Founded by multi-instrumentalists Joey Burns and John Convertino after the two met in Giant Sand -- Calexico consists of a wide cast of musicians revolving around the core duo, and an even wider array of styles and influences. Anything from Byrds-style folk-rock, lounge, jazz, or Latin is likely to pop up on their albums. Burns' makes full use of his vocal range, inflection, and tone to perfectly convey the mood of a song, from the seemingly light folk-pop of "Not Even Stevie Nicks", to the symphonic brooding menace of "Black Heart" -- both off their latest record, Feast of Wire. With so much talent, these guys are radio staples in an alternate universe. Joey spoke with me recently from a van somewhere in Arkansas:
Keith Daniels: So you guys were in the studio yesterday?
Joey Burns: Yeah, we were doing some recording. We did a show. Lot going on.
KD: Studio and a show in the same day?
JB: Yeah.
KD: Are you working on something for your next album?
JB: No, it was for a radio show really. We did a new song and then we did a cover. A song by the group Love.
KD: What song?
JB: It's called "Alone Again Or"
KD: Yeah. ((sings)) "I could be alone again or..."
JB: Yeah, that's it.
KD: I like "A House Is Not A Hotel" too.
JB: Yeah. Damn.
KD: You on tour now?
JB: Yeah, we are. We've been on tour for about two weeks, and we've got another week or so to go. Then we'll have a week off and then we'll go to Europe for about a month. Solid touring over there all around.
KD: How many times have you toured Europe?
JB: Quite a few. I've been touring there with different projects, whether it's Giant Sand or Calexico or backing up people like Barbara Manning, since 1990.
KD: Do you find that they're receptive to the southwestern culture that you guys highlight over there?
JB: Yeah, I think it's not just that. I think it's the dynamic, that musically it's drawn from all sorts of different influences. I think that there [are] European influences like Portuguese fado or Italian waltzes, elements that kindof bridge the gap to electronic and ambient, because over there we've been asked by electronic musicians to remix some of their projects. People like Andrew Weatherall, Two Lone Swordsmen, Goldfrapp, and those kinds of projects.
KD: How do you feel about electronic music?
JB: I like it a lot.
KD: Feast of Wire is about half-and-half songs with vocals, and instrumentals. Is it a different approach in your mind, writing a song that has vocals or an instrumental?
JB: I guess there's the obvious differences, but for me I like having that balance. I always think that having the instrumental songs can help transport the audience or whoever's listening to the album. You get a spatial sense that fits in when the album is kindof dispersed with instrumental songs and songs with lyrics. It gives it a certain unique flow and maybe it gives it that cinematic quality. It kindof helps provoke daydreams. [laughs]
KD: In concert, how do you factor the instrumentals in with the rest of it?
JB: Oh, y'know, we just kind of stick 'em in there. I think they help, just like on the album, as a segue way or transition which can really grow and build with the evening depending upon the energy of where you're at. On records it's more of a stillness, especially if you're listening to an album in the confines of your home or on a walkman, there's that quietness, and I think the instrumentals help bridge these gaps between the dynamics of songs; whether it's a mellow song or one that's more upbeat. Live it seems to me the emphasis is more on the energy of the crowd, interaction between the band and the audience, it's usually more dynamic.
KD: A lot of your songs are very danceable.
JB: [laughs] I don't know about this album, but some of the songs can be that way. With music you can dance to anything.
KD: Is it hard to support a large band on tour?
JB: Y'know, we've got musicians that are from Europe, so it's always a challenge, but I think it's something that's important. The people that come to see the shows, they know what's going on, and I think they appreciate the effort that's made.
KD: So you hire local musicians, like when you're going to Europe you use European musicians...
JB: No, we bring European musicians to America, and we take local musicians from the States to Europe.
KD: What were some of your biggest influences? I get the feeling you had a lot of non-musical influences, as far as your sound...
JB: Well right now I'm typing an email to this writer named Luis Alberto Urrea. He wrote a couple of books, one of which is called "Across the Wire", which influenced the song of the same title. He also wrote a book called "By the Lake of Sleeping Children", and he just sent me an email saying "Wow. I'm honored that you appreciate my writing, and thanks for the name drop." We thanked him on the credits as well, and he really likes the music. There's another writer in Tucson by the name of Charles Bowden and he wrote a book recently about the drug trade, and one family that's directly involved with that book, on the Mexican and U.S. side. It's called "Down by the River".
