We talked about a wide range of things.
Everything from his first meeting with Perry to his latest project Digital Alchemy.
If you've ever been to one of Cam's BBQ Jam's you know I like to ask questions.
Pete and myself had talked about doing an interview together since Lolla 2005.
This turned into more than just a interview though.
Pete talked with me and told stories for over an hour.
It's been a labor of love to get the whole thing transcribed.
I'd be working on it well into the next year without the help of vikkivale.
I can't thank her enough for her help!
I'd also like to apologize to Pete for this taking so long to finish.
I sat down tonight determined to wrap this up and did.
My hope is you'll all enjoy reading this and learn a little more about Pete.
Our conversation is joined in progress.
I unfortunately had one of those "duh" moments and forgot to press record.
Pete's talking about the songs he worked on with Hybrid that went on to become tracks used on Satellite Party's debut Ultra Payloaded.
Enjoy
Pete: Drums and no strings, none of that "AHHHHHHHHH" It's very stripped down- just guitar and a little bit of sequencing, electronic sound and a drum beat. It’s a lot shorter and it goes into another thing that is like a reversed techno thing. It’s just my different take on it. I think Kinky is like the version that we do live with Hybrid, which is just insane. They both have no vocals on them because I'm not going to try to sing over Perry. I'd never try to replace Perry's vocals. So out of respect, they are instrumentals. I'm going to be spinning those and I will never put those on a record because who wants to hear the song a 3rd time? We heard them first with Hybrid, 2nd with Perry- I don't need to try to release those songs again. So, they won't be released but I'm going to spin them live. What I'm doing, I'm doing a hybrid- I'm taking the best of Jimmy Page with the bow, the best of Jimi Hendrix with the whammy bar, the wha wha and feedback and the best DJs- the way they scratch and manipulate everything- and I'm putting it all into songs and singing at the same time. But the modern techno, like say "Smack My Bitch Up" they only say a few things, or "Check it out now, soul funk brother"; they only say a couple of things. So I'm taking that influence too and instead of saying long huge poems like Bye Bye Miss American Pie where they speak a lot, or Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall- How much better can you get than all those words? What I want to do is say key words like John Lennon did- "all we are saying is give peace a chance" or "nothing's gonna change my world" or "working class hero is..." they are filler words and then you go into the chorus. I've taken the best of John Lennon influences too to create this thing called Digital Alchemy and I'm going to debut it on the 2nd. It’s me by myself with a laptop DJing through tubing so I can oscillate stuff. So I can take beats and pieces of the track and live slide in and bend the sound. Bend the whole mix, trip it out and spin it around. I can do more than if I was just scratching on a record. So, I'm going to be doing that at the same time I'm playing the guitar, but not traditional guitar. The only thing that’s traditional is the Jimmy Page bow. Well that’s not traditional but I'm looking at it as a sound device as opposed to an instrument that we traditionally learned how to play. So, I'm making it more like a DJ instrument and I'm going to be doing the bow, the Jimmy Page bow thing constantly and the Jimi Hendrix whammy bar, wha wha feedback with a punk rock edge- with violence. Because that’s who I am I have a war within myself. I'm battling wanting to do heroin and coke and sleep with hookers everyday. You know what I mean? It’s just who I am. Or having three ways- just all the bad things, they're still there. I want to do them. I can't do them so that’s why I make so much music and have so many projects. It’s because I'm losing my mind and I can understand picking up a machine gun and wanting to go to war. But, I'm picking up my guitar and my laptop or my computer and embracing programs and beats. I'm diving into that instead of fighting or drugs. In terms of Satellite Party, I'm so grateful to be part of the record and part of the influence of it. Dog Star, Awesome and Kinky were done first with Hybrid and they were finished. I brought them to Perry- he flipped out over them and Eric Avery. I played them for Eric Avery first and he flipped out. And he was like "Dude dude dude! Can I play, can I play?" I was like "Peter Hook is on bass already" SO I said "Eric, I'll introduce you to those guys". SO I still need to introduce Eric Avery to the Hybrid boys. Then I was with Perry in Venice because he asked me to come play on his music. I think it was Woman In The Window and the one with John Frusciante and Flea and I think something else. I'm not sure you know, the other tunes. So I went there and jammed some stuff and he got some samples. I'm not sure exactly- we were just hanging and he was recording. I'm not sure if he used any of it or what. Then I said "DO you want to hear what I'm doing with these guys Hybrid?" And I played him Kinky, Awesome and Dog Star. Dog Star was called Darkstar. He just changed it to Dog Star. Awesome was called something else...I forgot what it was called and then he changed it to Awesome. Kinky was called Hooligan and they changed it to Kinky. Hybrid changed it to Dream Stalker for their record. I just call them what the Perry versions are. SO, it’s been really cool. This whole collaboration of stuff, you know, I'm just really happy they picked Dog Star as the first single. And I just feel like...wow. I don't care about the credit for it. In my heart I know that everything that Perry Farrell has done for me has been priceless. The fact that I could influence his record by hooking him up with Hybrid is a huge reward for me. Then the fact that he even put my name as one of the artists on the Billboard thing...I even posted it I think- they had my name first before Flea and the Chili Peppers and Fergie and all of them. That really tickled me pink. You know? Just my name first as the guest- that Billboard did that or whoever his PR people...whoever did that. So, I've been rewarded- that’s all I need. The rest is gravy. I wish so much the best for Perry because he deserves it. I'm looking forward to Lollapalooza and hanging. I'm excited to play the kids stage because I really want to show them this new thing I'm doing. I think I'm going to jam that at the kids stage.
