Interviewed: Neptune B
Originally posted 04.01.03

Pics from the Neptune B interview


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Neptune B's rehearsal space is tucked away in a relatively quiet (at night time at least) industrial area of Pompano Beach. The warehouses around them store boats and some sort of singing church. It is almost eerily quiet, except for the easy listening radio of a guy painting a roof near by. When my camera dies, I am quick to blame it on some sort of ghostly occurrence, but it probably has more to do with the fact that the battery wasn't charged. The camera replacement was a dusty disposable camera from a convenience store down the street, which is why a few of the pictures here have a little bit of an odd sheen.

One wall inside the band's space is covered in flyers, giving a glimpse into the history of Neptune B. The band formed in 1996. Vocalist and guitarist Javier Caballero and drummer Dave Coleman had met while playing in another South Florida band. "We didn't have a name and then when we were on stage, he [the third member of that group] gave us a name," Caballero says. "He just got up on stage and grabbed the mike and said, thank you very much, we're the Billy Diamond Experience [and no, the guy's name wasn't Billy Diamond]. We both looked at each other and were like, we are? We didn't know. Then we were something else the next time we played." The group lasted a few months but the music leaned too much towards the Grateful Dead to their liking. "Eventually it fizzled out because we didn't like playing that type of music." As that project came to an end, the two began to play music together. The two recorded but they mostly played music for the fun of it. Over the next two years, a few bassists came and went, leaving Caballero and Coleman decide to keep Neptune B a duo. In 1998, they went into the studio to record their first CD. The product of their thirty-six hours of recording and mixing in studio was the eleven-song release
Catalytic.

Bassist and vocalist Mary Schroeder joined the group in 2000. The three then focused on continuing to play out and recording their follow up album. Superman in Drag (available on the band's site, at the CD Collector in Fort Lauderdale and at Uncle Sam's in Lauderhill) was released in 2002 and impressively enough, the band did all the recording, production and engineering in their own Plumb Studios, which is housed in their rehearsal space.

Currently, Schroeder's future with the band is somewhat unclear. "She had other things going on in her life. It drew away from [the band]," Caballero says of her recent and possibly permanent departure from Neptune B. "She was preoccupied with everything else so [the band] was not even secondary, it was more of a hobby." Despite possible line up changes, the band continues to plan for live shows, including a show on Sunday, April 13th at Tavern 213 in Fort Lauderdale. Reviewers have tried to sum up the frenzy of a Neptune B live show, typically focusing on Caballero, whose on-stage moments have be likened to the moments of someone with Tourette's or epilepsy. You really have to see the band live to understand how energetic a performance is. The band has been selective in the shows it plays, tending to play out once a month in order to keep the show fresh for the audience. "I don't think we enjoy playing out all the time. If you play every week, it gets played out. It's not necessary in the same city. [It would be different] if we were on tour," says Caballero. They never have a problem getting booked for a show, but it usually is hard to find other bands to play with.  "We don't go out to get shows and we still consistently get shows," Caballero says. "If you pay attention to the flyers or shows in general, you'll see that a lot of the same bands may play in different venues, but they play together. So, it's a bunch of little cliques and we don't necessarily fit into any of the cliques. Generally, we'll get a band or two out of each clique and they'll be like, yeah, let's do shows together. That's cool but for the most part, everybody plays in these little cliques and they don't let you in."
        
It's a loss for those cliques not to do more shows with Neptune B. Their live performance and unique brand of music always makes fans out of an audience. The majority of the band's music is emotionally charged pop punk, but it also has moments of surf, country, and noise blended in. "[Our music] is a hard thing to classify," Coleman says. The Pixies are often mentioned in reviews of the band. While they definitely not a carbon copy of the Pixies, you can hear the influence throughout most of their songs, including a few of the new songs that they are working on. Each song is a group effort, with Caballero writing and recording a rough mix of a song and then with Coleman polishing up the overall sound of the song. Although they have recorded a few new songs, there are no definite plans for a new CD.

Pics from the Neptune B interview


Interviewed
Archive
Interviewed: Neptune B
Originally posted 04.01.03