Pete Christie Linkedin

Redvers Bailey Promoter Half Moon London

hired Pete as a Musician many times since 2006

“I love Pete Christie. A great man, a great musician and songwriter.” October 12, 2011

Top qualities: Great Results, High Integrity, Creative

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Tim Heywood, Presenter & Producer, Journalist, Hope FM

“Pete is an entertaining performer, adapting either to an intensely listening audience (which he prefers – who wouldn’t) or to a busy, noisy pub crowd where he is the human jukebox sitting in the corner.
He’s lively and full of anecdotes, while the music can be haunting, engaging, slapstick and /or raucous, depending on mood, atmosphere and environment.
A Pete Christie concert is always memorable, enjoyable and good.” June 8, 2011

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Xan Phillips, Broadcaster and journalist, Xan Phillips

“It was a pleasure to interview Pete, he was very professional and gave some insightful answers to some tough questions. Of course the main reason to interview him was his songs which can still a room of chattering souls.” June 6, 2011

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Rebecca Fludgate ACIM, Dolfin Music, Gig guide, unsigned bands, live music event

“Pete Christie is a wonderfully talented acoustic singer/songwriter. I have watched him perform and written a review of his album “Frank”.” June 5, 2011

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Russell Hill, Music article contributor, Maverick magazine

Playing at The Cellar Bar turned out to be a real treat of a night with the launch of 2 new songs, a 3 hour set with great sound engineering by Andy Razz, a great review from Tim Heywood, Livewire Live Hopefm, some loyal fans and some new friends.

Tim Heywood’s Bournemouth Music Blog

Two Sets of An Evening With…

04 DEC 2011

by Tim Heywood in Chaplins & Cellar Bar Tags: Bournemouth, Music, Pete Christie

My Sunday night started with “An Evening With….Blowing Your Cover” at the church tonight, as we prepare for our launch of this popular church training & equipping course. Afterwards dash over to The Cellar Bar, where Pete Christie is performing. Pete is my favourite performer; I consider him to be one of the absolute best on this circuit. A music session is more like An Evening With…Pete Christie, since the constructed songs are interspersed with both inane banter and insights into Pete’s life.

This starts as I walk in with digs at myself and another notable punter from the scene, before regaling us with a slight on a certain capo from a certain internet supplier. The capo broke 11 months after purchase and he’s heard diddly-squat from the firm. He then splurges into Dancing Diamonds. The next story is 5 minutes about a gig in Swindon, the only kebab shop open there at midnight, and a stool that’s just the right height for him, before he plays a short song from his Skavengers era about trouble, making much use of harmonics on the guitar.

I’ve previously referred to Pete as Magic-Fingered; while there hasn’t been much evidence of this so far, his voice is in fantastic form, as demonstrated by his high wails in staple Lost, which also provides for his first flicker-fingered instrumental break of the night. He next plays his version of Beeswing, which I’ve missed pretty much every other time I’ve seen him play due to walking in late. Its everything I’ve come to expect of Pete’s entertainment, and more…

Along the way, many of his songs are changed and mucked about on the spot; lots of seeming improvisation and spontaneous invention. After one cover he segues into a little instrumental involving the same chord progression, yet thowing in some slide action, even slipping into lap steel mode with the slide for a moment. Good stuff.

Maverick Magazine
The voice of country, folk, bluegrass and roots music
Issue 97 August 2010

Based in Bournemouth and recently released his latest album FRANK, solo artist Pete Christie is one of the finest pickers of an acoustic guitar around. His first band was with The Skavengers in 1979, and it was during that time that they went into the BBC where they managed to blag their way into meeting Mike Reid and John Peel separately and got them to play their music on their shows separately over the course of the next week.

Now performing solo in several gigs a month, I asked him first how did he get into playing the guitar?

“Before my grandmother came back from her holiday when I was about thirteen or fourteen she asked if she could bring something back for me. I said ‘Could you pick me up a guitar?’ We went to get her from the station and she got off the train carrying a bright blue guitar that looked hideous. It was almost unplayable but I found by jamming a piece of Lego under the neck I could play it.”

I wondered why Pete performs solo? “When [The Skavengers] broke up, as all good bands invariably do, I went back to the acoustic guitar and found that I’d grown” Pete told me. “I reckoned I could play better and I thought ‘I just spent ten or so years paying out for vans, for big PA’s, lighting rigs, roadies and all this nonsense’. I thought it was great to strip it down and minimalise everything with just me, a small PA and a very unplugged sound. And then from that was where I got to today.”

