2010 began with a research trip to Cuba followed by
NAMM where Pete helped launch the new
REMO world percussion range and also
his new signature stick 'VOYAGER' from
Pro-Mark. Then came
a solo gig at the 100 club in London and a trip to India for a
series of solo gigs, including at the Kyra
club in Bangalore. Pete also got the time to visit Rajasthan to
begin a collaboration with local Rajasthani musicians.
Pete visited Jaipur and travelled out
to the remote villages of Pabuscar, Barjangsar
and Chhotadia where they play very rare Pot drums called 'Maante'
Pete also finished recording his new solo album 'About
time' which was released in May 2010.
CLICK AND BUY IT HERE
In Jan
2010 Petes album 'One' with Bill Bruford
was re released on the Summerfold label Worldwide.
Then Pete was off to Frankfurt
where he had ten performances in four days, including the
Agora stage. This was followed by a Remo
events in France and Belgium.
Playing Maante in Chhotadia
In the village of Pabuscar
After a fortnight recording
percussion for the new 'Brink'
Playstation game, Pete had a solo show in UAE
followed by a trip to Canada where he performed a solo set at the
Cape Breton drum festival. There were also duets with
Denny Seiwell and Michael Shrieve.
This was followed by a clinic tour of Canada and then a trip to the
south of France for the Montpellier drum fest and also the
Drums Addicts festival in Bordeux where
he performed solo and also in duet with Damien
Schmitt. Pete also signed on with
2Box electronic drums and Toontracks as an endorser and
contributor. Watch this space for lots of percussion kit
developments
The story for
2009
After NAMM in LA Pete was off
to India for the launch tour of his new album with
Bickram Ghosh. The album,
entitled 'Kingdom of Rhythm' was out on
the HMV / Saregama label and was launched in Kolkatta by the
governor of Bengal along with a sold out concert featuring flame
throwers and fire dancers. The show was broadcast live on TV.
Pete was then off to Argentina
for an extensive
performance / Clinic tour which took him to Buenes Aires, Mendoza
and La Plata. Then it was straight to Frankfurt for solo
performances on the main stage, a duo with Dave Langguth and a guest
performance with Selva Ganesh, Jonas Hellborg
and Niladri Kumar.
At the NAMM Remo booth
Then it was a solo slot at the Adams drum festival in
Belgium and also a duo slot with Simon Phillips. This was
followed by a short clinic tour in Holland. Around this time Petes new book received
5 stars in Modern Drummer magazine.
Besides the five stars in MD, the book was also voted in the top
five books of the year in the Modern Drummer
readers poll. Pete was also featured around this time on
Jon Hassell's new release on ECM,
'Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street' Pete
was also featured heavily on Benny Grebs
DVD and also Russ Millers DVD,
both on Hudson.
It was then off to the
Cape Breton drum fest for a solo performance, a duo with Johnny Rabb
and a collaboration with Mi'kmaq Tribe
Eskasoni and Bruce Aitken.
Following this Pete joined forces with
Nicko McBrain
of Iron Maiden for a duo performance at
Drummer Live in London. Pete then whipped out to New Zealand for a
clinic tour hosted by Rockshops NZ and
then off to Australia for a solo performance at
AUDW, the major Aussie drum fest.
This was followed by a week in Croatia teaching and performing. The
week included a duo performance with Horacio
El Negro Hernandez.
Then Pete was off to Mumbai
for a shoot for a music video with Indian rock band,
Bandish. This was followed by a series
of clinics and solo shows in Europe including
Adams drum fest and the Bag show in Paris. Also featured were
duos with Benny Greb in Paris and
Holland, Russ Miller in Holland and
Dirk Verbeuren in Belgium.
Then
Pete was off to the Montreal drum fest
for a duo performance with Steve Smith
and a clinic at the KOSA Academy.
Three new albums came out in India in the fall.