KD: Do you follow Mexican/U.S. relations pretty closely?
JB: I've been doing that more so in the last few years.
KD: What do you think? Is it improving, or is the war on terrorism affecting that at all?
JB: Well I think it has more to do with the economy than terrorism. Terrorism is a whole 'nother ball park. I think the war on terror is more concerned with, there is that national security, but it seems to be focused more on the Middle East right now.
KD: I was thinking about the border, specifically.
JB: Yeah, the border, right. I think it's more about the war on drugs that's been going on for a while, and the faade that that has built up, and it's protecting certain interests. It's interesting seeing the fallout from that, what's been going on there, and then seeing how it affects people on both sides of the border; your average everyday citizen or an immigrant that's trying to find work. I've been reading it more and more, find books and read the news.
KD: The more closely you study it, is it overwhelming? Or does it give you more hope the more you learn about it?
JB: It's pretty overwhelming, yeah. I think because of this whole war on terror now it's making it harder for people to come into the United States and find work, and that's unfortunate because if you chronicle back and look at what's been going on with NAFTA -- a lot of the people in Mexico are fucked from that deal. Now, with trying to open up the border, in regards to having trucking coming in from Mexico and vice versa, it's going to slow that whole thing down. Economically, too, everybody around the world is suffering, so again that's making it more of a strain on every citizen. So there's more of an urgency, and a risk taken, so much so that last summer in Tucson, in the desert between the United States and Mexico, the Sonoran desert, there was a recorded number, the highest number of deaths, over a hundred and fifty people that died in the desert from trying to cross over. So, that doesn't really paint a positive picture, but there's always hope. The more everybody gets in contact with each other and finds out information and shares stories, and kindof embrace the whole world and all the various cultures and differences. You find that people whether they're in Mexico... or Iraq, there are independent human beings there that don't have feelings of hatred. I was talking to my brother last week on the phone, and him lumping in "They hate us." I asked him "Who are you referring to? Not everybody in Iraq hates the United States." That stuff gets confused really easily. The media is manipulating everyone into fear. You see a movie like "Bowling for Columbine" and you see how that fear is distilled in everybody's lives and the unfortunate results of that, innocent people getting shot here in the United States.
KD: Was Hispanic culture something that you were in from the moment [you were born], or was it something you discovered later on?
JB: Well, yeah, I guess growing up... I grew up in Southern California but I was born in Montreal, oddly enough, so I was born on the other side of the United States border. My parents moved to Southern California. As a kid, I loved being in nature and being near the water, but as I grew up more and more I started branching out musically. Like, whether it was through the Beatles or through the whole 60s psychedelic influence. In college I wound up buying a sitar, and started playing some of that music, it was more and more of the classical Indian music. I really got into folk music, and playing jazz and classical music growing up, and then after college I was playing rock music. I'd definitely got my fill of "rock" music, western music, so having moved to Tucson, Arizona from Los Angeles in '94 I was blown away by, I mean I had always heard about these types of music... My mom and my dad would always come back from these travels and they'd bring songs and music, and also written music, and my mom would sing me songs in the house, it was kindof cool. When I moved to Tucson, started living in Barrio Viejo, near downtown in the more historic district... that's when I was inspired and blown away by this culture and by this music. I started learning more and more and have continued to do so ever since.
KD: How did Calexico come about out of Giant Sand?
JB: Well, when we all lived in Tucson, Arizona back in '93 and '94 I had a lot more free time and so I wound up doing a lot more research and playing music by myself; playing songs and going to thrift shops and buying old albums. I started playing with a group called The Friends of Dean Martin which later turned into The Friends of Dean Martinez, and we recorded a couple of albums with Sub Pop. Then we all split from that band and John and I started doing more stuff at home, home recording, and that became Calexico. As well we started doing more work with other musicians, backing them up.
KD: What new music have you discovered recently?
JB: I've been listening to the new Smog album, and I've been listening to Nortec Collective, a DJ group from Mexico... and what else have I been listening to... I always go back to this Afro-Peruvian cd that's compiled by David Byrne on Luaka Bop records. I'd love to go down to Brazil and Peru and do some playin'.
KD: What was the best place you ever played?
JB: The best place I ever played... my goodness. In what respect? Like, the concert experience or the food? [laughs] Italy's always the best for food. I'm all about the food there.
KD: The one that stands out in your memory the most.