Of his last two albums FRANK and LIVE AT MR KYPS, all but three songs have been written by Pete and I queried him about his writing style. “You sit down with a guitar and you noodle about. Just fiddle about with a few ideas in your head and words in your mind or some lyrics you might have jotted down whilst driving in the middle of the night” Pete replied. “You might even have a line in your head and it sticks. When you pick the guitar up, you might take that line and it grows.”

Back in the 1980’s Pete had a songwriting contract and I wondered how that went.

“It was a good deal but unfortunately they wanted me to write songs that they wanted me to write songs about. I kept saying ‘I can’t really do that’. I can’t write a song that says John Loves Mary. I’m not that sort of a songwriter” Pete says enthusiastically.

“Sometimes a song will take years to finish. If I’m not happy I can’t let it go. If I’ve got an ugly rhyme or something that makes me cringe I won’t take the song out [on the road] until it’s finished. Sometimes they take years.”

I wondered why Pete chooses to self release his albums? “I had a bit of a falling out with someone who was producing a song of mine and I said ‘Well, you’re just taking all the feel out of the song’. This is where it suddenly occurred to me that the only person who I wanted to produce my music was me” said Pete in a serious but jovial tone. “I’m not that technically minded but I know what I want to end up with. And if I’ve got a guy in the studio who I can talk to and get on with between us we can find what I’m trying to get. It’s not a commercial thing.”

And his intended reaction from the general public? “I don’t want people to go ‘That’s nice’. I want people to say ‘I hate that’ or ‘that’s the worst song I’ve ever heard. I didn’t like that at all mate’. That to me is what it’s about” Pete told me. “You’ve got to provoke a reaction, not just have the bland, Radio 2 middle of the road opinion. I’m really annoyed about mid stream. If you’re in the middle of a stream, you’re bobbing along with all this other stuff. I want to
be along the edges bumping along the bank. If you’re in the middle of a stream, you’re going along with flow. I want to get on in the edges. Stay out of the middle.”

With FRANK being played on BBC Radio Solent, such as by Sally Taylor and in front of a studio panel on Phil Jackson’s programme, I asked Pete how great this exposure has been for him?

“Absolutely marvellous. I went along to the panel and these guys come on [Phil Jackson’s show] afterwards. I thought ‘They’re going to rip me apart’. And they all, without fail, just zeroed straight in on what I’m all about. Every single one of those guys I owe them a debt of gratitude because I felt at last someone knew what I was going on about. And it made me feel more comfortable with what I’m doing. That’s always important because if everyone is criticising you every day you tend to lose your confidence a bit.”

In his last two albums, Bob Dylan’s Not Dark Yet are in the track listing. How important to Pete has he been?

“Massive. I try and keep away from covers unless they mean something to me. Then I’ll do it but do it my own way. I don’t mean that because I don’t like the original. When I start playing it I’ll begin and see how it turns out. He [Dylan] has that ability to make something so ordinary sound so deep. And he moves me! Some of his stuff is just visual. One of the guys said [on Phil Jackson’s programme] ‘the sign of a good song is you can see what the guy’s singing about. It takes you there’. And that’s what I strive for. Most people say to me ‘I know exactly what you mean. I’ve done that. I’ve been there’. Result.”

And what does the future hold for Pete? “For the next twelve to eighteen months I want to do another album and getting further afield. I’m trying to do South by South West just for the hell of doing it. That’s why I do things. I do it for the hell of it. I’m not looking to be a pop star” mentions Pete passionately. “To get paid to stand up in front of people and make contact with them in a place you’ve never been to in your life and by the end of the night you’ve got a room full of friends can’t get much better than that.”

With regular gigs happening across Southern UK over the next few months, to see Pete in action is a gig to savour and remember. Be sure to check out his websites http://www.petechristie.co.uk and http://www.myspace.com/petechristie where you can see and hear for yourself what a talented guy he is and how lucky we are for having him.

Russell Hill

russelledwardhill@hotmail.co.uk

BBC Introducing Pete Christie – Radio South Live – Demo Panel with Phil Jackson 11_04_2010
South: Live showcases unsigned musicians

BBC Radio South Live’s Phil Jackson

BBC Radio South Live's Phil Jackson

played Pete Christie’s song ‘Normal Shade of Blue’ from the album ‘Frank’

Quotes from the Demo panel on BBC Radio South Live about Pete Christie, his song and his approach to music :

- Chris Taylor, The Greys, Brighton

The one thing I look for in a good songwriter is where a performer paints good pictures and this man does that.
If you close your eyes when you listen to his lyrics, you can see those pictures – They’re there. They’re real and that’s the essence of good storytelling with a song.
There’s a lot more going on behind the voice than you immediately gather.
His south of the river, not Americanised, voice works very well.

- Al Scott, Metway Studio, