Calla "Collisions" (Beggars Banquet)
By Peter A. Holden
Monday. Sep 26, 12:29 AM
An interview with guitarist/vocalist Aurelio Valle.

The last two years have been a rather amazing experience for me living in New York. Retrospectively, I like to marvel at the fact that certain poignant things have become staple events and experiences in my life. The band Calla have become one of those poignant things that I’m referring to. I first discovered them when I got to NYC and my bandmate had XM radio installed in his car. The station XMU was playing the track “The Strangler” on regular repeat. And for a very good reason: its incredible uniqueness introduced a breath of fresh air into indie rock that didn’t require a hipster haircut and a pack of Parliaments to justify its quality. Since that point I was hooked. Line and sinker, as they say. Throughout my time in the area, I’ve been lucky enough to catch them live on many occasions, and strangely enough, gotten several chances to speak to members of the band through random contacts. It seems in some regards I am sort of inclined or haphazardly destined to watch this band evolve and develop over time. And as luck would have it, I got a chance to sit down with Aurelio Valle, Calla’s oddly unassuming frontman, to ask him a few questions about the new album. His modest demeanor and extremely humble approach seems nothing short of reverential when approached about what Calla do and what they do so damn well.

I can’t quite put my finger on what is different about this record from previous albums… so what in your words is different about Collisons?

The way we recorded the songs was a lot more of us in a room, live. That’s without overdubs. The recording really captured the feel of that. Sean was not in the band anymore and Pete Gannon played bass. Now, we’ve been playin’ together for a long time, I mean Pete and I have been playing together since we were in high school and we met Wayne when we were like 19. So it originally was just the three of us. And now the three of us were back playing together. It was almost like a weird, sort of… well, you’re reminded of the chemistry you originally had, and you’re reminded of why you originally did this in the first place. So a lot of the songs and a lot of the energy was something we were going back to, and not necessarily a new experience, ya know. It was almost like a homecoming as opposed to a departure.

How do you think that changed the songs in the process of writing more music?

I think we all still tend to write individually before we come together. I tend to write a lot of the song’s words and different main parts at home. And then we each come up with a kind of basic structure, whereas Wayne works on his beats by himself and Pete will work on certain parts on his own also. Then we come together and share ideas, and then we keep trading ideas. Wayne was actually in Texas, and at first we thought it was going to be tough, but it ended up being a pretty liberating way to work. No pressure of sitting in a room and waiting on someone to figure out their parts. So when it came to putting the songs together, we all just sort of started playing everything and it all took on a life of its own.

What would you say was the biggest influence(s) on this record: impacting factors, people, anything?

I think because we were in such a tough situation, we were sort of struggling with where we were at. We came close to calling it quits. We lost our bass player and we weren’t where we felt we should be. Because there was a lot of struggle. So a lot of what influenced the record was what we were going through, you know, lyrically and musically.

Why did you change labels?

Well, basically we felt we needed to take the next step. We were at a point where we were getting a lot of opportunities, but because we didn’t have the resources, we couldn’t exercise those options. So we were just kinda stuck. It was obvious that we needed to move forward.

How has making this last record changed your outlook on making music and being a musician?

That was really the major issue, whether we were gonna keep making music. In some way we would have, but, you know, maybe not as Calla. And that’s because we were kind of stuck in the mud, and we weren’t movin’, we weren’t really going anywhere. Because we were able to sign to Beggars, we feel like now we definitely have everything in place and hopefully we’re gonna be allowed to make more records. We’ll see what the outcome is. The main thing is that if things are moving and you’re getting what you want out of it, you’ll obviously be allowed that option. Whereas if things aren’t moving, and you aren’t getting what you want, then that can be a big problem. So, things have changed for the better.

If you were not making music at all, what would occupy your time?

Photography and art. I recently had some stuff in an art show for the first time. That was a huge thing for me and something I have wanted to do for a long time. So, when I finally got the opportunity I realized it was something I really love to do, so I am gonna continue to do it. Basically it’s gonna be a busy year, so when I have some time I am definitely going to take advantage of that.

Being on a label of this size, what are some of the accessories that come along with it? How does it change the way you’re going to go about touring?

Well, we have the same booking agent. As far as tours go, if anything, being on a bigger label gives you a bit more credibility. We have yet to be on the road. We’re gonna be gone for the months of October and November, but we have yet to see what the full effect is gonna be. I mean, obviously Beggars is a label that has a great reputation, so when someone goes to a record store, it’s going to give them that much more incentive to listen to it. Or want to know what it’s about. So that basically is a huge plus. At the same time, you’re working with a LOT of people who basically know their shit. (chuckles) You’re not dealing with one or two people at a label that are, you know, just trying to get everything done. Which is difficult. And I’m not trying to say that Arena Rock didn’t do all they could, but… they did what they were capable of.

