CALABRESE plays Slidebar Jul 9, The Garage Jul 10, Mission Tobacco Lounge Jul 11
Steeped in a hard rock swing, brash punk energy with a healthy helping of death rock, metal band Calabrese will be working three southern California stages at Slidebar Jul. 9, The Garage in Ventura Jul. 10 and Mission Tobacco Lounge Jul. 11. These three musical brothers — Jimmy Calabrese (vocals / bass), Bobby Calabrese (vocals / guitar,) and Davey Calabrese (drums) — established a diehard following and garnered immense critical praise outside of the traditional system, emerging as underground luminaries from their native Phoenix, AZ.
While on a west coast tour in support of their album, “Born with a Scorpion’s Touch”, the group collectively agreed on the direction of what would become the sound of their latest recording, “Lust For Sacrilege.”
Concert Guide Live caught up with Bobby just before their upcoming tour to talk about the new album, and what it’s like to be a family band.
CONCERT GUIDE LIVE: When did all the brothers know they wanted to be in a band together? Did you all play music a lot as kids?
BOBBY CALABRESE: Jimmy and I used to play in all sorts of other bands, we were all into music but kind of did our own thing. I think it finally came to us not finding what we were looking for in other bands that we joined forces and did our own thing.
CGL: Is there any other family member that is musical or just the three brothers?
BC: Ah, it’s mostly just the three of us, but I’m sure our dad or mom or sisters could bang on a tambourine if need be.
CGL: Does the group’s genre of music echo the styles of music all three members listen to?
BC: I think so. We like so much shit it’s crazy. I grew up on punk rock and heavy metal, I think that’s what mostly shines through, but you never know. I have a lot of surf influences. I really dig Dick Dale and I like Bauhaus and Slayer.
It’s just all over the place. I can’t speak for the other guys but I’m hoping my varying influences come out in all our records. I’d hate to sound like one specific genre for all of eternity. But hey, that’s for the listener to decide.
CGL: Who writes most of the music for the group? Do you come up with songs together or write individually then bring it to the rest of the members to work on?
BC: It depends; I think a lot of our songs are written by me or Jimmy bringing a riff to practice and we all work on that until it becomes a song. But mostly we just skip the in-between and I’ll write most of a song and show it to the other guys to learn. From there it takes a life of it’s own and it really becomes a Calabrese tune. I like to write a lot of our songs by myself alone, though. For whatever reason, solitude helps the writing process.
CGL: What is touring like as a family?
BC: It can be grueling and tiring and annoying, but I suppose that’s similar to every band, ya know?
CGL: What song is the group’s favorite to play live and which song is different live than its recorded version?
BC: I’m not sure, I think we all like rocking the newer stuff live these days, if only because it’s more fresh and fun for us to play. Like “Lust For Sacrilege” or “Down in Misery.” Live, nothing’s TOO different but we really get into the moment and get crazy and have fun, so most of our songs are usually played at a supersonic speed. Hey, it happens, what can you do? It’s pretty much guaranteed that if you come to a show you’ll notice that all of our songs on record are really, really faster live. I remember seeing an old VHS tape of a live Ramones show when I was younger, and every song was ten times faster than the original on record. I loved it. If it’s good enough for The Ramones, it’s good enough for us.
CGL: What band has the group shared the stage or tour with that they were most excited to play with?
BC: We really liked our short tour with Tiger Army! Those guys are great dudes and it was awesome sharing a bill with them. I think it was a perfect match. Hopefully we can do it again soon.
CGL: What can fans expect to hear at the Slidebar show in Fullerton?
BC: New stuff, old stuff and in-between stuff. And all played with real energy and real attitude and LOUD. Get ready for solid rock and roll, ladies and gentleman of Fullerton.