Sin City’s Cherry on Top
An Interview with Artist and Musician Cherry Jayne
By Shwa Laytart
Photos courtesy of Tyler Boshard, styling by V.Koelkebeck
Red Dwarf, a Las Vegas dive bar. It’s dimly lit. The bottom of the ocean’s sunken ship decor is,
without a doubt, the best place to meet up with a rockabilly artist and musician, Cherry Jayne. Donning tattooed arms, a sleeveless skeleton top, long jet-black hair, blunt-cut bangs framing big red glasses, and an even bigger smile, she sits behind a couple of pints at the bar. Alongside, her husband, Jorge, in a Social Distortion tee, gives me a nod with his tweed flat cap, and a smile. I grab a pint of Dwarf Piss, then head to a booth, sit down with Cherry, leaving Jorge across from us at the bar.
Melissa Hernandez, AKA Cherry Jayne is a bottle rocket turned sidewinder missile that’s rockin’ and rollin’ the scene here in Sin City. A modern showgirl with a vintage soul. Combine Betty Page with Kim Gordon and the artistic flair of Olivia De Berardinis’ pinups with Ed Roth’s Rat Fink, and you’ll have all the sexy fun and funky freakishness of Cherry Jayne.
Cherry points to Jorge. “He’s so encouraging. Jorge Hernandez. He’s my husband. My betrothed. My partner. And all things....” she waits for Jorge to look over, “And he suuuucks!” Cherry announces in a deep voice, gaining a huge smirk from her husband as he goes back to drinking his beer in peace.
She’s been raging the roller derby track for years, making some of the most iconic rock art posters in all of Las Vegas, and blowing up stages with her new band Las Nalgonas. Cherry Jayne is a reminder of how cool Vegas is if you know where to look.
The sultriness and deepness of the bass guitar captivated her. “I never thought I would be in a girl punk band, but that’s always been in my daydreams, just like how derby used to be. Like, oh, I’ll try that...one day.” Before she knew it, that day came, and Cherry ended up founding the band Las Nalgonas. Like much of Cherry’s life, she may have manifested it, but she never knew when it would happen.
Cherry and her twin sister were born in the Philippines to a Filipino mother and a Chicano father. Cherry’s family also spent part of her childhood living in Los Angeles.
Cherry’s father played in multiple LA punk bands and encouraged both Cherry and her sister to play an instrument. Cherry was the guitar player and her sister was on drums. However, she “just wasn’t into it”. It was later in life that Cherry found her way back to her roots. “I always had dreams of being in a band.”
“I’ve always loved Bikini Kill, NOFX, The 5,6,7,8s... I love soundtracks, musicals, all that stuff.” Although punk is in her blood, she loves bands like Tegan and Sara and is “a huge Beatles fan. My grandma would always have it on. I love music because it makes me feel feelings.”
Photos courtesy of Sugar Laytart of Cherry Jayne playing bass.
Cherry played guest bass for The Hideaway, one of Jorge’s bands, a few times “and then they asked me to play a show last summer.” That was August 2023. Cherry, as a joke, only agreed to play if they called themselves Las Nalgonas, which means big booty girl, in Spanish. “But not just like, big butt, but like, big energy,” Cherry says. “Like a big, fucking... I’M TAKING UP MY SPACE RIGHT NOW. I really like that phrase. Plus, I got a big butt. All the girls in our band have a big butt.”
“My friend Ghoulie said she could sing.” Then at their first show at Fresa’s Skate Shop, “My friend Ashley was there, and she was like, ‘I can sing too’. Ashley has lead-singer energy... Ashley can sing punk, soul, and ballads. She reminds me so much of my sister. She just gets me and my riot grrrl shit. I love it.” Cherry’s friend Chacha “knows how to play the xylophone, the vibraslap, the tambourine, and this instrument that sounds like water.”
With Cherry Jayne as the bassist and songwriter, “it just formed after that.” The band also includes Rex on rhythm guitar, Cakes on drums, and Jorge on lead guitar. “He shows us everything. He’s amazing.” She can’t help gushing over her husband, quietly drinking his beer at the end of the bar. The Las Nalgonas’ rockabilly, riot grrrl sound, and vintage style can best be described as kind of silly, kind of spooky, and kind of punky.
“I just want to be on stage. Have a good time... But then, after we played, we had people asking to book us,” Cherry says. “Technically, with all the current members, our first show was in December 2023 here at Red Dwarf.” It was a local shop, Cemetery Pulp, that gave them the next venue to perform at. For Las Nalgonas, it’s been nonstop big-ass energy since then.
Cherry recently rocked her way back into music, but she’s been rolling the world of roller derby since the age of 19. Cherry compares guitar and bass to the jammer and pivot in roller derby. “It’s just less pressure playing the bass, like being the pivot instead of the jammer. But you’re still saving the day!” The name Cherry Jayne comes from her first nickname in roller derby: Cherry Potter, and her middle name, Jayne.
“I do love derby because when I first started I was really little and...I still have social anxiety, but when I first started...I could not hold a conversation,” Cherry explains. “I couldn’t even look people in the eyes. My hands would get so sweaty. I was like, oh my god they’re going to know that I’m a loser. But [roller derby] pushed me to be me. I wouldn’t be who I am today.”
