6.2001

The Cautions (Cover Story Interview)
By Bill Copeland
Metronome Magazine

What a difference a year makes. When Providence singer and guitarist Eric Barao heard that his old college buddy Jeff Caglarcan's band January was breaking up, he knew the time was right to start working with him. So Barao suggested to Caglarcan, who played lead guitar with January, to start writing some songs together. That was February of last year. In March of this year, The Cautions held sold-out CD release parties in both Boston and Providence to promote their humor loaded debut album.

"Our first CD release party was in Boston. We had a great response. The Green Room was good. We got a positive response. People bought CD's after the show. That's when the promotion side of me takes over and I say our website is www.thecautions.com."

The boys play up the humor of the lyrics by calling themselves cautions, which at one time was slang for someone with a taste for tarty puns and jokes. "Cautions is an old fashioned phrase for wiseguy or joker. Our lyrics have sort of a strong sense of humor," Barao said. "We have a lot of tongue in cheek jokes. My grandmother used to use the expression, so I would hear it a lot when I was a kid. We thought it would make a nice tie in."

Many of the humorous anecdotes in their lyrics are based on real life experiences. "The come from people I know, things people say to me. I'm a good listener," Barao explained. "I listen to people more than I talk to them. I believe in the school of thought that you learn more by keeping your mouth shut and your ears open. Songwriting is sort of a self-therapy for me. If I'm dealing with a problem in my life, I write a story or song about it."

Caglarcan echoed Barao's sentiments, saying his lyrics too come from real life experiences, in a round about way. "They're about things that happen to me or my friends," the guitarist said. "I try to be sincere even though the songs sometimes seem silly sounding." Caglarcan's song "Coffee shop Girl" is a case in point. Focused on a young man's infatuation with a girl working in a coffee bar, the song is chock full of coffee images: "Juan Valdez would be very proud / Of how well she works the coffee crowd / Her eyes are dark, just like mocha java / She turns my insides into molten lava."

"Eric moved to a new apartment, and he told me about a new coffee shop he went to," Caglarcan explained. "He liked the lovely ladies that worked there. That got me thinking about the one I used to go to. There was a beautiful girl working there, and that's why I went there. I wasn't even a coffee drinker at the time."

On a quirkier note, Caglarcan said that The Cautions' bass player Matt Boynton works at the Charles Street Starbucks in Boston. "His co-workers have a special enthusiasm for music because some of the employees there play in bands. They've talked about organizing a concert for these bands to play. If they do it at Starbucks, it will have to be an acoustic thing."

Barao's song "Out of Print" discusses the perennial problem of losing personal items to one's former lover after getting tossed out of someone's life. "It was my way of expressing feelings I had about a break-up I went through with an ex-girlfriend. Not getting stuff back is a fashionable topic about break ups," the singer said. "It was a way I could talk about without bringing my own feelings into it, since everybody can relate to the part of stuff left behind, which is quite often done intentionally."

Barao's fascination with pop-rock music from the 1980's lead him to purchase a Roland SH-101 synthesizer. That instrument makes up a lot of the melody and texture on The Cautions' debut album.

"I'm a huge fan of The Cars. I definitely wanted us to have a Cars-like sound," he began. "I've been into synthesizers since 1983 because I like the idea of building sound out of nothing but soundwaves. I also like (the Roland SH-101) because I can strap it on like a guitar. I'm on a personal crusade to make that cool again. My Roland is monophonic. It can only play one note at a time. That forces me to stay focused on writing a strong melody. We just bought a second synthesizer. We'll soon have more sounds at our disposal."

Caglarcan likes the synthesizer because it can add extra pop texture but still let the guitars dominate the sound. "It's fun and it sounds different. There's an early 80's thing coming back. It hasn't hit Boston yet, but it's in California right now. In England there's a Skinny Tie movement. They're wearing those skinny ties like bands of the 80's."

The 28 year old Barao also grew up on the sounds of hardcore bands like Black Sabbath and punk rock outfits like Black Flag. "After hearing The Cars, I became a devotee of 80's pop-rock," he said.

Barao confidently allows much of the credit for The Cautions' sound to Caglarcan. He relies on his collaborative efforts with his lead guitarist to bring even greater melody and lyrical punch to the mix.

"We have always known we wanted to play in a band together," Barao explained. "We were both into punk and hardcore stuff like The Connells and The Rain Dogs, obscure stuff. We knew we could get along with each other. Jeff is also into western swing and rockabilly. His guitar playing has some of that in it. That's cool, because Elliott Easton of The Cars had countrified licks. Usually one of us comes in with the lyrics, and the other will put music to it. We have shared ideas."

Caglarcan says it is fun to be in a band with an old friend instead of having the business type relationships of other bands. "Eric is a real Renaissance Man," he exclaimed. "He writes songs. He writes music. He's a graphic artist. He's also a website designer. His main instrument used to be piano. He used to play bass for January, my old band. We used to talk about putting our own band together, but I used to think he was never going to do it."

Caglarcan sites Fountains of Wayne as influences. He also said Barao has influence over him. During February of last year Barao and Caglarcan decided to form The Cautions after knowing each other for ten years. They met as students at Berklee, and they often bumped into each other on the scene.

"Jeff had played with January for a number of years. When January started to disband, we saw an opportunity to work together musically. We knew each other at Berklee, and I used to fill in for their bass players. Their bass players were like the drummers in Spinal Tap, they kept leaving and needed to be replaced. We always got along so well. Chris, our drummer, used to play with January for a time."

Caglarcan praised Newbern, saying he has "good pop sensibility. Chris is a good drummer. People don't always think of the drummer as being melodic. Chris sings too. He sings a harmony line on 'Coffee Shop Girl' that made it sound much better. He was the one who came up with it."

Because Barao has roots in Providence Rhode Island, the band has been able to build up a fan base in both Providence and the Hub. "I'm the only one of the guys from Providence. I lived in Boston during the 80's. I grew up in Providence," Barao said. "It helps to have a following in both cities. It keeps the press excited about us in both places. Newspapers won't write about you unless your local to their paper because everybody wants to read about their own people.?

"It's controversial sometimes," Caglarcan admitted. "Someone in Boston will say we can't write about you because you're from Providence. Other times a writer in Providence will say we can't cover you because you're a Boston band. Eric used to live in Boston but he moved back to Providence three years ago. We rehearse the band in Boston. Eric drives up here every week for rehearsals. He's putting a lot of miles on his car. Eric goes to clubs in Providence. He's very active in Providence. Sometimes we get coverage in both. WFNX which is a Boston radio station will play us on their Providence affiliate. It's called the FNX Radio Network."

The double following has contributed to The Cautions success, since there is not a lot of people who will travel to both cities to see a band. Locals come out to see them in both towns. Influenced by The Cars, Fountains of Wayne, The Beatles, Elvis Costello, as well as local bands like Bleu, Hot Rod Circuit, and Ultimate Fake Book, Barao has spent the last 10 years seeing four bands a week.

"You take what you can from each, and you see what works and what doesn't work." the singer attested. "We'll try anything that gets people talking about your band. We do all sorts of things. I put lights on my guitar cord. Those lights make a great conversation piece out of your band."

The Cautions are actually and experimental band. The play with soundwaves. They toy with stage gimmicks. They indulge in humor. A new band on the scene, The Cautions need only to find a niche for their 1980's-based musical style. Or perhaps a time machine.