I was
asked to write something for the website, as we
have just turned the millennium. The thing is it
doesn't feel any different to me. I'm in the
middle of two projects as well as Marillion and
have been for a while, so here is an excerpt of a
diary I tried to keep while I was Recording with
Transatlantic last summer.
It must
have been in the spring of 98 when Steve H was in
contact with Mike Portnoy about the Ronnie Scotts
Gig that Dream Theater did, with lots of guests (both
Steve's being a part of that). Anyway at the end
of his correspondence, Mike asked if I would be
interested in a project he was setting up,
together with Neal Morse of Spock's Beard. I said
"put me in" and some time in Autumn was
discussed. That got put back to Jan 99 which was
agreed and Roine's name was mentioned. Christmas
came and went and I hadn't heard from Mike so I
put it to the back of my mind, thinking it would
end up like so many back stage conversations,
enthusiastically agreed up on but some how never
kept.
Then on
Jan the 6th, I was hit by a car, which put me in
Hospital with a broken leg. It was while I was
sitting in my Hospital bed feeling sorry for
myself that I got this incredible message from
Mike saying that they'd heard what had happened,
the project was being put back, and wishing me a
speedy recovery. Isn't that amazing; it amazed me.
Back home I received a tape from Mike, and a new
tape from Neal. I started juggling between
recovering, writing and recording a new Marillion
album, and listening to the tapes I'd received.
End of June was agreed upon and studio time was
booked.
Suddenly
one morning, after walking my sons to school, I
found myself being driven to Heathrow by my mum (thanks
Mum). It was the strangest feeling, just me and
my guitar waiting for a plane. It suddenly
occurred to me I'd never been out of the UK on my
own before and here I was, heading for some place
in upstate New York, that had no postal address,
and, oh did I mention not having a visa? Well I
was rather hoping that just having one guitar
with me, I could sort of be on holiday, and being
a professional musician I have to put in my 8
hours a day practice. Mentioning recording would
definitely require a visa.
So
having psyched my up for the big lie, and
practised looking particularly unconcerned about
anything, I breezed through customs and strait
into the path of a man holding up a sign with a
vague approximation of my name on it. Being used
to this sort of thing, I spotted the overbearing
row of V's, A's, and W's immediately. This was it,
I was here, game on. I was driven to Manhattan,
where I met Roine for the first time, and later
we were wined and dined by Jim and Thomas - reps
from the two record companies that were funding
the whole thing. We sat quietly wondering what
lay ahead. Next morning I was up bright and early
(or was it late, I couldn't tell!), anyway I had
a cosy few hours before meeting up with Roine at
9, to leave for Millbrook studios.
Equipment List
My set up is fairly basic and
well established. I have become a collector of
Bass guitars over the years. I made a conscience
decision early on not to get rid of any guitar
that came my way. This came about after lending
my first real bass guitar, a Fender Mustang, to a
friend, who sold it when he was broke. The guitar
in question actually belonged to Robin Boult and
me - we both won it in a raffle at our local
music shop after pooling are meagre finances for
a ticket. Since then I have kept hold of nearly
every guitar, even the Rickenbacker 4000(mono) I
joined the band with.
Amps
Ampeg SVT II
This was an amp that we borrowed for the
recording of Brave, as Dave Meagan liked the
combination of Warwick and Ampeg. I liked the
sound so much I made sure that I bought that
particular amp. It's still with me but not being
used at the moment. I use Peavey 4x12 and 1x15
cabinets with this set up.
Laney DB 300 H
This is an amp that I was using while we were
rehearsing down in Oswestry, for the Walls shows.
As luck would have it I met the some people who
are responsible for distributing Laney and Ibanez
at the shows and I now have this set up in the
studio powering a 4x10 and a 1x15 cabinet
Laney RBW 300 1x15 combo
This is a lovely little combo and is the amp I
used on the .Com tour I used it in conjunction
with my Squire Jazz Bass, and found that it was
lacking slightly in low end so I also used a Boss
Equaliser pedal to boost 80 and 200 Hz. I also
boosted the very top end as that is the sort of
sound I like to use live - I find it cuts through
the guitars and keys a bit better!
Guitars
I have already said that I have a
lot of guitars, and I use most of them at
different times for different sounds. I'm a great
believer in the theory that every guitar has a
best sound. I nearly always use each guitar with
all the settings full on, e.g., on my Warwick -
although there are boost and cut settings for the
active pickups - I always set both to be on full
boost. I feel you get more from the guitar that
way. The list of guitars bellow is in some order
of preference or favouritism.
