A lil different, but a WHOLE lot of rocking! Calabrese an amalgam of horror rock meets rockabilly, with a splash of theatricality, and a WHOLE lot of awesome. Compared to everyone under the son, from Danzig, to The Ramones, to The Misfits, these guys are definitely something much more than that. They are the modern form of this art form and they are most definitely keeping that spirit alive. They are making their mark on the gothabilly horizon across the world, taking no prisoners, and putting the name Calabrese on the music industry’s lips. We had a quick moment to speak with Jimmy Calabrese, bassist/vocalist of Calabrese, and we talked all sorts of shop, plus dished on some modern horror flicks!
I read an interview in which you described yourself as #1 a bass player, but then you listed yourself as weird, wicked, and wonderful. Can you expound on weird, wicked and wonderful?
(laughs) First of all, they are all true. I am weird, wicked, and wonderful. Great first question! I’m not sure what that was from. I’m the oldest brother, so I have to influence the other two. I’ve always been into dark stuff, macabre, horror movies, monsters, and the dark side of life. At the same time, I like to think of our family as the Adams Family rather than the Manson family. We like the dark stuff, but we also like the sense of humor that comes from it. We try to reflect that in the music. We like to keep the music serious, but at the same time, we like to have fun with what we are doing.
I hate to admit that I’m not a rockabilly fan, but I do enjoy your music. There is something about your music that I enjoy quite a bit. What about your music allows your music that allows it to transcend beyond casual listeners that may not be listeners of your style?
We never considered ourselves as rockabilly, or psychobilly, or anything like that. People see us, and they think that we are a rockabilly band. I’ve never played standup bass, and we started off more as a punk rock. Our biggest influence are The Misfits and 80s punk. People do compare us to The Misfits (the next coming of the Misfits). We don’t want to be the next Misfits; we want to be the first Calabrese. This latest album is us branching out from doing more than just horror themes, and showing that we like things outside of that, like rebellion and motorcycles – more punk.
This album is our changing point. We never had a slow song before. We actually have two on this one. We had one album that fans describe as our metal album, which at that time we tried to make the heaviest thing possible. This time around we tried to make a more well-rounded album. Before, we tried to write songs that we would want to play live, so they are all fast and in your face. Then we took other people’s suggestions and we tried to make it more of a rollercoaster with the songs. They are not all fast.
You have a visual aesthetic that maintains that aura and mystique of your band. Would you mind describing your brand and branding strategy?
The bands that we loved in the beginning were very visual bands (The Misfits, Rob Zombie, White Zombie). We didn’t want to look like a grunge band, or like we just left our jobs at the coffee shop and are now about to go get on stage. We wanted theatrics to the band. We don’t have any pyro or big screen projections and such -perhaps in the future. We want the fans to see that we are just like them. We try to use the cool, dark imagery.
When I visit your site now, you have a retro vintage look.
We change things around for each album. With this album, we went for a B movie/biker kind of a feel.
You all are about to go on tour. Do you choose you venues or do you have someone build these dates for you? Do you have a company that does that for you?
Last year we hooked up with a booking agent. Today is our first show in Phoenix for our tour. It totally changed our world. We used to do it ourselves, DIY, calling venues and other bands to helps us book shows. It was kind of disorganized and was wherever we could get into. Now we are working with a professional (Andrew Harper at Rocky Road Touring). He is able to get us in to play shows we wouldn’t have been able to get on our own.
They have all the connections. They KNOW where to put you all. Do you get to choose who you tour with, or is that also your booking agent?
We’ve always been by ourselves and a local band that we get paired with. We aren’t at a stage yet to take someone else along with us. Eventually we will. I believe it will be our call when it happens, but right now we are just now touring by ourselves.
Who is on your bucket list of bands you would like to tour with?
I was just thinking about that actually. I think it would be awesome to tour with Alkaline Trio. It would be really cool if they could get the original Misfits lineup back together. That would be Killer.
Other friend’s bands would be cool, like Koffin Kats. Stellar Corpses would be cool. I’d like to tour with them. It’s hard to think of these off the top of my head! (laughs) Strung Out too. They are cool guys.
