Born in London in 1971 to a couple of Texan immigrants (which explains variously his love of Guy Clark and daft middle name of Quentin), Pete has been hitting things since the age of eight.
He studied at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, later at Goldsmith’s College, London. Here he specialised in performance, composition and ethnomusicology and won his first and only academic laurels by graduating with a first and winning the Burnet and Hails Award.
He was principal percussionist in the Goldsmiths Orchestra where there he formed a band with Gideon Juckes called the Very Tiny Little Kids, and Gideon’s connections with folk in the UK Rai scene led to work with Abdel Ali Slimani, Cheb Nacim, U-Cef and Natacha Atlas. On an entirely different tangent, his work as a composer and musician for theatre had come to the attention of Tom Morris - at that time Artistic Director of BAC, which led to work with Time Out award-winner Guy Dartnell, theatre company Fevered Sleep, a commission from opera company Tete a Tete to write one sixth of an opera, and work as music director of a puppetry version of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale.
Pete is still involved in composition for theatre, dance and installations - he has recently worked with site specific dance specialists, Stacked Wonky and is involved in the development of a puppetry version of the Orpheus myth with Lost and Found Theatre Co. He is also still involved in improvisation in all its forms - in 2007 he took part in the Sounding Jerusalem festival in Jerusalem and Ramallah, playing with Palestinian and Israeli musicians. Another project from last year was an improvised collaboration with Heart and Soul, an arts organisation led by artists with learning disabilities, directed by Guy Dartnell.
Pete is vying to be in the most bands of any member of Bellowhead. He plays with Setsubun Bean Unit and The Treecreepers and two groups with the Austrian accordeon player, Stefan Heckel: Dawn Chorus, and Blaubauer - both loosely jazz. He is also an occasional player with Lisa Knapp and Tim van Eyken.