scalo.net

John Scalo

Music

Select recordings from bands I’ve played with in Austin & Santa Cruz.

Songs marked ‡ are my favorites.

ATX³

I lost count of how many times I’ve moved between Austin and CA. Is it 6? Or 7? This time I went full circle and joined forces with Jeremy McCarroll, who was the singer in Pedestrian Folklore. I produced and mixed our album!

Santa Cruz II

I started jamming regularly with my friend Bob and every once in a while we put some mics up and hit record. Then after a long run at Apple, I finally left. That left me with some extra free time so I joined a bluegrass band called Cayuga Station. We played at farmer’s markets and parties.

Santa Cruz I

Jen finished college at UT and I promised Apple we’d move back to the Bay Area when she was done so back we went. This time we wanted to avoid the Concrete Jungle that is Silicon Valley so we moved to Santa Cruz. Then our daughter Serafina was born. She’s been a musical inspiration since day one and still is. During this time I also saw Jake Shimabukuru play ukulele for the first time and immediately ran out to buy my first ukulele and write a ukulele song (“Ukulalia”).

Austin Again

After a stint in California we moved back to Austin and I was thrilled to be among my musician friends again. I converted the spare bedroom in our house into a demo-quality recording studio and recorded often with friends like Joe Cordi, Paul Schlichting, John Thommason, John Moore, Eric Garcia, Chris Kruse and Mike Fink. I started to play more bluegrass and wrote my first bluegrass song, Snap Dragon, which Chris Kruse plays washtub bass on. I also started to write and record some solo acoustic pieces.

Pedestrian Folklore

I was still playing in Zzyzywuzsky when I got a call from someone I didn’t know named Joe Cordi to come play in a band down in San Marcos, TX. We worked up a set and played exactly one gig (The Coffee House, San Marcos) before I decided two bands and a commute was too much and dropped out. Months later I saw Pedestrian Folklore play in Austin and I was blown away. I’d made a mistake by leaving and dropped some hints that if they ever needed a guitarist to let me know. A few weeks later they dismissed their guitarist and I joined. They had already recorded an entire album with the old guitarist so I re-recorded the guitar parts for 11 songs all in one night from 7pm until 7am after working an 8am - 5pm shift at Apple. I’ve never been so exhausted. Gigging spots: Café on the Square (San Marcos), White Rabbit (6th St), Waterloo Ice House (Austin).

Pedestrian Folklore players included Jeremy McCarroll (vocals), Joe Cordi (keys), John Thomasson (bass), John Moore (drums), and Ephraim Owens (trumpet).

Zzyzywuzsky

A funk band with an expanded line up and a really poor naming choice. We spent weeks tossing around names. At one point the method du jour was to flip randomly through the dictionary and using the two “guide words” on the facing pages. So at one point it was going to be “Janitorial Jelly”. But then I swooped in with the brilliant idea of using the last name in the Austin phone book, so Zzyzywuzsky it was. We played every Wednesday night at the Black Cat Lounge for about a year. Bless them, the club did everything they could think of to promote us including frequent “Z Night”s which were sponsored by Z-102 (local radio) with specials on Zima (a disgusting drink). On one Z-Night the other band was Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz.

Zzyzywuzsky band members included Eric Garcia (vocals), Chris Kruse (bass), Brooks Gray (drums), Keith Fiala (trumpet), Dave Kaplowitz (tenor sax), Chris Arthur (keys).

El Rancho da da

My first band outside of high school, it began with me and my friend Nigel Pickhardt (sax) playing sloppy duets. Then Rob Jenkins (bass) and Brooks Gray (drums) came along. The first time we all played together it sounded so good, we just played the same song over and over. Gigging spots: Scholz Bier Garten, UT mall, Steamboat, and others that I don’t remember. The name came from a friend’s comic strip.