Pete Thompson Interview
In 1987, the release of the latest Robin Trower recording, Passion, brought about yet another fresh sound for Robin. While the name Dave Bronze was familiar as the masterful bassist from the semi live Beyond The Mist, two new names now made up the Robin Trower Band.... vocalist Davey Pattison and drummer Pete Thompson.
This line up released two albums, Passion and Take What You Need, which seemed to go over well commercially with songs like, "Passion", "Tear It Up", "Take What You Need" and one of my personal favorites, "No Time", making the Billboard charts. Some other gems that came out of this era were, "If Forever" , "Over You", "Love Attack" to name a few.
When I first got onto the internet in 1999 and discovered that people had actually taped live shows of Robins (whom I'd never seen or heard live in a club setting, even after 25 years of being a fan), I immediately wanted to hear some of them.
The very first bootleg tape I received was the show from Jan 7,1988 in San Raphael, Calif. put on by station FM 97.3 KRQR San Francisco "Weekend Wednesday". The line up was what a lot of people kindly refer to as the "Passion" band.
It was something totally different hearing this band in a live setting. Besides the songs they recorded, the "classics" played by this line up took on their own style and sound. With Pattison's voice and interaction with the crowd, Bronze's masterful bass playing and Pete's solid drumming, I found this to be some of the best playing I had ever heard coming from Robin. This band was feeding off each other at every corner and they seemed to be pushing each other with every song. The next show I acquired was a video of an '88 show in Kenosha and again the same energy was there. This line up thrives in a live environment. When you get a certain formula of band mates, special things happen. This was very apparent when seeing this group live.
Now, after 15 years, this line up - (after some said it would never happen) -
has come together and put out the superb cd, Living Out Of Time.
I knew Dave Bronze and Davey Pattison having done interviews with them both, and now seemed the perfect time to get Pete on the record. I had heard lots of stories about Pete and what a character he is, but had never really seen Pete close up, and even when I got the pictures of the band while they were recording this cd, Pete never seemed to be around. I was fortunate enough to get hooked up with his son Kit and between Kit and Davey, I finally got Pete on the phone to talk to me about "stuff".
Both Pattison and Bronze had let me in on a few stories about Pete, so I was really looking forward to our first conversation. Pete is a terrific and funny guy and as I was preparing for this interview, I knew I was going to be acquainted with some great stories.
I had had the pleasure of having a few conversations with Pete prior to the actual "interview" recording and so we jumped around the timelines a bit as stories came up. I also found out how much this band really cares for each other. They are all good friends in the true sense of the word.
The interview was done over the phone on July 17, 2004. As you read this, some of the conversation has now become a bit ironic in nature.
Since then, there have been a lot of things happening. By the time this is out, the band will be a few weeks away from embarking on a tour of the UK, a few dates in Germany, a TV shoot and a few other "surprises" that will be coming up. Since talking a dozen or so times since the interview, Pete, Davey and Dave have been working on the tour songs, have dropped me a couple of notes on what they are thinking about the tour, and the booked shows are already becoming hot commodities. I know of shows in April that are already sold out!
Anyway..... Pete is in the house!
Steve: So how ya doing Pete?
Pete: Not bad, I've had quite a busy week sort of setting up the next few months
really. There's things in the pipeline that are hopefully coming to fruition.
Certain things have got in the way so far which is making me spend more time
at home than I want to (laughs). I'm actually doing some concerts in France next
week (July 22nd - 25th)...
Steve: Oh, with who?
Pete: ... The Cognac Festival with Dave (Bronze) and I'm working with Eric Bibb at
the moment, as you know.
Steve: How are you enjoying that?
Pete" I'm really enjoying it, because it's a different part of my playing, which is using
brushes a lot and blastixs which are not as loud as normal sticks. It enables
me to bring out the jazzy, R&B side of my playing.
Steve: I have to hear some of this stuff...
Pete: I'll tell you what. I'll bring it out when I see you, because I know I'm gonna see
you. When we were in Australia, on the Australian tour which was last
November, we did about 20 days there. Eric had been over to Australia
with Dave Bronze and did like a duo tour which went down really well and they
did a DVD from that which I don't know if you've seen, have you?
(note : this was around the time that there was talk of a few shows in the U.S. during the summer which did not pan out but Pete was thinking we could get together over the summer during a break in the touring as he wanted to see more of Canada)
Steve: I have seen it on Eric's site but have not purchased it yet....
Pete: Live At The Basement in Australia?
Steve: Yes. I like his stuff... I've heard some of his live stiff and it's really good. It
is great to see he has the DVD out already.
Pete: He's got a great voice. He's a great guitar player too because he plays
very unusual things. His style of playing is quite unique in a funny sort of
way. It's a real mixture. He's ventured into jazz, he's ventured
into gospel and R&B and folk and all that, and he plays in all those styles all
the time, at the same time. You can't pin him down. I think it's wrong to
actually call him a blues artist. He does sing the blues, I mean his family is so
rich in the blues, all his relatives are sort of blues and his father of course, Leon
was a famous folk singer up in America and he's done a couple of albums
with his dad as well. Eric's voice is so rich and it covers so many boundaries.
I think Eric could very easily have a middle of the road ballad hit as an R&B
hit, you know what I mean?
Steve: Yes absolutely.
Pete: Right, so .... what do you want to know sir?
Steve: Well, let's just start at the beginning. I'll edit this later and make it all
nice...
Pete: Okay, so you're taping the whole thing then?
Steve: I'm taping the whole thing....
Pete: ... So we're just going to ramble on....
Steve: Sure absolutely. You can say anything you want...
Pete: ... Okay mate, so let me ask you a question then. So what's the main point
of interest from your perspective as the Pattison, Bronze, Thompson, Trower
band. Did you think... I'm asking you this question now... how good are they...
let me turn this around on you. Do you think that was a very good time?
Steve: The recording of the band , or the last record ?
Pete: The actual band. I mean as far as a fan's concerned. Does there seem to be
any preference as to what sort of band they like. What line-up? Was that a
very popular line-up?
Steve: It was or is definitely a popular line-up. Living Out Of Time is a great album.
As was Passion and Take What You Need with this line up.
I think the thing is that Davey's style fits Robin's playing in a familiar way,
if you know what I mean. This is really a difficult question for me to answer
because I have been very fortunate to meet and get to know the people Robin
has played with. Richard Watts is a great singer and he did an awesone job on
the Go My Way release and on the last two tours. Alvino Bennett is an amazing
drummer, as is Bill Lordan. All of these guys are such nice people also, I have
been really fortunate to get to know each of them and would not want to offend
or belittle any of their talents. However, I can honestly say that when I first
heard this particular line up live I was floored! For me personally, I had never
heard Robin play off others as well as he did with this band. Davey has a great
voice and is also very into the crowd, you and Bronze are just so tight as the
rhythm section plus I think Dave's bass playing pushes Robin more than any
other bass player he has been with, including Jack Bruce. I know you;ve read
my "rant" about what has not been happening since LOOT was released and
why I think that the next tour should be this line up. To me , it just makes sense
both musically and financially. This band knows how to put on a show. It is the
best rhythm section and Davey really knows how to motivate the crowds.... and
this is the latest band with the hot cd!
Pete: Steve, I mean to me, that's one of the most important things. Everybody
has their place on stage. The rhythm section does their work, the guitarist
does his work, but the singer has... you know if you have a little guy like
Davey leaping all over the place and everything else, motivating the crowd
if he thinks they're slacking it off a bit, he cheers them up and I personally
think that's a good thing.
Steve: I think there'd be no hesitation if someone realized the financial possibilities,
especially if it was recorded and videod. If it's done right and it's marketed
right, in my opinion that line-up could fill places in any country.
I think really, the possibilities of doing shows in the UK have got to be there,
because I get so much mail from the UK. I know if there was some
announcement and it was done right, with the right hype, you could have a
successful tour... but again, record it. Make a marketable product to
sell at future shows and online. Davey has his draw too, right?
