Punk Legends, The El Caminos, Tell Their Story
October 24, 2009 · Print This Article
The Trenches of Vaudeville – The El Camino’s Story is a short film by James Truax about the local Punk legends The El Caminos. The film is full of old footage from home videos from their early tours across America and Mexico from 1995- 2001 and current footage from some of their latest shows include their performance with The New York Dolls this year. Mixed in-between the great footage are interviews with Paul, J.J., Craig and David covering the ups and downs of the band from highs playing with Slyvain of the New York Dolls to the lows that came with the death of guitarist Damon Moore.
Mr. Traux weaves us in and out of old and new footage with the interviews mixed in with some great editing. If you have not followed the band that closely from the beginning, it is a great way to learn about their impressive history.
The Trailer:
After seeing them live and watching the film I wanted to know more so I got Bass player Pablo (aka Paul e Jones) to give me his account on the history of the band.
Pablo:
“The El Caminos are-Pablo Camino-Bass; CC Camino – Guitar; Dave Camino-Drums; JJ Camino-vocals
We released “Save my Soul Again” in 1995 .The cd release was at the old Dotties.
After the release, we hit the road and toured the US and Mexico. Hard Rock lives on in Mexico City. We had such a good time in Mexico that we kept going back year after year for a while.
Damon Moore, David’s Brother, joined the band 1996 and we had to take him to Mexico of course. One night he and the guys wrote a song that we never released called “The Kings of Mexico”. With Damon in the band, we recorded “Double Lock and Bleed” in 1997. This was the year of Camino Royale; when Atlanta, New York and Mexico loved The El Caminos. We won the Creative Loafing Critic choice for best band, we played with D-Generation at The Point in L5points.We would run into them in New York and go to their bar before and after we rocked the Continental.
Things were Great!!! Then Damon passed. We all went crazy in the head for a while.
We resurfaced with a new producer Eric Gagnon “EZE”. He produced “Suns of Evil,” and we formed a bond with Sylvain of the New York Dolls at this time. Sylvain had been watching us from day one but we were not aware of it. We started touring with him and became his back-up band. One time we went to Nashville to play with Sylvain and Cheetah Chrome of the infamous “The Dead Boys”. It was a crazy night.
The EL Caminos then recorded “Last Band Standing.” Eric Gagnon recorded it and took Damon’s spot on guitar. We all went to Hollywood and recorded a rock video after this album came out. Then some time went by and Eric was out (he is still our bro) and our drummer got locked up for almost 2 years . I started touring with Sylvain until our van was stolen in Dallas Texas.
The El Caminos then recruited Mario from Tiger Tiger on drums and then we got Shane Morton from Super X13 / The Luchagors on drums. We got a chick friend of mine, DJ, on rhythm guitar and did some more Camino touring. Dave got out- we went to a 4 piece and recorded “Raised By Wolves” on Uncle punk records, J.J. and Kevin’s label. The Wolf on the cover is Eric Scealf’s from The Unsatisfied, pet named “MOC”.
Then we met James Traux and he made a movie about us, “The Trenches of Vaudeville”. It is a must see if you like the under dog of the world like The EL Caminos – cheers!!!”
You can pick up their CDs and the DVD of “The Trenches of Vaudeville”at Criminal Records.
Dec 5 at 7 Stages Gallery -JJ and Paul’s Art show “Devils and Angels”- music by The DKOs
Check out their Myspace for up to date info on the band:
http://www.myspace.com/theelcaminosatlga
And Check out Mr. Traux video pages of The El Caminos and other local bands videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/rtjzwk#p/a/u/3/EDQME10ebgY
http://www.youtube.com/take1video
S.E.
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