Warwick JD Thumb bass
I have 2 of these but tend to use the one with
EMG pickups. Used on Brave, AOS, &
Transatlantic
Washburn semi-acoustic
This was bought second hand for unplugged shows
and has also featured on various recorded tracks,
including Beautiful
Squire Jazz Bass
I used this on the last tour and on recording for
Ben Castle
Yamaha BB 400 Fretless
This is my only fretless guitar, used on Sugar
Mice, Afraid Of Sunrise, Interior Lulu and
anything else fretlessy
Ibanez SDGR Soundgear
These were very kindly given to me after the
Walls show and I used them on the Radiation tour
Squire Precision
Used on Misplaced and found somewhere on most
other albums
Fender Precision
Used on No one Can and others
Rickenbacker 4003 Doubleneck
This was used on These Chains, A Few Words for
the Dead and others on Radiation; the Radiation
tour, and on .Com. Apparently there are only
about a dozen of these around!
Rickenbacker 4000
These are the two guitars used on the first EP,
and on Script. I came to the band with one and
bought the other second-hand so I could change
guitars quickly
Aria Pro II
I used to have 3 Aria guitars, and over the years
one has been misplaced which is a shame because I
suspect that it was the better sounding of the
three
Peavey 5 string
I was given a Peavey 5 string guitar a few years
ago, with my name inlaid on the fret board, but
unfortunately, that has also gone walk about
Takamine 6 string
I have a one of these, with a pre amp and graphic
built in. I bought it for acoustic ensembles, and
the like, and has been much used. Now She'll
Never Know springs to mind
Status Graphite Bass
I bought this for recording Clutching At Straws,
and used it for the next few years
Strings
I have always used round wound strings in
Marillion, and over the years have used various
makes. At the moment I use Elite, made for The
Bass Centre, and I use standard gauge strings. 45,
65, 85, 105. (I think they're right!)
Effects and other Toys
I use Boss pedals for most of my
effects and usually record the guitar going
through the effect unit, as my Boss tuner is in
line with them. This only changes if we have a
particular problem of some sort, i.e. noise. The
pedals include: Stereo Chorus, Distortion,
Flanger, Graphic EQ, Compressor/Sustain (this is
a pedal I use a lot for recording fretless bass,
a trick learned from Dave Meegan, works well to
get a natural sounding sustain. Afraid Of Sunrise
is a good example of this), Digital Delay (interestingly
the delay I used on This Strange Engine was the
longest delay that particular pedal gives. On
tour I used an SPX90 rack unit)
Moog Taurus 1 bass pedals
I have three sets of these in various states of
repair, the best sounding two of the three sets
are kept in some kind of playable state. You must
remember these are as unreliable as anything gets,
but can sound great if you find a good one. These
have been used all over everything, in the studio,
and live. I once had to buy a set in America
because the set we took over just stopped working.
Roland MK5(?) MIDI Pedals
Theses have been with me since Brave and are
invaluable live. They're connected to a Kurzweil
K2000 sampler. I used to use them along side the
Taurus pedals, but on the last tour, we sampled
the Taurus pedals and I only used these.
Lexicon Jam Man
This is a fantastic tool for writing, as you can
loop samples or trigger samples or use it as a
chorus or delay. I use this a lot in the studio,
although it is a bit unfriendly for live work as
you cannot store things you sample or any
settings for delays
Current Projects
During June and July 1999, Pete
travelled to New York to meet up with Dream
Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Spock's Beard
singer Neal Morse, and Flower Kings guitarist
Roine Stolt to take part in a "prog
supergroup" project. The album SMPTe by the now-named group 'Transatlantic'
is in its final stages, and is set for release in
March 2000. The album will be available at Racket
Records when
released, and details will be posted to this site
as they become available.
Previous Projects
In 1996, Ian Mosley teamed up
with French guitarist Sylvain Gouvernaire to form
the band Iris asking Pete to guest on bass. They
released the instrumental album Crossing
the Desert. In
addition, Pete added his playing to bandmate
Steve Rothery's Wishing Tree Carnival
of Souls album.
Pete has had a long history of
very short-lived bands from his early years,
including such gems as Orthi, The Robins,
Tamberlane, Heartbeat, East Goes West, and the
most successful of the lot, The Metros. The
Metros' claim to fame was opening up for Duran
Duran in New York in 1982.
