Elvis has not left the building

By David Jasper / The Bulletin

Published: October 21. 2005 6:00AM PST

Elvis Cortez has plugged away as leader of the punk band Left Alone for
a decade. He operated a bare-bones punk club for four years.

Add chef's hat to the many Cortez has worn. In 2003, he roadied on the
Warped Tour, the punk equivalent of Lollapalooza; the next year he was
playing it. But, as the official "BBQ band," Cortez and the rest of Left
Alone - Rick Cruz (bass), Ramrod Briseno (drums) and Noe Guzman (sax) -
had to cook for some 500 people each night after their set.

As you might imagine, he's seen the punk world's spectrum, from
dues-paying strugglers such as his own band to bands that wouldn't know
how to pay their dues unless mommy was writing the check.

Don't let the sour expressions in the band's photo fool you. In fact,
Cortez is in the mood to tell a joke.

"What did one trust-fund baby say to the next trust-fund baby?"

(Charged pause.)

"Let's start a band."

Left Alone is no trust-fund band. In fact, from its early days, the band
has manifested steadfast devotion to the D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) ethic.

But now Left Alone seems on the verge of something bigger, since signing
to Hellcat Records, the Epitaph subsidiary operated by Rancid's Tim
Armstrong.

For a group accustomed to running its own label, inking T-shirts,
lugging equipment and hawking CDs, it has been a jarring transition.

The fact that Hellcat is and always has been his dream label makes
Cortez a lot less squeamish, however. And the label honcho Armstrong has
been a strong influence on Cortez's songwriting, which strongly recalls
Rancid. The down-but-not-out, love-and-friendship-conquer-all themes on
Left Alone's Hellcat debut, "Lonely Starts and Broken Hearts" will
appeal to Rancid fans.

Which forces one to ask, is it derivative?

At times, yes. A little. But if it's musical purity you're looking for,
perhaps punk rock is not for you. Every punk band going can trace its
lineage of influences back to either founding bands like The Ramones and
The Clash, or hardcore acts such as Black Flag.

You could trace a pretty straight path from Left Alone to Rancid to The
Clash. If Rancid suffered comparisons to The Clash, Left Alone's members
embrace, or at least graciously accept, comparisons to Rancid. And then
they point out, as Cortez has in past interviews, that if they ripped
off anyone, it's Swingin' Utters.

Cortez, 27 today, began giving Armstrong copies of Left Alone's amateur
recordings 10 years ago, and continued to at the many Rancid shows he
attended over the years.

"I'd give him a little demo tape, even before he even had a label,"
recalls Cortez. "I just wanted him to hear what I was doing because I
was so influenced by his music. I'd give him a demo, and then at his
shows, when Rancid would come through - I've seen Rancid so many times,
every time they came to L.A. or (on) a Warped Tour - I would give him a
CD.

"He was always very receptive, very nice. And then, eventually, I guess
I gave him the right one."

Armstrong asked him how the label was treating Left Alone.

"I was like, 'Well, dude, it's me,' says the humble Cortez. "'It's
totally me. I treat us pretty well, but I can only do so much.'"

Next thing Cortez knew he was having lunch at Armstrong's Silver Lake
house, near Los Angeles.

"It's weird going into there. It's like you're going in, walking into
the godfather's house. You don't know what's really going on. It's
pretty cool."

Cortez would love to follow Armstrong's career path into the business
side of music as well, be that as a hired-gun songwriter, club or label
owner.

"Lonely Starts and Broken Hearts" was recorded in the spring of 2004 for
the slot on the Warped Tour. "We made a thousand extra copies," explains
Cortez. "We put a BBQ Band logo on it, a skull with a chef's hat and two
spatulas" for crossbones. It became the first release for Hellcat; it
was actually a CD Left Alone previously released independently.

"We did two versions of it. When they (Hellcat) got it, they thought
they should rerelease it. Actually have it in stores and actually give
it some promotion, because I couldn't afford to promote the record. I
could barely afford to put it out at that point."

Left Alone is at work on a new album. If love and its flipside,
heartbreak, played major roles on "Lonely Hearts and Broken Starts," the
new one will be more about experiences on the road.

"It's been amazing," Cortez says. "Before we were always trying to keep
it going. And now that it's happening, it's amazing."

The album also will be more well-rounded, Cortez says, exploring slower
rhythms. "We want to expand. You can't put out the same record over and
over again. We could, but it would be pointless. As time goes on, you
grow a little bit more, and you want to experiment more and you might
get better."

So far, the current tour, which brings Left Alone, The Briefs and
HorrorPops to Bend Tuesday (see "If You Go") has reaped the benefits of
Left Alone's willingness to soldier on.

"The cool thing is, every show that we've played, we get the kids that
come up to us saying, 'We saw you at Warped Tour,' and 'oh, you hooked
us up with barbecue, you guys hooked us up with food,'" Cortez says.

"Now that the record's out, and Hellcat promotes it, it beats the hell
out of me doing a little independent tour where no one knows we're
coming, and we're coming anyways."

There doesn't seem to be a limit to Cortez's appreciation of his
fortune. "Every day, even like a bad day, is really awesome to me. I'm
where I always wanted to be."

David Jasper can be reached at 541-383-0349 or djasper@bendbulletin.com

If You Go

What: HorrorPops, The Briefs and Left Alone (Roger Miret and the
Disasters, formerly on the bill, will not appear in Bend)
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, doors open 7 p.m.
Where: Domino Room, 51 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend
Cost: $12 in advance plus service charges at Ranch Records (389-6116),
Boomtown (388-1800) and TicketsWest (800-992-8499), $15 at the door
Contact: 388-1106