Pete Pamf
Indie hood: Younger readers may find this hard to believe, but Dublin wasn't always the multicultural hotspot it is today. Once it was the capital city of clone-rock bands, all trying to sound like the same Smiths B-side, and impervious to the influence of soul, r 'n' b and hip-hop. In the late 1980s, the pubs and music venues of Dublin rang out to the jangly sounds of shoegazing, goth and raggle-taggle. Rap was a dirty word uttered only by "gangstas" and DJs were looked upon as chancers and charlatans, stealing other people's tunes for easy money and adulation. Then a young American arrived in Dublin with just his guitar and a headful of beats. Like Jimi Hendrix in London in the 1960s, he caused the capital's rock 'n' roll cognoscenti to stand up, take notice and shake their booty.
Disco inferno: Pete Ruotolo was born in Palo Alto in south San Francisco. He formed his first band in high school, a funkadelic outfit called O Mighty Isis. In the early 1990s he came to Dublin and formed PAMF, Dublin's hippest, coolest, baddest, funkiest party band, with drummers Dave Hingerty (The Frames) and Paul Cantwell (Kila) and bassist Brian Hogan (Kila). The name was an acronym for Pussy-Assed Motherf***ers, and their music was an obscenely infectious blend of rock, metal, hip-hop, funk and old-school soul. They became the house band for Dublin's dance revolution, playing a weekly residency at Funk Off, the pioneering club night at the Waterfront. Every Thursday night, the city's hip young set danced to PAMF's versions of classic tunes by Kool & The Gang, Grandmaster Flash and The Beastie Boys. A cool white dude playing blistering lead guitar and rapping like a homey - the perfect antidote to those Fishermans' Blues.
Booty call: The PAMF party didn't last, but he went on to form funk-ceili fusion band Loose Booty with uileann piper Mark Farrelly. Soon, though, Pete started leaving the guitar at home and bringing out his record bag instead, spinning everything from Lori Anderson to Parliament/Funkadelic at such clubs as Rí-Rá, The Village, The Dice Bar and Sin E. Now, he's back on the live circuit, promoting his début album, Prone to Abuse, recorded at Dublin's Asylum Studios with technical help from old friends Liam Mulvaney and Aidan Foley. It features such funky originals as Babybubababy, Dope Beat, Tripping in the Meadow and the charming Crabs.
House beats: Pete's got a new crew of pussy-assed MFs, and they'll support Republic of Loose at the Ambassador on December 10th. You might remember Pete's old mucker Mark Farrelly on uileann pipes, and ex-Golden Horde drummer Peter Kennedy, and you'll definitely recognise ex-Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour. Word up!