Mike: "The Digital Alchemy stuff?"
Pete: "Yeah and I'm going play a couple of my new songs. It’s so funny because my record Loyalty is not even out yet but I've already moved on. That’s just what I do! I love it! Nothing is better than anything...my very first record Gratitude to me is just as good as any of my others. I'm just trying to try something new. In life you have to stay married or at least I made a commitment to stay married to my wife, being loyal to my family and that's hard. Musically, I want that freedom to just do whatever I fall in love with. I don't rap; I'm not a certain style. My style is just you know Pete. I just want to find my voice and I think that Perry really helped me to do that with his voice. Because he has found his voice very early in Jane's and he's the most recognizable singer. It’s like "Oh there's Perry's voice". Same with Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix- there's their voice- or Jim Morrison. Peter Murphy helped me with that too. Maybe I don't sing like Chris Cornell but when I sing you can tell its Pete. The same with the guitar playing I want to do the same kind of thing with my playing. That "Oh, there's Pete". So no matter what style I'm influenced by I’ve got to just stay honest and it will be Pete, you know? Not act and write about stuff that’s really happening to me- not, you know, about the war that I have no idea what it would be like...to go to war with a gun and travel to a foreign land and shoot and stuff because who am I to write about that? I don't know. But I know what it’s like to be a heroin addict and fight that. So, I'll sing about that. I'll sing about stuff that I know how to fight.
Mike: "What’s real to you?"
Pete: "Yeah that I've really experienced. Now, if I go and get a gun, go to Vietnam and jump out of airplanes like Hendrix- that's what Hendrix did. He was a paratrooper. He joined the army. He jumped out of planes. He did it. So, when he did Machine Gun, it was the real deal. He was in the service. He was for the Vietnam War at first. He joined and he was jumping- he was a paratrooper and then he broke his ankle and they discharged him. He did his service and then as time went on he started to realize this is a bummer war. Then he did machine gun and stuff like that. When Hendrix did...my favorite Hendrix record of all time was the one that didn't get released. I mean it did get released by Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell. It’s called the Cry of Love. That was Jimi Hendrix's 4th record that they finished properly. Now it’s out of print and the Hendrix estate, which they are allowed to do because it’s their family, did a new version of that so they could have the royalties. But in a different order remixed, remastered in a different way. I like the original Cry of Love- the running order, the mixes, the Eddie Krammer mixes, and the production is just so good. The running order of the songs Hendrix was totally talking about freedom, trying to slap it out of her hand. Devon his girlfriend had a heroin habit. "Drinking blood from a jagged edge" could have a meaning of her getting together with Mick Jagger and how that bummed him out. He was just a very honest writer same with Bob Dylan. So that’s my goal- to put that whole honesty into the song writing but not in arrangements like The Beatles format. You know The Beatles pop thing? Everybody does that over and over and over. It's great and you need it for radio but I'm not making records for radio. I don’t care about radio. That’s why I do so many things so I can make money to support my family. When I make my solo records it’s not to try and fucking get on the radio or sell them. It’s for me to go "This is bad ass art" Van Gogh, you know? This is it. This is what I think is the best that I can do by myself. That’s my goal with my solo stuff. All the other stuff I do like the movies is all for money. I love it too, I love everything I do. But, I'm following directions when I do that because I'm getting paid. With my solo records, I don't follow directions. I only follow directions from www.xiola.org www.peterdistefano.org and www.perryfarrell.net you know? Are you still there Mike?
Mike: I'm here, I'm listening.
Pete: OK good because the phone could have dropped like 20 minutes ago…
Mike: No we’re OK.
Pete: So are there any questions you have? I'm sorry I talk so much.
Mike: No that's fine. You've answered...
Pete: You inspire me Mike.
Mike: Thank you. You answered a few of the questions I had just in your talking.
Pete: OK good.
Mike: I'd like to touch base with you on a few things like your first meetings with Perry. When did you first meet Perry? I know you were at the Mount Baldy show back in '90 but did you know Perry prior to that?
