Jesse Williams is a talented musician, as well as an animal and community activist, whose hard work and dedication to compassion and quality has made a big difference in Santa Cruz County.
Another bio might read that the heavily tattooed Williams plays in bands that threaten the very fabric of civilized society. The ultra dangerous, good time yahoos, The Randy Savages, spoof the fragile male ego with furious abandon, while Gore Whore, led by Sadie Satanas, summons Cthulhu with every performance.
Gore Whore met during Lloyd Kaufman’s frantic filming of Poultrygeist 2: Dawn of the Chicken Dead, in Santa Cruz over the last year (it arrives on screen this summer). Everyone who performs in Gore Whore was in the special effects department of the movie, and their songs are named after the movie’s special effects. “In the movie, I also play Zombie Jesus, as well as numerous other parts,” Williams laughs.
With a fierce but friendly presence onstage, Williams’ innate ability to organize is what puts him at the middle of so many fundraising events. This is the 6th year of Purrrrrrfest (which adds an “r” each year) where 100% of the money raised goes to the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter. “The money goes into the Bogey Fund, which helps the often overlooked black cats get adopted,” says Williams.
A lean, mean community-building machine, you can find Williams running around downtown just about every night, often found working sound in various venues, or onstage in multiple bands, or just trying to bring humans together to find community.
Williams abides and thrives in the invisible, underrepresented hardcore creatives of Santa Cruz. And as our street vistas begin to look more and more unrecognizable, like somebody superimposed a gentrified vision board on downtown, the outsider grit that made our little beach town famous is being pushed to the side.
Williams looks like the Robin Hood that this town needs. A local who cares about people over profits.
Born downtown, Williams was brought up through London Nelson, Brook Knoll Elementary, Mountain School (up Old San Jose Road), and then Soquel High School. With constant moving around, Williams needed stability and coherence, so the younger Williams threw himself into making music, and embracing the community that it brings forth.
In the early 2000s, only a few credits shy of his AA at Cabrillo Community College, Williams was going through a tough personal time, so he scheduled a meeting with Cheryl Anderson, Cabrillo College’s director of Choral and Vocal Studies.
“I told her that I want to get better at music, and be able to travel, and do well with it. I mentioned that I had friends in a band, called the Vampirates, who invited me on tour. She said, ‘Do you know how many people who finish their degree end up working at Subway?’” Williams said.
Taking a chance, Williams left for months to tour the United States with the public-service punk rock band, the Vampirates. This real-time education involved sitting on a milk crate facing backwards in a van for eight hours a day. “At shows I was a sound engineer, and made the band do yoga and sold the merch,” Williams laughs.
Things went so well that the band invited Williams to do an eight-country tour in Europe.
When COVID hit in 2020, now off tour, Williams was asked by then-mayor Justin Cummings to help with a program for isolation quarantine shelters for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Williams became a site supervisor for almost three years, working the front lines of a worldwide epidemic. This was a job that was so crucial that only the tiniest sliver of humanity would sign up for it. Williams ran towards it.
“I was always interested in community stuff, because I was a poor kid and sometimes homeless growing up in Santa Cruz,” Williams admits.
Currently, Williams has been part of the full-time staff at the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter for over four years. His Instagram account often features funny, borderline hilarious and heartbreaking stories about the scores of animals that are available for adoption.
A true Santa Cruz downtown artist, his passion manifests in his bands that often tour the country but regularly play downtown venues. And, the aforementioned Randy Savage has been a punk rock, fun, silly poke, and celebration of the wrestler known as Macho Man for the last 11 years.
“I also play bass with Eyes Like Lanterns, who are so much fun to play with,” says Williams. Vibrant and full of energy on stage, what may not be apparent is that Williams is not just a community activist for those in need , he is often helping a lot of the local musicians achieve their goals while recording their albums. “I love being in the studio, and I love telling people that I know that they could do better.”
In a world where billionaires are funneling money to high school students, just in case they discover a new algorithm, somebody should take a chance on investing in Williams.
This year’s Purrrrrrfest event takes place on July 18, at The Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Avenue, with six metal bands at 8pm. His band, Eyes like Lanterns, is playing on July 11 at The Sawmill, 15520 CA-9, in Boulder Creek. And, you can see birthday guy Williams play with The Randy Savages back at The Blue Lagoon on July 23 at 9pm.
For more information, check out eyeslikelanterns.com and follow Williams on IG @morketiden