When Cherry began roller derby, she would draw her teammates. She was never good at selling her drawings, opting to gift them instead. After her daughter, Mila, was born, Cherry got an iPad. Now, Cherry could make a little money doing digital portraits for people. Soon, everyone was paying her to do their roller derby persona, gathering a good-sized portfolio of derby girl pinup characters. Cherry now refers to them as Kewpies - chubby babies with attitudes. Since then, her art sales have grown. “If I could pick one thing above anything else, it would be drawing.”
Art has been in Cherry Jayne’s life for as long as she can remember. Growing up, her uncle was always drawing. He often babysat the twins while drawing cholo art. His drawings were of homies and classic Mexican Americans; women with big boobs and thick eyeliner. The men were depicted in plaid shirts and bandanas chilling on big cruisers. “He made a big impression on me.”
Photos courtesy of Sugar Laytart of Cherry Jayne and her husband, Jorge.
At Green Valley High in Henderson, Mrs. Silva said, “This is good, but you could do so much better,” encouraging Cherry Jayne to pursue art. “I was like, ah shit, no one has ever told me that. So now if I’m happy with an art piece, I think...I could do a little more.”
What are Cherry’s favorite things to draw these days? “I love drawing girls. Boobies and booties. Wolves and monsters.”
You may have seen Cherry Jayne’s artwork on local band fliers. It all started with an event flier with toilet paper and flying saucers for a quarantine live-stream concert during COVID. Cherry also designs all of Fresa’s Skate Shop artwork. Recently, she even collab’d on a skateboard deck.
She reminisces about the time she wanted to be a tattoo artist. “This one I got when I was 19,” pointing to a portrait tattoo on her forearm. It’s an extra special tattoo for Cherry. “I referenced a picture of me and my sister when we were little. Now, everyone thinks it’s my daughter, Mila. Which I think now, I dreamed up her too!” Another Cherry manifestation.
Her second favorite tattoo, a bee on her knee, was done by Jorge before they were even dating. Cherry noticed Jorge had bee tattoos on his knees when they would skate together. She asked if he minded if she got a bee tattoo. An excuse for Cherry to contact Jorge. She drew a bee up and then he tattooed her, and that was all Cherry needed to fall head over heels. Before they were dating, they had matching tattoos. The bee’s knees.
Cherry and Jorge had their first date on August 13, 2020, and immediately became obsessed with each other. Cherry knew Jorge was the love of her life and was ready to spend the rest of her life with him. September 19, 2020, one month after they had been dating, Cherry proposed to Jorge.
“We had been talking about it, so I knew one of us was going to do it,” Cherry says. “I’m going to fucking do it first! I need to propose to this man. He’s so fucking perfect. And seeing him with my daughter...and his daughters are rad, too.”
While at Lake Havasu skatepark, Jorge “was on his skateboard, and he looked like a kid on Christmas. I don’t know how else to describe it. He was just so happy. I thought, today’s the day. I had painted a little ring box. We don’t wear [the rings] because they’re sharp, they’re umm,” giggling and glowing with utter bliss, “they’re umm...lightning bolts.”
On a little grassy hill, Cherry pretended there was something on Jorge’s shoe. When he skated over, she had the ring box open. “Will you marry me?” Without missing a beat, Jorge said yes.
Thirty minutes later, while skateboarding, Jorge slipped on slick concrete and went down. His head bounced twice on the concrete and started bleeding profusely. “He couldn’t even look into my eyes. I drove him straight to the hospital.”
They took Jorge in. “I was waiting and waiting. [The nurse] called me in and said he’s okay, but has a concussion. He said, ‘I hit my head, huh? And you’re my girlfriend?’ I said actually, you’re my fiancé. He said, ‘I asked you to marry me?’ I said no, I asked you. He said, ‘You asked me? Did I say yes? Or did I say I’ll tell you next week?’ he said, grinning, trying to be all cute,” with a neck brace on.
They were married soon after. “It’s like I made him up. If you would have asked what I wanted in a future husband...Jorge is exactly it. Punk, tattoo artist, skater, musician, big old gorgeous man...”
From a shy girl who couldn’t talk or look anyone in the eyes to a professional artist, mother, and roller derby skater in a handful of years, Cherry Jayne locked in with the man of her dreams while rocking out all over Sin City. A modern-day superhero with a twisted vintage vibe.
So what is Cherry manifesting in her life now? “Writing new music and getting better at bass. I want people to look at my work and say, That’s a Cherry Jayne Flier! I want bands to come to me to do their fliers. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and keep getting better.”
Photo courtesy of Tyler Boshard, styling by V. Koelkebeck and photo editing by Jomhel Tomas.
The reclusive drug war activist, avantpop counter-culture journalist, freelancer, and satirical dark poet, Shwa Laytart writes deep in the witching hours and dwells in the high desert underground of Las Vegas, Nevada, with the cerebral chuckwallas, raconteur roadrunner, and twisted dust devils. @shwavantpop
