Prayers’ Rafael Reyes — The Survivor
The cell phone reception was horrible, and it remained so for the better part of an hour. In between lost signals and static, Prayers’ Rafael Reyes aka Leafar Seyer told his story, and what a story it is. So good that I had to ultimately tell him that this was simultaneously the best interview and the most difficult.
“That’s my life, man,” he laughed. “This interview is my life. I don’t want to be constantly just talking about all these hard difficulties. I want a break too.”
Reyes has earned it, and these days, life is good for the leading proponent of Cholo-Goth music. He’s enjoying his time with his lady, Kat Von D, and Prayers’ latest, Baptism of Thieves, has achieved critical and popular acclaim. But the scars of the past are still fresh for the native of Cotija, Michoacán, Mexico.
“This album was me finding a way to cope with the things that were happening with my life at that moment,” he said, referring to, among other things, an estrangement from his now 21-year-old daughter that still stings.
“It’s been a rough four years, but this music has been the salvation of me,” Reyes said. “Because I feel if I leave these things inside of me, I will go act on them. Music is my way of taking action, my way of having dialogue with the people that hurt me, the people that betrayed me. And I get to communicate…
