Local band, The Beggar’s Cup, visited West Chester University’s radio last Monday. Joshua Christopher, lead vocals and guitar, and Kris Jackson, drums, strolled into the station as nonchalantly as two hipsters to a garage sale. One look at the musicians reveals their classic feel. Jackson sports a full beard and whiskers while Christopher twirls a perfectly waxed and twisted handlebar mustache which he refers to as “Dr. Nash.”
The Beggar’s Cup also includes West Chester University alumni and one current student. Music alumni, Crystal Brulato, plays saxophone and clarinet. Kelcie Hillard graduated from West Chester last year and plays bassoon, though she is capable of playing much more, including viola, trumpet, and trombone. The newest member of the band, known as “Horseman Jack,” is currently a student of the university though his identity remains unknown. Aptly named, he wears a full horse mask in pictures, videos, and shows. Horseman Jack plays keyboard and guitar. The colorful gang comprises what Christopher refers to as his “travelling family,” and their next album, which they are currently recording, will be released this June.
The six person band that is now Beggar’s Cup evolved out of Christopher’s project, I Am Love. I Am Love began two years ago after Christopher traveled to Haiti in the aftermath of a destructive earthquake in 2010. Originally created to benefit a Haitian charity, I Am Love’s first song, “Starting Over” was written on Christopher’s trip back from Haiti. Since 2010, I Am Love’s membership has both grown and changed, and with the current line-up, Christopher says, “We just kind of realized we formed a new band with a different sound so we decided to give it a new name.” The folky sound of I Am Love born from the combination of a cello with many other instruments, gave way to The Beggar’s Cup whose electric guitar and raw vocals deliver a dirtier sound that Christopher describes as “Cathedralesque.” Christopher’s genuinely rustic vocals sink into earthy melodies from a combination of drums, keys, base, electric guitar, and various horns. Jackson describes the band’s new sound as “deeper and darker, but still just as fun.”
The band’s sound is not the only thing deep and dark about them. Their willingness to face personal demons in their lyrics produces songs that are deeply intimate and offer an overall healing to society. The song “Ghost in the Hallway” tells the story of a childhood friend of Christopher’s. Unable to overcome his abusive childhood, and fatefully following in his father’s abusive footsteps towards his own children, the man commits suicide both as an act of vengeance against his father and as a sacrifice for his own children’s wellbeing. Though tragic, the ultimate sacrifice yields way to hope for the next generation. In another song, “Happy Thanksgiving,” Christopher battles his own childhood demons, an endeavor he found to be challenging, but ultimately healing. A soon to be released song will deal with the biblical chronicles of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities doomed by wickedness. These edgy lyrics may not be for the faint at heart, but they do reveal the band’s general hope for society.
Christopher laughed, “like every musician, we want to save the world.” Perhaps the notion is tried, but nevertheless, The Beggar’s Cup’s motives are pure. As Jackson put it, “We just want to play music for the rest of our lives, travel and help people with what we do.” In fact, along with some friends and other local bands that make up the organization, The Brandywine Folk Collective, The Beggar’s Cup will play on April 13 at the outdoor Milton Center in West Chester in support of Autism Awareness Month. A total of 10 tri-state area bands will play and all proceeds will benefit SPARK, Southeastern Pennsylvania Autism Resourse Center. Aside from supporting a good cause, the April 13 event will ultimately serve to prelude the Brandywine Folk Festival, coming up on July 26 and 27. The summer festival line-up will see 80 to 100 bands which Christopher promises will include “every good local band plus some surprises as well.”
Seeing The Beggar’s Cup live promises to be a musical experience not just for the ears, but for the eyes. Aside from Horseman Jack’s long snout, The Beggar’s Cup tries to “bring something special to every show to make it different,” said Christopher. In the past, this “something special” has manifested itself as burlesque dancers, ballerinas, tap-dancers, and fire-hoopers. The band has made it clear through their performances, their sound, their lyrics, and even their personas, that The Beggars Cup is a rare experience of true authenticity. In Jackson’s words, “The Beggar’s Cup is just trying to cure the disease of the standard.”
Joy Wilson is a fourth-year student majoring in communications. She can be reached at JW794401@wcupa.edu.