Don Caballero is a band, not a guy. Make no mistake. There's no way one person could generate the pure sonic density these three people from Pittsburgh, PA did at Local 506 the night of this interview. Even without a bass player, ( their bassist quit right as they went on tour), the sound was of a sort that made one's chest cavity vibrate. The two guitarists pitched and yawed within their own square meters on either side of their drummer, who came this close (you can't see my fingers, but trust me when I say they're really close to each other) to doing soundman Todd Goss bodily harm. It was a remarkable display.
Before any of this, of course, there were the records - a pair of self-released EP's that got a fair amount of airplay on WXYC, plus a newer seven-inch on Chicago's Touch and Go label, home of the Jesus Lizard and Tar, amongst other heavy hitters. A perverse mixture of King Crimson, Big Black, and, dare I say, Helmet ั all without the distraction of a singer ัthe Caballero sound might be described as the audio equivalent of a garbage compactor gone out of control. Live, the effect is similar.
Fortunately, however, they seem to be as articulate as their music is complex, and quite friendly at that. The recorder was turned on as their guitarist Mike spoke about their lack of a bass player.
SF! = Chris Palmatier
M = Mike, one of Don Caballero's guitarists
M: (The bass player) quit like two weeks before we went on tour in the midwest. We had a temporary bassist for the midwest dates. This was three or four weeks ago, three days before we went on tour. We taught another bassist our songs really quick, played some shows in the midwest. It didn't work out real good, so we were home for like a week and didn't get to try out any bassists.
SF! Your sound is so dense anyway, it doesn't seem like you need a bass player.
M: Well, we do ั for the low end, yeah, we need one definitely. There are a lot more creative things a bass can do against the guitars.
SF! Speaking musically, what are your main influences? I hear a lot of King Crimson, things like that - your drummer's like the second coming of Elvin Jones or something.
M: (laughter). . . Second coming of Elvin Jones? That's cool! I like all kinds of stuff. I like King Crimson, stuff like Bitch Magnet, Bastro, Breadwinner, all kinds of things . . . Black Flag. I like a lot of jazz, too. Lately I've been completely blown away by this German avant-jazz guitarist named Hans Reichel (or something like that - Chris). Totally amazing. Recently I got this compact disc of Raymond Scott, you know, cartoon music? It's all tightly structured, highly complex, jazz. I like so much different music, it's hard to pin down any one thing.
SF! Well, that's evident in your songs. You can pick out sections that sound like different things, jazz, metal, and so on.
M: Lately, I've been really been digging Caspar Brotzmann, too. He's coming to the U.S. in November.
SF! Wow. That s hould be pretty amazing. There's a rumor that John Zorn, Joey Baron, and Marc Ribot are coming here sometime soon.
M: I saw Marc Ribot once, it was totally amazing.
SF! Yeah, he came here with Sim Cain (from the Rollins Band) drumming.
M: I think I saw that tour . . . Wait, no, I saw another one . . . man. . . fuckin' a!
SF! It was something. Changing the subject, how did your band get together? Wasn't one of you in the Northern Bushmen?
M: Yeah, our bassist. We got together about two years ago. I had been trying to get a band together with some people I used to play with in a band called Slag. They got together without me and formed some other band, and then I met Damon, our drummer.
SF! He was in at least one ba nd before this, right?
M: He was in Punching Contest, and Half-Life.
SF! OK, I've heard of Punching Contest.
M: Anyway, we got together in the fall of 1991, started jamming, everything was working OK, and then we got Pat, our old bassist, to play. We were a trio for a while. Then we added Ian on second guitar last fall, and that's where we are now.
SF! What's it like up in Pennsylvania now? Here, you c an't go two feet on the street without running into someone who's in a band.
M: Well, in Pittsburgh it's picking up. Among my circle of friends, there are a lot of musicians. There are a lot of good bands in Pittsburgh. There's a band called Hurl, who are really good, the Karl Hendricks Trio, Blunderbuss, who have a single out on Homestead, another one called Squab (?) on Project A-Bomb with Jonestown, who are a bit like God Is My Co-Pilot. There's a lot of cool stuff going on.
SF! S ounds like it. How did your band get hooked up with Touch and Go, over in Chicago?
M: Well, we decided we wanted to record an album, and have it sound really good, so we called up Steve Albini, sent him some tapes, and he said he would do it. We went and recorded there in January. Prior to that, a label called City Slang over in Germany was interested in putting out some records. They put out Seam in Europe, and they're friends with T&G. We played in Chicago while we were recording with Albini an d the guys from T&G came and saw us. Albini put out a good word on us; so about three weeks after he gave them a tape, they called and asked if we wanted to be on T&G.
SF! So what was it like recording with Albini?
M: He's great, a totally swell guy. His ear is great. If he likes your band, he'll be nice to you.
(Whereupon Pitchblende starts making a bunch of noise and we give thanks)