Land of the El Caminos

Biography

Guitarist/vocalist Dan Fanelli and drummer Ken Wallin attended junior high school together in the early '80s in a suburb of Chicago. While in high school, the two friends began jamming and said if they ever released an album, it would be titled Land of the El Caminos. The idea for the name came from a vision the pair had of a fictional place where the famous muscle car was the prominent focus. The jam sessions soon came to an end when Fanelli and Wallin went their separate ways in 1988 to attend college. In 1994, Fanelli returned to Chicago and began writing new original compositions and recording them on his four-track. Two years later, Wallin also returned to Chicago and reunited with Fanelli as a two-piece to perform in area bars. The duo dubbed themselves Land of the El Caminos, after their fictional album title from eight years prior. While playing at various clubs, Fanelli and Wallin stumbled across a bassist from Southern California. After talking with the musician, whose name was Aaron Cleall, Fanelli and Wallin realized that they all held the same interests and invited Cleall aboard to round out the band. A year later, they recorded their self-titled debut, and by 1998, their CD hit local record stores in Chicago. The release created a buzz around the city thanks to airplay on radio station WXRT and favorable reviews by such newspapers as The Chicago Sun-Times. Throughout the rest of the year, the group started working on more new material and testing it out at clubs. The result of the new songs was the band's second release, Doll Face, in the summer of 1999. The first copies of the disc that were pressed contained handwritten labels and were sent to various publications and clubs. Doll Face caught the attention of the venues and reviewers for its post-punk pop and a beefed-up cover of the Cure's "Let's Go to Bed." Throughout the rest of the year and into 2000, the band gigged with such acts as Royal Trux, Local H, and Verbena. While all of the shows were taking place, Doll Face climbed up the CMJ charts and made it into their Top 200. After hearing the buzz on the band, indie label Veronica Records approached them about distributing their material. In May of 2000, Land of the El Caminos started their own record label called BOOJM and reissued Doll Face as the first release on June 20. Veronica handled the distribution, and the band's name was spread across the United States. That following summer, the group promoted the disc by conducting short tours in the Midwest United States and had the chance to open up for Queens of the Stone Age on August 11 at Chicago's Hairy Mary's. During the latter portion of that month, the group stepped into Full Pull studios in Chicago and began recording demos for their third full-length CD. Over the course of the next several months, Land of the El Caminos played more weekend shows in Belleville, WI, opening for Season to Risk; Madison, WS, performing with the bands Station and System; and at Chicago's Metro, playing alongside acts like Moreno, Yakuza, and Firebird. In January of 2001, Land of the El Caminos laid down eight of their tracks for the final mix of their third full-length album at Full Pull studios. The remaining four songs were produced with engineer Ken Sluiter at Chicago's Kingsize Sound Labs. After the sessions were wrapped up, the month of March was dedicated to mastering the new record. Following their stint in the studio, the group set out for an East Coast tour covering New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The shows lasted from April through May, and as the band returned to Chicago, they prepared the release of their third album, titled Subourbon. ~ Stephen Howell, All Music Guide