With smooth chocolatey vocals and accomplished musicianship, Damon Castillo and his eponymous Californian band are a rarity and, at times, an auditory treat. Following its review of the Damon Castillo Band’s genre-defying album Laurel Lane, Suite 101 caught up with DC himself and asked a few choice questions of surely one of the most articulate young musicians on the West Coast independent music scene.
Giants of Jazz and Soul
Suite 101: You have some quite strong soul / funk / jazz influences in your sound. Where have those come from?
Damon: My mother was a great DJ for our household. She grew up listening to R&B and jazz and never dug what she calls “that bubblegum stuff”. Sorry Pat Boone. So, she always played a lot of jazz and R&B in our home. She also liked the Beatles and some folk. My older brother made sure I had punk, rock, and reggae hand-me-downs. As a guitarist, I was always inspired by jazzers like Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Pat Martino, Joe Pass. I like guys like Scofield and Metheny too. Love the tightness of James Brown’s funk and the looseness of Sly and the Family Stone’s. I love the blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. I love all the giants of jazz and soul, there are too many to name. It wasn’t until this band, that I wanted to try and reconcile my love of jazz and jazz harmonies with my love of songwriting. Sometimes it leans heavily in one direction, sometimes there seems to be more of a balance. I think my new album leans more to the songwriter side of things, but the live show always has an element of improvisation.
First Guitars and ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’
Suite 101: Your twin brother Dominic has a band of his own too, The Rock Savants, right? Do you come from a musical family?
Damon: Although my mother didn’t play any musical instruments other than our stereo, she felt that music could be something that my brother, Dominic, and I could share throughout our lives. So when we were six, my mother took us down to the local guitar store in Modesto, California. It was called “Guitar Party” and it was run by an old lady named Marge who stood about 7 feet tall. She put on her glasses that hung from a chain around her neck and helped us pick out a couple of tiny half-sized acoustics that would give us blisters for months to come. I loved her. We learned songs like ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’, ‘Yellow Bird’ and ‘Windy’. But to answer your question, we have an older brother that played drums in punk bands growing up. He made sure we could rock when we needed to, but other than him, no one else played.
Twins in Music, an Ideal Listener
Suite 101: As twins you must be pretty close, but I’ll bet there’s a little bit of rivalry too right?!
Damon: Although we might have been competitive with other things (soccer, girls), Dominic and I have never been rivals when it comes to music. It’s always been something that we’ve truly loved and discovered together. I’m always in awe of the ingenuity of his writing and playing. I would say that I’m his ideal listener – it hits my ear just right. The funny thing is that there are fans of both of ours that are loyal to one of us and reluctant to cross over to the other. Could their ears be tuned to one and not the other? I find it strange that people draw such distinct lines around style. We grew up listening to almost everything, and have found that there is just not enough time to make all the music that we would like to make. I have such a profound respect for a guy like Quincy Jones who can arrange an album for Sinatra and Basie and also produce a record for Michael Jackson. Seemingly two worlds, but they’re not. It’s just wonderful music!
Giantess and Laurel Lane
Suite 101: Do you get much of a chance to work together on things?
Damon: Yes, but not enough. This last weekend, we worked in the studio together. We were at our place, Laurel Lane, recording some new material for Giantess, his side-project that features a lot of duets with Kelly Masigat (a member of the Rock Savants) and showcases both of their song writing. The song ‘Is It True’ on my latest record, Laurel Lane, is a song he wrote. Also, Dominic joined us on stage for our CD release party. It was a great time! His playing always inspires me. Here’s a clip of us doing one of his tunes (see if you can tell us apart).
Related Reading
Read more about Damon Castillo’s band and their plans for 2009 in this further exclusive interview.
Readers might also find The Laurel Lane Interview of interest.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
