chunklet tour diary. someone post it.

[Dick Suffers]

From what I've read so far, that sounds like the road trip from hell. Parts of it are very Spinal Tap, but I suppose that's true of every band's tour saga.

Looking forward to reading the rest of it, when you get a chance ShawnPhase. Thanks for hosting it.

[ShawnPhase]

no prob man. im just glad to be able to help

the rest is there now.

phase

[BennyDiblarski]

Is this a don cab web site?

[BennyDiblarski]

they had a great tour

[njm]

I just found this interview with Henry Owings of Chunklet the other day:

Pitchfork: Tell me about the three best shows you ever booked.

Henry: Hot Snakes by a country mile, two shows by them. All the Olivia Tremor Control/NMH [Neutral Milk Hotel] shows from "back in the day," '95-'97, Elf Power, before they had agents, attitudes, labels, publicists. Probably all the Don Caballero shows I've done.

Pitchfork: The Don Caballero tour diary in Chunklet #16 is obviously one of the best pieces of music writing of all time.

Henry: Agreed. I want to publish it as a book, there are another 10,000 words. That Don Cab show in Atlanta was such a fucking nightmare...

Pitchfork: You could add an epilogue about [Damon] Che drinking a bottle of vodka before that Bellini show he walked out on...

Henry: They were indignant that they weren't booked in a "proper" club, and the asshole issue had just come out.

Pitchfork: Hey man, we all played the fuckin' Bug Jar in Rochester. Suck it up.

Henry: The Athens show was hilarious. It was an art space, the basement. It was teeny. I thought Damon was going to kill me, and this is a guy who stayed at my house last spring for the better part of a week.

Pitchfork: But I was shocked he'd lose sight of everything like that. I don't know those guys, don't know financially, personally what they're up against, but that seems inexcusable.

Henry: Well, regardless, I was always amazed how amazing their fans were, given how horribly the band treated them.

Pitchfork: But I think the kids actually got off on it.

Henry: That's sad, I think. They were like the first band I really became friends with, I just walked up to them after a show in Baltimore. After seeing bands like Minutemen and Rapeman, thinking they were gods, so I think for a 18 year-old, getting that kind of attitude from Don Cab is sad, especially knowing what kind of music fan Damon is, and how long he's been going to shows. Our tastes are disturbingly similar. It's sad that Don Cab didn't appreciate their fans more when they had the chance. Can you imagine how loved they'd be if they treated their fans like human beings?

Pitchfork: Do you think that's because they didn't always get along?

Henry: I think so, they hated each other towards the end. Eric [Emm] was always a sweetheart, unless he was around Ian [Williams]. It was funny to watch, the most dysfunctional band I've ever witnessed, but I was always sad to see them sorta blow their fans off, whereas like Man or Astro-Man? made everybody that came up to them their best friend. Come on, let's play nice. At least try.

www.pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/c/chunklet-03/index.shtml

[This section is on page 2]

[brikelly]

Nice interview! I'm gonna post it to Don Fanallero - it's been needing some new updates ;-)

[danno]

see, see! they kicked ass in dc on that tour.

seriously, i remember the pittsburgh show being very good. damon saying something like, "i moved back here. does that give me extra credit?"

[banfield]

"Henry: It's sad that Don Cab didn't appreciate their fans more when they had the chance. Can you imagine how loved they'd be if they treated their fans like human beings?"

I think Henry could have done a better job of qualifying that statement. I don't think it really applied to everyone in the band.

[njm]

Well said banfield. Although I post a lot of these things, I'll be the first to admit that most of it is b.s.

[ICEMAN]

Yes well said. They were always nice to me when I talked to them.

[2]

i would have to say that i never witnessed any tantrums or rudeness in the 5 or so times i've seen the don. (although i should point out that i never got to see or meet mike banfield.) damon was always the most friendly with me. drinking whiskey, smoking cigarrettes, talking about rabbit breeding and drumming. nice guy. totally manic, but quite friendly. they always played long sets without getting tired or bored, playing their asses off from start to finish. " A" for effort if you ask me.

