Exclusive Premiere: Inside El Caplan's "Broken Record"
We are stoked to be premiering El Caplan’s new song, “Broken Record”. Read below for an Exclusive Interview and then head down to the bottom to discover where you can follow El Caplan, where to stream the new song, and sign up to be the first-to-know the official details for our April 1st show with El Caplan and others at Hotel Cafe Main Stage.
ROVE: We first met you as Trickster Guru when you played School Night back in 2016 when we were first getting started. You ended up playing our first show ever along with The Slightlys (artists who have come from that band include FINNEAS and marinelli among others) and Polaris Rose (who shares members with Johnny Stranger).
We were really disappointed when we heard Trickster Guru was disbanding, and now we're stoked about this new music you're putting out. Can you tell us a little bit about the experiences that have led you to El Caplan and "Broken Record"?
El Caplan: It has been a winding road through the music industry. I took a break from Trickster Guru to grow as a producer and discover who I wanted to be as an artist. I had some amazing opportunities working for Dr. Dre as a producer for Aftermath, and producing records and touring with A. Chal. The whole time I was honing my craft and going inward... especially since the pandemic started. What resulted was a mountain of original songs and Spanish covers building up on a hard drive. Now I get to release them all as singles and an EP this year.
ROVE: The lyrics and vocals are sublime, gritty, emotive, full of pure high notes, backed by gorgeous choral background vocals, and a western rock-n-roll vibe that is driven home by the percussion and the driving guitar that peeks in the bridge. I want to focus on the music, tell us about the musicians that played on this track with you and the team behind the beautifully done production.
El Caplan: Believe it or not I actually played everything myself except for the drums. I'm a really meticulous musician and I really admire artist/producers like Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) and Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and I like to be hands-on with my music. Luckily, we brought grammy-winning producer and engineer Eddie Spear in the fold to produce the drums and mixed everything to perfection. Aksel Coe was the session drummer who really knocked the performance out of the park.
ROVE: Who or what were some of your musical influences for "Broken Record"?
El Caplan: I was really feeling a lot of old school rock and roll artists from the 50's and 60's like Link Wray and Duane Eddy. For the songwriting and melody I felt a lot of inspiration from songwriters like Lucinda Williams and Leon Bridges. I wanted to bridge rock and roll, soul and alternative country.
ROVE: Is this what we can expect from the rest of the upcoming record or what other influences are you tapping in with as the new music comes out?
El Caplan: You can expect a blend of rock and roll, country soul and old-school latin... doing my best to weave all my influences into one style.
ROVE: I know your dad was a session player in L.A., what kind of impact has that had on your musical tastes? Or musical inspiration?
El Caplan: My dad raised me on the classics. He went to high school with Billy Preston. Because of that he was able to play with artists like Billy Preston, Ike and Tina Turner and Chaka Khan back in the day. He raised me on a lot of soul music like Stevie Wonder, The Delfonics, Tower of Power... as well as latin jazz and classical.
ROVE: Taking it back to "Broken Record", in the lyrics you make a number of references to the Bible, and use other metaphors that remind me of the way Leonard Cohen wrote. Where did your lyrical influences come from if you had any? Where did the lyrical inspiration come from?
El Caplan: Leonard Cohen is a great reference. There's something beautiful about mixing the sacred and the profane. Religious and secular. The King James Bible is such a beautifully written book and growing up Catholic definitely influences everything I do - even though I don't identify with that denomination anymore. Music is the closest thing I have to a religion and this is just my way of expressing myself.
ROVE: If you tapped into some challenging times to write it as a number of lines, including the bridge,
"Back to the wall, gas on the flame
I gave you my all, you threw dirt on my name"
and the lines in the first verse,
"and you left me like baby in a basket on the river of Nile
If there's one thing that I've learned in this whole world it’s that love can be cruel"
seem to indicate, are there any things you learned from those experiences that you would like to share?
El Caplan: The song actually uses a metaphor of a toxic relationship... or maybe even a failing marriage to express the sometimes toxic relationship I've felt with the music industry. But at the end of the day there's a light in all of us that guides us as artists that transcends any of these obstacles. At the end of the day I believe this song is really about the triumph of the artist's soul.
ROVE: Who is "Broken Record" for?
El Caplan: Anyone with ears! But I imagine people who appreciate old school rock and roll, soul and outlaw country.
ROVE: You've been working in music for a while, and have worked with industry greats including Dr. Dre. How many years have you been working in the industry and what are some memorable roles you've played? What advice would you have for anyone looking to pursue a career in music?
El Caplan: I've been working in the industry since I was teengager... but at a much smaller scale. My first real break was in 2015 when Chris Douridas started spinning my old Trickster Guru records on KCRW. Things started to take off from there. Other than that I've had some great opportunities as a live musician, songwriter, producer and music director. My advice would be to just dive in. Don't be afraid to fail. If you don't have a sound yet, imitate the artists you love. The happy accidents in failing to imitate your influences sometimes lead to your own original sound.
ROVE: What's next, what are you excited about right now?
El Caplan: I'm excited to drop the music video for "Broken Record" and play with a full band at Hotel Cafe on April 1st! Other than that I've got some new singles coming out leading up to the release of my debut EP, "Our Lady, the Queen of Angels."
Follow El Caplan on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/elcaplan/
https://www.tiktok.com/@elcaplan
https://www.facebook.com/elcaplan
https://www.youtube.com/@elcaplan
https://twitter.com/elcaplan_