Based on the credit of nearly a decade’s worth of more or less annual interviews with various members of DMB, Boston-based promotions director and DJ Cali has earned a reputation for conducting some of the most relevant and revealing DMB interviews to date. As a testament to this, although he is officially affiliated with CBS radio (currently Boston’s Mix 104.1), Cali’s interviews are also permanently archived and housed at DMB fan sites like AntsMarching.org and DontBurnthePig.org.
Perhaps almost as interesting as Cali’s interviews with the band is his own story about how he went from being (as he himself puts it) “a hardcore DMB fan” to the position he’s currently in, where he is afforded the opportunity to go straight to the source to ask so many of the questions DMB fans want to know.
Cali began seeing DMB like so many of us did—spending summer nights singing and dancing with his friends on the lawn. With 112 shows under his belt since 1998, Cali revels in the live DMB experience. “I’m just really a lot about being with my friends, having a good time and, as cheesy as this sounds, I just love to sing and dance at the shows. It’s been an awesome ride.”
Cali and Stefan at their first interview in 2001.
It was purely by coincidence, while covering the X Games for Boston’s now-defunct WBCN 104.1 in the early 2000s, that Cali inadvertently come into contact with a DMB crew member who just happened to ask Cali if he was a DMB fan. From there, the rest is history. It was through this connection that Cali was granted his first interview with Stefan at a ski show exhibition in Boston in 2001. Cali remembers, “The first interview at the ski show, I was nervous as hell. I never, ever expected it to end up where it’s ended up.” Over the ensuing years, he’s had the opportunity to speak to Stefan several times, Dave on a couple of occasions (including one memorable interview during the promotion of Some Devil in 2003, when Dave played Gravedigger for an audience of one: Cali), and Boyd during his True Reflections promo.
Of all the amazing opportunities Cali has had over the years, he says his favorite experiences have been the frequent interviews conducted with Stefan. “I really like interviewing Stefan the most because he’s such a real person, so normal. You don’t look at him like he’s in the biggest band in the world. Stefan and I became good friends to where I think people feel like they’re listening in on someone’s conversation at this point. I’ve interviewed him a bunch of times now and I love interviewing him more than anyone else because of the repertoire we have.”
Because of the combination of this repertoire and his knowledge of DMB from a fan angle, Cali has the unique opportunity to ask
Cali and Stefan at their most recent interview, June 2010.
the questions we all want to know, as clearly evidenced through his recent interview with Stefan prior to the N2 Mansfield, MA show, when Stefan opened up about DMB’s decision to take 2011 off and the dusting off of oldies but goodies for the 2010 tour. “When I interview Stefan, I just really ask the questions that I want to know and I think it’s the same questions the fans want to know. It doesn’t take me long to come up with these questions—for this last interview, I just sat down and wrote them out in, like, two minutes.”
At the end of the day, Cali has found himself in a unique position that allows him to pair his professional endeavors with his favorite band. “Part of what’s so awesome about following this band around is that there’s always a great story that goes along with it.” And, in Cali’s case, this is most certainly true.
Cali’s most recent two-part interview with Stefan from June 8, 2010 can be found here and here.