Pete: No, I didn't. I was a school friend with Eric Avery and he invited me to the gig. I saw that gig and we went to dinner right after that…Eric Avery and I. I met Perry on a surf trip in Mexico. There was this guy Mike Kassel and he had a company named Bronze Age and he was flying out with his surf team to go surf Porto Escondido Mexico…its like the Mexican pipeline. And Greg Lampkin wanted to come and my friend Danny and Roger. Then Mike said, if you can get Perry Farrell to come on the surf trip, I'll buy Greg, Danny and Roger's ticket. So, I was friends with Greg Lampkin who lived with Perry. So I told Greg this and Greg set it up so we could all get a free surf trip on Mike and Bronze Age and get surf boards and clothes and everything. So we did that. This is right before the very first Lollapalooza. Perry was getting it ready.
Mike: So, in the summer of '91.
Pete: Yeah, the very first one with Jane’s. So we all went there and me, Perry and Greg shared a cabana together- us three I got to know Perry there. There was a nylon string guitar I think in there and I picked it up and was finger picking. You can hear some of my finger picking stuff on Cameron's wedding CD- The Wedding Present- which Cameron is going to give a copy to whoever asks on the boards after his wedding in July. So you can get a copy of that and hear what Perry heard me doing in the 1990s…it was 90 or 91. So, we met and we hit it off…we laughed and we just you know…we were all three kicking heroin. We were like suffering together and laughing going through shooting boopernecks up to try to relieve the pain. We were all kicking too. We connected right away and we surfed and had a great time. Then, Perry said “Dude you should come audition because I'm starting a new band called Porno For Pyros with Perkins.” So, I went to the audition when I came back. There was a bunch of guitar players and they were all jamming really fast, trying to show off. I was sitting in the background just hitting one note every 30 seconds…'cause that's where I could find space to make music and Perry was like “This guy is smart”. Then I packed up and split. Perry called and said will you come to Steve Perkins house and jam with us? I was like you know what Perry? I don't want to be in your band because I don't want the world to hate me. Jane's Addiction is the most loved band- you guys are at your peak…Ritual just came out and I don't want to be that dude.” He said "Just jam with us." So we jammed and right off the bat...it wasn't with Perkins it was me, Perry and a DJ named Skatemaster Tate and I didn't meet Perkins yet. And that’s when I made my decision to go for it- not with Perk but with Skatemaster Tate. Because I was like "Wow, here's a DJ spinning...like Lincoln Park you know- they took it to the next step and added a rapper. But it was like I said "This is going to be different than Jane's because we're going to have a DJ." They're a rock band and we're a rock band with a DJ. So it will be different, so I can handle the battering because we're not copying what they're doing. So, that night Orgasm, Cursed Female and Meija were made right there with Skatemaster Tate spinning records. So, it was like "Oh my God" and we recorded it on his little tape recorder thing. I brought the tape home and I was like "Wow, this is different" Orgasm is different, Cursed Female is different it’s more psychedelic and less rock and more do you know what I mean? That was that and then I got together with Perkins and we started doing it with Perkins and Skatemaster Tate. That was my favorite part of Porno For Pyros.
Then Skatemaster Tate fell out and we started getting other people and they just started pushing buttons instead of the actual real records. It started to make it simpler with the keyboards and stuff. But those early days of playing to a record and the BPM of those beats on the record and trying to follow it was really creative. I'm trying to get back to that with my laptop thing. I'm playing to the beats of a laptop like a DJ. The reason I'm using a laptop instead of a record player is because it’s a lot easier to play files off cubase than it is to go find a person to go burn records of those things for me. Plus, I can only scratch and mix stuff in. Where, with a laptop I have a bunch of plug-ins. I can reverse things. I can add choruses and delays; I can bend the sound with oscillators. You can put on the effects button on cubase and then there’s this string that goes along this graphic equalizer and you turn it on and activate it and grab the string and bend it. You move the string left and right, like a chaos pad, but you're doing it to the whole track. I can do that- reverse audio and record what I'm doing. The only danger is that the computer can crash by pushing it too hard with plug-ins and stuff. If that happens it’s like an amp blowing up on stage- you’ve got to deal with it. I'll have an iPod ready for back up and then I can spin off my iPod if my computer blows up. I have it on my phone too- technology is so bitchin. On this phone that I'm doing this interview with I have my whole live set for June 2nd on my phone. I can plug my phone in and play off my phone. I just can't do the effects- I would have to do it all on guitar. The way I'm set up, is I got my laptop going into the CD input on a floor pod. Line-6 made the latest thing called the floor pod. It’s insanity. It’s got everything in a tiny little thing that I need. I would have to have like 20 racks...cause I'm going to use flanger, phaser, chorus, reverb, distortion, wha wha, just on the floor board right? Different clean sounds, different amp settings like a tube direct for acoustic. A Fender Twin for clean sort of grinding strumming stuff. A classic JCM800 for rocking stuff like when I'm doing DJ scratch, sound device strums with the guitar, Hendrix wha stuff. A tread plate which is, what is that called? It’s a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier stuff I used on the Porno record- the first one. For the live show, I got that for my bowing with the flanger and the chorus and all that stuff. I mean for me to have all that older gear I would have like a three story pedal board to get that going and I'd have to have 4 amps and a 3 level pedal board and all the batteries or whatever and plug-ins. This way it all fits in a really small briefcase. And then my guitar is a Variax which is analog and people don't understand that, its analog- its software- analog which is coming out. So the guitar is analog it’s not digital. It’s not a midi guitar. SO it’s an analog guitar but it’s playing through software through vibrations and then the software sends an analog signal out to the guitar. So you're getting an analog tone. But I have a sitar that I'm using, an acoustic, a hollow body jazz guitar, a Les Paul, a Stratocaster, and then I have Teles, I have every single guitar that was made- a 12 string- everything that was made all in my Variax guitar. Just in the guitar itself.
