Adelitas Way singer Rick DeJesus is ready to make 2017 a stellar year.
The band is on a U.S. tour, but more importantly, DeJesus is looking forward to the release of a new record later this year. For it, he took the formula that made his band’s 2009 self-titled debut album soar.
“I wrote all the songs on this album, not to sound like a jerk,” says DeJesus via telephone after dropping off his daughter at school. “The first two Adelitas Way records I wrote myself. The third, I wrote six songs with the band and the last record I did seven or eight with the band.
“Now, I took it back to what got me here. I was focused on making sure that I delivered the best songs I possibly could.”
Those songs can be heard when Adelitas Way, with special guests Letters from the Fire, Phoenix’s The Black Moods and Manafest, come to Pub Rock on Thursday, March 16. DeJesus describes his shows as escapes.
“We need to escape the stresses of daily life,” says DeJesus, a Las Vegas native. “Sometimes we let our minds race too much and a concert is just what we need.
“I won’t get too much into politics, but this government was set up so no one man can ruin it. I’m at more ease than the rest of the country, I think. For Donald Trump, it’ll be a quick four years and he’s out, or he’ll do things that no one ever imagined and he’ll be here or eight years—but it’ll still be quick.”
The United States aside, DeJesus is looking forward to what’s in store for Adelitas Way.
“It’s going to be a big year,” he says. “I think we’re going to headline the entire United States. March and April are booked already. We want to do something in the summer as well.
“When the new record comes out, I think I’m going to let it marinate in the world for a couple years. I want to record an album that’s so good that it sits in time forever. I want to put that kind of record out. I’m in a place where I’m capable of creating the best music I’ve ever recorded as a writer. I think it’s absolutely beautiful.”
Adelitas Way w/Letters from the Fire, The Black Moods and Manafest, Pub Rock, 8005 E. Roosevelt Street, Scottsdale, 480.945.4985, pubrocklive.com, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 16, $15-$18.