Jason Cruz

{{short description|American singer}}

{{BLP sources|date=March 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Jason Cruz

| image = Jason Cruz (Strung Out) (Ruhrpott Rodeo 2013) IMGP4887 nmz.jpg

| alt = Cruz with Strung Out in 2013

| caption = Cruz in 2007

| birth_name =

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|February 6, 1974}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| death_date =

| origin = Ventura , California, U.S.

| genre = Melodic hardcore, skate punk Goth Country

| occupation = Singer, songwriter , artist

| years_active = 1990–present

| current_member_of = Strung Out

}} Jason Cruz and Howl

Jason Alexander Cruz (born February 6, 1974) is the American singer best known as the frontman of the punk band Strung Out, which formed in 1990 when he was 17 years old.{{Cite web|url=http://punkfiction.servhome.org/Strung-Out|title=Strung Out : News, Biographie, Chroniques, Interviews, Videos, MP3, Live Reports ...|date=September 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915151228/http://punkfiction.servhome.org/Strung-Out|access-date=September 18, 2020|archive-date=September 15, 2011}} He is also an artist and a poet and fronts his roots Americana band Jason Cruz and Howl. His personal website showcases his various forms of original artwork (paintings as well as graphic design and photography).

Biography

Cruz grew up in and around Los Angeles. He focused his energies on art and creative writing in school and began playing with Strung Out in 1989 in Southern California.

Jason's major influences include classic artists such as Tom Waits, Jimi Hendrix, Hank Williams Sr, William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, and Bob Dylan and visual artists Robert Mcginnis and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He has said that he was influenced by the desert, dirt road swap meets and the melancholy music that his mother used to listen to when he was growing up.Apicella, Vinnie. "Strung Out: Jason Cruz; Girls, guns and caffeine bombs". [http://www.counterculture.co.uk/interview/strung-out-jason-cruz.html CounterCulture.co.uk]. Accessed June 12, 2006. The first concert he ever went to was Depeche Mode in 1986 when he was 12 years old then graduated to punk rock shows and skateboarding.

Jason apprenticed as a tattoo artist for two years then took up oil Painting under the moniker 'Amerikan Blackheart'.

Cruz provided lead vocals and wrote the lyrics for T4 Project, a band made up of many well-known punk musicians, for its 2008 "Story-Based Concept Album."

On August 21, 2012, Cruz self-released his first solo record titled Loungecore under the name Jason Cruz and Howl.

Discography

= Strung Out =

= T4 Project =

  • Story-Based Concept Album (2008)

= Jason Cruz and Howl =

  • Loungecore (2012)
  • Good Man's Ruin (2014)
  • Wolves (2023)

References

{{reflist}}