JB: Well, I'd say there was a show we did in Salzburg, in Austria, with the Mariachi Luz DeLuna, at the end of a long tour in the year 2000. It was an incredible show, a beautiful theater in one of my favorite cities and I was [inaudible] of some exclusive shows in Milan at a place called the Tunnel, also with the Mariachi. That whole year, I think the shows we did with Mariachi Luz DeLuna in 2000 in Europe in summer festivals and some of the shows in clubs were really amazing. I felt completely free and I was able to experience new music and learn a lot out of those, as well as hang out with guys that had become really really close friends and very inspirational to me. The bond, while you play music... These guys, any chance they can play music, they're on it. For instance, one time on a day off in Hamburg, Germany one of the tour musicians we play with, Martin Banks, suggested we all go down to the wine festival in the main square, and we did. The Mariachis got all suited up in their trajes [de charros], their black uniforms with the silver buttons and chains. They made such a splash there because no one had ever seen mariachis, but the traditions in mariachi stemmed from some of the influence of Europe, especially some the waltzes and the polkas from Germany and that part of the world. At one point, the Mariachis and us were all playing together in the square and we see some local musicians... these old German sailor-music musicians singing chanteys and stuff like that. They wound up playing the same song, but singing in two different languages, the one in German and the other in Spanish, and everyone was blown away. But at the same time, it didn't seem so odd. It seemed very natural. Yet here is this tradition that's traveled over years and miles across the Atlantic Ocean and now here it's coming back, and at that point I felt like maybe I was a gatekeeper for this. I was just happy to be able to take part and experience it in person. Then we went on and played some more music and kids would come up and ask for songs, or wanted to break dance, so we'd play some rap song or something made up on the spot. Just that kindof freedom, with the portability of the acoustic instruments, being able to go anywhere and do anything. We could make dance, we made people cry, laugh... with those guys it just seemed like anything was possible, and they kindof instilled that feeling inside of us and inspired us to go on and do similar kinds of gigs. They just instilled something in our hearts as far as to why we are doing this.
KD: That's amazing.
JB: Yeah, I mean... Without being corny and going off.. it's kindof hard to describe in words or talk about it on a cell phone in Little Rock, Arkansas... just to be honest and come clean with the profound amount of respect I have, not only for them, but musicians I've met along the way throughout the whole course of our musical history. It's that band, especially, it's been a very similar experience. It's interesting just to see that it doesn't matter what clothes you're wearing or what music you're playing it's still that same expression. It's coming together. It's communion. It's all about community and sharing, and it's mourning, it's joyous, it's celebrational, it's tragic, it's passionate, it's all those things, it's intellectual, it's all those things that fire off inside your head and inside your heart. Yeah. There it is. Being all philosophical. Not too far away from Oklahoma.
KD: You guys coming through here this time?
JB: Not this time. Hopefully next time.
KD: I know what you mean. My day job is at a hotel, and of course most of the housekeeping and maintenance is Hispanic. Most of them don't speak English, but we have office parties. All of us together, their families, and they'll play meringue and salsa, and we can't understand a word of it but everybody dances. It's just beautiful. It doesn't matter what language it's in.
JB: I think that is an aspect about music that sometimes... with whatever... certain genres, or even certain neighborhoods... there's kindof a "locals only" or "You don't understand what I'm doing." and yeah... ok maybe there's little details or maybe it doesn't seem right or it doesn't look right that this music should be happening or these people should be coming together, or singing or playing on each other's material, or being influenced from another culture, or taking elements from all over and bringing them together. That's life, that's what happens. That's a continuation of the evolution of the world. And hopefully there's respect and preservation at the same time that there's adaptation and accommodation... varieties, new styles of music that are being formed today, and I think that's why it's so exciting that people are taking music into their own possession either through computers or mixing vinyl... more ideas and more creativity. Major labels are juggling and they're fumbling the ball and they're trying to gain control. They're putting copy protection on CDs and they're having a hard time.
KD: It's putting your finger in the dam.
JB: Yeah, you can't stop that creative urge for music to continue evolving and growing together.
KD: Did you follow the Grammy's at all?
