Rojo Diablo

"Covering Their Own Angles"
--By Dan Newman--
(*Article From 'City Pages' June '05)


Orginal music, orginal sound runs Rojo from these Diablos Once in a while, a band comes out of nowhere and knocks your socks off. Rojo Diablo is one those groups. Conceived up north in Tomahawk, the guys had to come down to Wausau to find a market for their unique genre-melding sound. Now after only a year of existence they are rcording 16 orginal songs for a CD that will drop by summer's end. This band's music has all the aggression of punk, the power of rock, and a rockabilly undertow that forces you front and center to see just what is making that sound. They have been compared to "The Queens of the Stoneage." "I don't wanna rip those guys off," says frontman Rich Ouimette, "Everybody writes off influence, but I think that they are doing everything right. They are my heroes right now." It's hard to peg who plays or sings lead in this band. Both guitar players have songs that have them in front of the microphone, while the rhythm and solo sections swap frequently. This adds to the inconstant, attractive nature of Rojo Diablo's sound. Ouimette describes the band as, "A weird Cinderella story with a bunch of ugly guys." Each song is comprised f original riffs augmented by sweet, unpredictable change-ups and vocals that are just fun to listen to. "All I do is hum in my head as we're playing something, and then put words to it. We're not a political band, and we're really not saying a whole lot, we're just trying to make somthing that's fun and likeable," says Ouimette. Ouimette started playing the guitar as a teenager, but his experience of being in cover bands and playing someone else's music all night wore on him. "When your soul is dying, and you start smelling it, it's time to move on. you can only play `She he fucking Hates Me` so many times before it's enough." That disillusionment caused him to give up on "the whole music thing" for about five years. Then a friend he met while building the skate park in Tomahawk (Ouimette's company donated the materials for the project) opened Ouimette's eyes to music again. He started to attend smalls shows as opposed to the arena rock concerts he was used to. Soon, he went to practice with a band called "Dirty Sanchez" where he "busted out '80's hair band licks." A band member said, "You still know how to play, why don't you buy a guitar?" Ouimette did just that. After the cover band that Ouimette played quitar in broke up, he felt it was time to get his own project going. Rojo Diablo's members have known each other for years. They don't let egos get in the way, and don't have the stupid squabbles that often lead to break up. The man keeping the rhythm for this uptempo quartet is Jesse Huston. "Huey" for short. "I met him at Sam Goody, he was working there, and he didn't really know what to think of me." Ouimette recalls. "He had just come back from music school in Minnesota, and he just seemed really stand-offish. I was like, 'Dude, you don't even know me,' but he turned out to be the nicest guy." The backbone of the band is wrought by Tim "Spider" Crass, who has been a friend of Ouimette for years. Spider had always played guitar, but no one in Rojo Diablo ever ask him to join. One night they asked him to play bass for them, to which he replied, "All right man, I love your band." The most recent addition is Logan Terkelsen, a 16-year-old drummer. "It was tough at first because he was like 15 when he started, he didn't have that polished whatever, but I'll tell you what, that kid's a prodigy now," Ouimette says. Because of Terkelsen's age, a parent or guardian must attend each show. His father is so supportive of his son's music that he got a Rojo Diablo tattoo on his arm. "It was just a domino effect of calamities and things that happened to form our band," jokes Ouimette. Somewhere along the way the band hooked up with local band Planet of 9, who loved their music and has been supporting them ever since. Planet's lead singer Jason Rasmussen- who recorded his own band's Alienation album- is engineering Diablo's recording. The forthcoming CD, titled Devil Red ( a joke that Spanish speakers will understand) is to have 16 original songs. Currently at the halfway point, the release date is due for a May release. Two weeks ago, at Coral Lanes 'Battle of the Bands. Rojo Diablo was knocked out by local band Prey on Hope. Of this loss, Ouimette says, "Those guys are machines. We screwed up afew times and they didn't, that is why they won." He has nothing but respect and even is rooting for them in the finals. This band is in its infancy, but the unity in their performance makes up for it. Rojo Diablo's new take on the sometimes-tired rock genre is deserving of your eardrums.

~June 2005

- 'City Pages'

Friday 8/26

This promises to be a night of great music, not only from national acts 'No Adress' & 'Deaf Pedestrians', but also from local opening bands. It's a well known fact that when a local group shares the stage with the big dogs, the hometown boys play their asses off. Both Rojo Diablo & Tree of Woe are already standouts in the local music scene. Tree of Woe, based in Steven's Point (WI), plays more acoustic, melodic rock, while Tomahawk's Rojo Diablo sends up good clean rock 'n roll. You also might have heard both these bands get some local radio play on 104.1 the Blaze's "Homegrown" program. The Blaze is the one that pulled together this show, catching headliner No Adress on an off day during their Midwest Tour with Staind, and Three Doors Down. Deaf Pedestrians was formed from two drastically different bands, one hard rock & alternative - the other a rockabilly, punk, & swing. The result is a virtual spectrum of musical variety. No Adress is a post-grunge alternative rock band best known for their single, recently signed under Sony Records "When i'm Gone (Sadie)." This all ages show begins at 7 pm, tickets are available for $10.41 at Blaze Studios, Inner Sleeve Records (Strong supporter of local bands), Radio Kaos, or by phone at (...) Tickets will also be available at the door.
- 'City Pages'