Black Leather Jesus is a harsh noise wall group originally from Houston, Texas. Richard Ramirez founded the project in 1989 and still fronts it with partner Sean E. Matzus, plus a rotating cast of other musicians. At one point the band had fourteen members. The project later based itself near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but the leather-and-noise brief did not change.
For listeners who know BDSM and fetish culture, the point of the name is the subject matter: gay leather subculture and S&M. The stated inspiration was the kidnapping of Colleen Stan. The group builds that underground leather imagery into extreme noise-wall aesthetics.
Collaborations run through the harsh-noise underground: Merzbow, Incapacitants, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, The Haters, and M.S.B.R., among others. In 2007 the group opened for Sonic Youth in Marfa, Texas—a harsh-noise-wall support slot on an indie-rock stage, still carrying the S&M and gay leather imagery that defines the name.
On a kink-media map, Black Leather Jesus is not a leather-bar house band. It is a noise project that treats gay leather and sadomasochism as subject matter: Houston origin, Pittsburgh-area base, Colleen Stan as stated inspiration, and a collaboration list that runs through the harsh-noise underground.
