We joke about changing the name of the band to "That Damn Town" once everyone else relocates to Austin - but it's just a joke among us. The This Damn Town’s stuff really struck me. It got that fuck-up A Feast Of Snakes/Fireworks sound I dig it a lot. What about this darkly buzzy blues? It also reminds me a lot of Jackknife, Necessary Evils, Pussy Galore… Thanks, I'm glad you like it & get what we're doing. I like music that's dark & noisy without being horror. Most of the horror rock bands I've seen just don't do much for me, it's too gimmicky & not very sincere. Kinda cheesy really. Given the bands that we've come from, I think it was a natural progression. I like to keep it noisy and fucked up, but still try to have some kind of hook or catchy stuff in there too. What about the audience’s feedback when you play shows? They seem to like it. I've heard a lot of funny stuff that people compare us to (specifically the way I sing) - but all in all it goes over pretty well. Can you disclose something about their coming out issue? Well, we've got 7" records coming out on Perpetrator, Chicken Ranch, Solid Sexy Lovie Doll, and a split 7" with Das Boot (from Tokyo) that will come out on Tokyo Tarantula (Tetsuya's label) in Japan and Hook Or Crook (James Arthur's new label) in the US. We're still talking to a few more people since we have some recordings left over that we still wanna do something with.
It's cool. I'm proud of the stuff I've done & I learned a lot from all the different experiences. I was lucky to get to play in Blacktop because not only did I love the music, but I've had a lot of fun and rewarding opportunities since then. Is the Blacktop the first band which you play with? How the band come up? Well, I've been playing in punk & noisy bands since I was 17 years old, but Blacktop was the first band I ever recorded and toured with. At the time, I was in a noisy instrumental band called the Oval Teens that played with Fireworks a lot and Darin and I met that way. When he started planning Blacktop with Mick, they wanted to add bass since neither the Gories or Fireworks had bass, and he asked me to do it. Obviously I said yes, and that was that. Was the Blacktop a your full-time band at that time? Did you toured and played live a lot? Yeah, Blacktop became my main band because the Oval Teens split up around that time. Since Mick lives in Detroit - we only played when we would tour or when we were recording. Why the band split up at some point? It's a long long story that has been both exaggerated and downplayed. There's some crazy story about Darin selling our Van and equipment WHILE we were on tour, which is simply NOT true. Nonetheless, he fucked up bad and ripped us off so we decided to move on without him and Janet. Which lead us to King Sound Quartet. What about the King Sound Quartet? How did the band born? Was a Blacktop’s natural evolution or kinda side-project? King Sound Quartet was initially gonna be Blacktop with Tim Kerr and Stephanie Friedman, but we sounded so different when we played together that we decided to just call it something else. It was just a recording project really, as we never played live together. I think In the Red is going to re-issue all the KSQ stuff on one cd which will include a couple previously unreleased tracks.
Is there any good band’s recordings that haven’t been published? Have you get out all good stuff that you’ve recorded? I was involved with a recording project with Mick Collins, Matt Verta Ray (Speedball Baby), and Steve Adkins (from the Gospel Swingers & Now Time Delegation) that was never released. I'd like to release at least a couple of the songs myself, but I've got to work out a lot of stuff before I can do that. We'll just have to wait and see. Did each of those bands have some leader? Were Blacktop and KSQ real bands or did someone carry much weight than other members? Well Blacktop was mostly led by Mick and Darin, but I contributed to the song writing process & did all the artwork. KSQ was led by Tim & Mick. Now Time was led by Tim. The Gospel Swingers was led by committee for the most part and Feast of Snakes was both James and I calling the shots. I still try to keep the democratic system w/ This Damn Town because I value all of their opinions but most final decisions are made by me & Jeremy since we're the principal songwriters. The other guys have a big say in everything though. Were the Gospel Swingers a kinda dress rehearsal of following bands as A Feast Of Snakes and This Damn Town? The Gospel Swingers was a full-time band for all of the members for many years. Kari, Steve and I were also in the Now Time Delegation - and Kari and I started This Damn Town around the time that the Gospel Swingers was slowing down. Lone Star (from Germany) is releasing the Gospel Swingers LP that Tim Kerr produced later this year. I'm glad the album will finally be released because we sunk a lot of time and money into it.
Think I have my hands full with the 3 bands, but Alyse and I keep joking about doing a 2 person band and learning a bunch of old songs. Just for fun, like house parties & stuff. I'd like to keep This Damn Town going for a long time because the guys in the band are so great to play with and really good friends. I'd also really like to start a record label, but I have to figure out some financial stuff before I can commit to it - hopefully I'll have all that sorted out real soon. Last but not least, how many tattoos are on your body? I’ve seen some awesome by the pics. Do you also are into that culture?
It's funny,
I haven't counted in a long time, but I just did and I have 28 tattoos. I've
been getting tattooed since I was 18, so some of them aren't too great -
especially the ones I did myself. I was a tattoo apprentice a long long time
ago, but they guy teaching me was a flaky drug addict, and I kinda lost
interest. I traded my tattoo equipment for more tattoos.
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Alex,
you’re playin’ in two bands right now – This Damn To
Is
either Austin or Dallas that you call ‘Damn Town’? Or no one in particulair?
Is there some meaning behind this name?
It’s
bound to leave out talking about your great musical experiences. Do you
sometimes look back? Isn't it a bother for you to talk with me a little
bit? 
What
do you think about the Now Time Delegation? Are you glad to have
participated in that project? I remember you received a lot of warm
feedbacks from everywhere at that time.
So
you’re play with three bands right now. What we gotta expect of you? What
bands with Alex Cuervo in their line-ups ain’t come up yet? So many I hope…