Rafael Reyes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 2, 1975 |
| Other names |
|
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument(s) |
|
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Website | www |
Rafael Reyes (born August 2, 1975), also credited as Leafar Seyer, is an Mexican American author, artist and musician credited with creating the cholo goth genre of music, [4] which lyrically explores the realities of gang and street life. [5]
Reyes frequently mixes Western esotericism with Olmec beliefs. [5]
Reyes joined the Sherman 27th Street Grant Hill Park gang when he was a teenager to save his father's life after a skirmish at a local market. [6] Upon graduating high school, Reyes opened San Diego's first vegan/vegetarian Mexican restaurant, Pokéz, with his father. [7] After running the restaurant for eighteen years, and after his father's death, he sold Pokéz to his younger brother. [8] In 2011, he wrote and published Living Dangerously, [9] a roman à clef about his life as a gang member, and toured California to promote the book.
Looking for a more direct way to interact with an audience, in 2011, Reyes formed his first band, Baptism of Thieves, followed by Vampire. [8] With the break-up of those bands, he created Prayers (credited under the pseudonym Leafar Seyer) with Tijuana-born Dave Parley. [10] He also performs solo as Nite Ritual.
Prayers released their debut album SD KILLWAVE in 2013, with two videos, "From Dog to God" directed by Chukk Nastee aka Charles Christ and "Ready to Bleed". [11] Prayers then released an EP entitled, GOTHIC SUMMER, in mid-2014. [12] Prayers opened for the Cult during that band's 2014 tour. [5]
Reyes conceived Prayers' video for the song "Gothic Summer," the title track of their first EP, released in May 2014, [13] which won the 2015 San Diego Film Festival Award for Best Music Video. Gavin Filipiak, the video's director also won for Best Editing in the music video category. [14]
On May 26, 2015, Prayers released the title track of the Travis Barker-produced second album, "Young Gods" as a video single, through Noisey/Vice Magazine. [15] In the song, he references Aleister Crowley: The lyrics "do what thy will shall be the law" is an homage to the English occultist's "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," while Crowley's magical formula for Tetragrammaton is explicated in the song's final lines. [16]
He also began to focus on his artwork, showing in San Diego. [17] He has since shown in Los Angeles at Coagula Curatorial with John Fleck and John Roecker as part of the successful "Two Johns and a Whore" group show. [18] [19]
Reyes developed and then left Diamond Dogs, a group of retired gang members with an interest in art and music, as an outlet for young men looking for an alternative to gang life. Diamond Dogs provides outreach, emotional and artistic support in a positive environment while stressing the importance of community and family. [7]
In January 2015, Reyes was included in a special exhibition at the LA Art Show, "Dark Progressivism: Metropolis Rising" which included important Southern Californian Chicano, Cholo and street artists. [20] "Dark Progressivism: Metropolis Rising" was the first international showing of this uniquely Southern California genre. [21] [22]
Reyes's sculpture Southland debuted at Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) as part of "Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment" which ran November 22, 2017, through January 2018. [23] The exhibition included many important, influential, and internationally known artists from Southern California, many of whom, like Reyes, created new work for the museum show. Prayers videos were incorporated as part of the overall installation. [24] [25]
On February 24, 2018, his first solo art show in several years opened at These Days, in downtown Los Angeles, dovetailing with the release of Prayers' video, "One 9 One 3". [26]
Reyes met Kat Von D in 2016, when Von D appeared in a video per Reyes' request. Reyes also wrote the song "Black Leather" for Von D, who provided vocals for the duets and additional tracks. The song is on the album 'Baptism of Thieves'. Von D is featured in the video for the song. [27] [28] Reyes married Kat Von D legally on February 21, 2018, in Beverly Hills. [29] The couple have one son together, Leafar. Reyes also has a daughter from a previous relationship from whom he is estranged.
Reyes served six months in prison in 2010 for assault, giving him strikes under California's three-strikes law, meaning one more conviction could result in him going to prison for decades or life. [30]
A juggalo is a fan of the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse or any other hip hop group signed to Psychopathic Records. Juggalos have developed their own idioms, slang, and characteristics. The Gathering of the Juggalos, alternatively known as just "The Gathering", is a notable annual festival held by juggalos and the artists that they support, which have included rap stars such as Busta Rhymes, Ice Cube, and MC Hammer; over its first eleven events (2000–2010), the festival drew a total attendance of about 107,500 fans, averaging nearly 9,800 per year, with a peak of 20,000 in 2010.
