Saint Pé

Ian St. Pé, guitarist and vocalist who spent a decade inside the rowdy, hedonistic garage-punk unit the Black Lips, later launched an independent recording and touring vehicle called Saint Pé. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 12, 1977, he left the Crescent City for Atlanta, Georgia, shortly after finishing high school, intent on building a livelihood in music. In Atlanta he played briefly with the punk outfit the Renegades before exiting to explore other work. That group soon renamed itself the Black Lips; after signing with Bomp Records in 2002, its founding lead guitarist Ben Eberbaugh was killed in a car crash. Jack Hines filled the slot for the self-titled debut album, yet when Hines left in 2004 the remaining members recruited St. Pé once more. From 2004 through 2014 he appeared on four studio albums and one live set with the Black Lips, logging hundreds of concerts on every continent except Antarctica. He also completed two albums with the side project Diamond Rugs, whose lineup drew members from Deer Tick, Los Lobos, and Six Finger Satellite, and recorded additional material with the Original Three and the Almighty Defenders. Growing tired of the Black Lips’ orbit, he quit the band in 2014 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. In the basement studio of his new house he assembled a fresh band consisting of Matt McCalvin on bass and guitar, Ian McDonald on guitar and drums, Paul Wierdak on keyboards, and John Restivo, Jr. on drums. Operating as Saint Pé, the ensemble delivered a more refined, soul-oriented take on garage-rock foundations, releasing several standalone tracks before signing with the independent label Ernest Jenning Record Company, which issued the first Saint Pé album, Fixed Focus, in April 2017.