The Ubiquitous, Untiring and Undeniably Uncanny Underdog Xe La

He hasn’t had an official new CD release in quite a while, but that doesn’t mean Cle rock scene veteran Xe La (pronounced zay-lah, “alex backwards,” a.k.a. Alx Alverez) is sitting around doing nothing. In fact, he’s about the most active local musician you could point to these days. “On a solo basis, I am doing at least 3-4 gigs a week and with the band, the Uncanny Xe La, we get a couple extra gigs in as well,” he told Cool Cleveland in an interview earlier this week. “That puts me out there just every night during the week, depending on the week. It sounds tough, but it’s doing me alright, man.”

Longtime frontman for Cle alt-rock juggernaut Cows in the Graveyard, Alverez calls his work as Xe La “art rock & soul jazz dub” and offered that his formal output of such eclectic styles is “very limited in terms of pressed CDs and sales.” Just the same, he always has three or four different projects “boiling on the stovetop” and releases anything he considers “interesting, cool and unpredictable, like my career” as downloadable MP3 files on his website, http://www.luvmutha.com. Updates on his projects appear there as well.

“It’s kinda rough these days,” he said, citing financial difficulties as one reason behind the lack of a new formal CD release. “I find myself burning the old stuff and adding new extraneous music for people who ask for it, man. You know, it’s just what I can do right now. Thankfully, I can offer stuff on my website. I’m sure that a lot of the stuff we do with Uncanny – we just got a house and are doing the whole Grateful Dead thing where we live in the house and do music for a year – we’ll release on the random that way. A lot of what’s conjured in those rooms will make it to a CD eventually.”

Multimedia provocateur that he is, Alverez remains entrenched in visual and comic arts as well, and continues to parlay his art/music intersections into cultural events which are definitely on that indie tip. “We’re doing the CSU student art exhibit this Friday [3/30] and that should be really cool, we’ve got another episode of the Sachsenheim Ball [at the Saxon Home known as the Sachsenheim, 7001 Denison] at the end of April and then there's Sparx in the City as well. It all keeps me super busy.”

Alverez has a huge soft spot for the Sachsenheim gig. “I’m friends with Grumpy [at Sachsenheim] so we’ll have the whole place filled with art and music again,” Alverez said excitedly. “That’s always great. I’ll be showing some of my art and comic work as well and there will be other bands and people showing their own films. It’s what I like to describe as multi-level multi-media... basically carrying on that SAFMOD inspiration. Peeps who’ve been out of my loop for a while might be interested in that.”

You can hear more of Xe La’s musical output in the live setting this Friday, March 30th at Cleveland State University 36th Student Art Show. The no-cost, juried exhibition of works by CSU students is organized by SOFA (Student Organization of Fine Art) and takes place at 2307 Chester Ave. Xe La will provide a bit of a soundtrack. For more information on the CSU show, visit http://www.csuohio.edu/art/gallery/main.htm.

Can’t make it? Xe La’s got a handful of other gigs this coming week. And the week after that. In fact, go ahead and just pick a day! For more on his never-ending gig schedule, eclectic MP3 downloads, and artful musings, visit his website, http://www.luvmutha.com and his MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/theuncannyxela.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com

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