The Roving Musicologist

Sioux City Pete and the Beggars (Sioux City and Seattle)

Sioux City Pete feeds his fans in more ways than one.

Sioux city Pete is something of a legend among punk kids in the upper midwest.  Every show seems like something of a debacle.  Things get broken, intra band drama is always at high pitch, and things fall apart completely more often than seems possible for a band that continues to tour.
Formerly of the Chickenhawks, Sioux City Pete formed the Beggars with his girlfriend Amanda on guitar, Lexi Lutter on another guitar, and a rotating cast of drummers, among them (and I believe currently) Joe Ross.

It’s never what it seems.

It’s hard to pin down exactly why I find this band compelling.  If you listen to the track carefully, you can hear that some of the guitar playing makes no sense.  That would probably be Amanda, who at this show was basically sprawled out on the stage looking like she was about to pass out.  She was strumming almost at random, but then again, not quite.

For me, this band exemplifes what I call a “chaos band.”  It has nothing to do with the style of music.  It is more of a designation for a band that gives you no idea what they might do when they show up, or whether they will show up at all.        
For instance, the last time I saw them in Portland, Oregon the drummer had just been kicked out because he drank (sort of a no-no with these guys, stick to your meds!) and attacked the other people in the band.  The roadie did his best to fill in but had never played drums for more than 10 minutes at a time. It wasn’t a great show, but if you were a fan of the band, it was just another strange event in the continuing legend of Sioux City Pete.

The clip above is from a  show that was much better, although I heard that at another show shortly after this Lexi kicked some glasses off of a bar and had to take a break for awhile.

Sioux City Pete’s page:

http://www.myspace.com/siouxcitypeteandthebeggars