It’s been more than 15 years since Damon Che, the inventive drummer for defunct Pittsburgh instrumental pioneers Don Caballero, played a show in the area.
That will change April 26 when Yesness, his new instrumental duo with El Ten Eleven bassist Kristian Dunn, headlines a show at Spirit Lodge in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. But Che, who now lives in central Pennsylvania, doesn’t really consider this a homecoming.
“We know lots of people in Pittsburgh, but I haven’t lived in Pittsburgh in over 30 years, you know? So it’s hard for me to call Pittsburgh a hometown show in some regards,” Che said in a recent call. “I mean, it’s an original hometown show. We did a tour with Wool once, and that’s Pete and Franz Stahl from Scream. And they hadn’t lived in (Washington) D.C. in probably a decade or so. They had lived in Los Angeles for quite some time when we got to know them and played a tour with them. But when they played that D.C. show at the Black Cat, man, you could tell they got the hometown treatment whether they lived there anymore or not, so yeah, I’m excited for something like that potentially.”
Yesness came together when Joyful Noise Recordings’ founder Karl Hofstetter introduced Che and Dunn virtually in 2023. Before the introduction, Che said he hadn’t been familiar with El Ten Eleven.
“I’ll be honest, I hadn’t, and that’s not really a secret. Most people when they ask, we just tell the truth of it all,” he said. “I just told him, ‘Your music’s very new to me, but I think it’s very good from what I’m hearing. So I’d be up for seeing what was possible.’”
After exchanging some demos and throwing ideas back and forth, they decided to move forward with the project.
“You know that old culinary trick where you throw the pasta and if it sticks to the wall, then you know it’s just right to drain?” Che said. “Our pasta was sticking pretty quick.”
The resulting first album, “See You at the Solipsist Convention,” dropped Nov. 22 with a dozen songs with titles like “Nice Walrus” and “People Don’t Like It When You Call Them Ace.”
Yesness toured out west earlier in the year and are back on the road until the end of April on this new leg. And it should be a better experience than his last time playing here in 2009, when Don Caballero played on an all-local show with Girl Talk, Wiz Khalifa and more at the old Trib Total Media Amphitheatre at Station Square.
“We played this horrible festival. It was very well attended, but it was horrible for us because they made us open for some horrid, just dreadful band called Donora that wasn’t even the original Donora,” Che said. “It wasn’t even the real Donora. It was this fly-by-night, imposter Donora band. Hollowood Music put on the fest and they made everyone play some horrible drum kit. And honestly, Hollowood Music should be ashamed of themselves for the rest of their lives for what they did to some really great music artists at this festival in 2009 they were in charge of.”
In a call before heading out on tour, Che discussed old Pittsburgh venues, virtual collaboration, the live show, his disdain for the term math rock and more:
You’ll be playing at Spirit Hall, and that’s a former Moose Lodge, so will playing a venue like that bring you back to shows from earlier in your career?
Yeah, all of these Yesness shows are doing that. It’s like the (Electric) Banana all over again everywhere I go.
Are there any venues that you miss, that are long gone from Pittsburgh?
Well, I miss the Banana in some ways. The acoustics at the Banana were never so hot. And I hope it doesn’t offend anybody, I don’t miss the Upstage, even though there was a lot of music pass through there at a certain point in time. But I can’t say I miss the Upstage. And the same with (Club) Laga, honestly, that whole building, you were rolling the dice every time you went to see a gig there, because if there was a fire in that building, and you were on the fourth floor up at Laga there, you show me where the fire exits are, all right? I never could find any.
With Yesness, musically what were you aiming for with this album?
What you hear. We’re pretty good marksmen when it comes to crafting our brand of musical expression, so we were aiming for what you hear when you drop the needle, basically.
Did this musical collaboration come together pretty easily?
I would say so. It was very post-pandemic in nature. The whole idea of working remotely is going to flourish and blossom even further probably once people realize, like no one ever has to work on the 111th story of a skyscraper waiting for some terrorist plane to come through their office window ever again. Once the world realizes we don’t have to get on subway cars like cattle and do all these things, everyone can work remotely.
