Below are my notes from my interview with "Pistol Pete" Midtgard, frontman/bassist of Detroit's The Twistin' Tarantulas. They are unedited. The story runs Thursday in WOW.
Twistin’ Tarantulas at Bell’s — info@twistintarantulas.com
BAND MEMBERS:
Pistol Pete
Gtr., original player (gone for 10 years), Gorgeous George Friend, backup vocals, vocals
Drummer: Randy Gacki, “John Wayne” Gacki
YOU’RE A SURVIVOR. WHAT DRIVES YOU?
Same band member, he only all the way through
“I physically survived it, I didn’t financially survive it.” — bladder cancer, diagnosed September 2002, two months after dad died, in middle of cutting vocals for third record, went to bathroom, had internal bleeding, went through surgery and chemical treatments and grew back, surgery and more chemical treatments, grew back again, over two years, “It took me, a pretty good battle. It’s not a real serious dangerous, away from death’s door, but there was a period there when I didn’t know.” — Wasn’t sure if it spread, if insured, send to pathology lab that gives results quickly, “Since I wasn’t insured, going to hospital in downtown Detroit and sending to pathology lab connected to clinic down there, backed up a month. That’s the nature of being uninsured. What they don’t tell you, not enough stories out there, the real problem I had with being uninsured was not hte money, it was how I got treated. You’re third-world to them. I had money, but they don’t know that. All you are to them is an uninsured patient, probably not gonna pay them.” Charge you more than they get back from Blue Cross.
Pay up front $3,400, didn’t include surgeon, anethsesian, radiology, pathology. Payment plan $7,200, “Those are the kinda stories weren’t told enough, I think.”
In remission by 2004, record came out 2003, wasn’t able to tour on it, “I was halfway through that album, found out was sick, it crippled my biz.”
“If I had a job that gave me insurance, still have time to play music, I’m sure. But I made the decision a long time ago, after, maybe 2 years in tarantulas, at that point, before tarantulas already earning okay living playing pikcup gigs with blues bands, haven’t had a day job since 92, once tarantulas got going by 95, I was earning a better living than anything else I’d ever done. I just made a decision at that point, this is my vocation, this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I’m a bassist, I’m a singer, I’m a songwriter, along with all the stuff that comes with all the stuff that comes with being a band leader: driving the van, fucking band manager, booking agent.”
“Everybody has an ego that does get wounded sometimes, so just being the bandleader means tiptoing around people’s feelings.”
“It also means them having to tiptoe around mine, which is a lot of tip-toing. Its probably subsided, probably a pe-riod of time when I had a pretty big head. But I never thought I was going to amount to anything in my 20s, when I was 32, I had amounted to something.”
“Kept gaining all this momentum and ganing attention, but we weren’t doing anything new, at least we thought so. But turns out because of where we were from, oddball thing of influences, came up with a hybrid of things. Didn’t sound like other rockabilly bands. Didn’t sound like other blues bands. Didn’t sound odd, it was just unique. Had our own brand, our own way of doing it. That’s what gets attention, being able to own what you do.”
WHAT DREW YOU TO YOUR STYLE OF MUSIC?
“I’d always listened to it ... Honestly, I think my first exposure to rockabilly, except for old Elvis and AM radio play-ing Summertime Blues once in a while, I went to see Roxy Music in, I think the summer of 77, Manifesto album tour and the opening act was Robert Gordon. Robert Gordon was a rockabillly singer, had a band before that called Tough Darts ... Here’s this Robert Gordon guy got upright bass, Lynn Grey playing gtr ... singing Johnny Burnette covers and stuff, I’m thinking this is cool and they got booed cuz it was a Roxy music show, even though Roxy was a classier act that most arena bands ... Sucked he got boed, he cut his set short, so I bought his record ...
“I dug up Eddie Cochrane, gene Vincent, Johnny Burnete, old Sun sessions of Elvis, listened to that stuff. Kind of into it before Stray Cats hit and they’re the ones that really created this movement that still exists. It’s a double-edged sword for me: One one end, created this scene that’s still other, but on other hand, they put eye makeup on rockabilly and they sorta stigmatized it, mad eit into that 50s sha-na-na thing, so ppl have this pre-conceived notion. Talk to agent on phone, they say, oh, like the stray cats, and then you have to start backpeddling. We have a much stronger blues, and jump blues and punk edge. How do you explain that to a club owner? You start losing them cuz those are con-flicting things, but then you see the band and tehy say, oh ... the punk edge is just in the delivery, just in the intensity, especially wtih George back cuz he and I are sort of the architects of this unique blend. And it came from tension between he and I when we were starting to play together.”
George uptown edge and Pete rock, “Okay, we’re gonna play tis jazzy stuff and we’re gonna play it harder.”
“The compromise in the middle becomes the meat.”
“It’s much clearer to me now than ever was before what we were and what was interesting to people.”
“I went probably eight years, 10 years having the band and never gave it that much credit. Thought put a good show on in a genre still popular ... I chalked it up to that, but when we continude to draw and do realy when after that whole thing burned and fizzled out, I’ve gone another 8 years since then ... I realized we’ve got something that goes beyond what this rockabilly crowd likes.”
“I got my hair slicked back, that’s about it. There’s no leopard print, no dice, creepers, no cherries.”
WHAT KIND OF IMPACT DO YOU HOPE TO HAVE ON YOUR LISTENERS?
“Oh, jeeze, I don’t know. There’s an answer to that question, just not coming to me right now. I’ve always gotten a lot of attention as being a pretty agressive and unique upright player. Most of the attention focused on my bass play-ing, something ppl don’t see all the time, so get up on stage, gets a lot of attention. I’ve always wanted the attention to be more on teh songwriting. I want someone to listen to my record and think, wow, this guy really writes good song. Combined with hybrid of styles we’ve come up with, the songwriting, and not just writing but composition ... (George) ... That’s what still holds up. The rockabilly thing, especially now, been done to death, kinda fizzled out most places. We’re still able to get booked and able to get out there and turn a crowd on pretty good and I chalk it up to the fact that the songs still hold up. Over the eyars, it’s been the key to our survival.”
Also allows them to stand out, “All the other bands end up sounding the same, but we get up there, we don’t have cuter outfits than the other bands, and we get up there and get more respect because of the songs.”
Lyrics atypical. Love song opener: “You sure don’t make a pretty picture, I’ve never seen you look so bad.”
“How do you write a love song like that? But I’m proud of that song.”
Married now a couple a years, “I got a good’n.”
WHAT BEST SUMS UP YOUR BAND?
“The overall aesthetic of us ... In the end, it really is, not a lot of bands can say this, it is a thing that has existed and sub-existed based on some central theme, I know what it is but hard to define. I’m the one that keeps that receipe together, the sound, the look or lack thereof, the sense of humor when we’re performing ... I think there is a healthy sarcasm. It’s healthy sarcasm. It’s not over-the-top, not snarky, not condescending, and that’s where the punk edge is. There’s a healthy sarcasm to it. Unhealthy is when it’s not funny anymore, when they say they’re kidding but not kid-ding anymore, they’re just being mean. Some cynisim, but to me, jsut the right amount of cynicism.
“I like to deal with character in songs.” Plays different characters in different songs ... “Even though I write almost exclusively in first person, I’m not that person.”
Barroom Confidential is from take of guy striking out at bar
They didn't thrive but did manage to keep the lights on. I expect the same thing to happen again.
Posted by: nursing tank | July 07, 2010 at 03:20 AM
That’s the nature of being uninsured. What they don’t tell you, not enough stories out there
Posted by: vibram five fingers | May 30, 2011 at 10:15 PM