There is a story from the 80’s about Jello Biafra (singer from the Dead Kennedys) from when the band was opening for an Exploited show in the UK. Biafra, slathered in the saliva of hundreds of appreciative fans, pointed a goober-dripping finger at the orange-mohawked punks and said something like…

“Think you’re a bad ass punk rocker huh? You think you are oppressed? Try going over there to Chile where they got this guy named Augusto Pinochet…..try being a bad ass punk rocker in Chile!”

Rod Presley, in his trademark green trucker cap and straggly beard, recounts the story at Santiago Radio studios, telling his first-hand experience of being a hard rock fan during the 80’s dictatorship. “I felt a club coming down on my head… Imagine being clubbed by a f*cking cop who can’t even read!” His eyes are wide, his tattooed hand clutches a transparent cup of piscola. “And all this for wearing a skull T-shirt, or an old pair of blue jeans.”

To Rod Presley, front man for Devil Presley, rock and roll is much more than just music. There is something sacred and honorable in it. Something much more powerful than the just the music itself.  “This music is my time to club someone across the head,” he says. “It’s my turn.”

Rod Presley (Guitar / Vocals) a.k.a. Rodrigo Inostroza, formed Devil Presley in September 1998 along with guitarist Joe OJ Presley, Jesse Presley (a.k.a.: Rama – now with Los Tabernarios) on bass and Chris Presley on drums. After cutting their teeth in Santiago clubs such as La Batuta and Laberinto, Devil Presley released a fourteen-track cassette called Hell Rock, with scrappy, barroom tunes like “Six Pack,” “Break” and “Get Off My Ass,“ all of which rock fast and hard. The guitars are low, dirty and straight into the amp and Rod Presley’s brutal, whiskey–ravaged voice sounds like Lemmy with throat cancer. If you like the bottle, Hell Rock will make you want to put on your steel toes and your whiskey muscles and go out looking for an asses to stomp. Another important note about Hell Rock is that all the lyrics are in English.

“When I started in ’98, I just wanted to get the feeling of the song out,” he admits. “Now I write songs in English and Spanish, but then I wrote in English because I really didn’t have a message.” Inostroza claims to have learned his English listening to Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top, Iron Maiden, Social Distortion and other heavy rock recordings that were highly coveted (and reason enough to find yourself in jail if in possession of) during the Pinochet regime. “How can I explain this to a gringo from Canada?” he says, referring to the interviewer (and perhaps all candy-assed Canadian rockers everywhere) “We had to be friends with people who had a relative that travelled out of the country. This person would come back with a Maiden or Metallica cassette. Can you imagine? If you were the guy with Master of Puppets, your d*ck was wet for a f*cking year!”

Rod calls Devil Presley his “first real band,” although he “had a band in the old neighborhood called the ‘Badass Boys’ and played old school punk like Social Distortion and shit like that.” Inostroza is the only original member from the original 1998 lineup. Reading the band’s bio on Devil Presley’s FaceBook page, you can’t help but notice a long list of “Ex Members” which, to date has reached 11. “I am asking myself why,” he says, nodding, after I ask why it is difficult to keep people. “I don’t f*cking know, sometimes I say to myself – ‘Aw f*ck!’ I’m alone again! Am I doing something wrong? But if I start thinking too much about what I did, I won’t do anything. I don’t have much time for crying or sh*t.”

Other bands faced with similar situations have called it quits for much less. I ask Rod Presley why he hasn’t just folded on Devil Presley if it has been such a hassle. “I guess I am just sick,” he says, deadpan. “…and in love… which is pretty much the same thing.”

“I have always been focused on the music,” he continues. “If I fall in love with the musicians… there’s eventually gonna be a break. So you’d better work and not love!” He gives another example regarding former drummer Pit Presley (2006-2008, also now with the Tabernarios): “[Pit Presley] has been my friend forever and he was always there going ‘C’mon man! I’m your drummer, c’mon’ and I said – ‘Look man, you are my friend and I wanna keep you as a friend’… every time I lose a musician I also lose a friend. I’m gonna be angry with you or you’re gonna be a little mad with me.”

In 2001, Devil Presley took a moment to readjust its collective belt buckle and regroup with a new rhythm section, which eventually released the 11-song “Lo Errazuriz Tornados” in 2003. “Lo Errazuriz” has a cleaner sound in the production than previous band efforts. The songs, both in Spanish and English, naturally sound more mature than Hell Rock but retains all the no-bull spirit. Lo Errazuriz is the barrio (located in Santiago’s comuna of Maipú) where Inostroza spent his childhood. He describes the place as “ugly” but also a place he “loves that nobody likes.”

Down in Lo Errazuriz nothin’ new

Same shitty river ugly point of view

Big rats still roaming near the river

I’ll get me a beer and I’ll be back

To write some more to you

– “Lo Errazuriz Tornados”

Highlights from this recording include  “Nadine,” “Barfly,” “Blood of Life” and “Piscoleros.”

One of the ways in which Inostroza has managed to bind the ex-Presley members together is in the formation of an “Eje de Mal” or “Axis of Evil,”  borrowing an idea used by Chilean punk bands in the mid-nineties to join forces in order to draw bigger crowds. To date, the Eje de Mal consists of Devil Presley, Los Tabernarios, Hielo Negro and Corona de Espinas (where Presley’s current lead guitarist, Fat Presley, comes from). “I just wanted to make a brotherhood or conglomerate of hard line bands,” Inostroza explains. “It’s a seal of approval so that people know that this is real raw, old-school style sh*t.”

Old-school style sh*t? Classic rock, outlaw country, classic metal and pre-Bad Religion era punk rock. This is where Devil Presley and Inostroza are firmly rooted, and it doesn’t seem like that will change in the near or long-term future. “All this new metal, trip hop… it’s just not my thing. I’m pretty closed-minded musically.” He adds, “I’m not going to change my music. Ever.”

With the release of ‘Round 3’ this year (2009), Devil Presley has seen 11 years as a band and have thousands of fans throughout Chile. The disc has spawned a couple of “hits,” such as “Perro Rabioso” (“Rabid Dog”), which they made into a video. (Click here to watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs-8l0CffV8 )

‘Round 3’ continues the tradition of the first two Presley releases, with three songs in English and the other eight in Spanish. Some of the tracks that stick out here are “Trankila,” which has an melodic, almost radio-friendly [sorry Rod!] guitar hook; the driving, metal track “Belcebú” (“Beelzebub”) – “It’s not about Satan; it’s about the alcohol that makes you see Satan,” explains Fat Presley – and “No Esperes Nada de Mi” (“Don’t Expect Anything From Me”).

For 2010, Devil Presley plans to complete a new disc. They are currently in the pre-production stages, putting together the songs and, most importantly, the right songs. “We want to make an album. The kind of albums they used to make where you don’t listen to one or two songs but the whole album. That is what is missing these days.”

Asked if he feels more and more pressure to produce something better than his previous efforts, Inostroza says: “If you pay too much attention to what they say about you, you start wanting to be liked… but if you like your music, and it feels right, you’re ok. F*ck them.” He adds, “but we all need to hear a clap now and then.”

by Sean Black, Staff Writer

sean.black@thepulse.cl

Low Rent is a Santiago Radio program that broadcasts Fridays, 8-10pm.  Tune in at www.santiagoradio.cl