Smelly, tired, and missing class.

These are words that describe music major J.P. Caballero while on tour for his band Dios Malos.

“Usually when on tour, you spend very little time doing the things that they say people in bands are supposed to do,” Caballero said.

“You get to a city, play for maybe 30-45 minutes and you don’t have time to stay in that city. You have to leave immediately and drive to the next show. So you have a whole month where you go across a lot of cool places but you’re pretty much just sitting in a van.”

Although he was deprived of sleep, fresh clothing and still missing class while driving through America last week, Caballero and his band, Dios Malos, were really excited for this tour, because they were headed to one of their favorite places, Austin, Texas for the annual music festival, South by Southwest (SXSW).

“SXSW is very different (from regular touring). You go to the venue, play and get to go to a hotel to get some sleep or hang out, instead of immediately driving for six hours to the next venue,” Caballero said. “SXSW is an excuse to just hang out, drink in the streets, and eat chicken wings.”

Apart from the fact that SXSW is a five-day party where Dios Malos can catch up with old friends and hear some great live music, it is also a great way to network as they unintentionally found on their first SXSW experience.

“In 2003 we played to maybe 50 people on the first night of SXSW and we ended up having a writer for a really big magazine there and a lot of our career started because of that. We got our first record deal out of it.” Caballero said.

Dios Malos have since put out two studio albums, a live album, toured the country many times, played Coachella and this latest trip was their fourth to SXSW.

Despite playing bass in a band that tours up to seven months a year, Caballero still makes it a priority to get an education and go to school full time.

“I’ll be honest, I really love the fact that in between a block of touring, I get to come back to school, take 12 units.” Caballero said.

Caballero has taken many courses at EC but most revolve around his first love, music. At a young age, Caballero started playing flute, being attracted to it because “(he) was a weird kid.”

He started messing around on the guitar at age 14 as a hobby, not thinking nor expecting it to take him anywhere.
“I wasn’t trying to ingratiate myself to anyone,” Caballero said. “I wanted to play (guitar) because I wanted to play it. It wasn’t an attempt to have a career in music or anything, it was just a hobby.”

Then, in 2002, Caballero showed up to Dios Malos’ band practice uninvited and became their bassist.

Now, after seven years of being apart of the music industry to a certain degree, Caballero enjoys the time he gets to spend at EC, studying and playing music with less obligations.

“After so many years of looking at music like a job, it’s nice to play for joy at a place where (the attitude) is a little more innocent and more about personal growth.” Caballero said.