Calibretto 13


Calibretto 13 was a Christian folk punk band from Kokomo, Indiana, United States. The acoustic punk style of the band and the peculiar vocal style of singer Joe Whiteford gives the band their signature sound. Another signature mark of the band is themes in their lyrics, which often are about B-movies and problems in pop culture and Christianity. The band also incorporates a bit of influence from folk music.
The trio of Joseph Whiteford, Aaron Richardson and Christopher Thomas came together in 1998 and released Sibling Rivalry, a split album with No More Droids, in 1999. In 2000 the band put out Enter the Danger Brigade with Tooth and Nail Records. After the band's initial recording sessions for the album, Tooth & Nail thought that some of the submitted songs were too questionable in content and asked the band to reconvene with producer Barry Poynter and record several more. In all, Calibretto 13 recorded 19 songs for Enter the Danger Brigade, and only 11 songs were included on the debut album. Seven of the remaining songs were released as an EP titled From the Secret Files of the Danger Brigade. In the liner notes for From the Secret Files..., Chris Thomas wrote: " were kept from being on the album for one reason or another, and because we consider some of these to be our best songs we tried to make sure that you got to hear them. Of course, some of these songs are pretty crappy, too." Calibretto 13 released a second full-length album on Tooth & Nail titled Adventures in Tokyo in 2002. This was the band's final release on Tooth & Nail. After the release of Adventures in Tokyo, the band made several changes.
The remaining song from the Enter the Danger Brigade recording sessions, which was not on From the Secret Files of the Danger Brigade, is titled "Uncle Sam". It was, however, available for download off of the Calibretto website for a short time, along with many other demos, live, and rare tracks. With Joe Whiteford's permission, the rarities have been made available through the link below. Oddly enough, an image of Uncle Sam, which was later used by Calibretto on merchandise, was included in the interior art of From the Secret Files of the Danger Brigade, despite the song not being present.

Calibretto

The name change from Calibretto 13 to Calibretto marked a significant change in the band. The band left Tooth & Nail and moved to Standard Recording Company. This was after they had begun work on what would have been their third Tooth & Nail Records full length Making the World a Place. In fact, there was a fair amount of merchandise printed bearing this title, although the record was never released. Songs intended for this record would end up on later Calibretto releases. According to posts on their message board, the band did sell CDs titled Making the World a Place in paper bags, although there was never any distribution of the record beyond that. Although retaining a similar sound to Calibretto 13, Calibretto's line-up changed. Aaron Richardson left the band, and began to illustrate comics for Backburner Comics. Richardson's place was filled by Chad A. Serhal, formerly rhythm guitarist of In the face of war. Calibretto released Dead by Dawn EP on Standard Recording Company in 2003. Whereas Calibretto 13 releases were directly aimed towards a Christian audience, the releases under the name Calibretto were not. Under the name Calibretto, the band had two releases, Dead by Dawn EP and a split release with Mercury Radio Theater titled All of These Things Do Not Belong, which was released in 2004. Calibretto played their final show on October 31, 2004 in their hometown, Kokomo, Indiana.
In October, 2011, a new track entitled "I'm Dressing Up" was released on the Hope Can't Walk compilation. The track was recorded at Decapolis Labs, and features Whiteford and Thomas at their usual stations, with Richardson making a return to bass duties, and Serhal taking up a second guitar. It is currently unknown if any further material will surface, or if anything more can be expected from the band in the future.
Some members formerly involved in Calibretto went on to play in Harley Poe, Everything, Now!, Divebomber, and Encourager.

Band members