Events

[POP] Jessica Hernandez jumped through some unexpected hoops on the way to making her lauded full-length debut, Secret Evil. A self-taught musician from the Motor City, she was originally signed to Blue Note in 2012. Upon deciding to release her music by less corporate means, she was eventually freed from her contract and given control of the material she’d recorded for the label—a rare event.  A 2013 EP entitled Demons bought time to finish the album and stirred up critical accolades, but it would be another year before Secret Evil was finished. Hernandez’s rock-and-roll stew is both familiar and unusual. Produced by the legendary Richard Gottehrer, who helped launch recording careers for Blondie and the Go-Gos, Secret Evil blends punky, girl-group panache with Motor City grime, rockabilly/surf riffs with reggae rhythms, R&B, and bits of jazz with Latin sensibility throughout. She spoke to us about it on the eve of her gig at Babeville’s 9th Ward, Wednesday night with Buffalo’s the Albrights.   

Why “Secret Evil”? Is there a sinister undercurrent to these stories?

Pretty much. Most people I know have a similar story in their late teens and early 20s. That’s when I wrote the album and I was making a lot of mistakes at the time trying to figure myself out. It’s part of life, I think. I just tried to embrace it and write about my experiences no matter how embarrassing or incriminating it might have been. 

The disc has a hard-to-pinpoint Latin feel—maybe you could speak to that a little? Do you feel as if there’s a cultural flavor in the songs?

There’s definitely a Latin feel in the music. It’s not really a conscious choice but I grew up having a lot of Latin influences musically so it’s just a part of who I am and what I like. When I write I always start with a rhythm, so it tends to lean towards a Latin groove even if the song goes in a completely different direction. 

What happened with Blue Note?

Don Was is the label president…he basically helped me out as a huge merger was happening and let me decide which path I wanted to take. I decided to take the album and run instead of waiting around to see what the new company wanted to do with it. I was happy with the record and eager to put it out and I knew the waiting game could wreck me and set me back. I got help from a lot of friends to get me back on track and found a new team that really worked for me—all for the best. Don really helped me out a lot with the transition. 

Detroit and Buffalo have some things in common. People here are excited about economic and cultural recovery, but they’re also a little nervous. How do you feel about the “urban renewal” happening in your town?

I think it has potential to be a great thing but I also understand the nervousness because there are a lot of negative things that can come with a change that big. I come from a family of business owners, my parents own a Mexican bakery and restaurant in Detroit and coming from that perspective, you’re excited about new people moving in, but you also have changing demographics to worry about. You never know if it will grow your business and neighborhood or strip it of what it once was. I guess I have the same opinion as a lot of people in Buffalo…excited, but nervous.