RTX (aka Royal Trux) made their name as the sleaziest, sludigest neo-blues band around. Breaking from Jon Spencer's pre-Blues Explosion project, Pussy Galore, latter-day guitar hero Neil Hagerty formed the band with his lean and lovely girlfriend Jennifer Herrema — the original "heroin chic" model, photographed by Steven Meisel for Calvin Klein — and steered in search of
Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones. When Herrema and Hagerty dissolved their personal and professional partnership, Hagerty formed the Howling Hex, and Herrema formed RTX: both names give a sense of the bands' pedigrees. But RTX — which went through a number of lineup changes, before settling on their current, four-piece incarnation — also stands firmly on its own eight feet. As for Herrema herself: she might have lost her glimmer twin, but she's still a shining light.
– Benjamin Hart
