Coming to Terms With Coming Apart: Captain Black Heart
Onstage with Captain Black Heart, instrumentalist Dino Malito usually lets partner Erwin Herceg do the talking. Geoff Baker gets Malito to put down the guitar for a moment and pick up a computer keyboard for a quick question-and-answer session.
Geoff Baker: You and Erwin are both from Ontario. But your respective hometowns of Brampton and Sarnia are hundreds of kilometers apart. When and where did you first meet? Was it coincidence that brought you together?
Dino Malito: I met Erwin through a mutual friend who was in a band with him. Although we met a few times briefly back in Canada, I really didn’t get to know him until we crossed paths in Los Angeles. We ended up as roommates with the same friend that introduced us years earlier. We were all looking to get into a band of some kind and eventually found ourselves turning to each other: that was how Serum, the first band that I played in with Erwin, organically came together.
Crossing paths with Erwin was a happy coincidence because I would have never imagined I’d ever meet someone who had the same outlook on life and such similar musical tastes. Most importantly, despite our minor differences and disagreements over the years, he’s remained an incredible friend and a true inspiration, and I hope that I have had the same influence on him.
GB: How has your sound changed since you guys started playing together in Serum nearly a decade ago?
DM: I think we’re stronger people and songwriters now than back in Serum. Not to say that I’m not proud of the moments we all shared with Serum because it was a great band; we wrote great songs; and we had a lot of fun. But I think that the creativity of the band might have suffered somewhat because we were listening to a lot other music and got caught up with feeling as if we had to validate our music in terms of outside influences instead of trusting our own perceptions and sense of integrity.
It wasn’t until about a year after Serum was finished that Erwin and I reconnected. It was like we had come full circle and just wanted to hang out and see how the other was doing. He came by my place, and eventually I started showing him some of the new music I was working on that I was really excited about. Soon after I began, he asked me to set up a microphone for him, and he started humming and singing over the music. That reunion made us both realize that we had an undeniable chemistry that was difficult to put in words.
I was completely blown away that he brought something to what I thought couldn’t be improved to make it even better. And what made it even more special was that as we were throwing ideas back and forth, we ignored all our preconceived notions as to what makes a good song and just let the music flow and develop organically. And that’s how “Needle” came to be. That song became starting point, even our life support, because it represented the core of who we were, not what others wanted us to be.
GB: Do you and Erwin have a predominant method of composing songs? What usually comes first: the music or the lyrics? How collaborative is the songwriting process?
DM: The music comes first, definitely. One or both of us comes up with the initial idea for a song. Then Erwin writes all the lyrics, and I take care of the rest.
My songs are very personal and important to me because they’re snapshots of whatever mood I’m feeling at a particular moment. Sometimes it can be a difficult process for me because I’ll anguish over the details of a song until I find a way to articulate exactly what it is I’m feeling. And Erwin goes through the same thing but with particular attention to other aspects. We help each other find what it is we’re looking for in the process.
GB: What is more satisfying: completing a track in the studio or playing a show?
DM: They’re equally satisfying, but in different ways. Finishing a track that I’m feeling good about makes me feel better than anything I can compare it to at that moment. Helps make life make sense to me. Playing a show can be challenging because I go through the same process I go through when I write or record. It can be an emotional experience to try to stay true to the spirit of the song at any cost. But what’s rewarding and satisfying is sharing what I do with Erwin on stage and with an audience and to have a part in making people feel good. Affecting an audience or the people onstage with me in a positive way is more satisfying for me than simply playing.
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The Sugar Scoop with Geoff Baker on SoundSugar