Don't let the scary band name and scarier hair color fool you: the guys in Full Devil Jacket are just good ol' boys from Jackson, Tenn., hell-bent on rocking out rather than stealing your soul.
"People don't quite get it," says blood-red-headed guitarist Jonathan Montoya in a heavy drawl. "They keep asking me, 'Are you satanic?' That tells me they've missed the point completely."
The point of Full Devil Jacket, opening for Type O Negative and Coal Chamber Saturday at The Rave, is that all of us have the capacity for good or evil. It's the struggle to stay on the right course that the band addresses in its music.
"Everybody commits sin," says Montoya, who adds that the band was named after singer Josh Brown penned the tune "Full Devil Jacket," about each of us "carrying our sins within our skins."
Skin, by the way, had a big role in the birth of FDJ in 1995. Montoya, Brown, guitarist Michael Reaves, bassist Kevin Bebout and drummer Keith Foster, ranging in age from 21 to early 30s, all knew each other through Madhouse Tattoos, a skin-ink house run by Brown's brother.
FDJ developed a loyal local audience for their unique take on traditional rock. Avoiding the overdone rap-metal trend, the band focused instead on playing straight-forward hard rock fused with thoughtful lyrics.
Haunting songs such as "Monster" tackle such issues as child abuse and drug addiction, though the band is careful not to get mired in too many messages. The core of FDJ is really about the music.
"Melody is what we're about, because without melody, no one remembers the song," says Montoya.
"A lot of people like to think more deeply," says Montoya. "Limp Bizkit is a great band, and 'Nookie' is a great song, but not everyone can relate to doing it 'all for the nookie.'"
With FDJ's brooding, heavy sound big right now, the band members have found themselves on the fast track to fame. They were quickly picked up by local rock radio, then played Tampa's Livestock festival, where they earned the ear of Island Records.
In 1999, after signing with Island, the band went into the studio to record a self-titled full-length disc, scheduled for a March 7 release. (A five-song EP, "A Wax Box to Put Your Frankenstein Heads In," came out in October.) The band also played Woodstock and opened shows for Megadeth and Bush.
Not bad for a new band in the crowded rock field. But the rock 'n' roll lifestyle is taking some getting used to.
"It's very weird, meeting all these bands you've looked up to, riding around in limos, having people feed you," said the guitarist. "It's like, what is that all about?"
Montoya credits the extended FDJ family with keeping the band humble. "My dad used to play drums for a local rock band, so he's living vicariously through me. But when I go home he still makes me take out the trash."
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