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The Calling are barely in their twenties and only on their first record, but the band, who are currently enjoying chart success with “Wherever You Will Go,” have seen more than their share of woes. Narrowly avoiding becoming the new Hanson, and
VH1: You guys have an interesting story about how you first met. Alex Band: About six years ago Aaron was dating my sister. I was 15 and he was almost 20. We both grew up playing music, but never with anybody else. We started writing together and playing on family vacations. Aaron Kamin: We put together a band with some older musicians, so we called ourselves Generation Gap. Our drummer was in his late ‘50s. We also had a sax player who was our age. We made a demo at Alex’s uncle’s house. Down the street lived Ron Fair, who at the time was vice president of A&R at RCA Records. Once a week for four months we dropped a demo in his mailbox. I think the one that made it into his hands was the one where we taped the demo tape [right] to his mail. Alex: He listened to it and wanted to sign us right away. But years passed where we were signed to a major label, unable to make a record. So we wrote a lot. It wasn’t until a year and a half ago that we finally made things happen. VH1: How did Generation Gap become the Calling? Alex: My voice hadn’t changed yet and I sounded like a chick, so Generation Gap was kind of poppy. The first thing RCA said was, “Get rid of the older guys.” I left it up to Aaron. Aaron: We had to call the drummer up. We said, “Look, it’s a long road ahead. We’re just beginning and have time on our side. You have a mortgage and a family...” Alex: We tried to make it sound like he was going to have to leave behind a family of grandkids to tour the world. But he said, “Eff my family. I have a failing marriage. My grandkids hate me and I’m coming with you.” It was hard to get rid of him. VH1: Where did the name come from? Alex: While we were fighting with RCA to make a record, we enlisted friends of ours into the band and had a bunch of different names. Once the album was done, it was time to get the right band and name. Aaron told our A&R guy, “It’s our calling to do this. No matter what has been thrown our way, we’re still doing what we want to do.” So why not name the band the Calling? Lo and behold it wasn’t taken. VH1: So when you signed your deal, was there pressure to become something you weren’t? Alex: Ron Fair saw the potential early, but for a while he took us in the wrong direction. He wanted us to be like Hanson. Aaron: We’ve actually been around since before Hanson. I remember Ron saying, “There’s this new band called Hanson. They’re three brothers and they’re young. You guys are that young. So..." VH1: While you were waiting to make a record you knocked out over 100 songs? Aaron: Not by choice! Alex: During those five years we were signed there were two years where it was like, “You guys can make a record but you don’t have the material.” We locked ourselves in Aaron’s parents’ garage with the ProTools and made demo after demo of all these songs to give to the record company. [We kept on asking ourselves] “Is this a hit?” The answer would be “No.” In that period, “Wherever You Will Go” and the rest of the record was written, and passed over. Maybe it’s because we grew up with RCA, but they weren’t seeing how good the song was. VH1: But you guys first performed “Wherever You Will Go” way back in 2000 in the movie Coyote Ugly. Alex: That turned things around. Somebody at Disney heard the demo and loved the song, loved the band - which was just me and Aaron and some friends. It wasn’t the Calling. They wanted us in that movie. We shot Coyote Ugly and hadn’t made the record yet. The movie came out a year later, but we still hadn’t made a record! VH1: “Wherever You Will Go” took on a different life since September 11. What inspired the song? Aaron: We were trapped in writing and waiting mode. Then I had a good friend of our family pass away. At the funeral I met a man whose wife had died. I put myself in his shoes for a moment, and thought about losing somebody who you did everything with for last 50 years. Alex: September 11 was the first day of our tour, which made it all very interesting. But people are listening to the lyrics now and saying, “Wow, I can relate to this because of everything’s that happened.” VH1: Where did you shoot the “Wherever...” video? Alex: The video was shot in the L.A. river, which is actually the L.A. sewer. It was 24 hours of sloshing around in sewage and playing - everyone slipping and falling on their butt. There were holes in the sides of the walls where homeless people would stick their faces out and watch. It was strange, but the sewer basin had a cool vibe. VH1: What is the vibe of the album? Aaron: I hope it comes across as transcendent of everything - age, nationality, race, and religion. Alex: There are a lot of religious elements. Not that we’re a Christian rock band. We’re both pretty much Jewish. But we’re finding what we believe in and writing about that. We’ve had to grow up so quickly. Aaron was pre-med at UCLA at 19. I was in 10th grade. RCA was like, “You guys can’t be in school. You’re going on tour.” So we stopped everything. Everyone around us, our friends and everything, was in the music industry. We grew up fast, learning different things and that’s on the record. But overall each song has something people can relate to. VH1: There seem to be overt sexuality references in “Stigmatized.” Alex: It’s really about being outcast and not being able to live your life normally because you’re different. Aaron: We were talking about gay marriages with someone who helped write some of the song. One of the reasons why they’re so few and far between, is because they’re looked on as so bizarre. I was also thinking about interracial or interfaith relationships. Alex: Most of the songs on Camino Palmero revolve around faith, and being outcast for your beliefs. VH1: Who did you listen to when you were growing up? Aaron: I was most heavily influenced by the things my dad would recommend. James Taylor and Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac. My mom liked classical music. Alex: I didn’t own a record until I was 13 or 14. Everything I had was stolen from my dad’s collection. He liked harder stuff, like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and David Bowie. But even when I started playing guitar at eight years old, I played my own songs rather than other people’s. VH1: Where would you like to see the Calling go in the future? Alex: Pearl Jam is in the most ideal state ever. They do things the way they want to do it. They work hard on their product. They don’t wait forever to put out another record. They have the same success on every record, and a great group of fans. I’d love to see that.
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