Bebbe Gallini is a fun dance-forward band with a retro-garage, girl-power feel. The new album, Begged Borrowed and Stealed, is fabulous and you can hear it live tomorrow night (June 21) at Palmer’s.
We had so much fun chatting in the studio with you earlier this year, but today, we’re talking about a completely different band. So, to start, please tell us about Beebe Gallini.
Georgia: That was a blast! Fun Fact: the Miss Georgia Peach band actually has all the Beebe Gallini members in it, with the addition of John Ewing and Baby Grant Johnson.
Beebe Gallini is my garage band with Amy Larson Pearson, Travis Ramin and Mike Bennett. Amy, Travis and I made a Begged Borrowed and Stealed before Mike joined the band, with some of our friends, Keith Patterson, Melanie Vammen and Russell Quan. It started almost 10 years ago as an all girl 60s style band, and has evolved into a co-ed band of soulful garage covers and originals. We recorded demo songs for a full length album just before the covid lockdown that became our first full length release on Rum Bar Records “Pandemos”. On May 23 we just released “Begged Borrowed and Stealed” on Germany’s Soundflat Records, our first complete studio album recorded with Tom Herbers at legendary Kay Bank Studio that is still going in Minneapolis within Creation Audio. This album is a love letter to Minnesota’s garage rock and roll roots, and to record in the same room where “Surfin’ Bird” was laid down, and where so many legendary SOMA Records gems were birthed was a dream come true. We play music to dance, stomp, clap and sing along with.
I love the ethos of your latest album Begged, Borrowed & Stealed. It reminds me of house parties with dancing. What drives you, in this band, to that retro-timeless modern garage rock band sound?
Georgia: Wow! You totally get it – that’s what we were going for – a party record. Travis, Amy and I started out playing covers together about 7 or 8 years ago and Amy and I quickly got inspired by what we were creating together and began writing originals. It was a pretty natural progression – this is the sound we make together. We want to have fun, and we want the audience to have fun with us. Travis, our drummer and producer came up with the album title and Amy and I immediately yelled “YES!”. I don’t mean to imply that everything comes easy, but if you stick with the process of practicing and playing out, it unfolds and reveals itself. To circle back to the question, what drives us is the need to make art, and play music with other people and to have fun.
WHY is a song I’d love in different ways at different times. At one time it would have sent me into a downward spiral but today (maybe my age, maybe the era we’re in) it makes me miss an innocence of being so focused on love lost. Can you tell me about the inspiration for the song?
Amy: You’re exactly right – I think it is a classic song because it can be felt in so many different ways. Georgia’s vocal interpretation really leaned into the ragged emotional heartbreak of romantic loss. That being said, we also put a tinge of menace in the music that could be interpreted as obsession. There’s a fine line between sadness and heartache and unhealthy fixation – I like to think we captured that in this recording.
The name of the album (Begged, Borrowed & Stealed) is clever and catchy. It begs the question – Beg, borrow or steal, what’s the best approach? (In music. songs, life, whatever?).
Amy: It is clever – I give props to Travis for coming up with the title – I love it! When it comes to music, Georgia and I both come from an era in rock where playing anything but original songs was really looked down on. You could do a cover or two in a live set but anything else was ‘less than.’ It’s been a journey for me open up to playing music I didn’t write but it’s one I’m happy to be on. As I’ve put together credits for this album and our other recordings, I’ve realized how few of these songs were actually written by the artists that made them famous. I also found that many of them were credited to women who used songwriting as a primary form of expression. Not to get too deep on it, but it feels like bringing these songs back around with modern voices and interpretations is a musically interesting and valid thing to do. So what’s best? I’ll beg, I’ll definitely borrow, but I’ll never steal when it comes to music. We’ll do a straight up cover and give the songwriter all the credit. We’ll borrow influences for our original material – which you’ll hear more on our next album. And every musician out there has probably begged for a guest list spot or a drink ticket!
Please tell us about the upcoming show at Palmers.
Georgia: Saturday June 21 at Palmers is a bit of a festival and a bit of a reunion – we have two formers Beebe Gallini members’ bands playing on the bill! Deadly Cyclamates has Sally Sweet on keys, a founding Beebe Gallini member, and Keith Patterson, who guested on the album playing some incredible guitar leads. Mad Mojo Jett has Monet Wong on guitar, who was our lead guitarist for a few years. All the bands are friends of ours, and we wanted our record release to be a fun friendly rocking party. The music is a mix of garage and punk, and we’re super happy our friends and Rum Bar Records label mate Daniel James is coming up from Milwaukee with Daniel James Gang. The show is all dedicated lifer musicians, like us. Be there or be square.
7: Deadly Cyclamates
8: Hot Press
9: Beebe Gallini
10: Mad Mojo Jett
11: Daniel James Gang
Mostly Minnesota 