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Friday, December 7, 2012
Sioux City Pete and The Beggars
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So begins my first experience with Sioux City Pete and The Beggars... and it couldn't have been more accurate. They took the stage minus one member (Amanda, one of the guitarists, had a stand-in for the night, stepping up after only one practice) and gear fighting them every step of the way.
I'm sure the band wasn't thrilled about these troubles (talking to Pete after the show, it became very clear that The Beggars do not cancel shows), but from the floor, as an audience, the whole thing was heightened by the threat that anything could blow up at any minute. This was a completely off-the-leash, blood & sweat rock 'n' roll show....I get the feeling that Sioux City Pete and The Beggars are probably always playing with all meters in the red, but this is the particular show I saw, and the whole thing was fraught with danger. We had been warned: it was all real. It was exhilarating.
And I'm going to ditch that whole "Garage Rock" label, too-- while that descriptor was built to describe a stripped-down, no frills style of rock band (which The Beggars certainly are), it has mostly been appropriated by bands like The Hives or The White Stripes... faux rebellion in matching outfits. I wouldn't lump these guys into a category that contains The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. To me, that's bad comedy; Sioux City Pete and The Beggars are apocalyptic.
Reality is a sticking point for a rock 'n' roll band... more often than not, bands claiming straight ahead rock play music like they have to go home and finish their term papers: fresh scrubbed, perfectly coiffed, polite bands with the pretense of "rocking." Sioux City Pete and The Beggars don't play rock like they've put on personae for the night-- they play like their lives depend on it. There's no ironic aloofness, no poseurdom: when they rock, I believe them.
Pete fronts the band, commanding the group's only vocal mic and playing a well-beaten Telecaster (with and without slide)-- he took the stage in a bluesman's suit coat, but, pouring sweat, played most of the show shirtless. Ana locked down the bass with an awesome, flatwound-strung Thunderbird, and, as the show went on, the two of them hit the floor... seriously, a knock-down, drag-out kind of show. (I never really got a good picture of Ana, which is a damn shame. There are actual, good pictures of the band on their Facebook page.)Anthony plays drums in the manner befitting The Beggars: he beats them within an inch of their collective lives. His style is so completely, incredibly unrestrained that, while he isn't that well represented in my pictures, there are videos of Sioux City Pete and The Beggars that are just him. Seriously: Anthony is so captivating behind the kit, playing like he's about to destroy the whole world, that you can find videos that never look away from the drummer.
This is probably poor reporting on my part, but I don't have the second guitarist's name. He was in a tough spot, filling in with the band with minimal preparation, but he certainly got the job done; if the band hadn't spotlit him for helping them out, I wouldn't have known he wasn't a permanent member.
This band takes rock 'n' roll and completely throws caution to the wind-- they're not here to reinvent rock, they're not trying to repackage it, prettify it, update it, or sell it to a wider demographic, they're just here to rock. They have albums available, but I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing them blow down another club.
Sioux City Pete and The Beggars on Facebook
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