JB: No I didn't. I missed that whole thing. It just seems like another planet. It's Hollywood. Hollywood seems like it's on some imaginary planet that we get [on] satellite feed from a CD. Hollywood itself, and TV news, it's so artificial; it's such a hoax. More and more, I look at TV these days... it's just... the way they have to speak. The people that I like listening to are like Amy...what's her name? It's the woman on Democracy Now. I like listening to radio. It seems like it's much more in touch with people being themselves, whether they're fanatical or just average human beings. I like traveling. I like talking to people. I think that's one of the benefits that we have as a musician, and as a band, that I'm traveling a lot these days. I'm over there in Europe talking to journalists who are reading the news and watching the news, but in a different language, and a different culture, and a different slant. So when we talk about politics we're both learning a lot from each other's culture, and what's being projected on the screen. Everything sells, y'know? America is kindof entangled with all this media wire, and all this manipulation through the media. We're kindof isolated, too. Drifting out there a little bit from reality.
KD: There was an article last week in USA Today about the criticism that the average American tourist is getting when they go to Europe now. Does that make you nervous about going over there?
JB: No. You wanna know what? That's more... that's B.S. That's such fuckin' lame ass crap that the United States government is using to pressure people into... creating this shit that's not there. There's no animosity! No way. That's such fucking bullshit. It pisses me off.
KD: I think most people understand the difference between an American and the American government.
JB: Yeah, no shit, and there's definitely people that are like "I'm not gonna go to France now." Or... this friend of mine works at a wine shop in Chicago. That's a huge city, you'd think there'd be some conscientious thinking and objectivity, but people won't buy the French wine. It's ridiculous. They're boycotting French wine because they're not voting to go over there and bomb Iraq? We're turned around, and we need to get our head out of our ass as a country. Especially people like you and I, and everyone, we need to stand up and say something to the government, and vote and write letters. We're really apathetic as a country. The fact that what's been going on recently is good in that it's a wake-up call.
KD: Did you hear that at the Capitol they've started calling French fries and French toast "Freedom fries" and "Freedom toast"?
JB: I wouldn't be surprised. [laughs]
KD: That was on the news this morning.
JB: Sounds like a marketing ploy. We're so pathetic. That is funny. Man, the United States, it's got some great attributes for sure and I do love this country with much respect, but I think that now the people that have been silent, voters and protestors, need to speak up and protest and speak their words; speak their hearts, because there's some backwards-ass shit going on.
KD: Are you against war in principal, or just against the U.S. going alone?
JB: I think war is the worst choice to make. Especially since this administration started off saying that they didn't want to get involved with... world...
KD: "nation building"
JB: Yeah, nation building, and corporate... that's B.S. It just seems like this whole crusade is about power, and controlling that area so that financially the United States has the upper hand. For those reasons.. I'll tell you what would happen if Bush did not go to war --- he would come out the winner. I think there would be so much respect that he withdrew the use of force that he would have much more respect. Anyways, enough rantin' and ravin'.
KD: We've talked about what you don't like about America, but what are some of your favorite aspects of American culture?
JB: Freedom of speech.
KD: You guys have obviously benefited from the cross-cultural pollination here.
JB: Yeah, there's a lot of diversity here, which is great.
KD: What do you miss the most when you're on tour?
JB: Just to be able to have some time alone.
KD: I bet you miss good Mexican food.
JB: I definitely miss some good Mexican food. Yeah, lots of things, but that's the beauty too is that you get to find out so much more about these other countries, or other parts of the United States. Then again, it's harder and harder to find those subtleties, or those differences, because... like where I am right now I'm surrounded by an Outback Steakhouse, there's a Harley-Davidson shop over there, Circuit City, a Comfort Inn, there's Applebees, there's a Target here somewhere. We could be anywhere in America. I can't tell the difference between Little Rock and all the other [cities]. The Europeans that come with us, they can't believe that there's all these shopping malls and parking lots. You can't really just walk around, besides driving to a big mall. You can't just walk around and shop and hang out in cafes. It's all about "Well let's go to the next shop. Well we've got to get in the car, drive out of the parking lot, across the street, under the highway, or get on the highway, get into the next parking lot which is way down the road, get out of the car, walk a ways, get in the store." I mean, it's so crazy. The use of space here in America is kind of backwards. I've got to get off the phone. I feel like I'm bumming you out. I'm getting bummed out myself. There's just contradictions today with everything we say and everything we do. I'm not an expert, but I'm just going off.
KD: Everybody I talk to is kindof freaked out nowadays.
JB: I'm not freaked out... I'm just disappointed. Hopefully there's something I can do... I'm hearing myself talk and I'm inspired to send more letters to politicians and people in office.
