JOE LESTE: Vocals DJ ASHBA: Lead Guitars ANTHONY FOCX: Rhythm Guitars KENNY KWEENS: Bass GLEN SOBEL: Drums
"I can't rap to save my life, and I'd stand there and look like a fucking idiot if I tried," laughs Beautiful Creatures’ frontman Joe LeSte, his voice crackling through the air like a sweet shot of whiskey, straight-up, no chaser. As difficult as it may be to pigeonhole the L.A.-based five-piece, this much is clear—they aren’t just the latest in a long line of rap-rock newcomers. Hell, they aren’t even close. "We just want to bring real songs back to rock ‘n roll,” the frontman says with conviction. "I hope people are ready for a change in music," adds guitarist DJ Ashba, LeSte's fleet-fingered partner in grime. "There's so much more to rock 'n roll than what kids today are getting from it, and I'd like to think that we can offer something different—music's at a standstill right now and has hit the ceiling. There's no originality out there anymore, and everyone's sounding the same."
Not Beautiful Creatures. “We're just dirty, sleazy, loud, rude, rock 'n rollers, and that's the real deal," says Ashba, a slight crease crossing his face and his tattooed arms tensing, daring you to call anything about his band limp. The guitarist and frontman formed the nucleus of Beautiful Creatures in September '99. A few months later, they recruited rhythm guitarist Anthony Focx and created a dual-guitar infrastructure custom-made to provide a foundation for their no-bull bravado and mystical haze. Bassist Kenny Kweens came into the fold a few months later, drummer Glen Sobel followed, and little more than a year after LeSte and Ashba first sat down together, the five-piece signed to Warner Bros.
America got its first taste of Beautiful Creatures soon after, with their guitar- driven swagger of "1 AM" featured on the soundtrack to the movie, Valentine. The track brazenly boasts modern sensibilities atop a late-night anthem rooted in rock's heady tradition. Elsewhere on the forthcoming debut album (tentative release date: August 2001), guitar solos trade punches with LeSte's sinister snarls on "Kick Out," a three-minute blowout that races its way to a smoldering mass of guitar strings, and "Goin’ Off," a colossal climb to the sweaty edges of rock's jagged peaks.
And this is only the beginning, as Beautiful Creatures further fan the flames of their combustible mix with a diabolical edge and sinister stomp, their music taking rock ‘n roll in a darker direction than their predecessors ever hinted at. "We’re somewhat amazed at what we’ve created,” says Ashba, “and we're excited to get it out there for people to hear."
The five-piece entered the studio for pre-production in February, where they were joined by producer Sean Beavan [Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, No Doubt] to work on their forthcoming release. They plan to preview the album on the road all summer, where they'll be sharing a stage with bands including Disturbed, Cold and Union Underground on this year's Ozzfest.
"I'm really excited about it," says the guitarist, showing no concern over performing on the same bill as bands as unrelentingly heavy as Hatebreed and Mudvayne. "Actually, I think it’s going to be a lot of fuckin’ fun," he admits after a short pause, "Scary fucking fun!”
It's called rock 'n roll. And Joe LeSte can't wait to unleash its full fury…"You know all this stuff about being politically correct?" he cackles, "Well, fuck that shit! We've got balls. We've got attitude and nothing to lose. And we've got the music to match that; music to rock like a motherfucker."