Music today released Pete's 'Journeys with the
master drummers of India' Feat TH Vikku Vinnayakram whils
Indiabeat released 'Made in Chennai'
which is a duo with Ghatam maestro Umarshankar.
Music Today also released
'Talking Drums' which also features
Zakir Hussain, Taufiq and Bickram Ghosh.
Then Pete was off to Poland for a solo show and a
collaboration with the Polish group, Gudrumba.
To conclude 2009 Pete was featured on
Mick Karns new album, ‘The Concrete
Twin’.
Pete with Simon Phillips
Video of Pete with Simon
Phillips
2008
kicked off with performances in India with U Shrinivas, U Rajesh and
Loy Mendosa. Pete then had extensive recording work on the new
Incredible Hulk film with Craig Armstrong along with
preparation work on the new Bond film with David Arnold.
It was then in the studio for work on Kiwi singer/songwriter legend
Dave Dobbyn’s new album. Pete then
performed with the group Sunev, feat Bickram Ghosh inc a show at the
Darbar festival in the UK. Live
performances with Steve Smiths Vital Information followed, inc
Ronnie Scotts in London. Work with Jon
Hassell followed with a performance with Maarifa street and a
premiered work with a 150 strong choral group in
Norwich cathedral. Then came live
performances with Lee Scratch Perry & Aid Sherwood and then a mini
tour of Russia with George Brooks and
Kai Eckhardt along with the
Goatika project.
Pete then performed at Glastonbury with beat box
star, Shlomo.
This coincided with the release of Petes new book on
Hudson music, Indian rhythms for the drum set. It is
the first book ever written covering this topic. The book was
considered 'Book of the year - 2008'
and given 10/10 by Slagwerkraant magazine in Holland.
The TAALISMAN
CD feat Pete and Amit Chatterjee was released in India in late
June 08 on new independent label Indiabeat.
He finished recording work on another new album
feat Vikku Vinnayakram and Bickram Ghosh
which will be out in 2009 on
Music Today records in India. At
this time Pete's web site was also voted website of the month on the
BBC Tom Robinson show.
With El'Negro and Roxy Petrucci
Pete also then got his teeth into recording and
arranging all the ethnic percussion on the 2008 Bond flick, 'Quantum
of solace'.
Pete was also in Kolkatta finishing off an album with Bickram Ghosh and their duo
project
KINGDOM OF RHYTHM
which will be released on Saregama -
HMV in India Feb 2009. This will also feature on one track
bass star Kai Eckhardt of
John Mclaughlin fame.
Pete also spent a few days in Kolkatta filming a video to accompany the release,
shot by leading Indian film director Ringo.
Pete also features strongly on the title track on the new
album by Indian band,
Bandish.
Action from the video shoot in Kolkatta
Then Pete was back in India for a four city tour with
Bickram and guitarist Giuliano Modarell. Around the same time
anothe Indian release came out on the Indiabeat label featuring
Pete, Henrik Anderson and Shashank for an album entitled
ROR.
November saw Pete on tour with the
'World drummers Ensemble' for the Big
Bang tour in Holland. The quintet featured; Simon Phillips, Baba Sissoko, Carlo Rizzo, Arto Tunçboyaciyan
and Pete.
Then Pete featured with Shlomo, Jarvis Cocker, Seb
Rochford and a big list of celebs for a collaborative show at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall which was sold out. One of the highlights
was the trio feat Pete, Seb and Shlo.
Pete at the Hudson photo shoot, NAMM
2009
2007 got off to a very Indian
flavour for Pete. In early January pete went out to
Kolkatta where he toured locally and
recorded with Bikram Ghosh. There was
also a TV special recorded for an international Indian station which
featured Pete being interviewed by Tanmoy Bose.