Mike: It’s incredible the technology that they have now.
Pete: I'm using the latest latest latest technology. The thing that’s old is my laptop. It’s that first one- that black plastic 2000 laptop with the upside down apple. It’s like I need, my old laptop. You know what I mean? I have all the latest computers but that’s the one I want to use for live. The sound card has a better tone than the new ones for audio out of the mini jack. You know? But, the new ones are better for USB connections. The old ones man, there's something about that sound card on that laptop- for the mini jacks. It just sounds really good. I did all my solo records on that. Except for my latest one- I did it all on new stuff. Digital Alchemy is going to be a mixture of that old laptop with a brand new PC Intel Mac that I have and my 2005 Mac that I have. So it will be a mixture of the three different styles of computers. But I mean all that is like gear to me. There are different years that are cool. Just like guitars or amps. A 68 Plexi is insane. It’s all so very exciting Mike. These times are great. What can I say? I mean Perry is on the cutting edge of mixing things together and creating. I hope to God that, you know, I'm scheduled to play Lollapalooza with him- he'll get up and jam with me and I just hope to God it will come through. That the plane flight will work, the hotel will work, that Lollapalooza will work and we'll get to play music again. I'm very excited for Satellite Party and I think he's got a great team together. I'm excited to see him on David Letterman tomorrow or whenever it is.
Mike: June 5th I think.
Pete: Oh June 5th, OK so we've got time.
Mike: Yeah, early next week I guess that will be
Pete: June 2nd is my gig and that’s his first gig on tour too right?
Mike: I believe so, I don't have it right here in front of me. Hang on one sec. You were just saying you are excited about the people he's working with now. That takes me back to the Spaceland show back in January that we went to. I first met Nuno, Carl, and Kevin...and you know I was just blown away by Nuno. I was always...its weird because I'm 40 and I always thought I was too cool for some of these bands- Extreme being one of them. I was into Jane's, Faith No More, Ministry- you know...all that kind of stuff. And I always thought I was too cool for them. But, I approached him and I'm pretty blunt about stuff and that’s what I told him and I asked him...I said "I'd like to check out some of your back catalog- I enjoyed your playing and stuff" and he suggested to me to pick up Extreme's "Waiting for the Punch line". SO I found it my next trip to the store and sure as shit, I was like "This sounds great." So its weird how Perry seems to, yourself included- of course all the members of Porno for Pyros, Jane’s and now all these guys that he's got with him in Satellite Party. He just always seems to surround himself with excellent musicians. It’s just, I don't know, it's uncanny really.
Pete: If that’s the truth then I feel very lucky. Because I'm glad he picked me. You know because Warner Brothers said they didn't want me.
Mike: Really?
Pete: Yeah, they didn't want me.
Mike: Why?
Pete: I remember that crushed me when he told me. Stephen Baker said you're/he, that’s what Perry told, that I'm not the right guitar player for the band and Warner's was against me and that just crushed me. But, he was loyal. He stuck to what he believed. He didn't follow the record company.
Mike: Perry...Perry didn't? He stuck up for you.
Pete: Yeah Perry. So by your saying that it means a lot to me because you think he surrounds himself with good musicians and when people were trying to...because marketing-wise I wasn't, you know...they just wanted Jane's to keep going because it was a money maker.
Mike: They wanted Jane's version 2 right then as soon as Jane's version 1 ended.
Pete: Yeah and I didn't play like Dave. I was more hippie and they wanted metal. I was doing the hippie thing with the bow.
Mike: I think you proved Mr. Baker wrong.
Pete: Well, yeah, yeah we did good and they were happy and he was nice to me after that. I was cool about it because it was just business. They didn't think it was a good business decision. The record went gold so it was good. It went gold.
Mike: Let’s talk a little bit more about Porno for Pyros for a minute. I saw Perry June of last year- June 14th at the Rock Hall. He did a key note speech down there for the CMJ music fest and he did a gig later that night and I had a chance to talk to him. I asked him about Porno for Pyros. He told me 2 years down the road. So, if my math is right, that gives you guys a year and 2 weeks...But anyway, I'm very excited abut Satellite Party but by the same token, I’m very excited about what the future holds. I know you've said before...