I read that you grew up listening to Anthrax, Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth, but today you are a fan of bands such as Dethklok. Are there any other current bands that you listen to?
My brother Bobby has gotten me into bands like Sword. I also really like Sabaton, from Sweden. They are awesome. I also like Mastodon and Electric Wizard.
It wasn’t that long ago that Dayglo Necros came out, and now you have Scorpions Touch. How did that happen? Are you going to start putting things out on a yearly basis?
Before it was at least two years between albums, but we had so much music just pouring out of us that we felt that we needed to get this one out. We really wanted to start touring more, because we just got the new booking agent, so we made the decision to put the new cd out and start the tour around that. We have about 13 skeletons of songs ready to go. We just have to put them together. We hope to get a cd out every year, but we are also hoping that we will be touring so much that we won’t have the time. The schedule is really fluid. The goal is every year, or every other year.
Maybe you can put out series of EPs.
We’ve thought about that too: maybe putting out EPs every year. We just like to have the full package of the CD.
Born with a Scorpions Touch just released back in October. How do you feel it has been received by fans?
It’s been awesome! It seems to be doing what we wanted it to do. We wanted to make it a more well-rounded album. Our fans initially had been a little skeptical, but the more they listen to it, the more they tell us that it’s the best album ever. So, I guess we did do something right. We had a bunch of fun recording it in the studio, and we hope that also came across.
Watch Born with a Scorpions Touch
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What song do you feel is the most different from your discography? Where did you take the 180˚ turn?
The most different was “There is an Evil Inside”, the last track. It kind of sounds like a country song. We tried to base it off a Danzig song. Originally it was just going to be guitar and hi-hat, and that’s it, but luckily after we played it out once and we decided that it needed a build. So, we took it back and rewrote it. Also, “I want to be a Vigilante” is another one. That is one of our first slower songs.
Watch I Want to Be a Vigilante
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Were there any obstacles during the recording process, or was it just smooth sailing?
There is never enough time to do everything we want. A few times, the engineer and I stayed up until 2 in the morning to look at the mixes and fit it all in before the next band came in. Actually, we did sneak an extra day out of it. A local band called Fairy Bones, showed up while he was still working on it, and they ended up on the album, singing on “Mindwarp”. There is a chant in there that says, “Satan, we see her.” The got to be in the background in there. It happened to be their day in the studio and they were kind of to give up their time and use them to back up that chant.
You aren’t talking about the Brazilian spoken words in the beginning of “Danger”?
No. That is Brazilian horror host called Coffin Joe’s famous speech about blood.
You just brought up a horror host. I believe it would be a disservice to our readers to not ask horror related questions. I read that you felt that the 80s were the golden age of horror movies. What horror movies currently do you feel reflect some of that 80s magic?
The one that reflects that is Your Next. We caught it two tours ago. We happened to have a day off, so we went to the theater and saw that. I thought it had that 80s feel to it, particularly in the end. It played it up nicely, especially with the music. I like the first insidious movie. I don’t think they second one they pulled off; it felt more like a television program. That one was pretty unique. I had never seen astral projection before in a horror movie, and a lot of the effects were practical (less digital effects), and I think that gives it a more 80s feel.
Yeah. That was good one. I had been thinking about seeing the second one, but now you’ve made my mind up for me. I’m gearing up to see The Purge.
I saw that one. I thought the concept was awesome, but I thought it was a little too predictable.
Good concept, poor execution? Is that what you are trying to say? (laughs)
(laughs) Yeah, I guess. I think they could have done a lot of different things in there. Personally, if I had made that movie, I would have made it better. (laughs) It’s ok.
I read that you have a Calabrese comic?
Yes! We have an Issue#1 that is out, and we sell on our website. We have Issue#2 being worked out. We have the script already written. We have a different artist doing the inking and penciling. For the comic book, we want to do a five story arc, and then once all those are done; we want to put them into a trade paperback.
The story on that is that we are blackmailed into working for a government agency to fight monsters and stuff.
I think you should write me in! People say that I’m a spy…
(laughs) You just might be in it!
Excellent! I will most definitely buy my issue!
