Fenix TX

The Houston-born foursome fell into a deal with L.A.-based Drive-Thru Records after mass mailing its demo to indie labels. However, Drive-Thru didn’t exist back then.

It was Mojo Records that liked the demo and called Fenix, known then as Riverfenix. So the band headed for L.A. to show its stuff. “[We] played this big, full-on day festival-type event and kind of stole the show,” frontman Willie Salazar told POLLSTAR. “Everybody was impressed and took us out to dinner and wanted to sign us right then and there.”

The band, which had never toured, was a bit freaked out by this sudden attention. The guys, who knew nothing about the music business, were hoping to hear from some other labels to get more information before signing a deal.

“Well, it turns out all the other labels just thought we sucked. And Mojo eventually thought we sucked, too, because they stopped talking to us after awhile,” Salazar said.

However, two Mojo staff siblings, Richard and Stefanie Reines, were readying to launch their own label, so they made a deal with the band we’ll help you if you help us.

“So, we helped them come up with a name, Drive-Thru, and they started their own little record label and we were the first band on it. And now, they have like three houses and a few different types of luxury vehicles and it’s all because of us,” Salazar chuckled.

In the next two years, the Riverfenix album sold between 10,000 and 12,000 units. By pure chance, one of those records ended up in the hands of Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus. Fenix guitarist Damon Delapaz was dating his sister, and Hoppus overheard her playing the band’s album.

“He called us up a few days later and totally just asked us to go out on tour. He liked the sound and he liked the band and kind of liked all the jokes that we put into the CD as well. He thought we kind of fell from the same tree,” Salazar said.

In fact, Hoppus was so fond of Fenix, he decided to manage the band. That was until Blink-182 hit big. “He turned into a rock star overnight and he just couldn’t do it anymore,” Salazar said.

That’s when Blink manager Rick DeVoe stepped in. “Rick took us under his wing and it’s just been great,” the singer said.

Ditto for Blink’s label. MCA came around, along with a host of other major labels, when Fenix’s song “Speechless” began getting heavy rotation on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. But before jumping into anything, the band did its research, interrogating many of its peers about their labels.

“As soon as you go around the block, you realize that every single label that you talk to tells you the same exact things … almost to the sentence,” Salazar said. Other bands had heard the same promises and ended up with nothing but disappointments. However, Blink was happy with MCA, and that was good enough for Fenix.

“One thing that MCA told us that a lot of the other labels didn’t is that we’re a partnership. ‘You guys work with us and we work for you,’ which is like another way of saying the second that you stop working or you think you’re too good to work, then it works both ways.”

No doubt the San Diego-based band is keeping its end of the bargain. “We’re trying to pay our dues, and work, to us, is touring. I think I’ve been home for about three days total within the last six or seven months,”alazar said.

One thing MCA nipped in the bud from the get-go was any legal trouble from the estate of River Phoenix over the Riverfenix name. The label claimed it received a cease and desist order from the estate, though the bandmates, who were a bit suspicious, never saw anything. Needless to say, MCA convinced them that a name change was a good idea.

When it came time for the newly named Fenix-TX to tour, it found representation and friendship in (surprise, surprise) Blink’s agent, Rick Bonde of Tahoe Agency. When Bonde shuttered his business recently, Fenix, like Blink-182, was picked up by CAA. Though the experience isn’t quite as personal, Salazar said the super agency was doing a great job.

After all the help Blink has been to the baby band, Fenix got a chance to pay back some of that generosity recently. When Blink drummer Travis Barker broke a finger in a fight, Fenix guitarist Delapaz pulled double duty to take over. The bands were touring together and Delapaz, also an accomplished drummer, knew Blink’s music like the back of his hand.

That’s not to mention that it was quite a coup for Delapaz. “I’ve played drums a million times for tons of different bands but never in front of 30,000 people. It’s pretty cool,” he said.

Fenix-TX finished its outing with Blink-182 this month and is now in the recording studio. The band will head for Europe in September and then come home for a headline tour.