![]() In March, 1997, on a night he couldn’t sleep, he went to his computer, rather than turn on the TV, and, by chance, punched in Vanilla Fudge. Over the years, some of the bassists Pete has loved listening to include Tim Bogert, Paul McCartney, Chris Squire and John Entwistle. During the entire time, whether he was playing music, or in retirement from music, he continued to follow the members of the Fudge in their various projects. He reunited with his childhood friend who originally encouraged him to play bass, and they started gigging together. When Pete was in his early forties he was looking to get a part-time job, and his wife suggested that he start playing music again. Ultimately, the bass player of the house band found out Pete played bass, and got him up on the bandstand. That ignited the “bug” in him, and he started going to weekly jam nights, just to listen. ![]() The neighbor didn’t care that Pete hadn’t played for twenty years, and Pete did the gig, playing two of the three sets. You must be wondering–how did Pete get pulled back into music? Well, his bass playing neighbor signed up for a gig around Christmas, 1993 playing cover tunes, and when he realized he didn’t know most of the songs, and it was only a few days away from the gig, he asked Pete to share the gig with him as a favor. During that time, he worked in the printing industry, married and raised a family, became a volunteer firefighter, and became a volunteer search and rescue dog handler. After playing the New Jersey music circuit for several years, Pete retired from music for about twenty years. Because their repertoire included a heavy dose of Fudge music, they were often referred to as the Heaven’s Vanilla Fudge Sundae. There came a point when Pete could play the entire Vanilla Fudge album on bass, organ and drums! When Pete was part of a cover band, Heaven’s Sundae, they became popular playing the teen clubs, CYO events, and school dances. The bass was no longer boring! In addition to igniting his interest in the bass guitar, Pete immersed himself in the music of the Vanilla Fudge, even learning the keyboard parts on his dad’s Hammond Spinet. To this day, Tim is one of the fastest bass players Pete has ever seen, even if he is sometimes only playing with one finger. Tim’s lines were innovative, and he played with speed and muscle. Seeing the Fudge and hearing Tim Bogert changed his life that day. Although the band had released the 45 “You Keep Me Hanging On,” Pete had not heard it. It was August, 1967, the day before the Fudge’s debut LP was released. When Pete was fourteen, a musician friend who was a year older, and always on the cutting edge of new music, took him to an outdoor concert in New Jersey to see a band called the Vanilla Fudge. One day, his best friend said to Pete “we have enough guitars-play bass! It only has 4 strings, and you only have to play one low note at a time.” Pete thought that would be cool, but after developing into a pretty good drummer, he quickly grew bored playing roots and fifths. Like many kids at the time, having friends play music in his basement worked well, but once his bandmates decided they wanted to jam at other houses, pulling the drums on a wagon was not a viable alternative, so Pete volunteered to play guitar. He studied music theory in high school, and attended William Patterson University for two years studying percussion, where he studied with Thad Jones. By his freshman year of high school, his parents bought him a set of Ludwig Black Diamond Pearl drums, which he still owns. Pete banged on a practice pad and furniture, until he cobbled together a drum set. Many bass players picked up the bass after seeing Paul and The Beatles, but Pete picked up drumsticks instead, after seeing Ringo. In 1962, when Pete was nine or ten years old, he was a percussionist in his grammar school concert band. ![]() Pete had his own cool collection of 45s, including “Bad Boy” by the Jive Bombers. That meant a lot of demonstration records were in the house, and his dad was always spinning records – from classical to jazz. His dad also owned and operated an electronics company that built stereos and TVs. His mom played piano (though they didn’t have one in the house), and his dad tinkered with a 1949 Hammond Spinet organ. Only in America! Pete grew up in a house filled with music. By Joe Gagliardo The American Dream-you flip out after seeing the Vanilla Fudge at the age of fourteen play a bunch of their songs in a band retire from the music business for twenty years and then years later, go from being an Assistant Webmaster of a Vanilla Fudge fan site to being the bass player in the Vanilla Fudge and Cactus.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |