Dig into Pete Giuliani’s or his bandmates’ record collections, and you’ll likely find a wealth of genres that serve as a reflection of the music they write and make. In many cases, musicians are music collectors first, absorbing whatever it is they can find as fans, and reflecting that into their own music.
A conversation with Giuliani can reveal a love of Yes and Genesis, James Brown or Steve Vai. Dig into that with his bandmates and maybe you’ll find a love of old country and bluegrass, or Prince and J.J. Cale. That’s all reflected in the sound of the PG Band, a rock outfit that also acts as musical chameleon as it plays around town. The PG Band has a busy weekend, with a show Thursday (June 16) at Ska Brewing, Saturday at The Balcony, and Sunday at Trimble Hot Springs.
They came together after the dissolution of Freeplay, Giuliani’s former band that played mostly covers. Now people love cover bands. For every one sarcastic idiot that yells “Freebird” there are four more idiots that really want to hear it. As much as covers can be a band’s bread and butter, a lot of times musicians are itching to play originals. That’s not to say the PG Band is incapable of customizing what they play for their audience, as the band is just as capable of pulling together a country set for a night at the Wild Horse as they are of playing rock music on an afternoon at Ska. While the band is named after front-man and guitar player Pete Giuliani, they operate as a loose collective where everyone has a role and everyone has the opportunity to create.
“When Pete put this together I jumped at it,” said second guitar player and vocalist Richard Leavitt. “Pete is very well-organized, and loved wherever we go. And he gives a ton of latitude and freedom to everyone else in the band to bring in our own original music, so it’s wonderful.”
There’s a great collection of music lovers in Durango. Besides the diehard supporters of the jam-community and the fan-regulars at festival after festival (who may like the festival community way more than the music itself), there’s local music lovers that can name drop Badfinger right alongside John Hiatt or George Jones; The PG Band is trying to appeal to all of them, striving to be a band that reflects the music-loving community they live in.
“My thing is that I’m not going to pick my style of music and do that and drag everybody along with me, audience-wise. We’re more about meeting our audiences,” said Giuliani. “This band was conceived with the idea of being a Durango band, and playing music that appeals to Durango audiences, which means, some rock, some folk, some country, some bluegrass, all of that’s in there. That’s the kind of town Durango is, a small town with eclectic musical taste and we’re a small band with eclectic musical taste.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. [email protected].