A lot of Trower fans are also Gamma fans........
Pete: Sure. You know what the interesting thing is? I've never heard Davey
in that situation. I know of his history working with those bands, but I
actually haven't heard a Gamma album, do you know that? Strange isn't it?
Steve: You're kidding!
Pete: He sings quite differently in different situations. Davey was recently
brought over to do some vocals on one of Robin's albums, a blues
album that he did? In places it actually doesn't sound like Davey singing.
I'm sure he was directed, but...
Steve I am not sure what is taking so long to release the remake of
Someday Blues, It will sound very different with Davey's vocals
versus Robins........
So when did you stop playing with Robin?
Pete: I think it was December '88. After three years and two albums Robin felt the
need to try something different. These things happen, I mean it's life.
Steve: And soon after, Dave was out. But when you get something that's solid and
plays well......
Pete: I am glad that we have been able to get back and play together again.
Well the thing was, me and Bronzie always play well together ...
I had a lively quote from a friend of mine who came and saw me and Dave
playing with Eric Bibb recently at a concert, and he's a drummer of note over
here and he said to me, "Pete, that was an awesome concert." And I said,
"Oh, I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I didn't think you would, your thing is
jazz", 'cuz he's a real jazzer, and he said, "I've never seen you play jazz before.
I've never seen you play with brushes before, or play those chops and those
licks, and you know Bronzie, he's just so symbiotic, it's scary." He said Eric's
voice sounded sweet and he had the groove and the time there to do what he
wants. In fact, Eric said to me since I've joined the band, thankfully he's now
got the space to sing, where the groove was missing before. So you don't
necessarily get a better drummer, the previous drummer Bjorn (Gideonsson),
is a great drummer. I loved his playing. I loved his freedom. I love listening to him
play and I thought, 'I want to do that', and I didn't realize that 3 months later
I'd be in the band.
I don't do anything unless I can bring something to the project, and I thought,
'I'm going to step into Bjorn's shoes and it's going to be quite difficult', but
at the end of the concert, when I went to the Eric Bibb concert to see Bjorn
play, I said to Dave exactly what the drummer said to me. I said, 'Dave, that
was an awesome concert. Seriously, that was world class.' And I went home
from the Eric Bibb concert that night, before I joined the band, and I was
elevated, actually moved for the first time by music in a long, long time. So I
was more, more than happy and incredibly honoured to be asked to play,
Mainly because it was Bronzie that put me in the job. So then I was given
these (laughs) bunch of songs to learn and rehearse on my own for about 10
days I think it was. Then me and Bronzie got together in a room with just a
snare drum and just a bass and we played along to the albums... that was my
audition...
Steve: (laughs)
Pete: ... and Dave said to me, "The songs have never sounded so good and that's
just with you sitting with a cardboard box and a snare drum.
Steve: Well, you guys have a history too, right?
Pete: We do, yeah. Getting back to my original, I'm getting way off the point here,
but getting back to my original point, this drummer phoned me up and he told
me, "Pete, that was an awesome concert. I can't believe how symbiotic you and
Dave are together" and I said, "Well, we let each other work, you know, our
own space." Then he said to me, and it was a great statement, "I've never
noticed before that Dave Bronze doesn't need a drummer, and Pete
Thompson doesn't need a bass player" and it was so true. I told Bronzie
this the next day and he said, "I never thought that way before, but you're
right." He (the drummer) also has a copy of the basement tapes in
Australia, so it was really interesting for him to see the duo, because he came
and saw the band that night and thought he was buying the band DVD, but
it wasn't, it was just Dave and me. When he watched it he said, "Ah no, the
band's not only them," but when he got into the concert he thought, "Jeez,
this is just so good:, and that's when he later said, "Dave Bronze doesn't
need a drummer and Pete Thompson doesn't need a bass player." I thought
that was wonderful. I thought that was one of the nicest things anyone could
have said to me. That's a good quote, use that one! (laughs)
Steve: (laughs) I will, I got that one down. You also did, I think because of Dave,
you did that tour in Germany with Dr. Feelgood.
Pete: It was. Dave used to produce them too.
Steve: I have some of their old stuff with Dave on it. When I was working on my
interview with Dave, a friend of his, Chris, sent me over loads of
recordings to listen to. This was the first time I'd heard any Dr. Feelgood,
and right from the start.... I loved their stuff. I'd never heard a band
having that much fun...
Pete: Yeah, the early recordings were pretty rough and ready, but you can
actually hear the fact that they were enjoying it. It changes as time goes
on. The band, the Feelgood boys, have been together in this
particular.. well, a lot of the old Feelgood fans say this isn't Dr. Feelgood
because Lee Brilleaux's not in the band anymore. Unfortunately he died
10 years ago now, but what happened is, it took on another life. They've
got a great singer now, great front man and the band works their balls off.
Still giving the fans what they want, but still growing with the times That's
still Dr. Feelgood. This line up has been together for... some of the
members have been in the band for 25 years, and they're still regarded
as the new guy. So sometimes fans don't give players a chance, but they
just rise above that. Feelgood's a great band, they deliver your moneys
worth man, you can't drag them off the stage after 2 hours worth, you know.
There's hardly any talking between numbers, it's just bang, bang, bang, bang,
non stop.
Steve: (laughs) So you had a good time with them then.
Pete: I did, and you really have to make sure you go to the toilet before you go
on stage with them as well... (laughs) because there's no way you can get off.
Once you're sitting there, you're stuck. (laughs)
Steve: (laughs) A great opening act if you guys would do some shows in the UK!!
Okay, so let's just go back a little bit here. When were you born?
Pete: February 20th, 1952.
Steve: Where did you grow up?
Pete: Bourmemouth in Hampshire until I was 7 and then I moved to Southend On
Sea.
Steve: How old were you when you started playing drums?
Pete: I started playing... I started banging on chairs when I was 11, I progressed
to tabletops when I was about 13, dustbin lids when I was 14 and I never
had a drum kit 'til I was 17, and I turned professional when I was 19.
I was self taught and I used to sit at home, when everybody else was
kicking a ball around, going out and causing trouble and shagging women,
I was in my kitchen or in the bedroom listening to Who records, Jimi Hendrix
records on my headphones, and just tapping on chairs, so I knew what the
top half should do. The very first time I sat behind a drum kit was in
a little music shop, and my mum asked this guy, "Has my son got anything",
and he said, "Well, sit at that drum kit and play." Of course I hadn't sat
behind a drum kit before, and I didn't actually know what a drum kit sounded
like, because I'd played to records and they were mixed.
Steve: And you loved the sound of the table and chairs, right? (laughs)
Pete: I got used to it because I used to have these knives with bone handles and
my right hand knife had a rattley handle on it, and that was my high hat.
And the one in my left, I always knew which was my right and left, the
rattley one went in my right hand, and the left hand was me snare (laughs).
But when I sat behind this drum kit for the first time at this music shop,
and he put a little transistor radio on and it was playing this Shadows song,
called, "Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt", I think it was called, he said, "Can you
play along to this" and I played along to it. Course I couldn't hear the
radio, I just bashed the shit out of this kit in the shop. (laughs) But I didn't
know... I said, "What's this big one for?" and he said, "Oh, you put your
foot on that.", and I said, "What do you do with this thing?" and he said,
Well, you know you play the bass drum." Oh my God, but I thought, "If
I can keep time...", so I made just a bit of a clatter on the top of this drum
kit and played along to this song, because I knew the song, and he said,
"Your son's got what it takes to be a drummer." And even at the tender
age of 13 or 14, I thought to myself, "This guy really does want to sell this
drum kit to me." (laughs) We didn't have the money, but anyway, I borrowed
a drum kit for 6 months from my friend who wanted to be a drummer, but
was never going to be a drummer, but he had a drum kit, so he was my idol.