Featured Local Businesses
I guess that also opens up the possible collaborators too. You’re not just limited to who’s within 10 or 15 miles from you.
Or in cubicle range. (laughs) You’re not limited to the other cubicle peeps on your floor.
Do you remember what the first song was that came together?
The first tracks to come together ended up being aborted. I think one might have made it onto a flexi disc for a special, just extravagantly, members only, elitist record club or something. I don’t even think we knew what the title was and then it just got called “Idea.” When we shared demos, all they’d say is idea and the date. So this is on this flexi disc for this elitist record club and it just says “Idea” and the date. We might have barely gave permission for that thing to get used and all of a sudden now it exists for some record club. That was the first thing we ever did, “Idea whatever date it is.” There’s a flexi disc of it somewhere.
It didn’t make the cut for the album then?
No, and that’s good because then someday, when you need to do a deluxe anniversary edition or whatever, you’ll have a few bones laying around the yard still that you can throw as extra tracks.
Related
• Spiritbox rides the wave of 'Tsunami Sea' in sold-out Pittsburgh concert
• John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting discusses songs highlighting Ukraine, Israel and more ahead of Pittsburgh show
• 2025 Pittsburgh area concert calendar
At the time, were you even looking to make new music?
I think so. I was looking to do as much session work as I could, and I was doing that.
Session work is different than something where you’re the brains behind it, right?
Well, for me, the answer to that assumption is no though, because what I bring to the table in a musical situation is not just gonna be some half-baked, ham-and-eggs session work. When I do session work for your musical project, it is quite the collaboration by default, and not to sound like some hot-air machine or anything, but that’s kind of the truth. You’re not just gonna get some generic click-track thing out of me. You’re gonna get some real collaboration if I do session work for one’s musical project.
Was it easy to incorporate the collaborations with Kishi Bashi and Macie Stewart into what you and Kristian had been doing?
Yeah, because they were doing true session work in a way, because I mean 99% of the track — well not 99, 90% of the track — was already in the can by the time they contributed to it. It was mostly finished material.
When you’re playing these songs live, does it take on a new life or is it played pretty closely to the album version?
It goes different places because the nature of how busy Kristian is when it comes to doing the music live, that changes a lot of things. That takes some of the tracks on the album and makes them not really playable live unless we were to hire some extra band members, and we’re not in any position to do that. When it comes to the ones that we can play live, sometimes they vary and then with what’s actually possible to present live, sometimes we get a little carried away and they may end up with more octane in the tank after all by the time we’re done playing them live.
I read that you’re not a fan of the math rock label, so how would you describe the music that Yesness plays?
The entire universe minus no derogatory claim of math rock, so you get everything, and then the title math rock takes away nothing. (laughs) Look, I’m fighting on a hill here. I don’t like the term math rock. If I lose that battle, it’s no big (expletive) deal. But, as a matter of fact, I don’t have anything better to do so I will fight. I don’t like it. I wouldn’t want to be called (expletive) just the same as math rock. It’s just a derogatory term to me. That’s just the way I feel about it.
Is there more music down the road for this band?
Oh yeah. We’re making a record in May or late April.
It’s pretty much after the tour?
Yeah, so the tracks will be nice and battle-tested or whatever the adage is.
Are you playing some of these live then?
Everything we’re going to be recording, we are playing live. Well, there might be a few we’re not playing live that are still going to get recorded.
You’ve been through a lot over the years, so how would you describe this stage of your musical career?
Featured Local Businesses
Not a career.
Not a career?
Yeah. You’d better really like what you’re doing because it’s not a career at all.
Does it feel like the ghost of Don Caballero has been hanging over any projects since that band ended?
No. I mean, I could do that band again anytime I want to. That’s not where my focus is now.
So you’re more looking forward instead of looking in the past?
I’m looking where I’m looking. I don’t even know. I don’t know if there’s a measuring stick for forward versus reverse or anything. I’m looking where I’m looking for. I’m chasing the joy I chase.