Calexico had its origins in 1990 when Burns, who was studying music at the University of California, Irvine, met up with Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. Burns joined them, after first playing upright bass on a European tour.
Giant Sand moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1994. John and Joey formed the Friends of Dean Martin (later the Friends of Dean Martinez) which scored a record deal with Sub Pop. However, the pair split up with Bill Elm, the co-founder of The Friends of Dean Martinez in 1996. The band subsequently became a kind of indie rhythm section for hire, working with the likes of Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning and Richard Buckner before forming Calexico.
Calexico first recorded Spoke in 1995 for German independent label Hausmusik with a limited edition of 2,000 copies. At that point the band was still called Spoke and the album was technically self-titled. After the band signed with Quarterstick Records (a subsidiary of Touch and Go Records) and changed their name to Calexico, Spoke was reissued by that label in 1997. Burns and Convertino also collaborated with Gelb and Lisa Germano on the album Slush released under the name OP8 that same year.
Their second album The Black Light was released in 1998. This was a concept album about the desert of Arizona and northern Mexico and received excellent reviews, with the critic from the Wall Street Journal rating it as one of the best records of the year.
The band built their profile by touring as support acts for bands such as Pavement, the Dirty Three and Lambchop. Calexico has regularly played festivals such as the Bonnaroo Music Festival, the Hurricane Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties. The Road Map album was a limited recording released in 1999 for sale only at Calexico's live shows.
Calexico released its third album Hot Rail in May 2000 featuring the addition of horns and violin to their sound. The duo was busy in 2000 as they also appeared on a Giant Sand record called Chore of Enchantment as well as a tour only record Travelall.
At the end of 2000, Burns and Convertino joined with two French friends Naïm Amor and Thomas Belhôm to record "Tête A Tête" (Wabana Records, 2001) released under moniker ABBC (Amor/Belhom/Burns/Convertino). Calexico released two collections of rarities during 2001. Even My Sure Things Fall Through collected outtakes from previous albums, B-sides, remixes and material previously unreleased in the US. The album also featured Mariachi Luz de Luna who frequently played live with the duo. The Aerocalexico album was sold exclusively at their gigs in 2001.
The Scraping live album was released in 2002. Their next studio recording Feast of Wire was released in 2003 and made the charts for the first time appearing on Billboard's Heatseekers and Independent album chart. They made their first video for "Quattro (World Drifts In)" which was a single from Feast of Wire. They released a live DVD in 2004 called World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican. The song "Güero Canelo", from Feast of Wire, was featured in Michael Mann's Film, Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, in which the band appears.
Calexico contributed the song "Burnin' Down the Spark" to Nancy Sinatra's self-titled album in late 2004. The album featured artists who cited Sinatra as a musical influence. The song was released in the UK as the second single from the album in early 2005.
In 2005, Calexico joined up with Miami-based band Iron & Wine. Howard Greynolds of Overcoat Records was responsible for bringing the two bands together having previously been responsible for Tortoise and Will Oldham recording together. The In the Reins EP was released in September 2005 and received a positive reception with an MSNBC review giving it honorable mention. It also made an appearance in the Billboard 200 album charts, becoming their first recording to make the album charts, and No. 12 on the independent charts. In October 2005, they commenced a US tour with Iron & Wine to promote the record.
Released in 2006, Garden Ruin is Calexico's fifth studio album and was produced by JD Foster. The sound strays slightly from earlier works, focusing less on the horn section, and placing more emphasis on guitar and vocal tracks, giving the whole album a more mainstream sound.
In 2007, Calexico was invited by Arcade Fire to record a cover of their "Ocean of Noise." This recording was used as the B-side for Arcade Fire's "Intervention" single, originally released on vinyl on May 21, 2007. Also in 2007, Calexico recorded a revamped version of the Bob Dylan song "Goin' to Acapulco" for the Dylan biopic "I'm Not There". The song featured Jim James of My Morning Jacket on vocals and was featured on the soundtrack of the film.
Several of Calexico's songs, usually their shorter instrumental pieces, have been used as interstitial and background music on Public Radio International's This American Life. Their songs "Ballad Of Cable Hogue" and "Service And Repair" were featured in the 2001 German comedy movie Lammbock.
Their sixth studio LP is called 'Carried to Dust', featuring Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Douglas McCombs of Tortoise and Pieta Brown. It was released in the USA via Touch & Go Records on September 9, 2008. The album enjoyed solid reviews, with hometown paper the Arizona Daily Star praising the band's "ability to sweep you into its world, taking listeners to the American Southwest. This is one of the reasons Europeans love Calexico and others in this country are beginning to come around."
On October 16, 2008, a three-song live acoustic video performance premiered on LiveDaily Sessions, featuring Joey Burns performing the songs "Two Silver Trees," "Writer's Minor Holiday" and "Man Made Lake".
In 2009, the song Banderilla was featured in an episode of AMC's Breaking Bad.
In 2010, a new album of Calexico was released: the soundtrack of the documentary "Circo". The band also spent part of 2010 touring with Arcade Fire along the west US coast.
In May 2011, their song "Slowness" was dedicated by Gabrielle Giffords to her husband astronaut Mark Kelly as the wake up song aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final flight.