I used to go 'round to his garage everyday after school, play drums for
2 or 3 hours, which I thought was making a rather nice noise, and I had to
learn how to use the foot. Of course that was the hardest thing because
I'm a completely self taught drummer. I've never had a lesson in my life.
I learned everything the hard way Steve, everything the hard way (laughs).
I tell you, the easiest rolls in the world, I didn't know how to do them. I
just watched people on T.V., or I heard them and I thought, "Well, how
do they do that." You know when you're learning a guitar lick, you think,
"How's he doing that? Is he hammering on? Pulling off? Did he triple it?
What is he doing?" I didn't know what triplet was, or ghost notes.
This was a completely different language to me. All I wanted to do... I
knew I could sit behind a kit, and copy any drummer in the world that I
heard on record and play that song within two.
Steve: That has to come in handy...
Pete: That was me, and everybody would say, "Well, he's not the greatest drummer
in the world, but God he's got a photographic memory." (laughs) Rehearsals
for me was like, "Okay, what 10 songs are we learning tonight?" (laughs)
Well, once I heard them, I could play them., it's just one of those things, but
you're not suppose to do that.
Steve: So you were listening to Keith Moon and Mitch Mitchell...
Pete: Oh yeah. Mitch Mitchell was an idol of mine, because I love the...
I mean he's played stuff... I listen to recordings now, and I have
no idea what he's playing there. I mean as far down the line as I am as a
player, and I'm much more technically advanced than I was 10 years ago,
because I've spent the last 10 years teaching, I still don't know what the
guy's doing.
Steve : Really?
Pete : No. There's some things that he does that he's so technically advanced that
it's just phenomenal. There was a symbiotic relationship between Mitchell
and Hendrix that was marvellous, absolutely marvellous, so I mean forget the
bass player, the Jimi Hendrix Experience could have been the two of them.
They didn't need a fucking bass player to do that music, and Jimi played bass
on most of the tracks anyway. The only reason Noel Redding, bless him, was
there was because he had big hair. (laughs) And God bless him, he made his
mark in history, but not as a bass player, but as a guy with big hair, because he
did nothing in the band. It was a shame, but he must have had fun doing it.
Mitch is a drum hero. A lot of people will probably say, "Oh I grew up
listening to Buddy Rich, or I grew up listening to so-and-so", and everything
else, but I think you'll find that a lot grew up listening to Mitch
Mitchell playing Buddy Rich licks in a rock groove because he certainly
did that. He was a jazz player, an out-and-out jazz player that had to
learn how to play rock, and he did it in a fluently free, wonderfully flowing
motion.. He did it perfectly.
Steve: So when you're listening to stuff nowadays, what are you listening to?
What do you put on the cd player?
Pete: Oh... what do I listen to...
Steve: Yeah. When you come home after a hard day at the studio...
Pete: I don't play any music at all. If I've been recording? I never play music
in the car. I never listen to music after concerts...
Steve: Why is that?
Pete: I'm one of those guys that lives with songs in my head. If I'm going through
a learning period, and I'm going through a learning period right now because
Robin's asked me to do a lot of stuff with him and sent me some cds to learn
some drums on, and I can't play anything at the moment other than what
I'm learning. It's stuff we're going to do in the future together, so I block
everything else out.
Steve: Is this stuff you're doing, is that for Richard (Watts)?
Pete: They're (Robin and Richard) still writing frantically, the two of them.
They are turning out some good stuff. I was introduced to Richard a
couple of years ago and he was completely new to me. I didn't know who
he was, but he was a friend of Robins. I didn't realize that they had known
each other for many, many years. So it goes back a long way, and Robin's
very much Richard's mentor and teaching him about the business.
Teaching him how to be a singer, song writer, bass player. He's a great
song writer and a great singer, and he's a great looking guy and I think
Richard's really going to do something because of Robin's help. He's
helped his confidence immensely. Obviously he's first and foremost a
singer and a keyboard player, not a bass player. Anybody can copy
anybody's notes, but it doesn't necessarily make them a bass player. So
Robin said, "Lead him down the path you want to go to. You're the
rhythm section, I'm a guitar player." I thought, "Whoa, good." So when
we get together and start picking the arrangements for some upcoming
dates, then it'll be good for me to know Richard is an open book.
(At the time of our conversation there was talk of touring with only the three piece of Richard, Pete and Robin.
If you go back in the news section of trowerpower there is mention made to "the touring band" being all from England . Obviously they were trying to get something happening, but it fell through. )
Steve: You had mentioned that with Robin and Richard, Robin's been doing some
acoustic stuff?
Pete: No, he's got quite an interesting way of recording. The way we're actually
doing the recordings, Robin lays down an acoustic guitar with a live vocal,
separated of course, but together at the same time and they record that
together. Robin works out the chordual part, the song is finished and they
go in and record the acoustic guitar and a live vocal, the master vocal, then
they pull me in and play for that. So when they've done 3 or 4 tunes, they
call me in to put drums down. They say, "What do you hear? How do
you hear that?", blah, blah, blah. Robin will direct me, because he's the
producer, and eventually after a day's hard work in the studio, I walk out
of there with 3 or 4 tacks done. And it works. Then he'll put the guitars on,
and he'll put the bass on, then they'll do the backing vocals, but that's the
way it's been working and because he's got the guitar there on the vocals,
it's the finished vocal, there are going to be no more. I mean he can change
things if he wants lines changed, but he's actually going for the vocal and the
the guitar and then he'll leave the acoustic on and then put all the electrics
on. It works really, really well.
Steve: You said he's been playing a lot of real different stuff. It doesn't always
sound like him?
Pete: Yeah, I mean it is Robin Trower, but this is Richard and Robin's project.
This is very much Richard's project that Robin's playing guitars on. Even
though they're co-writing songs, this is Richard's project. Richard is
being fronted for this whole thing. And it's great because it shows a
different side of Robin's playing as well. It shows, dare I say it, the
session side of his playing. It's very nicely chordular the way Robin plays
those wonderful open chords.
Steve: Does he not play the weirdest chords?
Pete: Yeah. I'll tell you while I was playing a track last night, I think off the
20th Century Blues album, and I think it was.. is it "Secret Place"
that is the instrumental?
Steve: Yes.
Pete: "Secret Place"... my God! The fuckin' chords he plays in that. I mean
have you tried to work those? Of course they're not chords are they, It's
the way he moves the bass line down and up and then he'll play the A string
or the B string in a completely different direction. It sounds so beautifully
dischordular doesn't it almost, but that's so lovely.
Steve: And he's always done that. As a guitar player, I've had people write
me and ask, "How do you play this song?" and I'll do my best because I
might know how to play it, but I don't know how to tell you how to play it.
I remember the first song, and it took me awhile to get was For Earth Below,
when he goes down and makes that change. I was, "What are you doing??"
But once you get it, once you see what he's done, then you go, "Wow,
that's real different... that's impressive." He has a definite way about
playing. Obviously a big influence in my playing anyway.
Pete: Oh listen, when I was younger, I use to buy at least an album a week, and I
went into a record store, this was a long, long time ago... When did "Daydream"
come out?
Steve: "Daydream" was... '73.
Pete: So it was sometime in '73 I went to this record store in Leigh-on-Sea (Essex)
and I heard the guitar intro to "Daydream" playing over the loud speakers
in the shop. In those days you could go in and say, "Could I have a
listen to this album", and they'd give the album to you, you'd go in a
booth, put headphones on and play it. I had just stepped into the shop
and I heard, "da da diddily da, do de day da do de day.." (Mimics the
intro), and I thought, "Whoa??" and I stopped in the doorway. Then I
heard... (Pete continues mimicking more of the intro), and I melted on the
spot man. I went up to the counter and said, "Who's that?", and the
guy said, "Oh, we just got a Robin Trower album in." Oh! Bang! That
was it, and I bought the album on the strength of the intro to "Daydream".
I didn't care what the rest of the album sounded like at all. That's one
of the greatest intros of all time, you know that.
Steve: Oh yeah, definitely!
