Pete And The Pirates – in session for Marc Riley – BBC 6 Music – March 14, 2011 – BBC Radio –
Pete and The Pirates in session tonight. Recorded for Marc Riley at BBC 6 Music on March 14, 2011. A somewhat short-lived band, forming in 2004 and calling it a day in 2012 before regrouping and starting up again under another name, Pete & The Pirates were one of those bands critics took and instant liking to.
Brothers Tommy Sanders and Jonny Sanders grew up playing music together at home in their early teens. Jonny later played in a band with Guitarist David Thorpe while attending Maiden Erlegh School in Reading. It was not until they all left school that they met with Bassist Peter Cattermoul and Guitarist Peter Hefferan, who had also played music together in their late teens, that the band was formed. Initially, the lineup did not include Tommy Sanders and was fronted by Peter Hefferan.
After playing just a few shows around Reading, the band were invited on a short tour with all-girl punk band Wetdog, who took them to play at The Spitz in Spitalfield Market. It was here that the band was picked up by a new indie label, Stolen Recordings, and where they would begin to build their reputation as an exciting live act. Just a few months later, the bands was in a studio in Hornsey making their first EP.
Pete and The Pirate’s first release, the Get Even EP, was limited to 500 numbered CDs, all with handmade covers.
Rough Trade wrote of the EP “The six tracks have folk bits, byrdsy harmony bits, kraut-rock frug-outs, punk blasts of power and superb pop moments all segued and strewn together carelessly but precisely. It’s oddball and charming and would sit perfectly next to the englishness of the Mystery Jets or Wire, although they sound like neither.”
Marc Riley of BBC 6 Music has been one of the band’s most prominent enthusiasts, inviting them to perform on his show on numerous occasions. The band have achieved playlists on BBC 6 Music and XFM as well as spot plays on BBC Radio 1, where Zane Lowe gave “Come To The Bar” his “Hottest Record in the World” for the song’s first radio play.
“Blood Gets Thin” was used in an episode of The Protector and of American Horror Story, and in a trailer for the fourth season of Breaking Bad.
A large number of CD and vinyl copies of the album were scorched in a fire at Sony’s distribution warehouse during the 2011 England riots.
The band toured the UK and Europe from September to November 2011, with a headline show at the Scala in London on 4 October and a 9,000 capacity show with Kaiser Chiefs at Kirkstall Abbey on 10 September. However, their activity was minimal during 2012, and in late October 2012, Marc Riley, on his BBC 6 Music radio show, confirmed the rumours that the band had split up. No official statement has been released.
Tommy, Jonny and Peter Cattermoul have reformed under the name Teleman.
Peter Hefferan now fronts a band called The 3.1419 Wonders, and recently toured with Dan le Sac, as well as singing on a track on his latest album Space Between the Words.
Hit Play and check them out.
