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Tarantella Legend states that between the 15th and 17th centuries in southern Italy the tarantella was a song and dance that cured the victim bitten by the poisonous tarantula. Here, in Denver, Tarantella is a band that brings a somewhat gaucho Argentina to a wild west in hopes to cure those bitten. 
Anno May 2003 If you saw the latest Woven Hand tour in Europa you might have heard but not seen them: Tarantella. After Woven hand had left the stage, Tarantella's music was played over the P.A. on a number of occasions. Music you might be familiar with from the demo CD's that were handed out by John Rumley personally when he toured the old world with 16 Horsepower in August and September of last year, promoting "Folklore". Rumley is an old hand on the Denver music scene. He has played in Slim Cessna's Auto Club and he runs his own guitar shop in the mile-high city. He's also one of the founding members of Tarantella in which he plays guitar, banjo and keyboards. Tarentalla is another talented band from Denver with its own fresh approach of traditional American music. They mix it with influences from places as far apart as Buenos Aires, Sicily and the local movie theater to create their own sound. Thank You For Clapping spoke with John Rumley and vocalist, accordion player and co-founder Kal Cahoone, who is one of the guest
vocalists on Lilium's new album Short Stories.
Picture by Gary Isaacs TYFC: When we listen to your 9-track demo, a lot of different images pass by. The first song (A Chi sa dove Sara) conjures up Siouxsie and the Banshees (vocally). The second track (Esqueletos) sounds like a Greek dance, despite the Spanish vocals. With track three (Alder Tree) we have arrived in America, in western-with-a-twang territory. In another track (La Cruz De Sur) Siouxsie Sioux, English & Spanish vocals and the cinematic sounds of a cowboy film meet. There's a folk-dance song (Tarantella) with Mediterranean roots. A track (Basque) that starts off with a jazzy feel (Italian jazz that is) and which later transports you to Buenos Aires. We could go on and on, but we won't. Your music is very eclectic, to use an awful word, it contains elements from all over the place, geographically and stylistically. And as we can't pigeonhole you, we leave that up to you ;-) How would you label your music, how would you describe it?
John Rumley:
Easy, I agree with your description; eclectic. I like it because you can do anything. The last thing I want, is to sound like anything. If I want to write a rock song then I am going to do that. If I want to write a folk song, I will do that. We don't want to limit ourselves to one style.
John Rumley:
No, you can listen to Mexican Wine and then listen to Walk Towards My Love. To me it still sounds like us. That's what I like about The Beatles. You can go from 'Revolution' to 'When I'm Sixty-Four' and then to 'Something' and it is still The Beatles. If that's eclectic then I want us to be eclectic too.
John Rumley:
As far as our roots are concerned. Kal Cahoone's grandmother is from Italy. Kal has lived in Argentina, which is very Italian as well, even though they speak Spanish. With these influences we still don't want to lose the geographical connection which is really the West where we are and which was also once the land of the Spanish, hence the name Colorado.
John Rumley: The band started in January 2000 when Kal Cahoone returned from Buenos Aires after playing with Christian Basso ... TYFC: ... Christian Basso? Kal Cahoone: Well, Christian Basso is an accomplished instrumentalist and composer in Buenos Aires. He writes a lot of instrumental music and he's well known there, but not over here yet. TYFC: Thank God for the internet. ;-) We'll do a search on him.
John Rumley:
... Kal came to a Slim Cessna's Auto Club show and approached me with a tape in hand and she was desperate to start something. I had met Christian Basso when he was in the States with Kal and worked on some of his stuff in my guitar repair shop. Christian and I had clicked right of the bat, but we never got a chance to work together. It was a shame because later Kal told me that I was one of the first people here in Denver that he felt he could relate to. But back to the tape. When I heard the recording that Kal gave to me, I fell in love with it and I felt that I could do some of the things I was not able to do in the Auto Club.