[CioCio]

Does anyone have the 10th page of the Chunklet article hosted?

[brikelly]

CioCio said:

Does anyone have the 10th page of the Chunklet article hosted?

Hi CioCio,

That was a numbering fuckup on my part - there are no pages missing.

Enjoy!
Brian

[niggapleez]

stop crying. what did u want those guys to do? i mean they're cocky, but would u want them to be punks? fuck them! their records r what u should worry about.

[fredweaver]

Hello all,

First off, it's rewarding to know that there
are people out there that are still interested
in reading my tour diary. I intend to publish
it in January or February of 2005, about 4
years after I started writing it.

I believe that it will still be a Chunklet /
Apocalypse the Apocalypse thing, though
Henry is very busy and probably won't have
too much to do with it. My best friend in
Baton Rouge, Luther Gooch, has started
directing the new series of Chunklet Videos
(starting with the SXSW Brother Vs. Brother
video) and there's now talk of working on a
semi-syndicated cable access show. With
those plans, and the magazine, and a job,
and a marriage, Henry's probably pretty
busy, but I'll put his name on it regardless.

Anyway... to clear up one misconception I
noticed in here: The title of the Chunklet
article was "Final Dark Days of Don Caballero"
or something or other, which I didn't
particularly agree with. Since the band had
broken up before for 2 years, I never doubted
that it might resurface, though I did kinda
figure that Ian and Damon would never work
together again. Anyway.... I never read the
final Chunklet version b/c I glanced at it and
immediately noticed that two sections I liked
had been cut. So I figured it would just be
more upsetting if I read it, so I didn't. I do
know that what was in the magazine was
roughly 2/5 (10,000 of 25,000 words, I think)
of what I wrote. I can't remember specifically.

And I don't blame Henry or anyone for the
editing... I'm honored that they thought it was
important enough to include anyway, and even
more honored that it was more or less the most
acclaimed article in the issue. I turned the thing
in about 3 months late, and in the middle of the
final stretch of writing there were the terrorist
attacks in NYC, so that caused another delay and
then I think I wrote and edited the entire crash
scene and (excised) ending in three long days.
I thought I did a fine job of editing it, but it was
20 pages of legal single spaced, so it was destined
to be smaller for Chunklet.

Along the lines of their personalities, I'd say that
there are a lot of misconceptions about the
members. I speak to Damon somewhat regularly
and I saw Ian at SXSW this year. I haven't seen
Erik since the tour, I don't believe. Anyway... a
lot of people thought I was trying to make them
look bad or something, when really I was just
trying to tell the story of the tour with an honest
eye. Sure, they looked bad from time to time,
but that's part of the full spectrum.

Truth be told, the first time I met Damon to speak
to him (at Don Cab's third show ever), he offered me
a taco he wasn't going to eat from Taco Bell. This was
in the spring of 1992, I believe. Banfield has always
been a really nice guy, and the member I've known
the longest... probably since the fall of 1989, right
around the time that Slag broke up. I'm a little
younger than the original lineup guys, so I was like
the shy 18 year old kid when they were 23. Once
Ian joined, he was probably the most outgoing at
the shows that my first band, Blowout Kit, played
with them. Erik is about 3 years younger than me,
I think and I guess I knew him from 1994 or on... he
used to come to Vineland shows in Pittsburgh. I guess
the point I'd make is that most of the situations
where you hear about one of them being a jerk
to someone, it's usually when a sycophantic
fan pesters them in one way or another. Damon
told me at one point in that tour that he thought
that many people didn't get it that Don Cab was
a punk band and that they just played more
complex music than most. Discussing the nuances
of their compositions seemed to go against the
punk ethos, so they treated those people with
contempt. That's the best explanation/
rationalization I can give, though I know Damon
can be a hothead sometimes and has acted
badly on occasion.

Anyway.. this post is getting as long as my
tour diary, so I'll sign off. But I'll get back on
here and post the info once I know a specific
release date for the book. Cool?

Tak'er easy,
Fred