Sioux City Pete prepare tribal, sexual Mill performance BY DAN WATSON | MARCH 12, 2009 7:27 AM Sioux
City Pete and the Beggars’ performances follow the philosophy of the
sexually driven rock and roll acts of the 1970s, often taking a tribal
and primitive spin.
Pete Phillips,
otherwise known as Sioux City Pete, and his bandmates bring a stage
presence typically unheard of in today’s average rock-and-roll show.
While the band doesn’t take the act as far as GG Allin — who was
notorious for inflicting injuries on himself and defecating during live
performance — “audience safe” antics are a major part of a Sioux City
Pete show.
The band routinely lights
frankincense and myrrh on stage, creating a signature aroma, and
members are not afraid to let their inner rock ’n’ roll souls flood out
during performances, creating a very “sexual show.”
Sioux City Pete and the Beggars will bring its act to the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St., on Friday at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5.
The
band has three CDs, Pedophilia, Sycophanticide, and Necro Blues, with
such songs as “Death Rattle” and “Voodoo Motherfucker” — hopefully, the
band’s dark influences are now apparent.
“A
night with us and you might want to bring your headphones,” Phillips
said. “It is very ritualistic, it is like a big exorcism. I just want
people to get down, shake around, and forget about the troubles of life
… but now I’m sounding like a hippie, so I’ll shut up.”
Around
a year and a half ago Phillips wrote on his website that his tour was
“utterly hopeless.” The veteran rock musician told his fans no one was
coming out to his shows, and he was feeling the effects of his band’s
bleak outlook.
Now, after a move to Seattle,
Phillips has re-formed his band and it is drawing attention after
putting together some other talented western Iowa musicians.
“I
went through about 20 musicians before this current lineup,” said
Phillips, whose band, Chicken Hawks, prospered in the early ’90s. “Most
of them were younger guys who didn’t realize how serious I was and how
difficult it is being to be a musician on ,,the road.”
Throughout
Phillips’ nearly 20 years as a professional musician, he has maintained
a certain ideology on what rock and roll should be.
“I’m
very anti-indie,” he said. “Indie rock has dealt rock and roll an
irreversible blow. Rock-and-roll musicians are not suppose to be your
average Joe with a guitar, they need guts; our tours are a crusade
against this.”
While Phillips is somewhat
disgusted about the state of rock ’n’ roll, he may have found a savior
in the genre of black metal. While Sioux City Pete and the Beggars is
often referred to as a “black-metal band,” the group is more complex
than that. Phillips said his band has a far more reaching influence —
mainly classic rock and roll and Delta blues tilted toward a
severe,,dark side.
Sioux City Pete’s outlook
on the rock scene stems from an early love of sexually driven 1970s
musicians such as Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, and even Tina Turner. His
attraction to extreme musicians and music made it easy for Phillips to
like the 1980’s punk-rock scene, saying “punk was very violent and
political; it was like you were from outer space — that is how rock and
roll used to be.”