Heavyweight musicians

Paul Saitowitz

It wasn’t the howlin’ guitar licks or tortured vocals about why his

baby didn’t love him anymore. It was something much heavier. Mike

Arguello and his guitarist, descriptively known as just “Fat Joe,”

literally looked like they combined for a ton -- thus 2000lbs of

Blues was born.

“Fat Joe” is no longer with the band, but Arguello, who is now a

scant shadow of his former 290-pound persona, has been fronting the

1940’s-style jump blues band for half a decade.

Arguello, stogie in tow and dressed in a hipster black suit with

the kind of hair that only a white blues singer can have -- just

barely clinging into place, thanks to the pomade it was engorged in

the night before -- has been a fixture in the Southern California

blues-rock scene since the ‘80s. He fronted a well-known rockabilly

band called the Daddyos for 12 years.

“We had a bunch of albums and played all over, but things changed

and punk and new wave music were taking over the scene at the time we

stopped playing,” Arguello said.

Orange County, with its lack of broke-down, busted, blues venues

-- and hardly any venues for live music -- seems like a strange place

for a band of that genre to come from, but Arguello says you just

need to know where to look.

“There are some places in this area, like the San Juan Depot Bar

and Grill in San Juan Capistrano, that bring people out who are

looking for this type of music,” he said. “There is a crowd out there

of really good dancers that like to come out every week.”

With a plethora of blues acts sandwiched somewhere between

virtuoso guitar players and soul-less, textbook singers dominating

the contemporary scene, and garage revivalists ruling the

underground, 2000lbs of Blues tends to stay away from both. The

affable -- in a gimme-a-drink-I’m-living-the-blues type of way --

Arguello is quick to begrudge no form of music.

“I don’t think blues is measured in the guitar or the vocals or

anything like that,” he said. “It’s something you have to feel, and

no matter what you’re playing ... if you feel it, then it’s right.”

The band performs a steady staple of standard jump tunes from the

likes of Big Joe Turner and Wynonie Harris -- and even throws in an

Elvis tune here and there -- but Arguello pens most of the songs that

have been on the three 2000lbs of Blues albums.

“Its not like we’re doing anything completely original ... most

blues songs follow a pattern, but I like that we are able do songs

that are our own,” he said.

Arguello has been fronting the group since its inception, along

with Ron Felton on drums and Tyler Petersen on upright bass. The rest

of the group is rounded out by a menagerie of local session players,

depending on the gig.

Arguello finances all the recordings and, with the help of some

local distributors, the albums have sold quite well all over the

globe. There has even been some interest from European blues

festivals to bring the band across the Atlantic.

“We haven’t really toured in the past, but now I’m getting to a

position where I’m able to do that, so hopefully that will start

happening,” he said.

2000lbs of Blues will play the Blues on the Bay Festival in

Newport Beach this weekend.