Beggarz

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2003-01-09/music_feature6.php


BEGGARZ BACK

TATTOOED DELINQUENTS ROCK EMERGENZA

Adam Cassidy, main man of the Beggarz, is a real rock dude.He's got knuckle rings and is inked up both arms, and his band plays the kind of old-time raunchy Stonesish rawk 'n' roll you don't hear often enough these days, roadhouse hymns about no-good vixens who done him wrong.

He seems like the type of guy who eats the current crop of barely legal pop-tarts for breakfast -- or at least beds 'em in a greasy motel and leaves 'em bawling in their silicone implants.

So when I bait him with a dig at the authenticity (or lack thereof) of Britney and her sisters in bubblegum, his diplomacy shocks me.

"A lot of bands shoot themselves in the foot with attitude, thinking everyone's in it to rip them off. They start getting jaded and thinking it's all about money," Cassidy starts slowly.

"They get pissed off about what's on the radio and the fact that they're not. But the thing is, if Britney Spears is selling 5 million records, those aren't sales she's taking away from some rock 'n' roll band. She's doing something that appeals to a completely different audience. It expands the music industry more than anything else.

"You could take the argument to the next level and claim that classical music is more genuine than rock 'n' roll and all this other music is bullshit in comparison."

And Cassidy knows from bullshit. Brought up on his parents' Beatles and Chuck Berry records, the rhythm guitarist later discovered the wonders of blues-based open tunings by religiously studying Stones songs. (His Mick Jagger swagger belies the fact that he ignored the Stones shit in his mom and dad's collection because "the album covers looked so much the same when we were kids that we figured it was all the same band, like sometimes the Beatles made records as the Rolling Stones.")

Cassidy's been toiling in the trenches for almost a decade, including a guest spot helping out his pal Hugh Dillon on a Headstones record or two. Tired of being in bands that folded fast, he finally decided to take possession of his work, and the Beggarz were born. After several stabs at pulling together a live band, Cassidy recruited a rotating lineup of studio musicians to help record his first full-length, Days Come Easy, which dropped last year.

Now he's getting his live game on again, with a solid band that includes bassist Rees Pepperell (also swilling lattes at Tequila Bookworm on this gloomy Sunday), guitarist Nelson Sobral and drummer Brad Holy.

The outfit won't be -- wait for it -- beggin' for work any time soon, since they've got tons of gigs in the immediate future, including tonight's slot at the Rivoli. The show kicks off the Emergenza fest, an offshoot of the sprawling European organization that, like a less glossy Popstars meets Battle Of The Bands, gives bands a leg up to stardom.

Participants shell out a $75 registration fee (which Cassidy claims they recoup in prize packs from the sponsors) to slog through tiers of elimination rounds. The competition continues throughout January, with semi-finals at the Reverb and a final showdown at the Opera House.

For a guy who's taken a hiatus from playing live, Cassidy's got some wacked-out anecdotes about onstage antics.

"Once a band member was pissed off and refused to play the third set. Halfway through it, totally drunk, he tried to hijack the drummer, and the singer had to drag him offstage through the drum set. That was the end of that show. Another time, three songs into a set I turned to see my guitar player and his girlfriend grappling over the last of a bottle of Jack Daniel's."
- Sarah Liss

(View online at http://www.indie-music.com/article.php?sid=1979)

Is this the second coming of the Rolling Stones?

I was duly impressed to believe so after to listening to the Beggarz (Did I hear somebody say Beggar's Banquet?) release "Days Come Easy." Wait until you hear "Under The Dog," it is blues-rock that reigns supreme! Adam Cassidy may sound like Jagger but he also has his own style with something else I just cannot seem to nail down. I found familiarity and recognition with this music all over the place on this CD, in both the words and the sounds.

This is the kind of music that sounds like it was chiseled by the instruments, like an artist taking a granite block and creating a work of art, it's not artsy mind you, just purposeful like it was made for the lyrics and the singer. It especially fits the genre that it falls into and the persona of the band perfectly. The final product is a foundation of the blues built upon rock to create a fortress of music that is powerful and magnetic, just like it sounds. It does sound so high and mighty, but if the shoe fits. Wear it. This kind of energy is a real turn on for me. It has a nervous edge to it and the hunger of the musicians is in every note while the rambunctious lead singer lets the lyrics roll of his tongue as if he were the savior of music itself. Very heady stuff you say? Not really, it is basic down and dirty blues-rock with a kick that stays with you for a long while after that little shiny disc of metal and plastic stop spinning.

If you let this music kick in, you will most certainly remember other great blues-rock groups you have heard in the past. I can see them as a new an upcoming force in music and I can guarantee the CD will move you in some way. If it does not, then you had better check the obituaries to see if you are in them.

This was a lot of fun to listen to; it restored my faith in modern music, which at times wanes.

This CD comes exceedingly recommended by this writer, blues and rock lovers worldwide will love it.
- Keith Muzikman Hannaleck

View Online :

http://www.cosmik.com/aa-may03/reviews/review_beggarz.html


BEGGARZ
Days Come Easy (Independent)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson


The Beggarz, a bluesy rock band out of Toronto, have some strong songs, some nice riffs, and an instantly recognizable sound. Unfortunately, it's the Rolling Stones' sound you instantly recognize. The deeper into the album you go, the more apt you are to forget that you aren't listening to the Glimmer Twins and Co. A few of the songs feel like knockoffs, yet you can't quite place the song being knicked. Oddly enough, the Beggarz are so damned good at it that the CD can still be enjoyable, as long as you're not particularly outraged. Their website provides an amusing moment, as you read that their influences range from Bob Dylan to Slim Harpo, and no mention of the Stones is anywhere to be seen. It's not until you go to their contacts page that a nod is finally given. There you find a large image of Keith Richards with a conspiratorial, tongue-tween-the-teeth smile on his face. The Beggarz are very good at what they do, but I think Keith is smiling because he's hoping for a percentage.
- DJ Johnson