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Interviews....
Pete Willow....
December 2003 ~ Christmas
special!
Covfolk:
Hello Pete! Many thanks for agreeing to give an interview
for the Covfolk Website
CF:
So where did life start for Pete Willow? Have you always
lived in the Coventry/Brinklow area?
Pete:
I was brought up in Coventry although I was too young to
appreciate the early 60s folk revival – honestly! Anyway
I was busy getting into the blues and playing air guitar
to my John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers LPs. I moved to Hertfordshire
in 1969 where I discovered folk music at Watford Tech! Then
I lived in North London, Leeds, back to London then back
to Coventry by 1974. I moved to Brinklow about 8 years ago
so that I could play with The Oddsods at the old Dun Cow
sessions without having to drive home. By the way
‘Pete Willow’ is an invention. The name was given
to me by a mad hippy bongos player with whom I used to play
the North London pub circuit. I’ve kept it as a stage
name and pen name but I was born as Peter James Wilby.
CF:
Were
you born into a musical family?
PW:
No. I think my Dad played in a dance band when he was a
teenager but he doesn’t like to talk about his early
sax life. At least I think that’s what he said…
CF:
What
was the first musical instrument you learnt to play and
at what age?
PW:
I used to be a whiz recorder player at primary school and
even learned to read the dots! Then I went to Bablake School,
Coventry. Incentives to play live music there were none!
So by the time I traded in the air guitar for a real one
at the age of 14, I’d forgotten how to read stave and
concentrated instead on tablature and chord boxes. I have
since dabbled with mandolin and did play bass for a college
band but most of the time I’ve hammered out chords
on 6-string guitars – and if I’ve been really
lucky I’ve managed to finish the set with all 6 strings
intact!
CF:
Have
you always had strong leanings towards Folk music and who
were your early influences?
PW:
My early musical heroes were Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Alvin Lee,
Frank Zappa – I’d always wanted to play guitar
like those guys. But in the late 60s I was also a fan of
Donovan, Joni Mitchell. Bob Dylan and the Incredible String
Band without ever considering myself to be a folkie. I was
asked to run the Watford Tech College Folk Club in 1970
and quickly discovered a great community of musicians. Derek
Brimstone lived just down the road and we became great mates.
I also met people like Friedemann and Moses, the late, great
Gerry Lockran and the amazing Mick Softley – and loved
their music.
During that time I went to a gig at Watford Town Hall. The
Jack Bruce Band was topping the bill but they were completely
upstaged by the two support acts, namely Jonathan Kelly
(who wrote Cursed Anna – as sung by Paul Downes and
our own Bob Wilkinson) and an unknown American singer at
the time called Loudon Wainwright III. That was when I really
learned of the power of the acoustic guitar over the electric.
CF:
Have you always played in bands or have you had periods
where you were a solo performer?
PW:
I’ve played my own material as a soloist on and off
for over 30 years – and still do if clubs will book
me (smiles sweetly with pleading expression in eyes!). One
of my first professional band gigs was under a tree in Stratford-upon-Avon
with Dave Bennett and Mick Cullen. We played a 20-minute
set while a crowd of tourists gathered. Then we stopped,
they threw loads of money at us, we had a cup of tea and
then played the set again to a new crowd. Aah if only touring
were that simple – we only needed to know four or five
numbers.
I was part of a duo with Linda Dickson (of Ninepenny Mahl)
for a long time – from the mid 80s till about 5 years
ago when we last played Warwick Folk Festival. I think we
did a lot of good stuff together and for a while we were
joined by a keyboards player called Dave Halton and called
ourselves Out Of Hand. That was a fun line-up with some
great gigs and an album which I still enjoy listening to
occasionally. The recording engineer was Paul Adkins –
he later joined us as a drummer and we changed our names
to the Passion Badgers. Don’t ask why – it was
a committee decision and a lot of alcohol was involved.
The height of our career was Wigan Folk Festival where we
upset the organisers by bringing the drum kit.
Michael Mahon invited me to join The Oddsods about 8 years
ago. I never thought I’d stay with a band for so long
but it has been a brilliant experience and a fascinating
process to watch the Sods develop from a session to a concert
band playing to audiences of hundreds and releasing two
albums. Simon Street and I even toured abroad – between
two Irish bars in Gran Canaria for 13 consecutive nights!
Amaranth evolved when Louisa and I started experimenting
with more complex arrangements of tunes and songs. I’ve
also worked with Lesley Celic and for a short while I was
a member of Water Under The Bridge – a covers band
that she and Jayne Lloyd formed and one that offered another
chance to play Warwick Folk Festival. We supported Meet
On The Ledge on the steps of the Shire Hall. We left a hat
on the bottom step and earned 37p and a Trebor mint. Meet
On The Ledge took the money and we dined out on the rest.
(And people say it’s a cushy life being a musician)
CF:
You recently held your annual Oddsods Christmas gig at the
Boggery – How was that?
PW:
Great. This year we did a Santa in his Grotto routine. Paul
Kenny made a convincing Santa - I think he must be distant
relative. I was an elf. I’d been contracted in from
the Elf Hire Club. (No they don’t get any better)
CF:
These are always memorable shows! Have you had any other
gigs that stand out for you – Good or bad?
