If you want to learn about a new band quickly, one of the surest ways to do that is to look at their practice space. That’s if they’ll let you check it out. Practice spaces are private, personal places — laboratories for experimentation and flashpoints for the sort of sonic alchemy that all musical innovation depends on. Some bands can afford palatial digs, while others make do with little more than a closet. Callisto is the rare group brave enough to let everybody take a peek inside their practice space; in fact, it’s the way they’re opening the conversation with their audience. In the video for their debut single, “This Is Awkward,” the ferocious, fiercely catchy new rock band turns the cameras on a rehearsal in progress. The footage of Callisto in action has the looseness of a bunch of friends throwing down in a basement and the incendiary intensity of a life-changing gig.
And if some of these faces look familiar to you, there’s a reason for that. Callisto might be a new name, but the musicians in the group are experienced pros with national profiles. The two vocalists in Callisto — one melodious, one raucous, and both ferocious — come from acclaimed rock bands. Howi Spangler put out eight albums with his band Ballyhoo!, toured the country with Rebelution, Reel Big Fish, 311, The Expendables, and other popular groups, and appeared at the Warped Tour and Bamboozle. Brandon Hardesty fronts the free-spirited Bumpin’ Uglies, a band that topped the Billboard Reggae charts in 2018 with the roots-rock Beast From the East. Yet despite the pedigree of the principal vocalists and their commitment to groove and feel, “This Is Awkward” isn’t a ska-punk song. Instead, it’s straight-ahead, muscular mainstream rock, designed and put in motion by drummer/lyricist James DiNanno and vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Rob DiNanno, who were both in Silhouette Rising before that group’s meteoric trajectory was knocked off course by a tragic car accident.
What do we notice about the Callisto practice space? First of all, it’s ground level: there’s a door leading to the outside. In no way is music marginal to their existence. These guys are rock and roll lifers with equipment set up right where they can get at it. The spray paint on the ceiling and basketball posters on the wall let us know that this room has seen some heavy use. They’ve been woodshedding; they’re tight, and they know it. The narrow dimensions give the space a pressure-cooker feel, and the viewer gets the sense that these musicians like it that way. It suits their irascible temperaments. Most tellingly, they’ve painted the room as red as a fire engine or a matador’s flag. This bull is ready to charge. Prepare yourself.
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