KD: Have you actually done that?
JB: I've gotten on some of the email chains, which I think is great. It's super easy and I want to buy a computer so I can take it on the road and do just that: write letters. This is a most unusual interview. What's this for, a website?
For more information, and MP3s, from Calexico, visit casadecalexico.com
Keith Daniels: So you guys were in the studio yesterday?
Joey Burns: Yeah, we were doing some recording. We did a show. Lot going on.
KD: Studio and a show in the same day?
JB: Yeah.
KD: Are you working on something for your next album?
JB: No, it was for a radio show really. We did a new song and then we did a cover. A song by the group Love.
KD: What song?
JB: It's called "Alone Again Or"
KD: Yeah. ((sings)) "I could be alone again or..."
JB: Yeah, that's it.
KD: I like "A House Is Not A Hotel" too.
JB: Yeah. Damn.
KD: You on tour now?
JB: Yeah, we are. We've been on tour for about two weeks, and we've got another week or so to go. Then we'll have a week off and then we'll go to Europe for about a month. Solid touring over there all around.
KD: How many times have you toured Europe?
JB: Quite a few. I've been touring there with different projects, whether it's Giant Sand or Calexico or backing up people like Barbara Manning, since 1990.
KD: Do you find that they're receptive to the southwestern culture that you guys highlight over there?
JB: Yeah, I think it's not just that. I think it's the dynamic, that musically it's drawn from all sorts of different influences. I think that there [are] European influences like Portuguese fado or Italian waltzes, elements that kindof bridge the gap to electronic and ambient, because over there we've been asked by electronic musicians to remix some of their projects. People like Andrew Weatherall, Two Lone Swordsmen, Goldfrapp, and those kinds of projects.
KD: How do you feel about electronic music?
JB: I like it a lot.
KD: Feast of Wire is about half-and-half songs with vocals, and instrumentals. Is it a different approach in your mind, writing a song that has vocals or an instrumental?
JB: I guess there's the obvious differences, but for me I like having that balance. I always think that having the instrumental songs can help transport the audience or whoever's listening to the album. You get a spatial sense that fits in when the album is kindof dispersed with instrumental songs and songs with lyrics. It gives it a certain unique flow and maybe it gives it that cinematic quality. It kindof helps provoke daydreams. [laughs]
KD: In concert, how do you factor the instrumentals in with the rest of it?
JB: Oh, y'know, we just kind of stick 'em in there. I think they help, just like on the album, as a segue way or transition which can really grow and build with the evening depending upon the energy of where you're at. On records it's more of a stillness, especially if you're listening to an album in the confines of your home or on a walkman, there's that quietness, and I think the instrumentals help bridge these gaps between the dynamics of songs; whether it's a mellow song or one that's more upbeat. Live it seems to me the emphasis is more on the energy of the crowd, interaction between the band and the audience, it's usually more dynamic.
KD: A lot of your songs are very danceable.
JB: [laughs] I don't know about this album, but some of the songs can be that way. With music you can dance to anything.
KD: Is it hard to support a large band on tour?
JB: Y'know, we've got musicians that are from Europe, so it's always a challenge, but I think it's something that's important. The people that come to see the shows, they know what's going on, and I think they appreciate the effort that's made.
KD: So you hire local musicians, like when you're going to Europe you use European musicians...
JB: No, we bring European musicians to America, and we take local musicians from the States to Europe.
KD: What were some of your biggest influences? I get the feeling you had a lot of non-musical influences, as far as your sound...
JB: Well right now I'm typing an email to this writer named Luis Alberto Urrea. He wrote a couple of books, one of which is called "Across the Wire", which influenced the song of the same title. He also wrote a book called "By the Lake of Sleeping Children", and he just sent me an email saying "Wow. I'm honored that you appreciate my writing, and thanks for the name drop." We thanked him on the credits as well, and he really likes the music. There's another writer in Tucson by the name of Charles Bowden and he wrote a book recently about the drug trade, and one family that's directly involved with that book, on the Mexican and U.S. side. It's called "Down by the River".
KD: Do you follow Mexican/U.S. relations pretty closely?
JB: I've been doing that more so in the last few years.
KD: What do you think? Is it improving, or is the war on terrorism affecting that at all?
JB: Well I think it has more to do with the economy than terrorism. Terrorism is a whole 'nother ball park. I think the war on terror is more concerned with, there is that national security, but it seems to be focused more on the Middle East right now.