PW:
Yes memorable’s a very diplomatic way of describing
us :o) Many good gigs stand out – like when The Oddsods
played support to The Fureys and Davey Arthur in Birmingham
earlier this year. I’ve also enjoyed the times we’ve
been double-billed with the Gravelly Hillbillies. And the
live gigs in Brinklow where we recorded the Scallywags and
Shenanigans albums.
I remember a bizarre gig with the Passion Badgers at Spilsby
Arts Centre in Lincolnshire. We played outdoors to an audience
of Hells Angels and Julie Felix – she just happened
to be there! The building looked a bit like a Greek temple
and each of us stood between the columns – we couldn’t
see each other but we had mini-monitors so we could hear
each other loud and clear. The audience was quite friendly
although one of the Hells Angels did wander off to the bushes
at one stage and take a leak in full view of us! Linda was
gobsmacked – ‘no-one has ever done that during
one of my gigs before!’
Some of the scarier gigs for The Oddsods were in a famous
Irish pub in Birmingham where we were flanked on stage by
security guards armed with metal detectors to stop people
coming in with knives – music lovers mainly! Joe O’Donnell
was our stand-in fiddle player at the time and thank God
the audience liked us – well him in particular!
CF:
Thanks to your weekly folk column in the Coventry Evening
Telegraph we are kept up to date with the latest gigs and
news in the area. How long have you been writing for this
feature?
PW:
Since 1982. I was reading my degree in Communication Studies
and it helped supplement the grant. Now it helps supplement
my day job as a Media Studies lecturer. My other media work
was in 1991 when I presented CWR Folk on BBC local radio
for a year. Linda Dickson was my co-presenter and we had
some interesting challenges there – performing live
and on air in the Two Boats, Long Itchington in front of
the entire BBC Midlands management, doing a running commentary
for a morris dance display in Coventry (some said it looked
better on radio anyway!) and interviewing a 16-piece Latvian
choir who poured in to the studio one night – only
one of them could speak English. Oh how I remember the stress
levels…
CF:
You have a busy schedule with the folk column, gigs with
Amaranth and The Oddsods and preparing for the annual Folk
Weekend in Brinklow; do you find time for other hobbies
and interests out of the folk scene?
PW:
I am a Coventry Mummer. It gives me an excuse to wear silly
clothes, step into pubs and yell, ‘In comes I…!
But then I do that anyway. We’re in the middle of our
run of Christmas Plays at the moment – details on my
website folks!! That’s www.brinklow-57.freeserve.co.uk
Otherwise not much these days. Work and family circumstances
recently have made it very difficult to get out to some
of the local clubs as much as I’d like. I am trying
to get back into writing songs again – I used to churn
them out by the bucket-load in my younger more inspired
days.
CF:
Speaking of Amaranth, do you have any plans to record a
full-length Amaranth album (Following on from the CD single)?
PW:
Not only plans – we’re doing it! Louisa and I
released the CD single when Amaranth was a duo, but now
Ewan Cameron and Keith Eardley have joined us, we’ve
been back in the studio to make a demo CD in the hope of
impressing festival organisers (Malc Gurnham – are
you reading this!?). We’ve done 3 tracks with Matt
Katz in Leamington – he recorded the Aardvark Ceilidh
Band’s CD and he’s brilliant. We’re delighted
with the recording so far and our plan is to do more tracks
as soon as possible so that we can release a full album
before the festival season kicks off.
CF:
Finally Pete, you made the unexpected announcement recently
that you and Louisa will be leaving The Oddsods. Is this
to enable you to commit more time to Amaranth?
PW: That wasn’t the
reason but that will be the result - hopefully.
Louisa has had trouble fitting the Oddsods schedule into
her own routine anyway as she now lives near Walsall and
doesn’t drive. I’d been thinking of moving on
from the band for a while and Louisa’s decision prompted
me to say – right it’s now or never. I have found
The Oddsods hard work recently. One night’s gig for
me starts early evening to set up the PA until last thing
at night (or early the following morning)… it’s
knackering for a man of my advancing years - although being
on stage actually playing the music has always been fun.
I especially enjoy the Status Quo routines with Richard
‘Doc’ Rider – takes me back to my air guitar
days. I would hope to join in with the guys for the odd
reunion gig and I think Louisa would too. So yes, the band
will definitely continue and I wish them all success –
they’ve certainly helped me to develop loads as a live
musician.
But Amaranth does offer a lot of scope for innovation and
new musical directions. We’re still heavily based on
Irish tradition but incorporating jazz, funk and blues influences
and playing some original songs and tunes as well. So I’m
pleased to be able to concentrate on that – it’s
all very exciting. And I get to play some Status Quo chords
in one of the tune sets. There must be loads of folk guitarists
out there just like me – rock’n’rollers in
sheep’s clothing ;o)
CF:
Pete, many thanks again for taking part in this interview!
Have a great Christmas and every success in the New Year!
PW: My pleasure, same
to you and all power to Covfolk’s elbow!!!
You
can see the last Oddsods gig with the current line-up at
The Ride a Cock Horse Folk Club in Banbury on 7th January
2004
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