By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
April 7, 1989
From his punk days in the Nuns to his work in the pseudo-country band Rank & File, Alejandro Escovedo made a name for himself as an expressive guitarist who was content to stay out of the limelight. During his tumultuous career, the singer-songwriter’s been a band member, the band leader and, now, a solo artist. He returns to the Chicago area for a performance tonight at FitzGerald’s.
HIS HISTORY: Moving from Texas to California, Escovedo settled in San Francisco in the mid-’70s and became guitarist for the punk rock band the Nuns. In 1979 he hooked up with Chip and Tony Kinman, who fronted a rival punk group called the Dils, and formed the cow-punk band Rank & File. In the early ’80s, Escovedo quit to front his own roots group, the True Believers. He couldn’t believe it when EMI Records chose not to release the group’s second LP. Litigation ensued, and the band broke up in By 1991, he was ready to work on a solo album. “Gravity,” released last year, was the result.
“I was devastated by the whole True Believers thing,” Escovedo says. “I think a lot of people liked the band, but when that second album wasn’t picked up, nobody wanted to deal with us because it just seemed like a mess. It’s really a shame, because I really loved that album a lot. EMI had a clause that prevented us from re-recording any of the songs for five years. It was frustrating, but you live. You have to.”
WHO’S WHO? Escovedo boasts a musical family second to none. Niece Sheila E. drummed with Prince. Brother Pete was a percussionist for Santana. And another brother, Javier, played in True Believers. Even his daughter Maya is getting in on the act. Just turned 11, she can be heard on “Gravity.” “I had always wanted to use Maya on a song,” Escovedo says. “Maya and her friend Megan wanted to do it, too, so they sang a little backup and laughed a lot, which made it on the track. They had a lot of fun. They performed live with us at a show and were really scared. It was so cute. The crowd loved it.” What about royalties? “They got a one-time fee,” he says, laughing. “I think they want to re-negotiate.”
JUST LIKE JOHN AND SEAN: John and Sean Lennon shared the same birthday. So do Alejandro and Maya. Father and daughter celebrated their birthdays on Jan. 10. He turned 42. She turned 11. “I took Maya and her friends to see `Forever Young,’ ” he says. “They like Mel (Gibson).” Escovedo’s got four other kids, ranging from eight months old to 22.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS: “The San Francisco punk scene in the late ’70s was pretty good,” remembers Escovedo, who’s based in Austin, Texas. “There were enough bands to actually constitute a `scene.’ I was in the Nuns, Chip and Tony were in the Dils. And Jimmy (Calvin Wilsey, now a member of Chris Isaak’s Silvertone) was in the Avengers. Jimmy was great – he was kind of a pretty boy back then. He looked like one of those guys in (Billy Idol’s) Generation X.”
