Interview with Rick Dejesus from Adelita's Way at Welcome To Rockville

I have listened to Adelita's Way since 2009 when their first album came out. I have now seen them four times since then, counting this weekends show. I had the opportunity to interview Rick Dejesus, their singer. I was the most thrilled about getting to talk to him about my favorite AW song, which I never thought I would get to do. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed giving it!

What can we expect with the new album?

RD - I don't want to use the phrase "chip on my shoulder", but I really came with the mentality of where I wanted to be as an artist and I want to be at the top. I want to be headlining all these festivals. I don't want to be on the main stage opening. I want to be the guy at the end. So I came in with the mentality of making this record of knowing what I'm capable of and what we're capable of and we really pushed ourselves to do something so special. That's what people can expect from the whole record. It's all of us, man, it's everything I have in me for rock music right now.

How will this album be different than the previous two?

RD- I like the previous two.

I love the previous two.

RD - You know what? We're Adelita's Way and we didn't change that. What we did was we made sure we made an album and that there were 13 songs that people could get lost inside of.

Thirteen?

RD - That's what I gave them. I delivered 13 tracks.

Usually albums now are too short. It drives me crazy.

RD - We made it a long experience. There is something for everyone on there. There's songs where we jam for seven minutes and we just fucking rock. Then there are songs when people are going to listen and they are going to be like "Oh my God. This is my song. This is the song he wrote for me. I'm sure."

Backtracking to Home School Valedictorian, Somebody Wishes They Were You, that is my song!

RD - Yeah, man!

That is my "I'm in my car, screaming my guts out, crying my eyes out song."

RD - I wrote that. Whenever I start complaining about the littlest things, I catch myself, and I remember that I am so blessed to even be in America. I'm so blessed to have the family I have. I try to go back to the roots. Somebody Wishes They Were You is a song that takes you back to the roots of the good in your life. Somewhere out there, there is someone who is really having a hard time and it's not us, you know?

How has the response been to your new single, Dog On A Leash?

RD - It's been good. I think people get shocked when they hear something new, but they don't know what to expect. They try to do too much digging and figure out if this is the whole tone of the new album. No! it's just one song!

People do that with Linkin Park and it drives me crazy. They are one of my favorites.

RD - It's just a song. We made a song. We released a song. There will be another one coming. And another one and thirteen more to follow. Do I think it's the best song on the record? No. I love our record. I do think that people feel like a dog on a leash. Everybody. Whether you're married, you're in a relationship long term: boyfriend or girlfriend, whether you have a job, you always have to ask somebody "Am I allowed to do this? Can I do this?" Everybody's a dog on a leash. It's you. It's me. It's every man that walks in. When people connect to the song, it's not a song that's like this pop song that you listen to one time and you're like "Oh, that's a pop song." No. You have to be deep with me. You have to listen to the lyrics. You have to understand what kind of guy or woman writes that.

Unless you're Top 40 and you don't write your own songs.

RD - You have the same chorus, you don't have verses or bridges. You can't even really sing it, honestly. If you're a pop person, you don't even really sing they just give it someone and say "This is it." That's bad.

I'm kind of hesitant to ask this next question...

RD - Don't Be.

How has the band adjusted to Derrick leaving?

RD - I LOVE him. I love the experience that he was on this journey with me. But the band is alright. I feel like we're better than ever. Music isn't what it once was. It's not the rewards it used to be. You don't sign million dollar bonuses. You've got to love the music. You've got to come out here and you've got to love the fans and love the music. That's the only reason you come out here. The glory is all but gone. For us, nothing is going to stop us continuing forward. If other people don't continue or however it goes down, I love music. I'm going to go until the day that I decide people are going to get the last Adelita's Way record.

NEVER!

RD - [Laughs]

Anything else you want to add?

RD - I just want to thank the fans and thank you, and thank every body, for supporting us: keeping rock alive. It's all about the community right now that is still here. The rest of them are running. People who said they love rock are now changing their radio stations to Alternative. People who used to love Rock on TV, now they aren't playing any rock on TV. We're the ones that are still here. Everyone else is bailing. Thank you to everyone who is still united with us.

Roll Tide!

RD - Roll Tide, baby!  [High Five] Just don't say that in front of our merch guy. He is a Vols fan.

Well not everyone is perfect.