Pete: Whatever Perry Farrell wants to call it, we have a record. We have these songs- Little Me, Fingernails, Val Knows How To Milk A Cow. These tunes that are just great and they were written in that era that has that vibe and there’s no way that we could live like we were living then to come up with songs now like that. So they're there. They're in my head, they're not recorded. God, they're beautiful pieces of work and I would like to record them with Perry. My song New Day was one of them, that was going to be a Porno for Pyros song. It’s on my first record. That was one called Individuality. SO, we might revisit that song and it will just be familiar to New Day. It will sound like New Day. You know, the guitar part... So, I'm trying to not use them. But they are so great they need to come out of me. I can't keep holding them in. But, I'd like to do Individuality again. And then there was a song that we used on Rambient with Flea called Birth of a Girl. That was called Thanksgiving. So I'd like to do that again with Perry. That will be familiar too...Are you there?
Mike: Yeah listening...
Pete: Mike?
Mike: Yeah, I'm here
Pete: The phone keeps ringing. SR keeps calling me. Are you there?
Mike: Yeah I'm here
Pete: OK the phone keeps going in and out. Hopefully Perry will be ready to at least record these songs or revisit them and if he doesn't want to and makes a decision to put it to rest and just moves forward, I will make the record. Probably instrumentally and then if Perry wants to sing on it great. If not, maybe, I don't know, you know? Maybe I'll get samples of John Lennon backwards over it all.
Mike: (laughing)
Pete: I don't know. It’s there. Perry said he wants to do it. Whether to call it Porno for Pyros or not I can't see us, I would hope that the fans would understand and if they don't I'm open to suggestions on how to do it but at this point right now as we speak today Martyn and Stephen Perkins are not into it, you know? So we would have to do something creative. I would hope we'd go more in the direction of maybe working with Hybrid and Harry Gregson-Williams. Because the songs are the songs, they're there. So how we do it with an incarnation of how we do it, whether we call it something else or Porno for Pyros with different players. Or if by that time Martyn and Stephen would be open to this possibility of doing Porno again to record these tunes then that would be perfect. But, I'm open to whatever Perry wants to do. I'm there for Perry, I back him and I will always be loyal to him because he let me in to this business. And no one would listen to me before and once he picked me as a guitar player, now people listen to me. And I'll always be grateful for that, you know?
Mike: I got you. The writing process for the two Porno For Pyros albums- Self titled and Good Gods Urge, what was that like?
Pete: I would just basically write a tune and he would write words over it. Or Perry would write a tune completely and we’d do it. Like Hard Charger or Packin’ .25- those were Perry's completely. Perry did have Blood Rag the idea (guitar noise) and the singing but I added all that weird (guitar noise) and then I think I'm not to sure about that one. The rest of them were basically either I had it, like Pets was a song I had already and then he added words to it and he told me to play it faster as opposed to a slower picking style. There is no real formula and then there were times when we'd all get in a room and just jam something. Wishing Well on the 2nd Porno for Pyros record, I had that done and I brought it to Perry. Then he added words on top of it and then muted the guitar in and out, the solos that I had, in and out with a button. Then it became Porno for Pyros.
Mike: So, Porno for Pyros was really a group effort in the truest meaning. The whole group was bringing in ideas and stuff.
Pete: It was always moving around. It was always changing. There was no real formula, there was no real plan of how we do things. It was all open minded. It was wonderful.
Pete: Is there anything else that you want to ask me because I talk so much? I'm sorry.
Mike: Oh, that’s fine Pete. Well, we kind of went over the songs that you were involved in. When I called you over the weekend I didn't have a copy of the CD in my hand...but I was wondering if it was actually your playing on here. Now I see on Wish Upon a Dog Star- I'm looking at the liner notes, they have you credited with guitar.
Pete: OK
Mike: I look over here at Awesome, you're credited here with acoustic guitar.
Pete: Cool
Mike: I should be looking for you where else?
Pete: On Kinky.
Mike: OK I'm looking. Hang on. Actually I don't see you on Kinky. It says vocals Perry Farrell, programming Hybrid, featuring Peter Hook on bass, guitars Nuno Bettencourt, drums Kevin Figuero, backing vocals blah blah blah blah blah...
Pete: OK, well, Kinky I'm on it from the Hybrid side of things. All of the backwards guitar bowing the programming stuff. I came into Kinky through the Hybrid side of things.
Mike: I get it.
Pete: Perry can't know everything that Hybrid did.
Mike: I tell you, there’s some people that have been saying that some of the lyrics for that... 'cause in one part Perry sings "It’s my birthday; I'm in my birthday suit". That song to me is steamy, sultry, and sexy. It has got it all over it. I mean, I'd like to find a girl and get kinky with her. You know what I'm saying?
Pete: Yeah. I copied, my guitar doubles with Peter Hook's line. I'm doubling Peter Hook's line. So you might want to add that. But, that came from the Hybrid- when they gave them Peter Hook's line, it's doubled with my guitar. Perry wouldn't know that! Who cares about the credit? The fact that I even introduced him to Hybrid, even if they didn’t use any of my guitar playing. The fact that I introduced him to music that he liked, that I was involved with, was enough for me. The fact that they even used my parts or that Hybrid even sent them tracks with me on them mixed in- I'm stoked, you know? I'm very grateful for that.