KD: I was thinking about the border, specifically.
JB: Yeah, the border, right. I think it's more about the war on drugs that's been going on for a while, and the faade that that has built up, and it's protecting certain interests. It's interesting seeing the fallout from that, what's been going on there, and then seeing how it affects people on both sides of the border; your average everyday citizen or an immigrant that's trying to find work. I've been reading it more and more, find books and read the news.
KD: The more closely you study it, is it overwhelming? Or does it give you more hope the more you learn about it?
JB: It's pretty overwhelming, yeah. I think because of this whole war on terror now it's making it harder for people to come into the United States and find work, and that's unfortunate because if you chronicle back and look at what's been going on with NAFTA -- a lot of the people in Mexico are fucked from that deal. Now, with trying to open up the border, in regards to having trucking coming in from Mexico and vice versa, it's going to slow that whole thing down. Economically, too, everybody around the world is suffering, so again that's making it more of a strain on every citizen. So there's more of an urgency, and a risk taken, so much so that last summer in Tucson, in the desert between the United States and Mexico, the Sonoran desert, there was a recorded number, the highest number of deaths, over a hundred and fifty people that died in the desert from trying to cross over. So, that doesn't really paint a positive picture, but there's always hope. The more everybody gets in contact with each other and finds out information and shares stories, and kindof embrace the whole world and all the various cultures and differences. You find that people whether they're in Mexico... or Iraq, there are independent human beings there that don't have feelings of hatred. I was talking to my brother last week on the phone, and him lumping in "They hate us." I asked him "Who are you referring to? Not everybody in Iraq hates the United States." That stuff gets confused really easily. The media is manipulating everyone into fear. You see a movie like "Bowling for Columbine" and you see how that fear is distilled in everybody's lives and the unfortunate results of that, innocent people getting shot here in the United States.
KD: Was Hispanic culture something that you were in from the moment [you were born], or was it something you discovered later on?
JB: Well, yeah, I guess growing up... I grew up in Southern California but I was born in Montreal, oddly enough, so I was born on the other side of the United States border. My parents moved to Southern California. As a kid, I loved being in nature and being near the water, but as I grew up more and more I started branching out musically. Like, whether it was through the Beatles or through the whole 60s psychedelic influence. In college I wound up buying a sitar, and started playing some of that music, it was more and more of the classical Indian music. I really got into folk music, and playing jazz and classical music growing up, and then after college I was playing rock music. I'd definitely got my fill of "rock" music, western music, so having moved to Tucson, Arizona from Los Angeles in '94 I was blown away by, I mean I had always heard about these types of music... My mom and my dad would always come back from these travels and they'd bring songs and music, and also written music, and my mom would sing me songs in the house, it was kindof cool. When I moved to Tucson, started living in Barrio Viejo, near downtown in the more historic district... that's when I was inspired and blown away by this culture and by this music. I started learning more and more and have continued to do so ever since.
KD: How did Calexico come about out of Giant Sand?
JB: Well, when we all lived in Tucson, Arizona back in '93 and '94 I had a lot more free time and so I wound up doing a lot more research and playing music by myself; playing songs and going to thrift shops and buying old albums. I started playing with a group called The Friends of Dean Martin which later turned into The Friends of Dean Martinez, and we recorded a couple of albums with Sub Pop. Then we all split from that band and John and I started doing more stuff at home, home recording, and that became Calexico. As well we started doing more work with other musicians, backing them up.
KD: What new music have you discovered recently?
JB: I've been listening to the new Smog album, and I've been listening to Nortec Collective, a DJ group from Mexico... and what else have I been listening to... I always go back to this Afro-Peruvian cd that's compiled by David Byrne on Luaka Bop records. I'd love to go down to Brazil and Peru and do some playin'.
KD: What was the best place you ever played?
JB: The best place I ever played... my goodness. In what respect? Like, the concert experience or the food? [laughs] Italy's always the best for food. I'm all about the food there.
KD: The one that stands out in your memory the most.