Picture by Gary Isaacs TYFC: We have heard there were some changes in the band? Could you give us a round of introduction? Could you map out who is who in Tarantella? John Rumley: Originally it was just Kal and me. And then we saw Kelly O'dea in another local band called Maraca 5-0 and we approached her. She was in from the start. Kelly plays the violin. After that came Dan Jon Grandbois on bass fiddle and Ordy Garrison on drums because we had worked together for so long in the Auto Club and I felt we all spoke the same lingo. Subsequently we added Bob Ferbrache who has done so much for the Denver scene with his recording skills. He has been a very close and dear friend of mine for so many years, and I had never played with him in a band. When Ordy Garrison left the band we had to change drummers. Our new drummer is Chad Johnson. He has been with us for a year or so and although we all miss Ordy Garrison dearly, Chad Johnson is part of the family and we would not want to be with anyone else. When Bob Ferbrache left we got an old friend of mine that I played with for many years to play guitar: Jimi Sedbrook. We started with the idea that he was going to just fill in, and we would switch off between other locals. But he has been with us for quite some time now and we love having him as part of the crew. Kal Cahoone: lead vocals, accordion
John Rumley:
I will cheat with the movies and mention four. :-) Salvador (Oliver Stone), Badlands (Terrence Malick), I Walk The Line (John Frankenheimer) and The President's Analyst (Theodore J. Flicker).
Kal Cahoone:
My album top 3 is Movement by New Order, Miss Perfumado by Cesaria Evora and Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven (Ball Of Confusion) from Love And Rockets.
Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter; Jay Munly or Slim Cessna; Woven Hand or 16 Horsepower. John Rumley: We all agreed on Jimmy Carter. Fuck Ronald Reagan. Fuck the Iraqi war. Fuck Bush! Even though he wasn't in your equation. ;-) Drugs with religion seem to work the best. That way you can forget that when you get too many people believing in one thing it all turns to greed. Believe in yourself believe in good. We all feel that what has gone on and is still going going on right now in Iraq is bullshit and we are ashamed. It is my opinion that every time you get religion organized, you are going to have to deal with people using it for there own needs or wants. Look at all the people who have been killed in the name of God. Christian and Muslim.
The whole band agrees that we cannot choose between Jay Munly or Slim Cessna. Nor can we choose between Woven Hand or 16hp. We just can't do it. Each band has got its thing. :-)
Picture by Gary Isaacs TYFC: So, who and what did inspire you to write these wonderful songs?
John Rumley:
For the whole band it's Western films, dramas, that nostalgic feeling. Films also influence how I write music. It is all visuals in my head then. I don't really hear it, I see it. It's like one part you are walking through the desert and haven't had a drink in two days and you've lost all hope. Then all of a sudden it starts to sprinkle raindrops, the beat picks up. The key changes from minor to major. There is hope. You are going to make it. Then all of a sudden the rain gets worse and worse. It gets out of hand and the next thing you know you are once again struggling to survive. You fight and the rain stops and out comes the rainbow. When I am showing someone in my band a part, I try to use those kinds of descriptions. I love the mixture of music and movies. The power of the music in movies. I love soundtracks.
John Rumley: My biggest musical influence is The Beatles. I am almost embarrassed by my musical likes. When I sit with a bunch of people and they start mentioning all these bands, I am lost. I also love classical music but could not tell you who did what. I don't have the desire to know the name of every band. Maybe not knowing makes it fresher for me. I really don't have any band that I feel I relate to musically. Although I am sure there are many. I do feel related to bands, but they are all local bands, and I relate to them because of friendship.
And because of friendship we collaborate with those other Denver Bands. Kal sang on two tracks (If They Cheered and Sorry) on the latest Lilium album. She sang on Jay Munly's "Jimmy Carter Syndrome" album. And I played bass on the "Jimmy Carter Syndrome" and recorded all drums and bass for that album at my place.
Kelly has played on Maraca 5-0. It is a big family. We are all in it together. And we love to work with other people. We are honoured to play with any of them at any time. Like I was honoured to play with 16 hp on their latest tour.
John Rumley: SCAC was a completely different kind of band. We did in the van and in the hotel rooms what we did on stage. And then some more. I still have scars. Huh Slim!
I find 16hp to be more serious. Which is what I was looking for. Not knocking SCAC. I loved playing with Slim and I am sure that we will share the same stage again sometime. With 16hp I feel like I am learning something, growing.
John Rumley: There should be an album hopefully this year. The album will contain some songs that are on the demo plus new stuff. We have already started recording. Now all we need is a label that wants to release it. TYFC: Don't think that would be such a problem, considering the strength of your songs and their emotive quality. Let's hope this deal will come soon. Maybe you like to tour in Europe? Kal Cahoone: John has a love-hate thing for the road. ;-) I have no real need to tour, but I would. TYFC: I'm sure an audience over here awaits you. Thank you for the interview. We wish you all the best. Kal Cahoone:
Thanks for your interest.
You can order the 4-track demo from their label: Smooch Records.     |