Pete: It's beautifully played... a beautiful sound.
Steve: So you've listened to him... did you buy... I mean have you got any other
albums?
Pete: No! No, no, no. I had heard nothing apart from "Daydream" and that
album I bought. I can't even remember the name of the album. What
was it called? Which was it?
Steve: Twice Removed From Yesterday.
Pete: Yeah, and I haven't heard Bridge Of Sighs. I haven't heard Caravan...
The only tracks I've heard of Robin were the tracks I heard on that
first album, the album I bought. That's all the stuff I've... funny enough
I never bought another Robin Trower album. In a way I never felt the need.
See I'm a great music fan. I've worked with some fantastic guitar players.
I've jammed with Clapton, Albert Lee and I've played with Micky Box
from Uriah Heep, I've played with Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin...
Steve: Oh, what did you do with Jimmy Page?
Pete: Jimmy and Robert Plant use to get up and sing with a band I used to
be in called, Silverhead in the '70s...
Pete: ... we were managed by Deep Purple and we toured the world with Deep
Purple. When we used to go to clubs after the shows... I jammed with Rory
Gallagher... Johnny Winter got up and played with us,,, Greg Allman. The
Allman Brothers were big at that time. Silverhead did a week in Atlanta
at a club called Richards, and the guys got up and jammed with us and
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant got up with us in London at a show
because their publicity manager, BP Fallon was also our publicity manager
so we had very strong Zeppelin connections. That's how I ended up playing
Robert Plant's album Fate Of Nations in 1993.
Steve: Yes, I read about that one...
(1993 Robert Plant)
Pete: He spent 5 years looking for me, (laughs) and in the end I found them
because somebody owed me a favour, it was very strange.
Steve: Well that's interesting. I didn't realize that went back to the Silverhead
days.
Pete: Yeah Silverhead. It was a good training ground because it introduced
everybody to the madness of rock and roll, you know. The madness of
rock and roll. The over drinking, the over drugging, the over women, the
over everything. It was just a learning curve. I'm very easily led, but I'm
also one of those guys that care intently about the music I'm playing. I
intensely care about the music I'm playing and I can play a Silverhead
album, one of the two albums we made, and look back on it and think,
"You know, I played great on those albums." I didn't know what the
fuck I was doing, but...
Steve: I was pulling your name up on the computer, trying to find out as much
as I could about your background...
Pete: Oh I've been the ghost. People call me the ghost even in my own town.
Steve: It's funny, when I received some pictures while you guys were doing
LOOT, I got pictures of Dave, Davey and Robin at the pub, and
I kept saying to Davey, "Get Pete. Where's Pete? Get Pete in a picture."
(laughs). I asked Dave, I said, "Do you have any pictures of Pete?" and
that was just at the time Gabby (Web master of the Dr. Feelgood site)
took those ones of you with Dr. Feelgood. Thanks Gaby!
Pete: Yeah actually I said to Gabby, because we were at a sound check, I said,
"Can you take some photographs of me" because she had a digital camera
with her. "Just take some photographs. Sit on the side of the stage, move
around if you want to while we do the sound check...", and the good thing
about digital of course is you can see them straight away. And I said,
"... because there's a guy over in Canada who wants to do a page
on me. I've got no shots of me at all, so if you send him a couple of shots
that would be great." And she did, bless her. She's a great fan of
Feelgood. I mean she's a very, very knowledgeable girl.
Steve: Yes, I've actually communicated with her....
Pete: She's a great girl. She loves to talk Steve. You must have got on
well with her if you got together (laughs)
Steve: (laughs) Well, we've done some e-mails before because of the Bronze
interview with his connection to Feelgood.......
So after Silverhead you played with a band called, Shotgun, is that right?
Pete: Shotgun was 1982 and that was Ken Hensley's band. Ken had just left
Uriah Heep. David Byron left Uriah Heep and then Ken left Uriah Heep
which left Uriah Heep in a bit of a quandary, obviously the two main writers
had gone. Funnily enough, I was recording an album called, Take No
Prisoners with David Byron at Morgan studios in London, and we were
taking a break so I went into the lounge and made a coffee and had just
walked back to the studio when Paul Samwell Smith, (a founding member
and bass player for the Yardbirds who is now a leading record producer
with a large and impressive list of credits) who was producing Murray Head's
album, Say It Ain't So, Joe next door in studio One, popped his head
around the door and said, "David, could I borrow your drummer for an hour."
Apparently the drummer for Murray hadn't shown up for the session.
So David said, "Well Pete's finished for the day", because I'd done 3 tracks
and we were just listening to playbacks. And David said, "Pete, do you want
to pop along?" And I said, "Yeah great." So I took my great big silver
Slingerland drum kit from studio 2 into studio 1 and there's all these session
guys with pipes and slippers and dogs curled up at their feet, Murray Head
and a couple of slide guitarists, a couple of guys from Fleetwood Mac. So
Murray said, "What do you think of this song?" and he sang me live,
"Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat." which was an old 40's hit, a little swing
thing. Then he said, "Do you have any brushes with you?" And I said, "No."
So we rushed around an got some brushes, and I did this song and he played
it through to me and I said, "Does it feel okay?" And he said, "Yeah, it's great,
let's roll it." So we rolled the tape and I cut it in one. Then he said to me,
"Can I play another tune?" I said, "Yeah." So he played another tune.
Obviously he had the session guys wait, but I didn't read a note of music.
Thank God I've got a photographic memory because I couldn't write one
dot of music. I can now, thank God. He started playing me another track
and I cut another track. I said, "Is that okay?" and he said, "Yeah."
So I said, "Great see ya." And he said, "Can you come back tomorrow?
Leave your kit and come back tomorrow?" Well I'd finished with David, so
I went across and said, "David, do you need me anymore?" And Dave said,
"Well it looks like I've lost you anyway." But I said, "Do you want me for
anymore tracks?" And he said, "No, not 'til next week." I told him, "There's
a guy I think that wants me to do some more tracks." And he said, "Good for
you." So I spent the next 4 or 5 days in the Morgan One recording
the second side of, Say It Ain't So, Joe. And it turns out that the
drummer that had been booked for the session was Simon Philips. Simon
had been booked somewhere else or whatever, I'm not really sure what the
story is, but Simon did side A and I did side B. I've gone way off the
track... what was the question?? (laughs)
Steve: (laughs) No this is good...
Pete: Oh yeah, something about Byron... Shotgun. So Uriah Heep basically split
up at that point and David Byron had asked me to be in the David Byron
band after the Take no Prisoners album. That was his first solo album,
so he was interested in putting a band together. I said okay and that I had
a few things coming up, but we'd see if we could juggle it around, how
definite is it. He said he didn't know yet and wanted to see what the record
company had to say. So that was on hold for awhile. Then I got a phone
call from Ken Hensley saying he'd just done an album with Ian Paice, from
Deep Purple, and Ian couldn't do the tour and wanted me to come and
audition. He didn't know me from Silverhead... we toured the world with
Uriah Heep because Silverhead supported every major band that was
touring the major stadiums at that time between '72 and '74, '75. That's
how I got to play every stadium in America. We were the world's biggest
support band and we headlined in Japan and we had 2 albums in the
charts at the same time., so we were big business in Japan. Anyway
Hensley, this is 1982 now, called me up and said, "Would you audition."
So I said sure. He said that they'd just auditioned somebody else and
they'd gone through a whole shit load of drummers, but none of them sang
and he understoodd that I sang, and I said, "Yeah I do." I told him that
Uriah Heep was one of my favourite bands and I'd worked with him
before, but I had to re-introduce myself to him. He asked
if I knew any Uriah Heep songs and I said, "Yeah, I know "July Morning"
and "Easy Living"...", and he asked how I knew them. I said I was from the
Silverheads. Ken and he looked at me and said, "Toto!" "Fuckin' eh,
it's you!" Eleven years later he said, "Fuck I didn't know it was you. Fuck
the audition. You don't have to audition mate, but let's play a couple
of Uriah Heep tunes. The band was Ian Gibbons on keyboards,
Denny Ball on bass from Bedlam, Ken on keyboards and guitar and this
outrageous guitar player, Derek Marshall, who was a fucking maniac guitar
player from Canada. He's an outstanding guitarist.