JB: Well, I'd say there was a show we did in Salzburg, in Austria, with the Mariachi Luz DeLuna, at the end of a long tour in the year 2000. It was an incredible show, a beautiful theater in one of my favorite cities and I was [inaudible] of some exclusive shows in Milan at a place called the Tunnel, also with the Mariachi. That whole year, I think the shows we did with Mariachi Luz DeLuna in 2000 in Europe in summer festivals and some of the shows in clubs were really amazing. I felt completely free and I was able to experience new music and learn a lot out of those, as well as hang out with guys that had become really really close friends and very inspirational to me. The bond, while you play music... These guys, any chance they can play music, they're on it. For instance, one time on a day off in Hamburg, Germany one of the tour musicians we play with, Martin Banks, suggested we all go down to the wine festival in the main square, and we did. The Mariachis got all suited up in their trajes [de charros], their black uniforms with the silver buttons and chains. They made such a splash there because no one had ever seen mariachis, but the traditions in mariachi stemmed from some of the influence of Europe, especially some the waltzes and the polkas from Germany and that part of the world. At one point, the Mariachis and us were all playing together in the square and we see some local musicians... these old German sailor-music musicians singing chanteys and stuff like that. They wound up playing the same song, but singing in two different languages, the one in German and the other in Spanish, and everyone was blown away. But at the same time, it didn't seem so odd. It seemed very natural. Yet here is this tradition that's traveled over years and miles across the Atlantic Ocean and now here it's coming back, and at that point I felt like maybe I was a gatekeeper for this. I was just happy to be able to take part and experience it in person. Then we went on and played some more music and kids would come up and ask for songs, or wanted to break dance, so we'd play some rap song or something made up on the spot. Just that kindof freedom, with the portability of the acoustic instruments, being able to go anywhere and do anything. We could make dance, we made people cry, laugh... with those guys it just seemed like anything was possible, and they kindof instilled that feeling inside of us and inspired us to go on and do similar kinds of gigs. They just instilled something in our hearts as far as to why we are doing this.
KD: That's amazing.
JB: Yeah, I mean... Without being corny and going off.. it's kindof hard to describe in words or talk about it on a cell phone in Little Rock, Arkansas... just to be honest and come clean with the profound amount of respect I have, not only for them, but musicians I've met along the way throughout the whole course of our musical history. It's that band, especially, it's been a very similar experience. It's interesting just to see that it doesn't matter what clothes you're wearing or what music you're playing it's still that same expression. It's coming together. It's communion. It's all about community and sharing, and it's mourning, it's joyous, it's celebrational, it's tragic, it's passionate, it's all those things, it's intellectual, it's all those things that fire off inside your head and inside your heart. Yeah. There it is. Being all philosophical. Not too far away from Oklahoma.
KD: You guys coming through here this time?
JB: Not this time. Hopefully next time.
KD: I know what you mean. My day job is at a hotel, and of course most of the housekeeping and maintenance is Hispanic. Most of them don't speak English, but we have office parties. All of us together, their families, and they'll play meringue and salsa, and we can't understand a word of it but everybody dances. It's just beautiful. It doesn't matter what language it's in.
JB: I think that is an aspect about music that sometimes... with whatever... certain genres, or even certain neighborhoods... there's kindof a "locals only" or "You don't understand what I'm doing." and yeah... ok maybe there's little details or maybe it doesn't seem right or it doesn't look right that this music should be happening or these people should be coming together, or singing or playing on each other's material, or being influenced from another culture, or taking elements from all over and bringing them together. That's life, that's what happens. That's a continuation of the evolution of the world. And hopefully there's respect and preservation at the same time that there's adaptation and accommodation... varieties, new styles of music that are being formed today, and I think that's why it's so exciting that people are taking music into their own possession either through computers or mixing vinyl... more ideas and more creativity. Major labels are juggling and they're fumbling the ball and they're trying to gain control. They're putting copy protection on CDs and they're having a hard time.
KD: It's putting your finger in the dam.
JB: Yeah, you can't stop that creative urge for music to continue evolving and growing together.
KD: Did you follow the Grammy's at all?
JB: No I didn't. I missed that whole thing. It just seems like another planet. It's Hollywood. Hollywood seems like it's on some imaginary planet that we get [on] satellite feed from a CD. Hollywood itself, and TV news, it's so artificial; it's such a hoax. More and more, I look at TV these days... it's just... the way they have to speak. The people that I like listening to are like Amy...what's her name? It's the woman on Democracy Now. I like listening to radio. It seems like it's much more in touch with people being themselves, whether they're fanatical or just average human beings. I like traveling. I like talking to people. I think that's one of the benefits that we have as a musician, and as a band, that I'm traveling a lot these days. I'm over there in Europe talking to journalists who are reading the news and watching the news, but in a different language, and a different culture, and a different slant. So when we talk about politics we're both learning a lot from each other's culture, and what's being projected on the screen. Everything sells, y'know? America is kindof entangled with all this media wire, and all this manipulation through the media. We're kindof isolated, too. Drifting out there a little bit from reality.