Cholo is a loosely defined Spanish term that has had various meanings. Its origin is a somewhat derogatory term for people of mixed-blood heritage in the Spanish Empire in Latin America and its successor states as part of castas, the informal ranking of society by heritage. Cholo no longer necessarily refers only to ethnic heritage, and is not always meant negatively. Cholo can signify anything from its original sense as a person with one indigenous parent and one Mestizo parent, "gangster" in Mexico, an insult in some South American countries, or a "person who dresses in the manner of a certain subculture" in the United States as part of the cholo subculture.
LaSalle Records was an American record label and a former division of Atlantic Records.
Katherine von Drachenberg, known professionally as Kat Von D, is an Mexican-American tattoo artist, television personality, entrepreneur and recording artist. She is best known for her work as a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered in the United States on August 7, 2007, and ran for four seasons. She is also known for being the former head of Kat Von D Beauty. In May 2021, Kat Von D released her first single "Exorcism" from her album Love Made Me Do It.
Prayers is an American rock act founded in 2013 by Rafael Reyes and Dave Parley. As the musical project Prayers, Reyes originally collaborated with former member, Tijuana-born synthesizer player, Dave Parley. Prayers began including other artists such as Travis Barker, and Kat Von D on Prayer' third album, "Young Gods." Prayers further expanded, collaborating with Christian Death, Pictureplane for The fifth album, "Chologoth - The Return Of Pluto" featured musicians Annie Hardy and Robert Harvey.
Estevan Oriol is a photographer and director from Los Angeles, of Mexican-Italian descent. Best known for his distinct, gritty 35mm black and white work, documenting chicano, cholo culture, as well as celebrities within film and hip-hop, and lingerie work, his images have been featured in magazines, on album covers and in exhibitions across the world. Oriol is also known for directing several music videos for the likes of Blink 182, D12, Cypress Hill and more, as well as for his partnerships with life-long friend and collaborator, Mister Cartoon for Joker Brand Clothing and Soul Assassins Studios, the latter of which the two opened together by way of Cypress Hill's producer, DJ Muggs.
Southeast San Diego refers to the southeastern portion of the City of San Diego, including the neighborhoods south of State Route 94 and east of Downtown San Diego. Southeast San Diego has no official definition, but it may be considered coterminous with three official planning areas: Skyline-Paradise Hills, Encanto Neighborhoods, and Southeastern.
Sherman Heights is an urban neighborhood in central San Diego bordered by Golden Hill to the north, Grant Hill to the east, East Village to the west, and Logan Heights to the south. It is part of the Southeastern Planning Area.
Diego Antonio Reyes Rosales is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. He is an Olympic gold medalist.
Chelsea Joy Wolfe is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Her work has blended elements of gothic rock, doom metal, and folk music.
Rafael Reyes may refer to:
Rey Pila is a Mexican rock band formed in Mexico City in 2010. The band consists of Diego Solórzano, Andrés Velasco, Rodrigo Blanco and Miguel Hernández, though it started as Solórzano's solo project. The name "Rey Pila" is Spanish for "King Battery", a phrase Diego saw in a painting by the late graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Jerry Beck is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer.
Jose "Prime" Reza, is an American graffiti artist born and raised in the Pico-Union District of Downtown Los Angeles. Prime is credited with being a founding father of Los Angeles stylized graffiti lettering, a hybrid of Cholo lettering and East Coast style graffiti that is often bold, aggressive, and monochromatic.
The following is the discography of Wavves, an American rock band, formed in San Diego, California in 2008 by singer-songwriter Nathan Williams.
Ash Code is an Italian dark wave band formed in 2014 in Napoli by the singer Alessandro Belluccio, the keyboardist Claudia Nottebella and the bass player Adriano Belluccio. Ash Code's music covers a wide range of genres including dark wave, post-punk, synth-pop and EBM.
Dark Polo Gang is an Italian trap musical group from Rome founded by Tony Effe, Side Baby, Wayne Santana and Dark Pyrex in 2014.
Rafael Payare is a Venezuelan conductor and a graduate of El Sistema, Venezuela’s social action music programme.
A cholo or chola is a member of a Chicano and Latino subculture or lifestyle associated with a particular set of dress, behavior, and worldview which originated in Los Angeles. A veterano or veterana is an older member of the same subculture. Other terms referring to male members of the subculture may include vato and vato loco. Cholo was first reclaimed by Chicano youth in the 1960s and emerged as a popular identification in the late 1970s. The subculture has historical roots in the Pachuco subculture, but today is largely equated with anti-social behavior, criminal behavior and gang activity.
Manuel López is an artist and educator based in Los Angeles, California. He is an emerging artist in the Chicano art scene and has shown his work at museums and galleries in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. He specializes in traditional drawing and painting. López's cityscapes express the details he observes in his surroundings such as run-down houses, palm trees, and silent and still neighborhoods. Along with his surroundings, he also expresses the memories he holds of the experiences within his area.