Last Days of Jude, a.k.a. Fre Pacheco, has dropped his new video for the track titled ‘Misery’. There are lessons in the lyrics. Lessons to be listened to and heeded. As the song suggests, we are in a time of change and the truth is not only more evident and important but multi-faceted. And ‘Misery captures that in a crystal clear photograph.
To take such a valiant message and place that into a vibrant video for a song so infectious is brilliant not only as a musician but as someone who is keenly aware of the power of music. ‘Misery’ is a manifesto telling us to wake up and. more importantly, to learn. Too often we go through life with our beliefs being fed to us and the truth being filtered through our beliefs. Listen, learn, live, love, and evolve is the evolution that leads to revolution. Let the Last Days of Jude be a lesson to find the first days for our collective and individual awareness.
About Last Days of Jude
Last Days of Jude is a collaborative independent rock project founded in June 2018 in Los Angeles, California by Fre Pacheco as lead vocalist and producer. LDØJ’s first EP, Cocoon, released in January 2019 is a five-song home-studio recording that introduces us to Fre’s story as a Venezuelan exiled in the U.S. using his major musical influences at the time (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, and Incubus among many others).
It was written in collaboration with singer/songwriter Devon Nunally, Jesus Bartolacci (bass in Human Skin and Sins, guitars in Schizophrenic, Sins and Home) and Alejandro Martinez (drums in Home and Schizophrenic) as co-producer. In December 2019 they drop SchizophreMIX, a remix by Alejandro Martinez as a way to end the Cocoon cycle and welcome a more experimental and electronic phase influenced by EDM artists like RL Grime, WHIPPED CREAM and 1788-L.
GIMME, written by Cord Jackman (synths, loops), Jesus Bartolacci (bass, guitars), Fre (lyrics) and co-produced by AleTheDrummer is the result of this new stage. It was released on February 29, 2020 with a music video (co-produced by content creator Andy Wang) shot at The Satellite, one of the most iconic local rock venues in Los Angeles, just before it was forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On July 17 LDØJ drops their second single of 2020, MI§3RY; a song whose lyrics and video (directed by Fre and co-produced by cinematographer Horacio Martinez) portrays the chaos and social unrest of our current society (U.S. and worldwide). MI§3RY is another collaborative effort of the dynamic trio (Jesus Bartolacci, AleTheDrummer and Fre) with a new member added to the equation, Alejandro Matheus (synths, loops)
Currently Fre is working on three new singles with Cord Jackman, AleTheDrummer and bassist Carmelo Hernandez. The goal is to release all three songs before the end of the year. Last Days of Jude music is available on all major online music streaming platforms. For more about their latest releases, follow them on Instagram.
About M I § 3 R Y
The main idea of the video is to show that no matter what side you are on, the human collective will never be able to achieve peace and understanding by thinking there is only one truth. This is coming from my own personal experience living in two quite different societies.
On one hand, Venezuela, where I was born, was a pseudo capitalist country from 1945 til 2000 that decided to take a detour toward socialism and communism as a new way to make the nation great again by giving power to those who had been neglected by the capitalist system, the enemy; or so claimed the leader of this revolution, who at a time was supported by most of the country.
On the other hand, The USA; where I have been living under a pending political asylum for five years now, has been a world power known to embrace capitalism since its inception. Most recently this nation chose a president that claims that he will make America great again by keeping the country from their current enemies (those who were not born in it, and in many cases those who look a certain way)
Both leaders decided to achieve the same objective, greatness and superiority of their nation, by feeding hatred to the masses, by creating an enemy and blaming all their faults on it, by convincing the masses that the only way to be great again is by getting rid of their enemies. It seems like ideologies are but a lame excuse to talk someone into believing an idea and
subsequently having them do things that will only benefit a few (those in power) while us, the people, stay distracted fighting a war that isn’t even ours.
It all seems to me like a vicious cycle. One that we are so used to that we cannot see the forest for the trees. It seems like ideologies, religions and other human-created concepts are breaking us apart because we are simply taking ourselves too seriously. It seems like each human collective genuinely believes that they hold the truth or that they are entitled to anything they wish for. It seems like we are but a mirror and whatever flaws we see on others are just a reflection of the many things we need to address on ourselves. It seems… because I may be wrong.
Certainly, there are social injustices. However, it is about time we stop for a second to analyze our behavior as a collective as well as individuals. We all want to be heard but are we willing to listen to the other side. It is easier to sacrifice our freedom as humans than understanding we are but opposite sides of the same coin.
I left Venezuela five years ago because I did not want to be part of the cycle. To my surprise or not, history is repeating itself once again. This time in a different social context. I do not think running away is the best thing to do at this moment. I feel I have some sort of responsibility with the world and so, I must try to tell my story as objectively as possible hoping that those who resonate with it begin to make a change from the inside-out. I am thankful for what I once considered my enemies. Thanks to them, their totalitarian ways, and the many lives they took, I had the courage to move on with my life. One way or another, whether I agreed with them or not, they also got me here. If it was not for them, I would have never escaped. I would have never come to this amazing country and found myself.
Based on Hegel’s philosophy, I am only an abstraction but we are whole.
LINKS:
https://www.lastdaysofjude.com
https://www.facebook.com/lastdaysofjude
https://www.twitter.com/lastdaysofjude
https://www.instagram.com/lastdaysofjude
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUkIFY1j9q1WZtp0YOrgEVg
https://open.spotify.com/artist/65i0CF3sl9BZ2hpjevimx2
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/last-days-of-jude/1450028411
https://www.deezer.com/us/album/84834962
https://tidal.com/browse/album/102692986
https://play.google.com/music/preview/Bzx365bz5bxo7qovkn3bmzwwrhe
https://soundcloud.com/user-596059301/sets/cocoon