Steve: I always like to hear about Canadians (laugh)
Pete: I don't know what happened to him, he's disappeared, but anyway that
was the band and it was called Shotgun, and we toured Europe and America
a couple of times. Then (Dave) 'Clem' Clemson took over on guitar and
he left after awhile, it was a very messy situation, a very messy couple of
years. Ken didn't have proper management, promotion and everything
else and everyone in America was promoting him as Uriah Heep and
it wasn't Uriah Heep, it was Ken Hensley's Shotgun and we went
through all sorts of political bullshit and in the end the band broke up
because every promoter wanted to use the Uriah Heep name and Ken
wasn't going down that road. Even though we were doing Uriah Heep
songs in our set, they were Ken's songs, he wrote them. We got to
some gigs and it would say, "Uriah Heep Tonight In Concert", then with a
small 'X' beside Heep in small letters it would say, Ken Hensley, so
it looked like it was a Uriah Heep concert. We had this shit all over
America and in the end we just said, fuck this and called it a day. It was
a shame because it was a good band and it could have gone somewhere,
but there you go,
Steve : Going through my notes here...
Pete: You have notes?
Steve: Oh Pete, I have.... these interviews are really funny to do. You want to know
what you're talking about... the music, outside the music... I like to
know who I'm talking to and their background, who they played with... So
I sit down and do a lot of research on anything I can find, anything
anybody can tell me, and try to put it all together.
You did a live album with Melanie...
1989 Melanie (vocals, guitar) Alan Ross (guitar) Justin Myers (bass)
Neil Palmer (keyboards) Pete Thompson (drums) Chris Staines (backing vocals)
Kay Langford (backing vocals)
On air (1997, with Alan Ross) (live)
Pete: I did some song writing with a guitarist named Alan Ross. I became the
house session band drummer for MCA Records in England for about
2 years. I use to do all this Cher stuff, and Danny Minode stuff...
the things American musicians weren't allowed to play on backing tracks
on top of the pops. I did a lot of stuff for them. We would re-cut the
tracks they were singing on, so I did lots of this and that. Melanie came
over, and she was looking for a band... Alan Ross had met her through
various agencies... and put a band together. We did 2 nights at the
Shaw Theatre in London, and the Rolling Stones mobile turned up and
recorded both nights. I didn't know this at the time, but somebody told
me recently that they had some live tracks... live in London, and I've not
even head it. Have you heard it?
Steve: No I haven't, but I've seen it's available on different sites.
(Available through Amazon - Yahoo Shopping - CDNOW etc.)
Pete: It's on my 'To Do' list. (laughs) I'll have a 'To Do' list when they carry me
in a coffin, Steve..
Steve: (Laughs). You also played with Paul Cox?
"Ain't Nothin' Doin'"
Paul Cox (vocals) in 1995 Paul was involved a special benefit concert for the legendary Frankie Miller where he performed on stage with Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company) and Gary Brooker (Procul Harum)
Roger Cotton (guitar, keyboards) Andy Brown (bass) Pete Thompson (drums)
Pete: Yeah! That was a good album. He's a great singer. I'll send you a
copy... you know, when you get your album covers back. (laughs) They'll
be in the same envelop.
Steve: Pete, you gotta send me back those album covers. (laughs)
(note: When I first talked with Pete, I asked if he would sign the album covers I had. He agreed, so I sent them over to him. This was quite a while back and I have been bugging Pete to send them back)
Pete: Yeah, I know. Well you see I was getting to that point in the interview where
I had to mention them. You can put on the page whatever you want about
that Steve, I don't care. (Laughs) You can tell everybody how long
you've been waiting. What a procrastinator I am...
Steve: (Laughing) When I first sent them out to you, I'd been talking with Davey
and I told him I'd talked with Kit (Pete's son) and Kit had talked with you...
Pete: He came over on his motorbike and said, "Dad, will you please, please send
those album covers back to Steve, he's driving me nuts! He's sending
me e-mails, he's talking to me.. It's great to talk to him, but you need to send
him his stuff back. He's worried and concerned with it." I said, "He doesn't
need to be worried and concerned, they're still in the pizza box they were sent
in!" (laughs)
Steve: (Laughs) I really enjoyed talking with Kit...
Pete: He's a lovely boy.
Steve: We've talked a few times and e-mailed back and forth. and at the end
of each note, I'd give him a little... "Hey, if you see your dad, could you
give him a little push towards the post office?" (laughs) When I sent them
off to you, I'd been talking with Davey and I mentioned I'd sent off all
these album covers for you to sign. He replied with, "Oh Steve, you'll
never see them again." (laughs)
Pete: (Laughs)
Steve: He said, "I'm telling you, it's going to take a long time," and I said, "nah, nah,
Pete'll sign them and get them mailed. Davey kept telling me, "No he
won't Steve."...
Pete: Oh I signed them a long time ago. I signed them over a year ago! They're
actually on my bed, the end of my bed... they're on my 'To Do' list.
Steve: I'm going on holidays in 2 weeks, so you know...
Pete: You know what I think I'll do? We'll probably start an American tour.
We'll get some American dates in very quickly and I'll take them to
America with me and then post them from Buffalo, New York or
somewhere and that'll really freak you out.
Steve: Okay, now I think I'm moving up to 1985 here withPete Haycock
Pete Haycock's Climax (Total climax, 1985, with Pete Haycock, Paul Brett, Livingstone Brown, Stuart Brooks, Chris White)
Pete Haycock (Guitar and son, Jan 88
Pete: I joined Pete Haycock more or less straight after Ken Hensley. I played
with Ken Hensley from '82 to '84 and 'round about that time, I was
working for a company called, Newdisk. It was a brand new record label
that opened in England and I had written a couple of songs and they
were released as singles with other artists. The owner of the record
company, or the MD, had put a session band together to do all their
artists. One day he said to me he had an amazing black bass player named
Livingston Brown, and an amazing guitarist, and he's doing an album, would
I come in and do a couple of sessions for them. "His name is Pete Haycock.
He used to be in the Climax Blues Band." I came to the session and I set
my kit up... (I was warming up) and he said, "Great playing mate." I said,
"Thanks a lot, I'm really enjoying it", and this was just me setting up! (laughs)
So we did the sound check, we got the drums down, Livo came in and we
got the bass down and then this guy with curly hair picked up his guitar
and started playing some amazing fucking song called, "Guilty" (from the
album Total Climax, 1985) that was a quazy-rock-raggae tune and they
just loved the groove I played on it and asked, can we do this one? I actually
cut the album in an afternoon. We stayed in the studio and did about 9
tracks and we recorded really quickly. I went back the next day and did a
couple of tracks and that was my bit done. Them Pete said to me that he'd
like to tour this, so I got a keyboard player who was a friend of mine, and
Livo was already on bass, and that was it, off we went and we did a tour
of Europe, not a very big tour, and then the name Climax Blues Band came
and started biting us on the ass again. The promoters were there promoting
it as the Climax Blues Band featuring Pete Haycock and it wasn't , the band
was called, Pete Haycock's Climax, it sounds like a bad cum shot from a hard
core movie (laughs). We had to change that to Climax and then there was a
girl band that just had a #1 in Germany called, Climax, so we had to change
the name again, so we eventually ended up as Pete Haycock's Climax and we
toured. We did an Australian tour, and the very day I got back from Australia
I climbed up the stairs to go to bed absolutely jet lagged and my wife at the time
said to me, there was a phone call. I said I'd take it in the morning, I was really
shot to pieces, and she said it was Dave Bronze. So I took it and Dave asked
what I was doing and I told him I was just climbing upstairs to yo bed. I'd just
got in from Australia. He said, "Oh, so you can't come down and play then."
