biography
 
Don Caballero were formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1991 by Damon Che, Ian Williams, Mike Banfield and Pat Morris. Che had previously been in bands called Half-Life, the Heretics, and Punching Contest, and had played guitar in The(e) Speaking Canaries; Williams had been in a band called Sledgehammer. "We all just realized one day that we were habitual to each other and that we had fun playing in band," Che says in an interview at unpop.com. "Then all of the opportunities started to present themselves, and we thought we should take advantage of these opportunities and call ourselves a band now."
 
The band released a handful of EPs on minor labels from 1991 to 1993. After signing to Chicago label Touch and Go, they released their debut LP, For Respect, engineered by Steve Albini. 1995 saw the release of the follow-up, Don Caballero 2, which showed an increase in the band's creativity, and was basically an all-around improvement. What Burns Never Returns was released in 1998, to the most critical acclaim of all of their releases; shortly thereafter, Banfield left the group to create Storm and Stress, with drummer Kevin Shea and bassist Eric Emm, who also joined Don Caballero after bassist Pat Morris left the group. The now-trio Don Caballero released American Don in 2000, to a mixed response from fans and critics.
 
Midway through their 2000 American Don tour, the band split up due to tension among themselves. Che went on to play drums in Bellini with members of Uzeda, until he eventually left them as well and went back to playing guitars for The(e) Speaking Canaries, relasing their first album in eight years with Get Out Alive: The Last Type Story in 2003. Ian Williams went on to join Battles, who plan to release their debut album soon.