Many thanks to the readers of RHYTHM magazine who voted Pete #2 Best studio percussionist 2004 and #6 best live percussionist 2004 in their readers poll. 

2004 kicked off with a visit to India, recording in Chennai with Rajesh Mandolin, brother of Shrinivas for his new album. Then it was off to Bombay to have the honour of being invited to perform with Ustad Zakir Hussain, Taufiq Quereshi, Bhavani Shankar, Ganesh Kumaresh and a group of Indian percussionists in for the yearly homage concert in memory of the late Ustad Alla Rakha.

Pete then performed with Taufiq, Shrinivas, and Shankar Mahedevan  at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 27th April for the annual UK concert, also in memory of Alla Rakha. Pete has also been busy touring his own projects, including the new duo with Irish musician Steafan Hannigan across Europe. At last, his book ‘Symmetrical Stickings for the Snare Drum’ is out on H&H Publishing. The next two books in the series are soon to follow.

Taiko to Tabla (Pete and Joji Hirota, a unique fusion of percussive cultures) were busy as ever touring and gigging. March 2004 saw the release of their second album on the Arc music label. There are plenty of interesting pieces on the album, including Joji’s fabulous Japanese folk singing and Shakuhachi.  It is available here in the online shop.  MP3 clip

Manodharma. The spring saw a new collaboration featuring Pete with Pandit Sharda Sahai on Tabla, Balachander Muthukrishnan on Mridangam, and Shri on bass. (Badmarsh and Shri) There were a series of concerts around London April/May 04 and a CD/DVD of the project will be released in due course. Email Pete for further info when it is available. In the meantime, check out a clip of one of the gigs here.

With Viku and Selva  during soundcheck

Pete on stage with Steve Smith

July saw the tenth anniversary of the international ‘RHYTHM STICKS’ percussion festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Pete was involved in a new multi media collaboration featuring from Bombay, Ronu Majumdar on Indian flutes, from Italy, the virtuoso Italian guitarist Antonio Forcione, Bassist Davide Mantovani and amazing VJ’s from London "Yeast". There was a weeks rehearsals leading up to the gig which was a great success. MP3 clip

There has also been extensive touring with Adrian Sherwood around european venues and festivals, inc Glastonbury and Sudoeste in Portugal. There have also been live dates with Little Axe and Craig Armstrong amongst others. Recent recordings have included work on The Verve anthology, Martina Topley Bird, Chris Potter, John Spencer Blues Explosion, David Holmes, The Players/Steve White, Youth and is the featured percussionist for the new Catwoman game which comes out with the film in 2004. Pete also co wrote and was extensively involved in the music for the FENDI Designer clothing company’s cat walk fashion show in Rome 2004.

Global Junction Live

In September Pete performed duo with Steve Smith at Wembley conference centre as part of 'Drummer Live 2004'   The performance was a great success, even though Pete had travelled through the night from Poland with no sleep.  An hours rehearsal in the dressing room was enough to set up a challenging fifteen minute duet which went down a storm with the packed audience of drummers. MP3 clip  

Before this Pete was gigging in Poland with Little Axe, featuring Skip Macdonald, Doug Wimbish (Living Colour)  and Adrian Sherwood in the mix.  Pete was on Drum set and Perc.  October saw continuing percussion work on Adrian's new album for Real World at his new studio in North London.  There has also been featured percussion recording on a new album from Legendary Bollywood singer, Hari Haran.  In late November Pete performed solo and gave a clinic in Paris for the percussion festival, PAS Festival Journees de la Percussion. Pic's here!  or  11 beat Tabla MP3 from the show  (5meg)

Pete with Doug Wimbish and Skip Macdonald on tour in Portugal 2004

After the show with Steve Smith

He also continues to be a regular techniques columnist for Rhythm Magazine in the UK. The magazine has been significantly revamped over the last few issues with a dedicated audio CD for drummers and percussionists, which includes some of Pete’s master classes and audio lessons. He is also a regular ‘Drum tips and hints’ columnist for the UK based magazine ‘Total Music’. He has also been on the educational circuit with demos and workshops all over, including Brighton Institute of Modern Music and the Bath Festival.

                   
                                         Live in London

On the education tip, there are loads of new downloadable free percussion tutorials right here on the web site, covering everything percussive, going right down to the minute details of techniques and the history of the instruments.

Pete also supplied percussion sounds for Steve Sidelnyk on one of his Signature Sounds kits released for ddrum4. Steve is Madonnas drummer and is touring with her throughout 2004.
 

Poster from Poland

Pete with Aid Sherwood in Poland

Highlights of 2003

One of the highlights of 2003 was a month long tour of India. It involved Pete’s Network of Sparks collaborating with the great Carnatic percussionist Selva Ganesh (Shakti & John McLaughlin) and Indian group Mrigya, including Sharat Chandra Srivastava on Hindustani Violin, Sukriti Sen Bhattacharjee on Classical Hindustani Vocals, and Indraneel Hariharan on bass. Also featured were Ghanaian master drummer Nana Tsiboe and tuned percussionist, Simon Limbrick. The tour went on the road after a week’s rehearsal in Delhi, and after concerts in the capital, went on to Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and then back to Mumbai. Concerts included a performance at the prestigious Music Academy Theatre, where they were lucky enough to have Grammy winner, Vikku Vinayakram performing with them. There was also a busy workshop schedule, including one at the famous Hindustani music centre, ‘Sangeet Research Academy. The project was supported by the British Council and Teamwork Films. MP3 clip

Calcutta Drummers

Much recording was waiting back in the UK, including Jeff Beck, The Suga Babes, Hughes De Courson and the usual list of films etc. He also did a lot of the percussion programming on the new Ronan Keating album.

The year came to a busy conclusion with Pete involved in a number of new projects and recordings. First was the UK tour supporting Blur with Adrian Sherwood and Ghetto Priest, followed by a performance with Michael Nyman at the British Museum in London in front of Tony Blair. Live recordings with Edwyn Collins for his new album bought the proceedings to a close around the 20th December for a well earned new year break!!

Again, the results of the Rhythm magazine readers poll were very positive with Pete coming second in the best studio percussionist category and fourth in the best live percussionist category. Thanks to all those who voted.

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Pete in a swirl!

Pete's Setup 2002

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