Mike: The reason I called you this weekend... the reason I wanted to set up this interview was, I saw on www.peterdistefano.org www.perryfarrell.net and www.xiola.org everybody was curious what songs you were playing on and stuff. We talked about this going all the way back to Lollapalooza 2005. I did a lot of drugs in my younger days and I can’t remember shit. So, I had forgotten what songs you were on. So, I just wanted to clear that up with you and stuff.
Pete: Yeah, everything’s cool. From what I know, I’m on Kinky- from what Hybrid told me. So the track that they sent to Perry I’m positive you can’t even tell a lot of the stuff is guitar because I’m doing stuff with the bow, I’m doing stuff where we put guitar and we squash it so much that it turns into a synth sounding thing. My electric guitar was doubled with Peter Hook’s line. So it was sent as one bass file but it’s really his bass and my guitar that makes it sound like a synth. Does that make sense?
Mike: Yes, I understand.
Pete: But, you know Perry’s not going to know every single thing of how it was done and I’m not a stickler. I didn’t even get involved in the credits or anything. I wrote that guitar part in Awesome. I don’t care. Everybody got involved to try and make sure the credits were right. I didn’t do any of that. I didn’t make one phone call. I didn’t lift a finger. I didn’t use a lawyer- I didn’t do anything. I just don’t care. All I care about is that I know I’m a little teeny part of Perry’s record and he put it down. Then I saw on that billboard that my name came up first as a guest artist.
Mike: Are you talking about the billboard at the Whisky?
Pete: Excuse me?
Mike: Are you talking about the billboard that’s over on the Whisky?
Pete: No, www.billboard.com
Mike: OK
Pete: The review of the record that’s on www.billboard.com It’s the biography for the record. It’s my last post on your website.
Mike: I saw that. There’s a big billboard on the Whisky. I thought you meant that.
Pete: I read the caption and it just made me really happy. Just that alone and then on the Myspace that my names in on there on their Myspace. That’s all I need. And the fact that he put me down on credits for Dog Star and Awesome. I didn’t even think I was on those songs. I didn’t know anything. Then to find out and I’m getting the love. I’m just extra stoked. Nuno didn’t replace my guitar parts- he just left them and added to them. On Kinky that Hybrid sent over my guitar parts are in their mix in their programming. So, on Kinky I’m a piece of the programming…which is even cooler than actually just playing the guitar in a traditional way. Because I’m now on Hybrid- I’m part of that band. It’s the best time in my musical life ever.
Mike: I remember at the Spaceland show, and this is another thing I wanted to chat with you about…when we first got there for the sound check. They must’ve still been working on mixing the record and putting it together. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop but I was standing right next to you when you were talking to Nuno when we came in and I remember him saying to you that they left your parts on there- your guitar parts.
Pete: Yeah he said they were great so why replace them.
Mike: Exactly
Pete: That was respect- beautiful! And so I’m on Kinky, I’m part of the Hybrid programming. Hybrid took my guitar, processed it, and melted it into a mixture of Peter Hook’s bass. That information they can only get through you. It no where else and I will never bring it up again.
Mike: Let’s talk about Hybrid for a minute. I know you have a big show coming up. How are you feeling about that? Pretty excited I’m sure.
Pete: Those guys just blow my mind and Harry Gregson-Williams. I’m going to be spinning their stuff at this gig. DJing a little bit but the rest is all my new stuff- Digital Alchemy. And mixtures of stuff that I’ve done in the past that’s never been released- that will never be released and it will only be used for my live stuff. I guess you would call it psychedelic trance with a punk edge.
Mike: Nice
Pete: Isn’t that a trip?
Mike: That is. Isn’t it wild the way you can be into something- thinking you only like a certain style and then something opens your eyes to something different in music and then that’s what you’re into? Follow me?
Pete: DJing started off…and I’m going to wrap it up with this because I’m slammed at what I need to do. DJs started off the 70s playing records, right? And then they would have to stop and talk and bullshit while they flipped a record or got another record on. Then they realized instead of bullshitting the crowd and talking to them, I can get 2 record players, get a pair of headphones and listen to where I can queue up the next record. When that’s about to go off, start up the other record so its continuous. Then they said, we can do it at the same BPM too- trying to find the BPMs of stuff to make it all one. That’s when Trance started. Then when they were listening with the headphones finding the spot of where they could start the next song, it was scratching in their headphone. It was a cool sound so they turned it up while the other record was going and started scratching. Now we have these world champion scratchers. They are just insane and make it a total instrument. SO then that happened. And then they started doing remixes of stuff. Hybrid is the ultimate remixers on the planet. No one can remix better than them in my opinion that I’ve heard of. They’ve taken it to an extreme where they actually take the track and play new things with keyboards and add things and bend the sound and oscillate and compress it and do all this stuff- add drum beats, change the speeds…they are the extreme of what a DJ has turned into. So what I’m doing is going in the middle where I’m doing a little bit of what Hybrid did/does now and a little bit of what the very early players did- just play the song. I’m in the middle with my guitar and my voice. Does that make sense?
