DADA play The Canyon Feb. 16, The Rose Feb. 17, The Coach House Feb. 18; press photo
Dada likes the vibe at The Coach House referring to it as having a cross between “Old West” and pop culture oddity.
“You know, it’s got car parts and stuff on the wall so it’s kind of a cool mixture of old and odd which is sort of what a lot of people say about me – but that’s beside the point,” bassist Joie Calio joked.
“Every place you play has a different vibe. Funny thing is, that club is out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, there’s a tiny little city, San Juan Capistrano, but it’s almost like a mini tourist town. It’s not like a big hustling bustling place. It’s a destination kind of place.”
Anyone who’s been to The Coach House is familiar with the intimate, sit-down experience that often tempts band members to step off the stage.
“If you’re daring and someone hasn’t spilled too many drinks you can kind of stand out on the tables and people like it,” Calio explained.
“It’s just a fun place to play a show. I think they like that it’s out in the middle of nowhere, you know? They kind of feel like they escaped and we’re there to help them have that feeling.”
While there may not be any new Dada songs at the moment, this tour is celebrating their 25th Anniversary so expect some deep cuts along with the classics.
“We are making an effort to play some deep cuts, a few songs that we never played before, or maybe once,” Calio said.
“A lot of times you get discouraged and don’t go back to a song so we’re trying to go back to a couple of those that we were earlier discouraged by, you know, lack of patience maybe. But we’re going to be playing some deep cuts. I’m excited.”
Growing up in the Bay Area, Calio and Michael Gurley (guitar / lead vocals) have known each other since high school where they both played in separate bands.
Surprisingly, they both moved down to L.A. at separate times in separate bands, but eventually reconnected.
“After the band before Dada broke up, Mike and I took a break and decided ‘let’s not just start another band’,” Calio explained.
“You know, musicians are very needy and they need to be in their little click. They need their band so they can feel like they’re doing something and not just waking up in their dirty apt. You know, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ As long as you’re in a band then you kind of feel like you’re doing something.
“But the problem with that is, it’s sort of a false comfort.”
The pair realized what they really needed to do before forming another band was to get good at songwriting.
“You’re always in bands with cool haircuts and great music collections but when ever we wrote a song it took us forever and it really wasn’t that good, then the band would break up,” Calio recalled.
After a year of honing their music writing, a former band mate, Louis Gutierrez who was getting radio airplay with the band Mary’s Danish at the time, wanted to hear what they were working on.
“We were in Mike’s kitchen, and we played him a bunch of songs and he’s all, ‘what are you guys doing? You guys are great. Get out and play some shows’.”
Gutierrez talked them into opening up at a sold out show without a band or even a drummer, at The Coach House no less!
After playing the six songs they knew they were met with a standing ovation and an invitation to join them on a tour up the coast.
“It might have been the first standing ovation in my life,” Calio said. “So that’s kind of how it all started.
“When we found Phil (Leavitt / drums), it was just an obvious match. It was right the first time.”
After 25 years of playing, they still love what they do and continue to feel passionate about it.
“I don’t want to stop doing this. This is it. There’s no Plan B,” Calio admitted.
“We really enjoy what we do and we’re really lucky to have fans that enjoy continuously coming to see us around the country and the world.”