Rafael Reyes (born August 2, 1975), also credited as Leafar Seyer, is an American author, artist and musician credited with creating the cholo goth genre of music, which lyrically explores the realities of gang and street life. Reyes frequently mixes

Western esotericism Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

with

Olmec The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...

beliefs.

Biography

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. Upon graduating high school, Reyes opened San Diego's first vegan/vegetarian Mexican restaurant, Pokéz, with his father. After running the restaurant for eighteen years, and after his father's death, he sold Pokéz to his younger brother. In 2011, he wrote and published ''Living Dangerously'', a ''

roman à clef ''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship ...

'' about his life as a gang member, and toured California to promote the book.

Music

Looking for a more direct way to interact with an audience, in 2011, Reyes formed his first band, Baptism of Thieves, followed by Vampire. With the break-up of those bands, he created

Prayers Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...

(credited under the pseudonym Leafar Seyer) with

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(US) and < ...

-born Dave Parley. 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". Prayers then released an EP entitled, ''GOTHIC SUMMER'', in mid-2014. Prayers opened for

the Cult The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...

during that band's 2014 tour. Reyes conceived Prayers' video for the song "Gothic Summer," the title track of their first EP, released in May 2014, 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. On May 26, 2015, Prayers released the title track of the

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transpla ...

-produced second album, "Young Gods" as a video single, through Noisey/Vice Magazine. In the song, he references

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

: 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 In ceremonial magic, a magical formula or a word of power is a word that is believed to have specific supernatural effects. They are words whose meaning illustrates principles and degrees of understanding that are often difficult to relay using ...

for

Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...

is explicated in the song's final lines.

Art

He also began to focus on his artwork, showing in San Diego. He has since shown in Los Angeles at Coagula Curatorial with John Fleck and

John Roecker John Roecker is an independent filmmaker who is associated with the punk subculture. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Roecker is probably best known for ''Live Freaky! Die Freaky!'', a stop motion animated comedy based on the t ...

as part of the successful "Two Johns and a Whore" group show. 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. 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. "Dark Progressivism: Metropolis Rising" was the first international showing of this uniquely Southern California genre. Reyes's sculpture ''Southland'' debuted at

Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) The Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH), is located in Lancaster, California. The museum's exhibits focus on post-war American art with an emphasis on California art. MOAH also preserves and exhibits historical artifacts from the Antelope Va ...

as part of "Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment" which ran November 22, 2017, through January 2018. 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.

videos were incorporated as part of the overall installation. 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".

Personal life

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. Reyes married Kat Von D legally on February 21, 2018, in Beverly Hills. Reyes served six months in prison in 2010 for

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

, giving him strikes under California's

three-strikes law In the United States, habitual offender laws (commonly referred to as three-strikes laws) have been implemented since at least 1952, and are part of the United States Justice Department's Anti-Violence Strategy. These laws require a person who i ...

, meaning one more conviction could result in him going to prison for decades or life.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Rafael 1975 births Living people 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers American artists of Mexican descent American male singer-songwriters American musicians of Mexican descent American rock singers American rock songwriters Artists from California Artists from Michoacán Chicano rock musicians Gothic rock musicians Hispanic and Latino American musicians Musicians from Michoacán People from Cotija de la Paz Place of birth missing (living people) Singer-songwriters from California Writers from California Writers from Michoacán