I asked him where he was and he said he was in a rehearsal room in Southend
and the drummer had gone to do a show or something in London. I told Dave
I'd literally just got in and I didn't even think my kit was in England yet. So
Dave said if they could sort something out, could I make it to rehearsal the
next day. He said it was just going to be him, Robin, me and this singer called,
Davey Pattison and, "We're trying out some new songs." He said it was
just an afternoon and if I could do that, it would be great. So I told him okay,
I'd see him the next day. I went down to rehearsals and I played through 3 or 4
tunes and then Robin put his guitar down and went out and made a cup of tea.
Because I'd been playing constantly, my chops were up, and I played well. I was
jet lagged and didn't know what I was doing anyway, I was fearless and I could
always do with the money. So then Dave took me down to a pub for a beer
and said, "What are you doing for the next 2 years?" and that's how I joined
Trower. So that's the Hensley story, the Climax story, the Silverhead
story... (laughs) up to the Trower story.
Steve: Getting back to Pete Haycock for a second, I heard Guitar and Son,
and that's just an amazing, amazing record.
Pete: I had just come off 2 six week stints in America with Robin. We had
a break and I came back to England and was going through a messy divorce
and Pete (Haycock) had booked the studio time for me and Livo (Livingston)
to do an album. It was an instrumental album on a new label called, Nospeak
which was run by Miles Copeland. I went to do the first studio session
Monday morning about 10:00 and I couldn't go in the studio. I parked the
car outside for about 15 minutes and I couldn't go in the studio, so I went back
home, phoned him up and told him that I couldn't do it. I was tired, I was shot
and all the shit that was going down with the problems at home I couldn't go
into the studio and make a fool out of myself, so I'd rather not do it that
day. So those 2 guys, bless them, they carried on and sat up all night
programming drum machines just in case I couldn't make it the next day. I
felt I'd let them down terribly, but at the same time I'd let myself down,
but the next day I turned up, and I sort of brushed myself off, walked
in the studio and said, right and proceeded to cut 8 tracks.
Steve: Wow. Great story. It's funny that you played with Livingston Brown who
went on to play with Robin afterwards. It always amazed me how all you
people kind of know each other....
The song "Dr. Brown I Presume" from this album really showcased Livvys
playing skills. This really opened my eyes to what a fantastic bass player
he is.
Pete: Well it's amazing how we turned up because of my situation with Livo. I
worked with him in a studio band we formed called, Era. We recorded about
15 tracks. We'd written/co-written songs together and it was really like
a Michael Jackson album, and we had a great singer on it as well, I can't
remember his name at the moment. I was singing on that project as well, so
that was good for me because I love singing in a studio. We all got a chance
to do vocals, and write some songs, it was good.
Steve: Getting into the Trower touring, the Passion years. You guys toured all over.
I have to ask you (laughs) about the nick-name "Pelican Pete"
Pete: (Laughs) We were in Florida, and it was 6:45, 7:00 in the morning, and there's
nobody around. Lying beside the swimming pool you don't expect to be
attacked from about 3000 feet do you. (laughs) But I was just lying there in
this open pool and all the sun beds are out and everything's nicely cleaned and
the pool's swept and everything. I was just lying there in the sun before we
set off to go somewhere, and this (laughs) golf ball sized, or more like a small
grapefruit, hits me on the shoulder from a great height. I turned around
and this pelican had shit all over me, It must have actually aimed for me
because I was the only human being around. I must have had this big X
marked between me shoulder blades, and to this day, they still call me
that. Even Bibb calls me that!
Dave Bronze : That was a corker! You should ask him about the time Pete nearly
bit his tongue off while playing drums and chewing gum at the same
time!
( I am recounting this from a phone conversation we had had earlier, prior to the interview
but it is pretty close to what Pete told me regarding this story)
The band was doing a show in Detroit. Near the end of the show Pete had decided to
chew some gum. As a rule he never chews gum when he plays, but for some reason he did that night. During the last song Pete accidentaly bit into his tongue while chewing. He must have bitten really hard because he started to bleed profusly.
Dave had looked over and seen Pete and his drumkit covered in blood (Pete said he
looked like something out of the movie Alien). The roadies saw this and sneaked over
to give Pete ice to try to stop the bleeding. All the while the band continued to play, but
Pete was only able to use one hand as the other was busy trying to keep the ice in his mouth. They finished the song, the lights went down and the roadies took Pete off and they all headed for the dressing room. Pete was sitting in a chair with a towel over his head. Robin came in really "jazzed" about how well the show went and as he was talking, turned to Pete and said, " ..... Pete, did you slow up a bit on the last song?" and as he said that
Pete looked up removing the towel and Robin stepped back a bit noticing all the blood on Pete's clothes, and silently stared.
After they all realized Pete was okay, Robin said, "Okay then, lets go do the encore!"
....... and they did!
David Pattison : LOL!!! I had forgotten about that!!! The Pelican story is THE
one though. We called hm "Pelican Pete" for months after that one!!!
Steve: Another story I heard about had to do with a bowling alley...
Pete: (Laughs) We were doing a gig out in the sticks somewhere and the concert
hall was downstairs and the guy who owned the hall had a bowling alley
upstairs. We had the run of the bowling alley completely to ourselves.
We'd had a few drinks and he opened the bowling alley and a few lanes for
us and we were chucking the balls down and having a great laugh and getting
very loud, as we do sometimes. Bronzie and a guy named Dan came up behind
me, I was just about to bowl, took the ball out of my hand and threw me down
the lane instead. (laughs) I stopped just short of the pins, so I was very lucky.
Big Dan had put his foot through the gully, so we had to pay for some
damages there, but it was a fun nigh, it really was.
Steve: (laughs) The other thing I heard was that you use to play some tennis
with Bronze when you guys were touring.
Pete: Tennis? I was addicted to it. Absolutely.
Steve: Yeah? Who was the better player?
Pete: Dave was the teacher for about 5 or 6 months... then I started kicking his ass.
Not often... (both laughing) Listen Steve, you get to a point where your
ass is getting kicked for 6 months, you know, 6-love, 6-love, 6-one, 6-love,
6-love, you know what I mean? So every game we played was a marathon.
We never played sets. We'd play a set then we'd stop, have a drink and
then we'd play another set. I think it was written into the contract that
every hotel we stayed in on that tour had to have a tennis court. We played
every day. Robin played, we played tournaments, band tournaments, road
crew tournaments and it was great fun. Me and Bronzie would go to bed
saying, "I'll kick your ass tomorrow, you wait." We'd go to bed, wake up
in the morning, have a few drinks, take a couple of bananas out, we'd be
out there 7:00, 8:00 in the morning playing tennis in 100, 120 degree heat
in Texas. And we'd still be playing at 3:00 in the afternoon. We were
fanatical about beating each other in the end. It was great competition
because, not only did it keep us fit, it sharpened us up and we got a
good suntan as well, because those tours were full of sun around America.
We never have the sun.
Dave Bronze : HE started kicking my ass?? Selective memory or what? Oh, wait a
minute. There was that time when I had Lassa fever, played left handed
and had my feet tied together! But other than that...........
Steve: Any time I've talked with Davey...
Pete: Oh, he never played. Not one game!
Dave Bronze : Yes, there was a period when the whole Trower outfit got into the
tennis thing (except Davey, whose idea of exercise is a game of dominoes
with the window open). Robin was already quite proficient, and I was keen
to learn after switching from squash to tennis. (I cut a friend's head really
badly playing squash, which put me off the game for life). It's true we tried
to make sure the hotels had courts. It was a great thing to do, as life in a
tour bus is pretty sedentary. I still play when I get the chance.