KD: There was an article last week in USA Today about the criticism that the average American tourist is getting when they go to Europe now. Does that make you nervous about going over there?
JB: No. You wanna know what? That's more... that's B.S. That's such fuckin' lame ass crap that the United States government is using to pressure people into... creating this shit that's not there. There's no animosity! No way. That's such fucking bullshit. It pisses me off.
KD: I think most people understand the difference between an American and the American government.
JB: Yeah, no shit, and there's definitely people that are like "I'm not gonna go to France now." Or... this friend of mine works at a wine shop in Chicago. That's a huge city, you'd think there'd be some conscientious thinking and objectivity, but people won't buy the French wine. It's ridiculous. They're boycotting French wine because they're not voting to go over there and bomb Iraq? We're turned around, and we need to get our head out of our ass as a country. Especially people like you and I, and everyone, we need to stand up and say something to the government, and vote and write letters. We're really apathetic as a country. The fact that what's been going on recently is good in that it's a wake-up call.
KD: Did you hear that at the Capitol they've started calling French fries and French toast "Freedom fries" and "Freedom toast"?
JB: I wouldn't be surprised. [laughs]
KD: That was on the news this morning.
JB: Sounds like a marketing ploy. We're so pathetic. That is funny. Man, the United States, it's got some great attributes for sure and I do love this country with much respect, but I think that now the people that have been silent, voters and protestors, need to speak up and protest and speak their words; speak their hearts, because there's some backwards-ass shit going on.
KD: Are you against war in principal, or just against the U.S. going alone?
JB: I think war is the worst choice to make. Especially since this administration started off saying that they didn't want to get involved with... world...
KD: "nation building"
JB: Yeah, nation building, and corporate... that's B.S. It just seems like this whole crusade is about power, and controlling that area so that financially the United States has the upper hand. For those reasons.. I'll tell you what would happen if Bush did not go to war --- he would come out the winner. I think there would be so much respect that he withdrew the use of force that he would have much more respect. Anyways, enough rantin' and ravin'.
KD: We've talked about what you don't like about America, but what are some of your favorite aspects of American culture?
JB: Freedom of speech.
KD: You guys have obviously benefited from the cross-cultural pollination here.
JB: Yeah, there's a lot of diversity here, which is great.
KD: What do you miss the most when you're on tour?
JB: Just to be able to have some time alone.
KD: I bet you miss good Mexican food.
JB: I definitely miss some good Mexican food. Yeah, lots of things, but that's the beauty too is that you get to find out so much more about these other countries, or other parts of the United States. Then again, it's harder and harder to find those subtleties, or those differences, because... like where I am right now I'm surrounded by an Outback Steakhouse, there's a Harley-Davidson shop over there, Circuit City, a Comfort Inn, there's Applebees, there's a Target here somewhere. We could be anywhere in America. I can't tell the difference between Little Rock and all the other [cities]. The Europeans that come with us, they can't believe that there's all these shopping malls and parking lots. You can't really just walk around, besides driving to a big mall. You can't just walk around and shop and hang out in cafes. It's all about "Well let's go to the next shop. Well we've got to get in the car, drive out of the parking lot, across the street, under the highway, or get on the highway, get into the next parking lot which is way down the road, get out of the car, walk a ways, get in the store." I mean, it's so crazy. The use of space here in America is kind of backwards. I've got to get off the phone. I feel like I'm bumming you out. I'm getting bummed out myself. There's just contradictions today with everything we say and everything we do. I'm not an expert, but I'm just going off.
KD: Everybody I talk to is kindof freaked out nowadays.
JB: I'm not freaked out... I'm just disappointed. Hopefully there's something I can do... I'm hearing myself talk and I'm inspired to send more letters to politicians and people in office.
KD: Have you actually done that?
JB: I've gotten on some of the email chains, which I think is great. It's super easy and I want to buy a computer so I can take it on the road and do just that: write letters. This is a most unusual interview. What's this for, a website?
For more information, and MP3s, from Calexico, visit casadecalexico.com
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
evanx:
beedlebaum:
Giant Sand is grrrreat.