Algiers was released 11 September 2012 on ANTI Records and CITY SLANG (Europe).
In April 2014, the band began referring to a new album on Twitter in posts from Mexico City, Coyoacan, Mexico, and Athens, Greece. Edge of the Sun was announced on 27 January 2015, and released on April 14, 2015. The album features guest appearances by various artists such as Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Gaby Moreno, Carla Morrison and members of the Greek instrumental group Takim.
The current members of Calexico are:
Joey Burns – vocals, guitars, bass, cello, piano, keyboards, accordion, percussion, vibraphone
John Convertino – drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, vibraphone, marimba, accordion
Paul Niehaus – steel guitar, guitars
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
Martin Wenk – trumpet, guitar, keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, vibraphone, theremin (occasionally harmonica & French horn)
Volker Zander – standup bass, electric bass
Live tour 2013:
Joey Burns - vocals, guitars
John Convertino - drums, percussion
Sergio Mendoza - Keyboards
Jairo Zavala - bazouki, baritone guitar, vocals
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
Martin Wenk – trumpet, guitar, keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, vibraphone (occasionally harmonica & French horn)
Ryan Alfred - bass, vocals
Woven Birds
Calexico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where mission bells used to ring
Is now crumbled to a pile of stench and ruin
Even the swallows have spring
All the blossoms are burried
‘Neath the waste
Out of the shadows grow hatred
Crushed by the promise of hope
That never returned
Watched with a hawk's trained eye
Trees grow silent fruit
‘Neath a suffering sky
Those who have stayed, keep a flame
In memory of the fallen
And pass on the old rites despite the risk
But many more have left here
On mended broken wings
Turning to see your reaction
A tear drop fills your eye
But you protest not to give up as give in
Heading straight for the wreckage
Picking up a shovel and a hoe
Start putting back the bricks one by one
Numbers come out of the woodwork
Corious to see the rebirth
Above the swollen clouds
A strange sound fills the air
A silence never heard
Falling like blessed rain
And the swallows return
As the mission bells ring
The lyrics of the song "Woven Birds" by Calexico paint a picture of a once-thriving village that has now fallen into ruin. The plaza, where the mission bells used to ring, is now crumbled and the swallows have returned without any blossoms to welcome them. The shadows have grown hatred and fear along the corridor, and the suffering sky seems to be a testament to the pain that has taken hold of this place.
The lyrics suggest that the people who have stayed behind keep a flame burning in memory of those who have fallen and pass on the old rites to the next generation despite the risks. The ones who have left the village have taken flight on "mended broken wings" but are curious to see the rebirth of their old home.
The lyrics change in the final verse to suggest that the time for protest and inaction is over. Instead, the singer encourages the listener to pick up a shovel and hoe to start rebuilding the village one brick at a time. The silence that falls is described as being like blessed rain, and the swallows return as the mission bells ring. The message seems to be that even in the darkest moments, there is always hope for renewal.
Line by Line Meaning
The plaza in the village
The public square in the village
Where mission bells used to ring
Where the sound of bells used to come from the nearby Christian church
Is now crumbled to a pile of stench and ruin
Now it is in ruins and infested with bad smell
Even the swallows have spring
So much devastation that even birds have stopped coming
All the blossoms are burried
All the flowers are covered by dust and debris
‘Neath the waste
Under the waste and trash
Out of the shadows grow hatred
Hatred and animosity grow among people in the darkness of the ruins
Along the corrider crawls fear
Fear creeps along the long passage of the ruined building
Crushed by the promise of hope
The hope that was promised to them proved false and they are shattered
That never returned
The hope never materialized and got lost
Watched with a hawk's trained eye
Watching very carefully like a trained hawk
Trees grow silent fruit
Fruits of trees are getting destroyed due to the silence, starvation and neglect
‘Neath a suffering sky
In the open sky that is suffering
Those who have stayed, keep a flame
People who are still staying there maintain a small hope inside them
In memory of the fallen
In memory of the dead or those who have left
And pass on the old rites despite the risk
Despite the danger they still retain and pass on the old traditions
But many more have left here
But most people have abandoned this place
On mended broken wings
On wings that are mended and healed
Turning to see your reaction
Looking at you to see your response
A tear drop fills your eye
Tears come to your eyes
But you protest not to give up as give in
But you refuse to give up or surrender
Heading straight for the wreckage
Going straight to the ruins
Picking up a shovel and a hoe
Picking up tools to do the necessary work
Start putting back the bricks one by one
Begin to rebuild slowly, one brick at a time
Numbers come out of the woodwork
People start to appear suddenly and in great numbers
Corious to see the rebirth
Curious to see how the place is being brought back to life
Above the swollen clouds
Above the dark and heavy clouds
A strange sound fills the air
A curious sound fills the atmosphere
A silence never heard
A silence that is unusual and unparalleled
Falling like blessed rain
Coming down like a blessing with the rain
And the swallows return
And the birds return
As the mission bells ring
As the bells chime bringing a sense of calm and renewal
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: JOHN CONVERTINO, JOSEPH BURNS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind