I really love Calexico’s music. I have always found traditional Mexican music to be like Irish and Jewish music in that beneath all the sprightly minor scales, hopping rhythms and exorbitantly unravelled verses there lurks a really unpleasant underside. Calexico seem to bring out the darker aspects, but rein in the weirdness in favour of sensuality – when I listen to them I can almost see the desert, sense its smells and feel the luminous heat. I had very little to actually ask Joey Burns about the music so we talked about other stuff too. 

T:I have this theory that about people who grow up around nature. I think they're less neurotic, generally speaking, about life. I come from the country and my genteel urban friends were disturbed by most of the stories I told them about where I come from. So - the desert is a weird place, and didn’t you grow up beside one? How do you think that affected you?

J:Well, I grew up by the sea strangely enough in a small town called Lunada Bay in between Los Angeles and Long Beach. Growing up there definitely had a peaceful effect on me and making the transition to the desert seemed very natural. Almost like a ying and yang relation.

T:Do you think non-city folk who do music naturally gravitate to blues and country music? Or maybe, less straightforward rock'n'roll?

J:That I don't know. I think it's deeper than that, I think it extends to one's history and emotional upbringing as well as what sort of records are lying around the house, neighbourhood and radio.

T:How did you and Howe Gelb meet?

J:We all met through a mutual friend in Los Angeles, a musician/singer and part time engineer at Radio Tokyo Studios in Venice Beach, CA where Black Flag, Minutemen recorded.

T:What’s it like being in two bands that have separate giant followings? Or are they mutually exclusive?

J:I guess I don't think about too much. I'm just happy to be playing music with really creative people and likewise for open minded listeners.

T:How did you come to be doing Spanish/Mexican-influenced music? Did you grow up listening to it and so on or did it come from someplace else?

J:Growing up in Southern California, I was exposed somewhat to the Hispanic culture, my mom would take my sister and I to the local barrios where she would help teach English and play piano on Sundays. When we came home she would bust out classic Mexican songs that she had learned and I always loved hearing her play and sing those songs. Through my teens and twenties I was more interested in REM, English Beat, The Smiths, I guess just the new rock music. But when I moved to Tucson around 1994, I was overwhelmed by the Hispanic culture that thrived here especially in the downtown and barrios where we all lived. You would walk into a restaurant or bar and there would be musicians playing, or at the neighbour's houses on the weekends or blasting from small am radios. Then, a few years ago we met Ruben Moreno who opened up the door to the Mariachi world and his group Mariachi Luz de Luna. He and his group have taught us a lot about the music, its' history and the feeling behind the music. It's strange. I don't why I am into Latin styled music. I love Portuguese Fado and the famous singer, Amalia Rodrigues. I think it's that minor mode of music. Minor blues. Gypsy music. I see it as a blue vein that travels from the east through Europe and across the Atlantic to the Americas. Have you ever seen the movie "Latcho Drom (Safe Journey)"? It is a documentary about the gypsy musicians all done with music and no speaking. I highly suggest checking it out.

T:You and John seem to constantly be touring. So, are you Troubadours like Tiny Tim and Kristin Hersh, or could you do without it?

J:Right now we are taking off a great deal of time to hang out at home. Do some writing, recording, rehearse with Howe for the upcoming Giant Sand tour.

T:Every time I read articles and interviews with Calexico, people go on about how cute you both are. I agree with this, but does it bug you? Or maybe you're not aware of it and I have embarrassed myself!

J:I haven't heard that one before, at least not in an article. My girlfriend occasionally makes mention of my appearance.... maybe I should shave off my winter blue beard.

T:What was it like moving to Tucson? People seem to think its a kind of strange city.

J:What's so strange about living in a place with little or no water, constant sun, a haunted and empty downtown filled with homeless and tunnel kids, not to mention the contrast with upper middle class University population with street punks, hippies and cowboys all surrounded by an expanding suburban sprawl and increasingly active United States Airforce Base?

T:What do you think of PJ Harvey? Are you a fan?

J:I think she's fantastic. Having toured with Giant Sand opening for her, I was blown away at every concert. Where is she right now? [I recently discovered that she’s dating that cretinVincent Gallo, but as I’m not much of a popstar gossip, it’s probably O-L-D news! – TJMcG]

T:Ok, final question. Tell me what you like most about the desert, or what you don't like.

J:The space.

Interview by Terry McGaughey

Slow Thrills Home | Slow Thrills A-Z | Calexico live review | Casa de Calexico (official)