Allen Callaci - The Story of Shrimper Records
Are you originally from Upland, CA? What was your childhood like growing up with your brother Dennis? When did you first begin to fall in love with music? Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up?
I am originally from Norco, California. Norco is a small town just outside of Riverside. Where the horse trails outnumber the sidewalks. My family moved to Upland when I started Elementary school and Dennis was born here. I stayed in Upland well into my 20s so I consider it my hometown. For those unfamiliar with Upland, Upland is a typical suburb bursting at the seams with Burger King and Stater Brothers. Probably the last place you would expect a scene like Shrimper to emanate from. In hindsight I think it makes sense. We were all far enough away from LA to be able to create our own world without getting creatively knee-capped with delusional thoughts of “making it”. My dad was a classically trained piano player. We were lower middle-class, but had a small piano that he would play. He was a postal worker, but really came alive when he would play. It was his lifeline. He was magic behind the piano. He could hear a Beatles song once, or twice and play it by ear. His passion for music got transferred to myself, Dennis and our older sister Loretta. I think I came out of the womb with a love of music.
What would you guys do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your first concert and when did you realize you wanted to spend your time pursuing music and art?
We loved Marvel comics, we loved movies whether they be low budget, or classic Universal horror movies, blockbusters like Star Wars and Jaws and weird movies like The Tin Drum, or Blue Sunshine. We would get exposed to on this brilliant and subversive cable movie channel called The Z Channel and of course music. Even growing up with the things we loved we were never passive about. We loved music so we made our own, we loved comics so made our own, loved Star Wars so I created the biggest Star Wars library program on the west coast 15 years ago at the last library I worked at. We always had this inner drive to be participants and not just spectators to the things we loved. Earliest influences were Beatles, Elton John and subconsciously The Partridge Family. My sister was an obsessive David Cassidy fan and would play those records again and again and again. If you listen closely to some Refrigerator songs there is a strong, but hidden David Cassidy influence there. My first concert was Elton John’s legendary 1975 concert at Dodger Stadium. It was all I wanted for my 10th birthday and 40 plus years later I still remember it vividly. In first grade we had to do a short presentation in front of the class on what we wanted to be when we grew up and I didn’t hesitate to proclaim I wanted to be a singer. I think my teacher Ms. Kern thought it was cute, but I was dead serious.
When and where did you play your very first gig and what was that experience like for you? Did you participate in any groups, or projects prior to forming Refrigerator with your brother? What led to you guys starting Shrimper Records? The label released some of the earliest works of groups like The Mountain Goats and Goosewind. What were those early days like for the label?
Our very first band The Bux were a cross between the Dead Kennedys, Violent Femmes seasoned with a healthy dose of Mad Magazine and Dr. Demento - sample Bux songs included Microwave Poodle, Blood is Thicker Than Pepsi and You Make Me Feel Like a Piece of Shit. Our first gig was at a local club called The Green Door. It was one of those pay-to-play hustles which reduces band to cub scouts going door to door hawking overpriced popcorn tins (pay us 150 bucks and we will give you a batch of tickets to push on friends and family to make your money back). We played after a Duran Duran knock-off band and literally cleared the club out in a matter of minutes except for our friends and family. The club booker was pissed at all the money the club lost at the bar that night due to us scaring off the crowd, whereas we saw it as their comeuppance for hustling bands like that. Dennis was working at the local record store. One of the things he discovered was that major labels would ask for only the covers sent back to them of acts whose cassettes didn’t sell. Dennis got this ingenius idea of using the actual cassettes and taping over this major label schlock with brilliant and eclectic bands like Wckr Spgt, Goosewind, Nothing Painted Blue and then selling them for 3 bucks a pop. John literally handed Dennis the first Mountain Goats cassette at the record shop one day for him to listen to and was shocked to see Dennis had cassette copies of it out weeks later.
