Just a few hundred exits down the westbound I-10 lies a magical land where record contracts seem to fall out of the sky and rock starts roam the same streets as everyday folks.
In this land of hopes and dreams there is a high school that, on the surface, could be a carbon copy of any other school in America: Calabasas High in Calabasas, Calif.
There are tyrannical algebra teachers, homecoming banners and crowds of anxious young teenagers, but there was also Lyle Menendez sitting in an English classroom where he plotted against his parents; and Elizabeth Berkeley eating her salad in the cafeteria on days when she wasn't playing Jesse Spano on Saved by the Bell.
There's a long alumni list of today's rock headliners — Incubus, Linkin Park, Audiovent.
And now, Hometown Hero, who will share the main stage at Edgefest Saturday at the Peoria Sports Complex.
"I don't know what it is about [Calabasas]," says Hometown Hero bassist Tood Burnes, Calabasas High class of 1996.
It's unclear whether there is something in the water of this Los Angeles suburb that has turned out so much fame and notoriety, but lately, Calabasas has produced more superstars than ever.
Brandon Boyd, Jose Pasillas, Dirk Lance and Mike Einzinger of Incubus were members of the class of '94. Robby Borden, the drummer from Linkin Park, graduated in '96. Jason Boyd, Ben Einzinger, Jamin Wilcox and Paul Fried of Audiovent were all part of the '97 class. And the boys of Hoobastank graduated from Agoura High School, Calabasas' longtime rival located about 10 miles to the north.
As a lanky punk with holes in his ears, Burnes was considered to be a bit of revel when he went to Calabasas High.
"I had this one math teacher who absolutely hated me because I would do my homework in the middle of class," says Burnes, who was heading back to California on the I-10 after visiting his girlfriend in Texas. "She called me up to the front of the class and started yelling at me, and my foot didn't really get near her face, but she thought I was trying to kick her, so she just started yelling and couldn't control her sentences."
Like many of his fellow classmates, Burnes started young in the music game. He joined his first band, Black Rainbow, in seventh grade along with Ben Einzinger from Audiovent and Robby Borden from Linkin Park. Years later, he says that he is still friends with a lot of the bands he knew back in the day.
"We just played a show with Audiovent in Buffalo, N.Y., and it was great because most of us are still pretty good friends, and the only time we get to see each other is when we're on the road together," he says. "It's cool, we all know we're all still a bunch of dorks who just happened on something really amazing."
The members of Hometown Hero didn't achieve their success over night. They put in years of hard work playing virtually unknown places in the San Fernando Valley, making their way to more prestigious clubs such as the Roxy on Sunset Boulevard. Still, it's bound to turn heads when so much success comes out of one area.
"Everyone that comes from [Calabasas] and can play music starts a band because there's really nothing else to do," Burnes says. "They figure they may as well pursue it as a career. There's more involved than luck, though. Bands like Incubus played together for 10 years before they got any major-label attention."
Although Burnes has his rock 'n' roll roots in California, his familial roots are planted right here in Arizona. He was born in Phoenix and moved to California with his family when he was in the sixth grade. His family has since moved back to Phoenix, and his sister, Mandy, is a marketing junior at ASU.
"It's going to be great to see my brother and his band play [Edgefest]," Mandy says. "They played a show out here last year and they had a disagreement with one of the other bands. I don't think Arizona was quite ready for them, but it's been a year now and they're better than ever."
Reach the reporter at Joy. Hepp@asu.edu.
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Hometown Hero with Boxcar Racer, Kottonmouth Kings, Course of Nature, Flogging Molly, Authority Zero and many more at Edgefest 2002. Saturday. Peoria Sports Complex. |
