FRACTURED AIR

Calexico’s Joey Burns reveals the albums that inspired him on his musical path for Part Four of our Calexico “Younger Than Yesterday” series. Joey Burns is someone who I look up to the most in music. As the singer-songwriter in one of American music’s finest bands, Calexico, he has given us a wealth of awe-inspiring songs, encompassing a world of sound and ocean of emotion. The music flows directly to the heart, just like the river that flows into the sea. A connection that runs deep. It has done so ever since Calexico’s debut ‘Spoke’ was released back in ’97. The road map can be traced back earlier, to another space and time, namely Giant Sand. Howe Gelb as Dylan and Joey alongside John Convertino forming the finest rhythm sections to have graced these lands. It is the unspoken connection between these two beautiful souls that forms the inner flame in all of what Calexico do, now and forevermore.  

Words: Joey Burns, Illustration: Craig Carry

For me it is hard to decide on one. There are several that have factored in my development over the years. Early on it was R.E.M.’s “Reckoning”. They captured a mood and energy that was compelling. Peter Buck’s drone guitar style resonated with my style as well as the foggy vocals of Michael Stipe. There was a mystique and depth with the layers of their instrumentation and vocals that I appreciated and wound up being a sort of blue print along with records by The Minutemen’s “Double Nickels on the Dime”.

Growing up in the south bay of Los Angeles I got to see The Minutemen perform a few times and their live shows were always best. They blew doors off of any band I have ever seen especially in those days of my teens and early twenties. “Double Nickels on the dime” goes deep. They do their angst punk songs, social-political writing, tripped out journal entries with free jazz accompaniment, and straight up deliver the best bizarre hybrid punk music I have ever heard. They weren’t afraid to be brutally honest about who they were, and who they wanted to be, and by doing so influenced me in my do-it-yourself approach to the music I would make later on down the road.

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Artist: R.E.M.
Title: Reckoning
Label: IRS
Year: 1984

Tracks: Harborcoat; 7 Chinese Bros.; So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry); Pretty Persuasion; Time After Time (Annelise); Second Guessing; Letter Never Sent; Camera; (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville; Little America.

Personnel: Drums, percussion, backing vocals: Bill Berry; Guitar: Peter Buck; Bass guitar, backing vocals: Mike Mills; Vocals, harmonica: Michael Stipe; Producers: Don Dixon & Mitch Easter; All songs: Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe.

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Artist: Minutemen
Title: Double Nickels On The Dime
Label: SST
Year: 1984

Tracks: D.’s Car Jam/Anxious Mo-Fo; Theatre Is the Life of You; Viet Nam; Cohesion; It’s Expected I’m Gone; #1 Hit Song; Two Beads at the End; Do You Want New Wave or Dou Want the Truth?; Don’t Look Now; Shit from an Old Notebook; Nature Without Man; One Reporters Opinion; Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing; Maybe Partying Will Help; Toadies; Retreat; Big Foist; God Bows to Math; Corona; Glory of Man; Take 5, D.; My Heart and the Real World; History Lesson, Pt. 2; You Need the Glory; Roar of the Masses Could Be Farts; West Germany; Politics of Time; Themselves; Please Don’t Be Gentle With Me; Nothing Indeed; No Exchange; There Ain’t Shit on T.V. Tonight; This Ain’t No Picnic; Spillage; Untitled Song for Latin America; Jesus and Tequila; June 16th; Storm in My House; Martin’s Story; Doctor Wu; World According to Nouns; Love Dance; Three Car Jam.

Personnel: Guitar, vocals: D. Boon; Bass guitar, vocals: Mike Watt; Drums: George Hurley; Engineer & Producer: Ethan James.

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Calexico recorded a cover version of Minutemen’s “Corona” for their “Convict Pool” E.P., released in 2004 during their extensive EU and US tours promoting their 2003 studio album “Feast Of Wire”. Live, the band have often covered both “Corona” and “Jesus and Tequila” from Minuteman’s “Double Nickels On The Dime”. Most recently, “Corona” has been included on Calexico’s “Ancienne Belgique Vol 2”, the live tour album featuring the band’s performance recorded in Brussels on September 19th 2012.
On 11 March 2012 Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino provided the rhythm section for the in-house band at a special R.E.M. tribute concert at Carnegie Hall. Guests on the night included The Feelies, Patti Smith, Throwing Muses and the late Vic Chesnutt.

Calexico continue their European summer tour and have also announced live dates in Australia & New Zealand for September/October 2013. (See all tour dates here).

“Algiers” is available now on City Slang (EU) and Anti (US). “Maybe On Monday” EP is out now.

http://www.casadecalexico.com

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