For more than two decades, Calexico has been making music, a combination of indie rock, soul, salsa—indeed their styles are too many to name. Yet the band stays true to a wonderful sound reminiscent of the Old West, borders along Texas, with lyrics that are just dark enough to remind one of Cormac McCarthy. But the bedrock of Calexico’s arrangements and recordings is great songwriting. At their core, the band makes sure that the musical two-by-fours are in place before the embellishments. On their latest effort, Edge of the Sun, we are graced not only by Calexico, but also by guest singers ranging from Sam Beam (Iron and Wine) to Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses) to Neko Case and others. And Edge of the Sun is a damn fine record, perhaps the band’s masterpiece. It was made in Mexico City, a place that fascinates and often terrifies the collective American mind. I had the chance to talk to John Covertino, one of the two main members of the group about Edge of the Sun, life in Mexico City and reading numerous books while on the road.
Edge of the Sun is such a wonderful record. What inspired you all to call in Ben Bridwell, Sam Beam, Neko Case and others to sing along?
It kind of came about towards the end of recording the record. We hadn’t really planned on doing that. We’ve collaborated with other people before, like Sam Beam, he’s been on our records before… but at one point, with Sergio Mendoza, our keyboard player, he started to get singers that he knew and liked that were from Guatemala—like Gabby Marino, or from Mexico, like Carla Morrison—so it started to become this thing for all the songs to have a guest on them. It became a challenge: Who can we get to sing on this song? And a friend of ours was hanging out in the studio and he was like, I know Ben Bridwell. I’d bet he’d be into doing it. It was pretty amazing. Everyone we called was into doing it. We were really lucky.
So what called Calexico to Mexico City to make this record?
Once again, Sergio Mendoza was the gatekeeper on that. He had a friend who was in a band—they’re called The Liquids—they’re from Mexico City. And [Sergio] knew they had a little studio down there and a house. So, he knew that we could stay down there and record relatively cheaply. And it’s something that we’ve always wanted to do. We’ve only played Mexico City once. It was at Viva Latina Rock Festival. And we loved it so much that we always wanted to come back. And it worked out great. We were able to go down there and record for about 15 days. We were able to record demos down there, and a lot of them wound up being songs that we used on the record. [Mexico City] was a great inspiration.
Mexico City is often portrayed in the media as a frightening place. What are your impressions of the city itself?
The media really has a way of amplifying the negative on so many things. Unfortunately, that’s the case with Mexico. There are definitely problems, especially at the border. I live in El Paso, Texas now, and as I’m talking to you I’m looking at Juarez. I can see it. In the big picture, there are a lot of people in Mexico, and most are great people—hardworking people and people who love music and art and who love doing great and positive things. That’s the majority. And when you go down there and you get to Mexico City or Juarez, that’s what you realize, that’s what you feel. And Mexico City is a great place. It’s got that old world European feel as well as a super-modern feel to it. People are making the best out what they have, which may not be very much. And I love it. I just can’t wait to get back down there.
When I listen to Edge of the Sun, I seem to hear Bolaño and McCarthy sort of cropping up in the lyrics. Do you all take inspiration from literature like this?
Absolutely. Yes. Yes. Indeed. We are a band of readers. If you walk through the Calexico bus and look at all the bunks, you’ll see books all over the place. Reading a book is such a great, transformative exercise. It takes me to another place. When you have a writer like Cormac McCarthy or Luis Alberta Urrea, they take you to those regions, they take you to those places that they’re writing about, and you need that sometimes when you’re on the road. You need to get a way from the monotony. So writing and books and reading help me mentally. People always ask what influences our music, and the bottom line is that we’re on the road a lot. We occupy that third space. That place of being in between two places. We do it a lot even when we’re dreaming, driving at night, sleeping in our bunks. So I think that all of this is a huge influence on our sound.
There’s often the mythos of the tortured, suffering artist. He or she has burned the candle at both ends and so forth. Calexico has been at it over 20 years, and you’ve really made it work. How did you all achieve that longevity?
It’s a lot of luck and work. I think we’ve been really lucky in that we’ve been able to have a long career. We’ve never really been famous, and never really not famous. We we’re lucky to come up in the indie rock world when bands were starting to be recognized on independent labels, and people were seeking out music to their own tastes. It was more like what was happening in Europe for many years. You know, not just buying necessarily the records that magazines tell you to buy or what radio tells you to buy. It was people really finding their own bands that they like to listen to. So we were lucky. We were never plastered on the cover of a magazine. We never really got a charted hit. And so we’ve always had to keep working to survive. And I think working is what keeps you vital, changing, surviving. You want to do something different. You don’t want to keep repeating yourself. We’ve been pretty lucky with that. And it’s a group of guys that all really like each other. We get along.
If the relationship between the members of Calexico is carried out in Edge of the Sun, or is indicated by this record, there must be a good deal of joy and toughness there. I passed through West Texas last evening. Amarillo. I looked out over the insanely wide skies. My travel partner and I were listening to Calexico. Their music somehow does what a lot of music doesn’t. It embodies a place. It lives and breathes and is alive there.
Calexico plays the Old Rock House (1200 S. Seventh) on Tuesday, September 29; Gaby Moreno opens. For more information, call 314-588-0505 or visit oldrockhouse.com.