Pete: Ah, we had some serious laughs, Steve. We did, talk about big kids
on the road. I think at one point we were all on different floors, so we
wouldn't bump into each other during the day. (laughs)
Davey Pattison : We used to share a hotel room together. Pete used to drive me nut's
when coming out of the shower. He would leave water all over the
floor, and one time I went in, slipped on the tile floor and nearly
broke my bloody neck! The sheepish look on his face afterwards
was priceless.
I finally insisted that I get my own room, 'cos he would drive me nut's.
Not in a hostile way, just being Pete. He is what Archie Bunker
would describe as a "Dingbat". Loveable as all hell, but capable of
driving one to drink!!!!!
Steve: So you did 2 albums with Robin, prior to LOOT.
Passion and Take What You Need, another great album.
Pete: That's a great vocal album that.
Steve: One of my favourite Trower songs is "No Time". You've heard that
San Raphael show, right? To me, that's probably the best stuff, in my
opinion, I've ever heard live. That band was just so tight.
Pete: At that time, it was so rock steady it was unbelievable. Talk about
locking in a pocket. We locked into a pocket and never moved from it.
Steve: I've never heard any bad recordings from that era. That one was the
first live show I'd ever heard of Robin that was a bootleg.
Pete: The copy you sent me was a direct feed off the radio? I guess it
wouldn't be a bootleg then, because if it was aired, anybody can
tape off a radio can't they?
Steve: Oh yeah, but it was the first time I'd heard anything other than the
standard releases, and I'd never heard that particular band live. The
way Robin played off of that band. I think everybody sparked him
musically, and I think everybody was pushing each other, and it showed.
Pete: Well there was great support there. The support in that unit was always
good. Me and Bronzie, I thought, a great rhythm section for Robin to play
on, no matter what.
Steve: You mentioned the other day that you'd asked Robin if he'd ever
heard it (San Raphael).
Pete: Robin didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear it at all. He doesn't
go back and play old recordings.
Steve: I just find that amazing.
Pete: I asked him if he wanted to listen to the guitar sounds he'd played on it.
I told him it was unbelievable. It was absolutely fucking unbelievable. The
guitar sound was so big. But he said no, he couldn't hear it. He said that
once he's done a bit of work, that's it. He plays the album a couple of
times, and that'll be it. He'll never play it again.
Steve: That's just amazing to me. I think besides being a guitar player, as a
fan, people really get hung up on the music that's put out, and Robin was
having some problems in the years of Passion Pand Take What You Need
with record companies and that, so he was dissatisfied with the whole
arrangement and sometimes he focused that period on the problems with
the record company and not with the band. He said some things about
those records that he didn't like, and people go crazy when they hear that.
They say, how can you say that! This is some of the best music. Because
fans listen to it thousands of times and know it intimately. Sometimes I've
heard reactions from interviews that he's done, saying how can he not like
this stuff. They don't understand that he just doesn't listen to it again.
It's just out of the picture and he doesn't care about it anymore.
Pete: It's called living for the moment. Once he's done a show and he's
played a great solo, it's gone. He'll never think about it. We taped every
show that we did, and in the tour bus the next day we use to analyse it. In
the end it was, "Please turn this off. I can't listen to this anymore."
Steve: Really? Gee, who has those tapes? (laughs)
Pete: (Laughs) Probably Sandy. Robin use to tape the shows, and if there was
anything he wanted to talk about... Did something happen in this song, blah,
blah, blah, we knew the songs back to front, inside out, upside down. He'd
play the songs and he'd say,
"Pete, what do you think of that groove there."
"Well it was the same as the night before Rob"
"Well, what do you think?"
"I think it's a great groove, Rob. Don't worry about it."
"Okay, you think it's all right?"
"I think it's fine. Why, what's the problem."
"It might have been a bit too fast."
"Okay, but..."
Every night I had this electronic meter which clicked at me from the
wings, so I counted every song in off the machine. I knew it was the
same tempo every night because that was the tempos we'd recorded and
it was the tempo that we'd rehearsed at that Robin was comfortable playing.
I was a stickler for it. I had a list with every song in order and the tempo of
each song next to it and that was on the list in the wings with whatever
sound man was doing the on-stage mix at the time. Once I got the count
in the beginning, he'd turn it away from me and turn it to the next song and
keep it turned away until I looked in the wings for the next song, and I'd
take a count off of it and away we'd go. I knew the tempos were marginally
on either side of perfect every night. It gives you a safety margin..
Steve: But as a guitar player though, sometimes you pick up the guitar and want
to play it a little different that night because you're feeling a little different.
I'm surprised that that's how you did it. All the recordings I've heard
are very similar as far as the tempo goes, and now I know why. (laughs)
Pete: (Laughs) Now you know why. It's like the Eagles. If you listen to the
Eagle's live recordings and play them against their studio recordings,
they're perfect. I saw concert footage of the Eagles last year from the
Hell Freezes Over tour and they were doing some song off of one of
their old albums and then it cut to the album track digitally and it was
perfect in every way. The key, the pitch everything. That's the way
I did it. Not to be written in stone, but we'd agree on the tempo at
rehearsal. Some nights Robin would say, "I'll count in tonight." There
were some songs that were more up, it's because he counted them in.
That's how he could play the way he wanted to play it. It's a tried and
tested formula that worked for me.
Steve: But when you heard San Raphael, didn't that just blow you away?
Pete: Yeah. There were moments on it where I thought, "Whoa, it doesn't
get better than this."
Steve: Okay, let's talk a little bit about Living Out Of Time. Were you just sitting
at home... who called you?
Pete: Davey Pattison called me. He went, "Tom Spooon. How are Yooou?"
(laughs)
Steve: (Laughs) Tom Spoon???
Pete: Yeah, Tom Spoon. Dave Bronzie and... they all called me Tom Spoon.
Steve: You gotta a lot of nicknames, man. (laughs)
Pete: (Laughs) Yeah, seems they made up a different one everyday.
Steve: So Davey had been out there for Jimmy's (Dewar) funeral...
Pete: He was. He and Robin got talking and then a few weeks later, I think it
was a few weeks later, he (Davey) just phoned me out of the blue. He
phoned me when he got back to Southend and he said, "Tom Spoon, come
and have a beer, I'm 'round the corner. I said, "Yeah!" So I turned up.
I was doing some work for a landscaping company at the time. I was still
playing the drums, but I was so bored waiting for the phone to ring to
get work, that's why I got a job. Anyway, I turned up, gave him a hug
and he said, "Hello fat man, how are you!" (laughs) We had a couple of
beers and he started asking me some pertinent questions. I asked him
what he was doing over here and he said he was just checking to see
if I was still playing and if I'd fancy playing with Robin again. I said, "What?
What's brought this on?" Davey said there was a chance the old band
might get back together again. I said, "I'll do it if Bronze does it." That
was my answer. I'll do it if Davey Bronze does it, and Bronzie, apparently,
had said the same. Yeah, I believe so.
Steve: Good call!
Pete: For me, I just felt that I wanted to prove something. It was just, you think
you're doing a good job, and then it is no more. It just leaves you
wondering , "Why has this happened?" It's not so much the reason ya know....
Steve: So Davey phones you up, you go for a beer, talk, get things moving... did
you talk to Robin?
Pete: I didn't see Robin until he walked into the rehearsal studio, mate
Steve: So what was that like?
Pete: Very strange because I was there first and set up ready to play on the Monday
morning. I hadn't spoken to anybody, just Davey and I'd said we'd turn up.
I had a beer with Bronzie and said we'll try to make this work and I've got
something to prove which is why I played me ass off on Living Out Of Time.
Those are some of the best drum tracks I've ever played.
Steve: So you're in the studio, you're all set up and sitting there and the guys
walk in and you start playing...
Pete: First thing was, he (Robin) walked in the door and said, "Hi ya Pete, how're
doing?" I said, "Hi Rob. Long time no see." (laughs) He said it had been awhile
hadn't it. We just bantered around for awhile, we had a cup of tea, got set
up, had a little play and got the PA right.... well, me Bronzie and Davey were
just fuckin' loonin' around anyway. That's how I burn my nervous energy
off, by loonin' around. It's all a front.
