Pete Gioconda - an appreciation by The Bow Shots

Pete isn’t the kind of artist you can put in a box. We tried it and he kept escaping – even when we took turns to keep watch. By the wee small hours, it was us four in the box and Pete had made off into the Southville night, taking a bottle of our best table wine with him. (He left some money – he’s an anarchist, not a crook.)

The Bow Shots love Pete’s music because he isn’t like anyone else. Yes, you can trace the influences (Dylan, the Pistols, Syd Barrett, The Kinks, Jim Morrison . . .), but he’s been able to forge a sound from them that’s very much his own. That was once considered a good thing. Maybe now people want everyone to be ‘the New [type name here]’ because it makes writing boorish reviews a lot easier, but I still want to turn up to a show and hear something unique. And I guarantee you’ll get that if you go and see Pete live. No two shows are ever the same.

With his acoustic guitar and blues harp I’ve often heard people refer to early Dylan when describing him, but I’d point much more towards Billy Bragg in terms of a solo artist with a punk sensibility. One who’s going to challenge you; bringing a rare edge to the ‘oh-a-guy-alone-on-stage-with-guitar’ assumption that something folksy or ballad-driven is about to ensue. Which is not to say he sounds like Bragg, he doesn’t – he sounds like Pete Gioconda. But go and see him play and you’ll understand what I mean. He’s not there to tell you something pretty.

Mind you - that said, there is genuine pathos and tenderness to some of his material – such as the openness of ‘Union True’, or the weary longing in ‘Twitch Doctor’. In other words, his songs cover a range of emotions and moods. In fact, one of the first times I saw him I was struck by his ability to switch so convincingly between emotions when performing – being as real in his anger as he was in regret.

In today’s musical landscape there is precious little diversity. Acts may dress differently, but they converge in their desire to be somebody. Pete appreciates that he already is. Just as you are and I am. What he wants to do is make a connection. He has music he believes in and he wants to share it, but it’s not about you adoring him. Or even him adoring you. (You needn’t even be friends.) It’s about art and feeling. Entertainment too – but the type that makes you think, not the type which assumes you can’t.

Pete used to run a night of music, poetry and comedy in Bristol. All were welcome, but the slogan on the flyers read: ‘bring your own mind.’ If you have one, I recommend listening to his music and letting it make itself up.

By Johnny Soul, of Bristol band ‘The Bow Shots.’