Don Caballero

Pittsburgh-based math rock outfit Don Caballero ranked among the earliest acts to build upon the innovations of predecessors such as Bastro, Bitch Magnet, and especially Slint. Every track remained strictly instrumental; although the interlocking guitar lines matched the complexity and dissonance of contemporaries, drummer Damon Che supplied the central force through his technically dazzling command of the kit. Che’s rapid-fire bursts and abrupt time-signature pivots effectively dictated the path the remaining members pursued. Those percussive surges propelled the quartet’s dense clamor while the players simultaneously demonstrated command of dynamics, frequently dropping into slow, weighty passages. Jazz exerted an influence, yet the material contained no improvised sections; every composition stayed tightly arranged regardless of apparent disorder. Across the 1990s the band issued multiple Touch & Go releases that earned favorable notices before disbanding in 2001.

Damon Che, born Damon Fitzgerald, assembled the group in Pittsburgh in 1991 alongside guitarists Ian Williams and Mike Banfield plus bassist Pat Morris. Already experienced in the regional circuit, the musicians secured live engagements before locating a vocalist and therefore stayed instrumental. The moniker derived from an SCTV sketch featuring Joe Flaherty’s character Guy Caballero elevated to Mafia don status. Personal connections secured studio time with producer Steve Albini, who in turn steered the quartet toward Touch & Go Records. Several singles appeared on the label before the Steve Albini-produced debut For Respect emerged in 1993.

After that album’s release Pat Morris exited and Matt Jencik stepped in for Don Caballero 2, an abrasive, densely woven record that drew widespread acclaim upon its 1995 arrival. Widely cited as a math-rock milestone, the album broadened the band’s reach substantially. Subsequent side projects included Che’s guitar work with fellow Pittsburgh act the(e) Speaking Canaries, which issued a record shortly afterward, and Williams’s experimental Storm & Stress, often centered in Chicago. Matt Jencik departed to join Hurl and Taking Pictures; Storm & Stress bassist Eric Emm, also known as Erich Ehm and born M. Eric Topolsky, eventually took the position. The revised lineup delivered What Burns Never Returns in 1998, after which Mike Banfield exited and left the group a trio.

A collection of the band’s initial singles surfaced in 1999 as Singles Breaking Up, Vol. 1, nodding to the Buzzcocks’ Singles Going Steady. The following year the cleaner, more restrained American Don appeared and again received positive notices. Internal friction nevertheless dissolved the lineup by 2001. Williams and Emm resumed work with Storm & Stress while Williams launched Battles alongside Helmet drummer John Stanier. Che formed Bellini in 2002 with members of Sicilian prog-rock group Uzeda, yet departed after their first record to reconstitute Don Caballero by absorbing a Pittsburgh math-rock ensemble previously called Creta Bourzia. The revived unit returned in 2006 with World Class Listening Problem on Relapse. Punkgasm, tracked at Rust Belt Studios under producer Al Sutton, followed in August 2008 and was supported by a tour alongside Ponytail. Archival live set Gang Banged with a Headache and Live, documenting a 2003 Chicago performance, appeared in 2012.