PetePete
Pete began his musical career at a young age, and continues to enjoy bringing music to anyone who will listen. His long association with Rob and Leo began in high school, which is also where Pete learned how to play steel drums! Originally, he joined the steel band to escape the drudgery of that extra hour of sleep in the morning; who could predict that years later, this chance decision would lead to a long and glory-studded career with the Toucans?
Pete loves to experiment with melody, harmony, and rhythm, and will often mess with a song until it's got just the right combination of groove and spark. Of course, this often leads to disaster (witness Pete's tragic involvement with Gasolino Calienté and the Sparkaphonics...) Nevertheless, Pete hasn't learned his lesson, and continues to twist each song he gets his hands on into strange new forms. Playing the double seconds (a mid-range pan) and conga drums in the Toucans has given Pete a wealth of performance experience and an ever-growing love for music of all kinds, not to mention a pounding headache.
The things Pete enjoys are as varied as his music interests, although right near the top of the list would probably be riding his Yamaha Radian (see right). 600cc's of bike packed into a tight, quick frame makes this cycle his street bike of choice. Pete also enjoys cooking (and eating) vegetarian meals with his friends, especially Indian and Chinese dishes! Pete likes listening to reggae and calypso, enjoys going to his friends' hardcore shows, and spends lots of time reading (influences include Chomsky, Pynchon, Orwell, Bowles, Dick, Lem, Vance, and Marquez) and playing music in his (nonexistent) spare time. Pete also mixes up dub sounds for the Dub Championz every wednesday night at the Rainbow Bar in the University District of Seattle.
Acting as the perfect foil for the contagious energy of Rob, Pete can be counted on to provide the grounded support that every band needs. He is also involved in several other projects, including playing electric bass for Seattle's Most Crushing Irish Band, Saint Bushmill's Choir. Featuring members of Black Noise Cannon, The Gits, Sanford Arms and other groups playing traditional and modern Irish tunes, this seven-piece group (accordion, violin, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, & drums) venerates such god-like bands as The Pogues, The Levellers, and Declan Hunt's rebel group The Battering Ram, not to mention the Dubliners.
Here is a picture of Pete's favorite candy, an Icelandic sort of candy with chloroform as one of the main ingredients. He can't figure out whether it's that or the cool graphic on the box which makes it his favorite, but it can't be beat!
Here are some links to Pete's favorite artwork. One's a Bill Hoest cartoon, about which you can draw your own conclusions, another is a photocopy montage (©1991) in which the subject is a friend of Pete's named Dave. Successive xeroxes (on a Xerox copier, poignantly enough) were pasted together by Pete onto a page of actual paper to produce this striking bit of artwork. The caption does not necessarily represent the views of this website.
Another great cartoon is this one, which illustrates a sad truth about the society we live in. It's from the 1950's, but is just as relevant today as it was then, although in a broader sense. This last link is to a fantastic sticker done by an anonymous Hessian at LibTech, the Seattle snowboard company. It's rad; Pete like.
Featured here is a picture of Pete's cat Licky, currently being foster parented by Super Dan Baugher. Licky is slightly cross-eyed, and has a lovable personality which more than makes up for his lack of brain capacity. He is descended from the aristocratic line of cats, headed by the matriarch Frith, cat companion to AJ, the bass player for the black metal group Baba Yaga.
Pete and his friend Toucan Rob work together brainstorming many different musical and theatrical productions, one of which, Tales of the Caribbean, has been performing in schools around the Seattle area to acclaim from teachers, parents, and students alike. Their velvet lounge band, The Magic Peanut Orchestra, has been slathering a thick layer of Cheez on the musical landscape for the last couple of years, and their nautical productions of Battle Songs of the Toucan Pirates and Sea Changes of the Toucan Pirates are a study in Caribbean/Celtic crossovers!
Pete spends his off-season time in the recording studio, visiting his parents at their house on beautiful Hartstene Island in south Puget Sound, or traveling around the world to places like Ireland and Taiwan.