Pete then set sail for Chennai where he
recorded with Rajesh Mandolin. After a
brief break back in the UK for some sessions it was back to
Chennai for a solo gig on the same bill
as Indian legends Shuba Mudgal and
Bombay Jayshree. Then there was a
performance with U Shrinivas at the
Dyhanalinga temple in front of 100,000
people. The show was also broadcast live on national TV. The trip
was wound up with recording work on a 'big news' Tamil film called
'SIVAJI' with
Superstar actor Rajini Kanth
and
music by
AR Rahman. Then it was back to
London to perform at Ronnie Scotts with
Steve Smiths Vital Information. Pete
also got news that he narrowly missed first spot in
the readers polls of Rhythm magazine
for BEST LIVE PERCUSSIONIST 2006 and
BEST STUDIO PERCUSSIONIST 2006
Pete was then back in
Chennai for ten days performing solo on the same bill as
Shakti at the founders day celebrations
of Vikku
Vinayakrams grandfathers percussion school. There was
also another TV special recorded for SS music
and a number of live radio performances.
Photos here!
Pete also started work on a special new album which features the
great Vikku Vinayakram, Bikram Ghosh, Rajesh Mandolin, Mahesh
Vinayakram and Pete.
Then Pete was off to Canada to perform at
the Cape Bretton international drum fest.
Pete performed a solo set and also duets with
Michael Shrieve (Santana) and Ed Mann
(Zappa). Pete is also writing and recording with Michael
Shrieve on his new album. Then it was back to India for more
recording with Bickram Ghosh and then
back to the UK for recordings with Lee Scratch
Perry and Aidrian Sherwood / Primal
Scream.
Pete also performed with
Steve Hiltons FLYKKILER and Pete Lawrences
Chilled by Nature at the big chill
festival along with Remo Fernandes.
Then Pete was off to the USA for a solo performance and duet
performance with Steve Smith at the New
Hampshire drum expo. He also got a chance to visit the
Zildjian factory in Boston where there could well be some
'Lockett creations' in their drum circle ranges.
Pete with Chad Smith & Simon Hanson
in London
Pete was then off to Russia
for recordings and performances with George
Brooks and Russian outfit, Goatika. The
TAALISMAN project with
Amit Chatterjee also performed at
Birdland in Austria. Then Pete was back in India for the month of
December. Highlights included concerts with
Bickram Ghosh,
Kadri Gopalnath
, and Ghatam
Suresh, including a performance at the 70th birthday
celebrations for the legend TV Gopalkhrishnan.
There was also a recording with some of the best musicians of
Calcutta, including the great Pandit Shankar
Ghosh. There were also
recordings with Indian rock band, ‘Bandish’
including a percussion feature on the title track on their new
album.
Pete also finalised the details on his first
Indian CD release, 'Journeys with the master
drummers of India' which will
come out with
'Music Today' in 2008. The
trip wound up with NDTV doing a 30min special on
Pete, Bickram and Bandish to be
broadcast early 2008.
Poster in Kolkatta 2008
Pete also worked on a new project called
XTAL. This is a re-mix project taking
Aphex Twin tracks and giving them the full percussion
treatment.
NEW ALBUM RELEASED
APRIL 07. Pete live in Istanbul @ Babylon club 2006 with
special guests Tarik Tuysuzoglu
on percussion and
Serdar Pazarcioglu on violin. Lots of solo percussion with
electronics and some tracks with some great Turkish flavours. All
Petes albums are now available on itunes
and napster etc.
Pete with El'Negro
Drummer live 09 with Nicko McBrain
Pete was
voted #1 BEST LIVE PERCUSSIONIST 2005
in a readers poll of Rhythm magazine
& best live
percussionist 2005 on international drum site,
mikedolbear.com
This website was also voted in the top ten worldwide drum &
percussion websites 2005 at alexa.com.
Thanks to all those who voted.
With J Rabb, B Greb and Jojo Mayer @ Namm
Pete's Album,
Taiko to Tabla with Joji Hirota
was included in top 55 rhythm albums of all time in
Songlines magazine, August 2006
Pete with Zakir backstage
after the show in Mumbai
In the village of Pabuscar
