I had the pleasure of interviewing one of my favorite bands, Calabrese. Calabrese is a horror rock trio from Phoenix who consist of Bobby, Davey and Jimmy Calabrese. This is an interview none of you want to miss.
The Interview
What’s going on guys? Please introduce yourselves and what you do in the band
Jimmy — We are doing great! We have a new CD Born With A Scorpion’s Touch coming out in Oct. and a tour that starts 8/26 so we are super stoked! I’m the bass player and co-singer in the band by the way.
Bobby — I’m Bobby and I sing, play guitar and sweat too much on stage.
Davey — My name is Davey Calabrese and I play the drums.
Give us a little history lesson on how the band formed
Jimmy — In 2003, we decided to start playing music that we loved. Inspired by our rock n roll heroes we put down the comic books and turned off the horror movies and created CALABRESE. We are all brothers by the way, Calabrese is our real last name.
Bobby — We just wanted to rock, to do stuff that was under our own power. We did stuff in other bands growing up, fiddled around with other guys, figured out what we needed to do. I hated not being the lead singer and lead guitarist. I think Jimmy feels the same way ’cause we both share vocal duties! So basically…we do what we do because it’s in our blood. Our blood told us to form Calabrese!
You have a new album coming out soon, could you tell us a little about it?
Bobby — It’s rock and roll, it’s punk rock and it’s RAW. We wrote it to be the soundtrack to you and your buddies riding motorcycles through desolate cities and busted up graveyards. We took a lot of inspiration from biker flicks and occult films from the 70’s, which is always good because occult films are rad and chicks dig motorcycles.
Jimmy — This time we decided to push ourselves musically to create something that we’ve never done before while still keeping the Calabrese sound. I think people are going to dig it cause we think its our best recording yet.
I have a fan question for you from Terrance Potter, what are your guys favorite horror movies?
Jimmy — Its hard to choose which ones but I love the vibe of the 80s horror flicks. The ones that combine horror, dark comedy and gore. All the pre-CGI stuff like From Beyond, Evil Dead, Re-Animator, Dead Alive, Bad Taste, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.
Bobby — I’ll go with all the ones that Jimmy said, plus Near Dark and all the Italian stuff by Argento, Fulci and Bava. It can sometimes be a slow burn, but those guys know how to make a fine horror flick. And any splatter-fest from the 1980’s, that shit was where it was at!
Davey — I like Army of Darkness, The Lost Boys and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I’m a simple man with simple tastes.
You are from the wonderful state of Arizona, is there a favorite venue that you guys like to play at here and why?
Jimmy — My favorite place was called the Phix in downtown Phoenix. It has been closed down a while but it was one of the all ages venue that lasted a while. The shows we played there had such great energy and excitement. It was basically a warehouse with a wooden platform as a stage but it was totally DIY and punk rock.
Bobby — Yeah, the Phix was cool. We’ve witnessed a full on riot, pistol whippings and an endless supply of vomit around and directly in the street. The place had an aura of wild and crazy danger to it, which, of course, made it all the more fun. Like Jimmy said, it was super DIY, so anything pretty much went. Chaos ruled!
Davey — I really enjoyed the Marquee Theater when we played with Tiger Army. The stage was super nice!
What bands have influenced you guys musically?
Jimmy — When we first started our influences were Danzig, The Ramones, Mr. Underhill, Black Flag. We wanted to do something dark but still fun and high energy.
Bobby — We grew up on punk rock and metal. Dead Kennedy’s, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat and shit like Slayer and Obituary and Deicide thrown into the mix. Tastes have changed and refined over the years, but there’s still some of that killer vibe in us when we play and write songs. It’s what we first got into and loved so of course it’s kind of stuck. All that power and excitement that comes with frantic punk rock. The Ramones definitely blew me away when I first heard them, and The Misfits just totally fucking changed my life.
Davey — Man or Astroman? was and is super awesome, I pretty much learned to play the drums listening to them. All the surf beats and drum fills really kicked ass.
Are there any bands that people need to check out that you guys recommend?
Jimmy — Theres so many great bands we’ve played with that people should check out like Nim Vind, Hour of the Wolf, Stellar Corpses, Rezurex, and Koffin Kats.
Probably the most important question I will ask you, how does it feel to have a real life ninja in the band?
Jimmy — Bobby (AKA The Six String Samurai / Martial Arts Guitarist) is less ninja and more scorpion. His animalistic guitar skill and venous songwriting strikes fear in all our foes. Hes been known to kill men with playing just one guitar chord!
Bobby — I can knock down brick walls with a single note. It can really come in handy if I was ever to be thrown in jail. Which, of course, would never happen. I’ve got a license to Karate Chop.
Davey — It’s great! I don’t know exactly what he does, but I assume general ninja stuff. Which is great.
Who shoots your guys music videos? They do a great job at it.
Jimmy – The cinematographer on our last 2 videos is our buddy Andrew Hartmark. He has a keen eye for composition and lighting. We are lucky we get to work with him so much.
Bobby — We come up with all the weirdest and dumbest ideas for music videos, so it’s great to have someone help us achieve our insane vision. We had him up and moving for sixteen hours straight on the set of “Coffin of Ruins.” He’s a total war machine!
I know you guys are constantly coming up with different ideas for merchandise, do you have any upcoming ideas that people should be excited for?
Jimmy – Right now, we just have some killer tour only shirts that we are taking on this upcoming string of dates so make sure not to miss out! You can check them out at www.calabreserock.com.
Bobby — Yeah, if you like bitchin’ rock and roll, motorcycles and skeletons, you’re gonna dig these shirts.
Davey — Your mom’s gonna hate them!
Are there any secrets you want the world to know about each band member?
Jimmy — I’d like to confess to the world my secret identity, I’m actually John Cusack.
Bobby — I sometimes listen to Coldplay to fall asleep. And I really want my hair to look like Kurt Russel’s in “Big Trouble in Little China.”
Finally, besides a new album, what else do you have in store for your fans?
Jimmy – We’ve got more videos coming out and more tour dates, but to stay up to date everyone needs to visit www.CalabreseRock.com and to sign up for the mailing list.
Bobby — We’re hitting major cities and major parties in support of the BORN WITH A SCORPION’S TOUCH Tour, 2013 so be on the lookout for when we’re in your town. The CalabreseThunder Express is coming for YOU!
https://www.facebook.com/Calabrese666
http://calabrese.bandcamp.com/
