Persistence pays for Vegas band

Meet Rick DeJesus, a man waiting to be slapped.

"I really am, dude," the singer chuckles after a writing session in Burbank, Calif., a city as sunny as his disposition on this day.

If DeJesus sounds like a guy waiting to be awoken from a dream, it's only because he has lived through his share of nightmares.

Awhile back, DeJesus' band, Vegas' hook-heavy modern rockers Adelitas Way, signed a demo deal with major label Interscope Records, and the future looked promising.

But then Interscope cut ties to the group -- slowly.

"They locked us up for about a year-and-a-half," DeJesus recalls with a sigh. "And then the A&R guy says, 'We're not going to move forward with the band, but we're going to shelve you for six months.' "

Suddenly, the band's career was in a holding pattern right when their momentum was at its peak.

A Pennsylvanian transplant and former pro baseball prospect, DeJesus had weathered plenty of hard times just to get to that point.

"I sold the car that I drove to Vegas in and lived in when I first got there and I made a three-song demo," he recalls. "I burned like 5,000 of those demos and I handed it to every single person that walked the face of Vegas. I handed so many demos out that people probably hated me. But our name started getting out there."

Before long, Adelitas Way was packing the Rainbow Bar & Grill, and buzz quickly began to build. Eventually, after getting free from Interscope, the band found itself in a bidding war between several majors, ultimately signing with Virgin. The group's currently cutting their debut in Chicago with hit producer Johnny K, who has worked with such notables as Disturbed and Three Doors Down.

The band has been getting a big push from Virgin, collaborating with the likes of songwriter/producer Marty Fredrickson (Aerosmith, Faith Hill) and Theory of a Deadman singer Tyler Connolly.

When it comes to touring, the group is now being represented by Michael Arfin, who's also Linkin Park's booking agent.

Moreover, DeJesus, who some may remember from being a part of the "Paradise City" reality show on the E! channel last year, is now involved in another one: MTV currently is shooting a new project to air in January following Adelitas Way's hotshot, 17-year-old guitar prodigy Chris Lorio.

The band's debut is due out next March, and as DeJesus talks about his group's busy itinerary over the next few months, he sounds like a man savoring a steak dinner after years of ramen.

"In this industry, you get down, people try to tell you that you can't do stuff. Everyone was like, 'You guys are crazy, you'll never get a record deal,' " DeJesus says with obvious relish. "Life has changed a lot, man."

Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.