BY VIRTUAL NIGHT ANGEL
Jihad is Rich and James Mendez. They provide us with a new inviting dark, gothic, industrial sound, in some ways, similar to the project known as Benestrophe.
Benestrophe is the group involving Dwayne & Gary Dassing, along with Rich Mendez. Dwayne & Gary Dassing are the two brothers who bring us the revolutionary sound of Mentallo & the Fixer.
James Mendez composes and produces the tracks for Jihad. He was influenced with the electronics & seeing all the work done with the Dassing brothers & his brother's Benestrophe project since it began around 1987-1988. Rich Mendez does lyrics and vocals on Benestophe and Jihad.
James and Rich get into electronic music, as well as accoustic related material at times. Skinny Puppy and all related side projects excite the Mendez brothers very much. I remember them mentioning KMFDM and interests in the Legendary Pink Dots Tour.
Recently Jihad became known for their song titled, "Hands That Hide", featured on the quadruple CD collection from RAS DVA called, "There Is No Time". Jihad has been signed to RAS DVA and has contracts to do two full lengths plus one more after if possible. They are very happy with Ric Laciak of RAS DVA, saying he's a good person and they trust him dearly. They feel comfortable being signed to him because he is a really 'down to earth' person.
Here are the lyrics for "Hands That Hide" by Rich Mendez. Watch for my review of the Jihad demo/ruff cuts I recieved from James Mendez.
Hands That Hide