It was this perfect convergence of things. There was the local college radio station KSPC who loved the stuff Dennis was putting out and really supported it. There was the local record shop where Dennis worked to not only sell the cassettes, but get connected with like-minded distributers, a Pomona club called Munchies which provided a spot for everyone to play. Bob Durkee of Shoeface had a little 4 track studio located in a small space next to the transmission repair shop where he worked and an insane amount of local talent that was the at the core. The fact that Dennis reached out to Lou Barlow early on and Lou was excited to be part of Shrimper was really crucial to raising the profile of Shrimper and can not be overemphasized. There was really no formula, or grand design. It was all really an unexplainable dream. The early days were really about establishing a community. An oddball Utopia as I mentioned to you when you first approached me about doing this. There were inside jokes that became a private and tribal language all its own (Peanut Reunion, State of the Union), everyone sharing what they were working on with one another and people gathering at the house where Franklin Bruno (of Nothing Painted Blue) and Peter Hughes (Mountain Goats) where the door was literally never locked. You could drop by at literally anytime day, or night and someone would be there hanging out. What’s interesting to me is that unlike a lot of scenes the majority of acts from the early days of Shrimper are still kicking and lighting creative fires all these decades later
How did you guys initially meet your bandmates Chris Jones, Daniel Brodo and Joel Connell? What were those early days in the 90s like as someone that was born around that time for the band? You guys released a number of albums throughout the 90s such as “Lonesome Surprize”, “Rael”, “Bicycle”, “Glitter Jazz” and so many others.
Joel worked with Dennis at the local record store and is best known for his work with Man is the Bastard. Dennis and I had a huge falling out with our old drummer from our band called The Bux. The Bux were an odd cross between The Violent Femmes and The Dead Kennedys. The Bux had a gig at the local college so Dennis asked Joel if he would play it with us. We changed our name to Refrigerator thinking the name would only be used for the one show. Dennis and I were already working on songs like Lonesome Surprise and Class of Next Year which we played that night at the college show and would go on to be featured on the first Refrigerator tape. Chris was a childhood friend who’d played on a bunch of Bux stuff. Chris joined the band during our first tour up the west coast. I just approached Chris handed him Lonesome Surprise, Rael and a few 7 inches asked if he could listen to them and join us the following week on tour. Chris was more than familiar with how spontaneous and off the cuff Dennis and I have always been so jumped right in and kept on going. Daniel was playing bass with Franklin Bruno and we wanted to feature some bass on the next record so asked Daniel if he wanted to play some bass on a few songs. Needless to say he stuck around for quite a few more songs. There really is no formal offer of people coming or leaving the band. Everyone just sort of organically ends up staying. Mark Givens from Wckr Spgt joined us for the last album and is on the upcoming record as well Refrigerator – Get Lost which we hope to have out there by next spring. The early days were just connecting with all these insanely talented artists and just having the incredible fortune to all be in the same place at the same time. The Mountain Goats, Nothing Painted Blue, Wckr Spgt, Buzzsaw, Falcon Eddy and and on and on. And even more amazing is how the memories and magic have just kept going. So many memories of pissing off Drew Barrymore at the Whiskey, touring with Yo La Tengo and being pummeled by hundreds of plastic cups of beer for baiting an audience, walking outside a club on many occasions to serenade an unsuspecting audience outside, Dennis putting on tap shoes and tap dancing mid-set…
What was the overall process to some of these albums and how did you guys approach the material? What have been some highlights and memorable moments in the band’s still going history that you cherish the most? As summer draws to an end and fall begins, what else does the rest of 2023 look like for you? Any projects in the works both with the label and the band? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
This has never been intentional, but each record tends to be a reaction to the one that preceded it. If we do a country-ish record like High Desert Lows we will follow it up with something more experimental and noisy like So Long to Farewell etc. We are very much collaborative where a demo of a song will be transformed once everybody gets their hands on it. We like improv and experimenting. I don’t like rehearsing, or playing a song into the ground until you’ve strangled the life out of it. Spontaneity should not be underestimated. If a song isn’t jelling it’s just not the time for it to surface. It’s important to get out of your own way. Often times the mistakes can be the best part. Over the years we have learned if a recording session isn’t rolling cut it short and don’t force it and if things are clicking to ride the wave. Undoubtedly the highlight of the band history was the first show we played after my heart transplant at a Veterans Hall in Pomona. It was such a celebration. Just overwhelming to be up there singing after a near death experience. Dennis said it was like a funeral – a celebration of life without the body. I smile and tear up every time I think about that moment. We are wrapping up the next Refrigerator record, I have a rough draft of a novel I am working on based on my outlandish Sicilian grandmother and we are hoping to begin a musical collaboration with some fellow artists and musicians that we’ve been wanting to tackle for awhile now. I’d love to share a recent quote from Keith Richards about music that I think sums things up perfectly – “If words could fully define music there would be no need for music.” For some reason that quote has really stuck with me these past few days. I think it’s the most perfect summation of music I have ever heard.
