ARTIST BIO: PETE WILHOIT
Pete is a New York City drummer originally from Indiana. Growing up in Bloomington, home of Indiana University School of Music where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz studies & Percussion, Pete had the great fortune of being taught by some of the top drummers and educators in the world, including Shawn Pelton (SNL, Sheryl Crow), David Baker, Dominic Spera, Wilber England and drumming legend Kenny Aronoff. Kenny was not only Pete’s long time teacher, but also played on his recital, helping him out with a double drum solo to close out the performance.
Pete’s first band, The Cutters, formed in 1991. This rock band was signed to a BMG label and did a US tour in support of their album “Sonic Wave Love”, opening for The Flys, Fuel and even landed on the USS Eisenhower out at sea to play a gig for the troops. The band enjoyed an eleven-year career releasing two EP’s and two full length albums. In that time Pete played drums on over 35 studio albums and performed numerous live shows, which included the likes of Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers & solo), G.E. Smith (SNL) and Jazz great James Moody (Blue Note). After moving to NYC Pete has played and recorded with numerous artists including New York singer songwriter Ari Hest, French pop singer Veronica Antico, as well as Irish folk rocker Michael Brunnock. Pete has been a full member of British rock trio Fiction Plane for 6 years. The band's lead singer, Joe Sumner, is the oldest son of rock legend Sting. Pete enjoys contributing as a writer as well as providing the rock solid backbone of the rhythm section with his ferocious, but still delicate, musical drumming style. It’s been over six years since landing the Fiction Plane drum chair. In that time Pete has enjoyed a nine-month US/Canadian tour, two separate tours in Japan, a U.K., a 2 month, 29 date, 25 country European tour with Fiction Plane opening for Sting. He was honored to share the stage with such amazing musicians (Sting, his long-time guitarist Dominic Miller, new guitarist Lyle Workman, and drum legends Abe Laboriel Jr. and Josh Freese). Fiction Plane was also very honored to be the opening band for The Police world reunion tour in 2007-08. The band enjoyed 87 shows opening for the rock legends and playing songs from . Ending in Honolulu Hawaii the band shared the stage with The Police for the last time with both bands performing "Next To You" together (as seen on the Police fan Club DVD). After a short, but very fun tour with "The Feeling" in the UK and a 4 week tour with The Bravory, the band did European summer festivals including Rock 'em Ring and Rock 'em Park in Germany, Des Papillons de Nuits and 24 hours of Le Mans in France, Paaspop and Pinkpop in Holland. Fiction Plane returned back to the states for two months on the "Unity Tour" with 311 and Snoop Dogg. The summer ended with a one-off with Foreigner. A personal hi-light for Pete was meeting Jason Bonham.
Pete and Fiction Plane have made appearances on several TV shows including “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, "The Jimmy Kimmel Show", “MTV News”, MTV2:“You Hear It First”, “E! News Live”, “Extra”, “Viewsic on the PLANET” (Japan), “Taratata” (France) and made their US network television debut on "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn". The band has released 2 full length albums ("Everything Will Never Be OK" (2003), "Left Side of the Brain" (2007), 1 EP ("Bitter Forces and Lame Race Horses" (2005)) and most recently a live DVD from Amsterdam called "Paradiso".
RECENT ALBUM: FICTION PLANE, PARADISO
RECENT VIDEO
FUN FACTS
Full Name: Peter Francis Wilhoit
Birthday: December 8, 1971
Height: 6’ 4”
Equiptment: STARCLASSIC BUBINGA (Metallic black w/ gold inlay)
Favorite Record of all time: RUSH "EXIT STAGE LEFT"
Movies: STAR WARS (Episodes IV,V,VI-not I, II, III rubbish!)
Sports: BASEBALL (I wanted to be a Chicago Cub! I did get to play in Wrigley Field, just not baseball!)
Food: GELATO (In Italy only please!)
Drink: CHOCOLATE SHAKE (from the Chocolate Moose in Bloomington IN!)
Hobbies: SURFING, POKER, SWIMMING, FISHING, PING PONG, TENNIS, BASKETBALL
Q+A with Pete Wilhoit
Q: What was your most embarrassing moment on stage?
PW: On the Police tour I accidently sat down behind the wrong kit, all the techs pissed themselves laughing!
Q: When did you know you were destined to be a drummer?
PW: In the 4th grade, my rock band called "The Explosives" had all the girls singing along to our songs, I was hooked.
Q: What is your proudest achievement?
PW: My son, ETHAN "DUKE" WILHOIT!
Q: Tell us about your best show ever and your worst.
PW: BEST: With Fiction Plane at Stade de France in front of 80,000 people. WORST: With a cover band at the VFW in front of 3 eighty year olds.
Q: Tell us about your set-up.
PW: Starclassic Bubinga 24" kick, 12" rack, 14" & 16" floor toms. Simple, but stellar!
Q: What inspires you?
PW: Taking lessons with Kenny Aronoff, and Shawn Pelton has always inspired me over the years. Hearing them talk about working with different artists and producers got me hooked early. Seeing a great band kill it in a small club in New York is inspiring as well. New York's good like that!
Q: What do you look for in a drum sound?
PW: For Fiction Plane I like a big rock sound, open and raw. For gigs around New York City I like a smaller, tighter sound, more controlled less in your face.
Q: How did you learn to play the drums?
PW: I started with learning the proper hand position and rudiments just on a pad, then a snare, then kick, snare and hats etc. I really enjoyed the physical side of it all and once I started really understanding the language I started practicing with real intent.
Q: What record are you most proud of and why?
PW: Fiction Plane "Left Side of the Brain". I really enjoyed making that record with producer Paul Corkett (The Cure, Nick Cave, Placebo). It was our first record as a trio and we got to tour it around the world with The Police in front of millions!
Q: What's your favorite place to play?
PW: In Amsterdam at the "Paradiso". It's an old Church that was renovated into a music venue. They left the stained glass as a background, it's divine!
Q: What's the best and worst part of being a drummer?
PW: The best part is the adrenaline rush from the physically exertion. Ironically the worst part is the physical pounding your hands take day in and day out, that and lugging your kit up stairs, argh!
Q: You can play any kit you want, why do you choose Tama?
Originally it was all because of Kenny. I loved the look and sound of his Art Star II kit. Then I got one of my own. The hardware has always been super road-worthy. The rim technology and shell production of the Starclassics give you a super-true tone that never disappoints. Tama doesn't just make world class drums, they make world class instruments that just happen to be drums! Bravo Tama!