Interview | Bobby Caldwell
Bobby Caldwell
I recently caught up with Bobby at his home in Florida and had the privilege of speaking with him about his career in music and what he has been up to lately. Check out my interview below.
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Having an older brother turn me on to this incredible music (Hard Rock and Heavy Metal) that I love so much has allowed me the opportunity to discover amazing bands that weren’t necessarily main stream acts but none the less just as good or even better than the bands that got regular rotation on rock radio, Captain Beyond was definitely one of those bands.
Captain Beyond was and still is some of the best Progressive Hard Rock music I have ever heard and the bands drummer, Bobby Caldwell is one of my all time favorite masters of the skins.
Bobby Caldwell born October 6th, 1951 started playing at a very young age (around 10 years old) and at the age of 14 soon found himself involved with a local Tampa, Florida band called Noah’s Ark that signed with Decca Records. Noah’s Ark found some local success but Bobby’s first big break came at the age of 19 when he was asked to join Blues/Rock legend Johnny Winter and his group called Johnny Winter And. Bobby toured with Johnny Winter And extensively around the world and a live performance from an East coast show was caught on tape and released in 1971 as Johnny Winter And Live.
Bobby also toured with the Allman Brothers Band and can be heard playing drums and percussion on their historic album, The Allman Brothers, Live at the Filmore East.
While playing with these legendary bands, Bobby had a different kind of music in his head, a vision of something more aggressive and progressive, something that would really allow him to incorporate his ideas of what rock music should sound like and Captain Beyond was just the band to achieve that. Formed from members of Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly and Johnny Winter, Captain Beyond was a true ‘Supergroup’ in every sense of the term.
Fronted by Rod Evans (vocals) from Deep Purple, Larry ‘Rhino’ Reinhardt (guitar) and Lee Dorman (bass) from Iron Butterfly and Bobby Caldwell (drums), Captain Beyond’s lineup was set.
Captain Beyond
They released their self titled debut record Captain Beyond in 1972 and dedicated it to the late great Duane Allman who had tragically died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24 in 1971. The record found limited commercial success but became a cult classic of epic proportions.
Captain Beyond released a second album ‘Sufficiently Breathless‘ in 1973 without Caldwell who had left the group due to creative differences. Bobby was invited to play on Rick Derringer’s (a band mate in Johnny Winter And) debut record All American Boy released in 1973 which contained the smash classic rock radio hit Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo.
After realizing the creative differences between the band that caused Bobby to leave Captain Beyond in the first place were not that important, Bobby rejoined the band. But while preparing to write and record their third record, vocalist Rod Evans unexpectedly announced he was leaving the group. Left devastated and without a singer Captain Beyond broke up.
Bobby landed on his feet and was asked the join another project that was starting with former Yardbirds singer Keith Relf, guitarist Martin Pugh and bassist Louis Cennamo called Armageddon. The band signed with A&M Records and released their self titled record in 1975 to critical acclaim but again little commercial success. Due to management problems and lack of touring in support of the record, Armageddon disbanded.
Captain Beyond reformed in 1977 with singer Willy Daffern and released the record Dawn Explosion for Warner Brothers Records but once again the elusive radio airplay and commercial success eluded them and Captain Beyond called it quits.
Visit Bobby Caldwell’s official website here or his official MySpace page here.
I am a huge Captain Beyond fan and really enjoyed the interview. My band spent the summer of ‘72 learning all of the first album. It really was like taking a space music theory course. It has stayed with me for 38 some odd years and continues to inspire me to this day. I was so glad to hear rock music that had nothing to do with the usual 1-4-5 format. It was a life-changing experience and i can still play those songs. If Captain Beyond ever gets desperate for a bassist, I will leave Texas in a heartbeat. Bobby, thank you so much for the great education. And thank you, Spacetrucker for the great interview.
I met Bobby at a GrooveMonsters show in Orlando where he played double drums with Micheal Wright. And he still had the great “time” playing and those fills!! What i did notice is how serious and in tune to the music he was. It was very special to finally see what i’d heard for along time. He really paid attention to the other layers and never got in the way! Very Musical!! Great interview here, and no surprise he’s a Joe Morello Fan….Me too!
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your kind words, it seems you enjoyed listening to the interview as much as I did conducting it. It was a real thrill to talk to one of my favorite drummers of all time. Thanks for the comment.
Robert – GREAT interview! Thanks so much for making this interesting interview available. I had the honor of hanging out with Bobby while vacationing in Florida about 5-6 years ago, and this brought back so many wonderful memories of our conversation. I can honestly say that as great a drummer as Bobby is, he’s an even greater person. Thanks again! – Mike
Bobby , I had emailed you a while back to tell you what an
Inspiration you were to my drumming !
We are traveling thru Florida during June 1st thru June 7th
I would love to meet you! Is the band playing out anywhere
Are you gigging out with anyone or doing anything anywhere?
We are in Daytona for a few days then on to Lakeland.
Anyway ! Hope to hear back from you. Randy