Pete grew up in LA in the valley where he also attended High School. He faced the difficulties many have experienced both before and since when your general music tastes and views upon the World don't quite mix with the widespread breed of asshole. It's not easy growing up as a punk kid, and Pete knew it. Nevertheless, it was there in social circles and groups of the early 80s punk culture that he met the other guys from 'Bad Religion' and replaced their first drummer, Jay Ziskrout, in holding down the beats. He played with them on their debut full-length record; "How Could Hell Be Any Worse?" ('81), considered by many to be a landmark in SoCal Punk and continued playing shows and building up the hype. Then, in 1983 came the "flop". "Into The Unknown" is not actually a bad album, it's just not a Bad Religion album! The heavy use of synthesizers, slow rhythms and acoustic guitar weren't familiar to the first listeners of BR and so the album didn't do well. It also caused a partial breakup in which Pete and bassplayer, Jay Bentley, quit the band.
Pete came to England for a few years after that and studied English and Irish literature, as well as working as a part-time teacher. Meanwhile, back in California, BR released a strong comeback EP, titled "Back To The Known", with original members, Greg Graffin, Greg Hetson, and replacements; Paul Dedona and Davy Goldman on bass and drums.
Eventually, Pete moved back to LA in 1987 and after talks with Greg and Brett, rejoined the band. What followed was a string of arguably the most popular and influential Bad Religion records to date; "Suffer" ('88), "No Control" ('89) and "Against The Grain" ('90). They layed down some of the most famous BR tracks of all time and seriously pinned the band on the Punk Rock map. However, shortly after the ATG record release, Pete left the band due to some personal problems but still had his earlier work celebrated in the Epitaph-released Bad Religion compilation CD, "80-85", released in 1991.
Despite it being an unfortunate departure, Pete was now at a turning point. He'd played with these guys on and off since 1981 and was now at a place where he could explore new territory.
He played in a number of bands after that, and competed as an amatuer boxer too, often training at his own gym, I believe it was called "5th Street Gym".
During the mid to late 90s, Pete worked with bands such as 'The Brothers', 'Plastic Machine' and 'FiFi', the latter of which actually released a successful album on Pete's own label; "Low Blow Records", in 1998. In collaboration with Pete's label, and Triple-X Records, the CD got good press, and is still available from record stores and online sites today, which is more than can be said for alot of the smaller CD releases that so often come and go. In the late 90s, Pete also began writing record and show reviews for popular indie-music sites such as Riffage.com and Music.com.
Into the new millennium and Pete is now interested in filmmaking, so much so that he is heavily involved in the editing of a new documentory titled; "The September Tapes", which uses recovered footage of American journalist, Don Larsen, on his story following bounty hunters tracking Osama Bin Laden in post 9/11 Afghanistan, shortly before his disappearance. The film is set to premiere at The Cannes Film Festival and should appear in selected theatres soon.
Pete is currently playing in 'Black on Sunshine', an impressive experimental-rock outfit, and 'Jackass', a rip-roaring country-punk band, both of whom have recently released debut albums, marking each as a band on their way up. So these days, Pete keeps busy with his bands, his films, and all the other things he's involved in. This website is just a little gathered information so that those of you who're interested can tune in...
Now, here's some random trivia...
Favourite Bad Religion Record?
NO CONTROL
Favourite Bad Religion Song?
LAND OF COMPETITION
Favourite Drink?
MILLER (Hint: this is what you should buy him if you see him at a show, either that or a Corona)
