Acoustic Roots Rock, Blues, Folk and Beyond
The Pleasure Seekers was formed by three of the original members of Reggie Garrett and the Snake-Oil Peddlers: Reggie Garrett, Paul Benoit and Tor Dietrichson. Whereas in The Snake-Oil Peddlers only Reggie Garrett sang, in The Pleasure Seekers all three members not only perform on their instruments but sing as well. Although all three lead their own bands, The Pleasure Seekers is unique in that it really is a collaboration of these three musicians
In their debut performance at The Triple Door Musicquarium the band treated the audience to a mixture of classic and original material. There is a lot of influence from seminal 60s performers such as The Byrds, Taj Mahal, Bob Dylan and many others. Both Garrett and Dietrichson began listening to music during the 60s and were very aware of the cultural, political and spiritual changes taking place on the landscape at the time. Although Benoit is a little younger than the others his sound is very much rooted in the music that began spreading widely during that era as well.
Both Garrett and Benoit perform on the acoustic guitar and Benoit is a very accomplished soloist in many styles of music. Garrett’s unique voice has an eerily transcendent quality that lends itself very well to ballads and any style of music with a haunting feel. Dietrichson, who is a percussionist well versed in a variety of World Music styles including East Indian tabla, has also been honing the craft of vocal music from behind the scenes for four decades now; longer than he has been playing percussion music. His sound is deeply rooted in the blues as well.
Expect a lot of surprises from The Pleasure Seekers; these guys are sure to progress as they forge the sound they had started with Reggie Garrett and the Snake-Oil Peddlers. They venture into the realm of what was once dubbed “Raga Rock” on the piece “Two Weeks Last Summer” with Dietrichson on tabla behind Garrett’s ascending vocals and an extended foray into ancient India with the sitar-like qualities of Benoit’s amazing guitar soloing.
