This caused Umlaut's head to go full circle (again). Besides being a skate legend, everybody knows that Caballero also led the seminal San Jose skate punk band the Faction. Flashback to June 16, 1985: Big Wayne and I were at a Faction show near downtown San Jose. The show was at a space called Clover Hall on Bascom Avenue.
Big Wayne had introduced me to Punk bands since the Metal scene was starting to get too big. People who used to belittle me about Metal (aka Jocks) were starting to show up at "our" Metal shows and it was bumming us out. So, Wayne and I drove around listening to Suicidal Tendencies, G.B.H., 7 Seconds, Discharge, the Adolescents, and a local band called the Faction. The Faction had fun songs to sing along to like 'Let's Go Get Cokes' and 'Tongue Like A Battering Ram'.
Anyway, we were at this Faction show and out of the blue Cliff Burton showed up. He was on his way to see a Rising Force (Yngwie Malmsteen) / Talas show not far down the road at the San Jose Civic. I had no interest in seeing Yngwie anymore. It was completely bizarre seeing Cliff at the very suburban Punk show but he hung out with us during the Faction before splitting for the Metal wank fest. Wayne remembers:
It was right after they changed the Coke recipe and they were selling old Coke at the show. I think Pariah opened? I remember freaking out seeing Cliff because longhairs at Punk shows wasn't as accepted yet.."
Umlaut friend Sylvia and another friend were with Cliff that night. Sylvia remembers:
Someone tried to start a fight with Cliff, then recognized who he was. The kid then brought all his friends around to meet him. Cliff was cool about it. Cliff is forever aces in my book.
Anyway, 2 months later Metallica played the Day On The Green at Oakland Stadium (ironically on a bill with Rising Force / Yngwie) and everything changed completely.