Steve: I can imagine the three of you being in the studio with Robin who, I think,
is pretty straight forward, aloof at times, the three of you and him... I can
just picture the fooling around going on.
Pete: There has to be. It is serious music, a serious business actually recording.
I went into the rehearsals... It was great. One, I had this mental thing where
I had something to prove, and I told Robin this.
My attitude in the studio was, everything up all the time. Big smile on your
face, play your ass off, play the best you can, be inventive, push a few
boundaries, try to take a few chances which I did. Some worked, some
didn't, but there you go, but at the same time keeping the energy level up
and keep the studio up and buzzing all the time. I was buzzing for
thirteen days.
Steve: Had you heard any of the basic tracks?
Pete: Oh No! No, not at all.
Steve: So you just went in dry?
Pete: Yeah, he played us a few riffs. Davey had done a little homework with him.
Davey has to obviously, because he has to have something to sing.
We heard them cold. We had a few little recordings of riffs on tape.
We thought them up from scratch, mate.
Steve: When you were doing early warm ups, what were you playing?
Pete: Went straight into rehearsals. No warm ups. We didn't play a thing
from the past, not at all. Absolutely nothing.
Steve: I would have thought that would have been just something to warm up
with.
Pete: Oh we jammed around, but nothing we'd done before. We just got our
sounds and said, "Right, what's first." It was great. It worked really well.
From the off, from the button there wasn't a weak day, in fact it got
better and better.
Steve: So you obviously succeeded in your....
Pete: Quest?
Steve: (Laughs) Yeah, exactly.
Pete: I feel justified. I put a lot of hard work into that, and since. I've done
a lot of sessions for Robin, I've done a lot of work with him. Done the film
scores, done all of Richard's (Watts) stuff. I'm on a beck-and-call basis.
Luckily sometimes I've been free to do sessions, other times I haven't.
Steve: So the recording of Living Out Of Time was great...
Pete: I had a ball! I had an absolute ball and that's what everybody said as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of every session, and my playing on the
album speaks for itself. It's the best I've done. It was the attitude I took
in the studio which got me through the sessions. They could have gone
completely the other way. It could have been like the Eagles getting back
together again, you know, trying to kill each other off the first day.
Davey Pattison : I think because he is so easy going, and such a teddy bear of a guy,
that people don't really take him seriously as a musician, but believe
me, he is a fabulous drummer with just great feel.
Dave Bronze : Well, I've never really taken much notice of his playing. It's the fact that
he wears lady's underwear while he's playing that works for me! :o)
Regarding Pete's playing, he came into Robin's band on my
recommendation, and we have worked together on and off quite a bit
over the years. It just works! Pete and I come from very similar
musical backgrounds, and we count from 1 to 4 at roughly the same
pace.
I have been fortunate enough to work with many of the world's
best drummers, and Pete is right up there. Mind you, how hard can
it be? It's just bashing things with sticks! A child could do it.
Steve: I'm actually surprised that this album came to be. In my original conversations
with Davey and Dave, when I did their interviews, both of them knew I was
heading towards getting this band re-united. At the time, both of them
said, "Steve, it's just not ever going to happen." Davey was very adamant
about it saying, "No, it's never going to happen, Steve." Then one day during a
phone conversation he said, "Guess where I'm going?" (laughs) I said,
"Davey, you just never know. Good musicians are going to find themselves
back together again at some point."
If it was your choice Pete, would you like to tour with the old band?
Pete: Oh absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I hope it will. I don't think it will, but
I hope it will.
Steve: I hope it does for a number of reasons, because I think there's so much
potential to tap there. And if it does happen a DVD of shows and some
rehersal bits will hopefully get done to really preserve the event.
Robin has a good fan base, and the people who are Trower fans will buy
whatever is put out. I know people love to hear rehearsal stuff.
People will buy things with mistakes on them because it's real. I personally
love hearing stuff like that.
Pete: Well I personally haven't got any. Like I said, back in those days we'd tape
every night and listen to it in the bus. It got less and less as the tour went
on. He just wanted to check it out and see how it was shaping up. Those
tapes are probably with the sound engineer. Sandy might have a couple.
I must come and see your museum some day.
Steve: You saw there's some pictures on my web site of stuff. It's become an
out of control hobby.
Pete: Steve, I'll tell you what you can do. I haven't got his e-mail address, so
can you e-mail me Pattison's address. If you can do that for me, I'll
drop a line to Davey tonight. I haven't got it so he'll be pleased to hear
from me I'm sure. I'll be able to fill him in.
Steve: Sure, no problem. He tells me though, you always like to phone him
really early in the morning. (laughs)
Pete: Oh I can't get that together at all, yeah. He hates me.
Steve: Actually, I have to tell you Pete, every time I mention you, he beams.
Pete: Ahh good. He's a lovely guy.
Steve: Do you have any hobbies?
Pete: I use to play tennis a lot, I use to swim a lot, I use to go see bands a lot,
but no, not any more. I use to read a lot... there's loads of things I
don't do anymore. I've been playing a guitar for about 20 years, but I
don't ever pick up a guitar anymore. I spend so much time with music
swimming around in my head, that there's not a lot of time for anything else.
Steve: What's you drum kit consist of?
Pete: Drum Kit: Premier artiste series 8,10,12,14 toms 22 kik 14 snare
Sabian Zildjian Paiste cymbals, Premier fittings.
Steve: Do you have any sponsors?
Pete: No, looking at the moment actually. If I ever get to the states with Robin,
I'm going to be doing quite a bit of self promoting while I'm out there.
That's on the top of my list.
Steve: So do you think that's really going to happen?
Pete: Ah, yeah.
Steve: You don't know when?
Pete: I can't say. There's a few things that I can't talk about. When you get them,
you'll get them here first, all right? I'll definitely say, you'll get them here first.
It's definitely in the cards, and better. That's all I can say, but I'm waiting with
baited breath as well. As far as I'm concerned, we're not there, but there are
things in the pipeline, trust me.
Steve: Well I'll wait and see what happens there.
Pete: You can say in the interview that Pete says there are things in the
pipeline, but that's it. (laughs) I'm not going to embellish on them, because
if it doesn't happen, and they quite easily couldn't... But people are talking now,
discussing business terms now and there's things in the pipeline which
have come up quite recently in the last couple of weeks which I'm very
excited about. I will be coming to the cabin, don't worry. (laughs) That's
a promise. In fact, if when we're over there, and I come to the cabin, we'll
phone Davey up and say, "Davey, get your ass over and come to Canada
for a week!" That's what I'd like to do. Get him over as well.
Steve: (laughs) I keep telling him, come up any time. We'll definitely have to get
together for sure. He keeps saying he wants to buy me a beer!!
Keep me posted to what you hear.
Pete: What do you do now? Do you sort of edit it down, listen to it and then
try it back on me in a letter form on e-mail?
Steve: I'll take all the stuff we've recorded, type it out, then take that and edit
it down.
Pete: Yeah, make me sound intelligent, then. (laughs)
Steve: Absolutely my man! Absolutely! (laughs)
Pete: Not let the fans know I'm stupid... (laughs)
Steve: (laughs) This has been great. People are going to love what I've
heard here today. It was great talking with you...
Pete: Great talking with you and speak to me when you get back from holidays.
Steve: I will do that.
Pete: And if I can get me ass out of the chair, I'll send those things back to you,
but don't hold your breath. (laughs)
Steve: Ahh, surprise me Pete.
Pete: All right, I will. See ya then, Steve.
Dave Bronze: (Message to Pete); See you at the park.
Bring a racket, we'll settle this once and for all! ;-)
..... now it has been seven months since we did this interview. Lots of news about a
tour in 2005 in the UK and with the Trower/Pattison/Bronze/Thompson line up......
and I finally got my covers back.... thanks Pete. :-)
Hope I can get out to see you on tour!!!