Mike: Yeah. It does actually.
Pete: I’m in the middle singing and playing my guitar and using my guitar as a sound device doing the Jimi Hendrix/Jimmy Page thing and creating/pioneering on the spot with the guitar with other sounds that I’m coming up with and other tricks. Also I’m doing traditional strumming and picking, traditional playing and singing. With my right hand on the lap top I will be oscillating bending sound doing a little bit of what Hybrid does amazing. I will be doing a lot of what the early DJs did which was pick great music and spin it. The girls would go crazy because they were hearing great music. A good DJ was a person who picked good songs to spin. That’s when a DJ was loved. My choice of what I’m going to spin is the early DJ stuff and how I’m going to manipulate and oscillate the sound while its going live is the Hybrid influence. The singing will be in the middle. If left is the vintage and right is the latest in DJing- then the center is me singing and playing guitar. Does that make sense?
Mike: Yeah it does.
Pete: The best of both worlds on top of playing with it. So it’s very exciting and I’ve been staying up every night all night long. I look terrible. Not even playing my guitar- only pre-production…which songs are the best…being torn on what to play and how to play it, how to mix it, how to use the plug-ins, how to oscillate it. And then writing! I’ve been writing. I want to also write my own samples because that’s what Hybrid does with their live stuff. They play their own songs that they write and co-write. So, I’m doing that too and I’ll be spinning other people. But, the other people that I’m spinning are Hybrid, Harry Gregson-Williams and this song called “First Dream” but I reversed it. It’s a techno song but I reversed it and cut it in half and I’ll play guitar over it front wards so it sounds like a completely different song but its somebody else’s thing. The rest of the tunes will be my songs that I wrote and sung for my next record- Digital Alchemy. I’ve got to be loyal to Loyalty and let them release that first. By the time they release Loyalty, Digital Alchemy will be done. It will be done in the next 2 months. I just can’t stop myself.
Mike: What’s the ETA on Loyalty now?
Pete: Loyalty has been done since Halloween. It’s been 8 months. I’ve just been sitting and waiting. Dolly did a lot of filming traveling and they had to edit it all. They finally got it all done. Now the record company Lonely Seal Releasing is trying to get distribution for it. They may go the CD Baby route or they might go the professional route- the whole commercial route thing. Whatever they do, I just want them to make a decision. I’m hoping they would go the CD Baby route and keep me the underground happy artist that I am. Instead of doing the whole spamming everyone to death…here it comes, here it comes, here it comes. I’d rather just let it come out and people will hear about it through word of mouth. I make $ other ways- sessions and stuff.
Mike: Film work obviously.
Pete: I don’t need to play that game of hype hype hype, spam spam spam lets go. But I have done that. That’s why on www.peterdistefano.org we let the spammers go. I told Corey instead of sitting there deleting everyone, deleting all of these people that didn’t want to get deleted that aren’t spammers. There was a lot of pain and disrespect from people getting deleted when they weren’t spam. I said, “You know what? Just let it all go because who are we?” We solicit gigs, we make flyers, we spam. Why can’t they spam about their drugs or pornography? I’m into pornography and drugs. I can’t do them anymore. I can’t have sex with different people any more because I’m married. I can’t do drugs because I’m a loser drug addict. But, it doesn’t mean I’m not into them and I’m not for them for people that can pull it off. But if it was about a murder or spam for underage sex or whatever then yeah, we’re deleting that stuff. There is a certain line. If people want to sell drugs or holiday cards or sites to go whack off on, go ahead. I’m in Porno For Pyros- who am I to judge pornography?
Mike: That’s so funny. OK, one more quick one and I’ll let you go- I know you’ve got a lot of things to do. I appreciate all the time you’ve spent with me.
Pete: No Mike. I love you bro. This is very important to me Mike. When it’s done is when it’s done. You have to tell me when it’s done.
Mike: The last thing I wanted to touch base with you on is your collaboration with E-Rok and the 2nd album. I’ve been following that closely on the boards. While I got you on here, I just want to hear some thoughts on how this record compares to the first record.
