San Francisco's El Capitan started as a fledgling folk trio in June of 2003, with Ryan Henry (Hills Have Eyes, Hopelifter, Tuolumne County et-al), Chris Connolly (DC, ingenious guitar tone extractor, savant lap steeler/harp blower/banjy picker), and [+]San Francisco's El Capitan started as a fledgling folk trio in June of 2003, with Ryan Henry (Hills Have Eyes, Hopelifter, Tuolumne County et-al), Chris Connolly (DC, ingenious guitar tone extractor, savant lap steeler/harp blower/banjy picker), and Ryan Honaker (SLC, Gift Anon, aything with strings or keys - his parents are in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for Chrissakes) pulling acoustic sessions in Honaker's Mission flat kitchen and Henry's Cedarsonic recording studio. The nights consisted of intaking finer tonics while working out arrangements and harmonies, with the goal of better dynamics through chemistry and the addition of volume to the eventual fold.
With the songs becoming too cramped for the kitchen (and the natural sonic limits of fiddles, banjos, and acoustic guitars), Henry invited his drummer pal and Hills co-alum Matt Butler to add some rhythm to the mix. A couple practice spaces later (one shared by a homeless dude), a run-in with a strangely-alluring female mandolin peddler, and with the addition of Dave Kearney on bass (rhythm master for various dub/jazz all-star ensembles), El Capitan was as it is: all-melody, all-hook, a mixture of rickety hymnals and thick sonics, old-timey and post-country, loud, silent, and dubby as all get-out.
Their first EP, "Atwater KNEC," was recorded to one-inch Ampex 456 by Bart Thurber at the legendary House of Faith, Oakland, CA. It's out now on Brick and Mortar Music.
REVIEWS:
"Spooky California mountain music--nice guitar work and harmonies from the New Folk generation" -San Francisco Folk Festival
"El Capitan manages to offer something fresh, making you smell pine and hear cicadas just beyond the reach of your speakers-rocking with a smiling abandon that you can¹t help find infectious. Atwater KNEC is intimate, joyous-even when it¹s sad. There's an undeniable authenticity in the creaky arrangements."  Copper Press
"El Capitan's debut EP, Atwater KNEC, introduces listeners to a formidable new band in the rustic Americana genre. Like many bands, from Cowboy Junkies to Palace to Norfolk & Western, El Capitan taps into a rich electric/rural aesthetic vein tracing back at least to the music of the Band - gorgeous vocal harmonies, dobro, banjo, and traditional song structures carried by stro
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