Tarantulas’ Success Tied To Intensity

Rumor has it that “Pistol” Pete Midtgard plays his upright bass with such gusto he’s worn the fingerprints right off his fingers.

“Hmmmm,” he says when asked if that’s true. “If I committed a crime, they could still track me down. But my right hand - the hand I yank on these strings all night with - doesn’t even resemble my other hand.”

Upon visiting the right hand of the front man for the Detroit rockabilly swingers The Twistin’ Tarantulas, we find skin thick with callous upon callous, enlarged from years of thrumming, slapping and plucking those weighty strings.

Sometimes when the callouses split and bleed, when the pain gets a bit much, Midtgard tapes up his fingers.

“But I try to avoid it because I think tape is for sissies,” he says with a tough-guy voice gone soft with humor.

“I’ve got gorilla hands,” he admits.

And a gasoline rumble for a voice.

Midtgard not only plays bass but also sings for the Twistin’ Tarantulas, who will perform in Spokane tonight. It is this combo that drives the three-piece band down a rockin’ hellfire path littered with the bodies of posers who think they know how to rock like the old greasers did.

“These guys back in the ‘50s were juvenile delinquents,” Midtgard says. “They were on the road to hell. It was the original punk rock.”

Three years ago, Midtgard - a long-time punk rocker - kick-started the Tarantulas with this idea: “I’m going to get up there and play this music with the intensity that it’s supposed to be played.”

Sure enough, the Tarantulas offer up a sweatin’ throwdown, a throw-back to late-‘40 jump blues, ‘50s rock n’ roll and ‘60s R&B that includes a healthy dose of swing, punk and modern rock attitude.

“The biggest complaint I always had with the rockabilly bands I saw was that after three or four songs it sounded like they were playing the same song all night,” Midtgard says. With that in mind, the trio has tried to incorporate a variety of roots-based grooves into their repertoire.

“Rockabilly is definitely at the core of what we do, but we branch out into every different direction. And we don’t focus very much on the billy. We’re all from Detroit. None of us have any Southern background.”

Their album “Attack of the Twistin’ Tarantulas” revs through songs about guys cruising in their hot rods (“Greased Lightnin’ “), about gals with fiery attitudes “Rebelina”) and about the heat between two sexes (“Let’s Go” and “Blue Ball Blues”).

Although it jives with retro cool, this is progressive rockabilly. On stage, Midtgard is relentless in his bass attack, joined by “Gorgeous” George Friend on guitar and Alex “The Thrilla from Manilla” Trejano on drums.

Midtgard spent the ‘70s and ‘80s playing electric bass until a friend talked him into trying the upright bass.

“As soon as I started playing this upright I thought God, this is it, this is what I should have been doing all along,” Midtgard says. “Then when I got on stage, Oh my God.

“I get on stage for the first time with this upright and everyone is looking at me. I was like, ‘Hey, I could get used to this.’ “

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT The Twistin’ Tarantulas play at the Fort Spokane Brewery tonight. Cover is $4. Show starts at 9:30 p.m.