Pete: I can’t believe I’m even part of the record. I listen to it and I ask “Are you sure you didn’t replace me with Brian Eno or something? Is that me?” I don’t want to buff my own badge but there is something about when I get together with Erik. We have this chemistry. It’s badass. It’s nothing like I’ve ever had with anybody else and it’s just great writing songs with him. I love “Christy and Mike” that song about you and Christy. I can’t wait for the world to hear it…the world (laughs) whoever will like E-Rok and Pete will give it a listen. I can’t wait for them to hear that. The whole record is amazing to me. Just like the first one is. I know that you like the first one and I hope you like the second one. I couldn’t be happier with it and I love Erik and I’m excited to play the Warped Tour with him. We’re going to be doing E-Rok and Pete songs at the Warped Tour. That will be fun. I just feel lucky I have these different things. What I do with E-Rok and Pete is different than what I do with Perry. What I do solo is different than what I did with Porno. It’s not the same genre. It has its own personality that’s very likeable to me and to you, I think. I cherish that, it’s hard to find. The stuff I do with Harry has personality. The stuff I do with Perry has the Porno personality. My solo stuff has my little personality. My solo stuff Digital Alchemy will have that little personality but it will be very sampled. I have a song called the “Wisdom of Oz” it’s about Corey. It’s for Digital Alchemy. I’m going to be spinning it on June 2nd. Basically a trance beat at 145- super fast trance beat with bowed guitar and all these samples. Corey sent me a bunch of samples. (Two folders of samples) Then he used that whole folder of samples on top of this song. The song’s going crazy with samples everywhere like water dripping in stereo, the sound of water rising in the cup. But, it’s going left and right in your ears and all these sounds and then these people talking backwards. I put it all in there and then I got this bass line. I thought of Eric Avery and how he plays bass. I use the pic at the back end of the bass to sound like Eric because he’s one of my favorite bass players. And then I did the bowed stuff and the E Bow stuff, then a bunch of little things like playing the strings above the nut on the neck, strumming that makes a certain percussive bottle sound- shit like that scratching on the guitar for percussion like Hendrix did on Machine Gun or Voodoo Child but without a pic. I do a flat handed thing so it’s more like a DJ sounding record scratching. In that song the words are very very simple because I took from “smack my bitch up” Prodigy and from Fat Boy Slim “Check it out now…:” Just a few key words and then repeat them like samples. The words are “Let’s be loyal to our own line and respect the lines of other people the wisdom of OZ”. I learned that from Oz because he was at a couple of my gigs and I was very tempted to take advantage of the fringe benefits of after a gig hanging out with girls who wanted to do the nasty and I’m married but I still want to do it because I’m human. He said “Protect and be loyal to your lines- to your commitment.” I’ll never forget when he said that. Not that I’m going to do anything- but he felt my temptation and he ran to me and said “Be loyal. Be loyal to your girl and protect your love.” Be loyal to your lines! That’s great. I added respect the lines of other people and that I learned from Oz too about drug usage. If you can’t do drugs, that’s your line. But, if other people’s lines are outside of that and they can do drugs- don’t judge them. That’s how I’m able to party and tour and people can do coke around me and I’ll just drink a Red Bull. I’m not judging them. I respect their lines. The extreme of that are people flying airplanes into buildings because they have their lines and we’re crossing them and they can’t handle it so they commit suicide to try and kill as many people as possible for crossing those lines. It’s basically very deep with only a few words, so that will probably be the first song that everyone gets to hear. It’s already done. I finished it. It’s ready for the record. The version I’m going to bring out live I took off the vocals, and bowed guitar parts so I can play those live. The rest is going to be spinned off the laptop. That in a nutshell is what I’m doing. Then of course there’s all the film stuff. I’m working on Jolene right now with Harry Gregson-Williams and I just finished a movie called “Gone Baby Gone” a Ben Affleck directed film. I’m doing writing at the Document Room. My brother came in and wrote on 3 songs with me. Basically the guy that owns the Studio has a team of 3 people that program, play bass, guitar, drum samples all that stuff, keyboard and everything. He has them under his publishing company. He pays them a fee to sit there and write songs. But he gets to keep the publishing. So I did a 50/50 publishing deal with him where on the stuff that I write I get 50% and he gets 50% that he gives to his writers but they are getting paid. It’s fun. We’re having a good time. It’s a $10 million studio overlooking the ocean in Malibu. Eddie Kramer built it. He was the advisor and he had someone use the best technology available and the most vintage gear and the most new gear in the most amazing mansion on the most amazing dirt on the planet. It’s just insane. It’s like Tiger Woods’ house but it’s a recording studio. It’s great. So that has been fun.
Mike: I saw the post about that studio and I chuckled. The first thing that came to my mind was DiStefano Bros and your brother seemed to like that. I got a kick out of that. It doesn’t take much to entertain me. I really like your brother’s solo record.
Pete: Oh yeah, he is amazing. Carl is an amazing talent. And we’ll continue doing that- there is just so much. I mean, the phone has been ringing non-stop from people that want to work with me. I’m very excited. I’m trying to pull off everything. There’s so much more! I’m working with Josie Sweetly and she’s calling the project Angelenos and she’s a really talented singer. I’m recording her on Thursday before I go and record in that Malibu Studio and E-Rok and Pete’s almost done. Erik and I want to start writing songs to use for commercials. There’s just a lot going on so we’re having a good time. I’m very grateful. Are there any other questions before we hang up?
Mike: No, we can wrap. Thanks again Pete!
Hats off to both Pete and NS...lots of very interesting info!