What is your favorite song on the new album?

That’s hard to say, just because I’ve heard the record a million times. (laughs) That feeling you get when you listen to it over and over. I’d probably have to say “So Far” just because we were very disappointed with it at first, and it took a long time to get it to where it was at. We had to cut it in half, and really really fuck with it. And the end result was pretty, pretty great, to us. So we were very happy with that. And my singing on it: I was able to project a lot more than I usually do. So that was a huge accomplishment for me.

Do you ever get comments on your specific choice of style for your singing? Because your voice has a signature style to it.

Yeah, it started out that I was really afraid. So I was extremely intimidated, and I’d sing really quietly. Like really whisper, barely audible. Basically the more I did it, the more I started realizing that I was doing something that a lot of people do, but for some reason it was just coming out differently. And the fact that I wanted to sing louder and wanted to project made me kind of maybe strain my voice more than your usual whispery singer. And, honestly, listening to my vocals is a really tough thing to do. Like anybody who hears their voice recorded, you know. And to this day I still really feel that way. It takes a long time to get to a point where you’re comfortable with it. And when someone says there is something unique about it I feel pretty happy.

What does your gut instinct tell you to do in the face of opposition?

What kind of opposition?

Let’s say musical opposition.

Um… well, I’m a control freak. And I think I try to stick to my guns as much as possible. There were a lot of creative differences between me and my bass player. And… he left. So I just have to say that I stick to my guns and I am very adamant when I have something in mind. The guys in the band are also very opinionated but we’ve been playin’ for so long, we come from the same world: we understand the same things and a lot of times it takes someone having to prove themselves before you actually buy into it. And it happens often. I’m easily persuaded as long as you can convince me. Now if I was being robbed… (laughs) that’s easy: you just give ‘em your money, cuz it ain’t much.

Where does the music industry fit into your concept of music as an art form?

A lot of the lyrics that I was writing for this record had to do with the industry and how we thought we were being treated. It was really frustrating. You get to a point after playing for so long where you start realizing what it’s all about. And I have to say we weren’t too thrilled about it. A lot of times you have to play the game. If you want to be able to do what you’re doing, you kind of have to join in and be a part of it in some way. When we were younger, that wasn’t at all what we had in mind. But we started seeing that you don’t have an insurance plan, and you need to start making a living somehow. You basically just have to play the game for the most part, and in a lot ways we have kind of been able to do it our way. If we had decided to sign to a major, I don’t think we would have been as free to do what we want as much as we are. I started noticing that a lot of bands that got on major labels were getting watered down. And because we didn’t have a label looking over our shoulders in the studio, we were completely free to do what we want. We were free to do the artwork, ideas, everything.

What was your favorite venue to play, or more specifically, what was your favorite show that you’ve ever played?

That’s hard because we’ve played a lot of shows. We played in Tel Aviv once, that was a really amazing show. When we arrived, we were surprised that it was a very cool and amazing place. A lot of clubs, a lot of people, a lot of record stores, it was amazing. The show was sold out, it held like 400 people or so. We were thinking we’d be playing this dingey club in the desert somewhere with these people staring at us like “what the hell are you doin here?” And people really knew who we were. These people are really in tune with what was goin’ on.

What would you like a listener to take away from your music?

I hope that people would get out of it what we got out of it when we were younger. Someone asked me the other day when we were out and we were listening to this Smiths song, and he said “I remember, when this came out, I rushed to the store to buy it” and I said the same thing. He said “you know, do you think we’ll ever be as excited about music as we were when we were young?” And I said no. I feel like, when you’re young and you’re at that age, you soak up much more. You’re a lot more excited about things cuz you’re experiencing it and finding it and your inspiration is just humongous. It’s amazing cuz nowadays I don’t feel so detached cuz most of the records are my friends’ bands. Unless something comes from way left field, then I’d be more excited about it. I think that someone younger living out somewhere…I don’t know, like south Texas, where we grew up, is definitely detached. It really drives you to get out of there and do something great. I hope that when someone listens to one of our records they can walk away from it and feel inspired in some way. How we were inspired when we were younger.

How would you describe your music?

Someone had used the word “brooding” at one point, and for some reason that word just kind of always stuck in my head. It’s a tough question, really. There are descriptions that are very predictable, you know: haunting, dark, etc. And, you know, I think it’s much more than that. And I don’t mean to sound like I am obsessed with our music and what we do, but I think we try to put forth more in what we do than just that. It’s more than just dark music. There’s a lot more emotions underneath.

Last question: what do you hope for in the next year?

Basically just to get to that next level we were talking about. If we can just expand a little bit and increase our income a little bit more, (laughs softly) just to be in a more comfortable position where we don’t have to struggle and we don’t have to suffer any more. I think we’ll be happy just continuing making records.
www.callamusic.com
www.beggars.com

Peter A. Holden

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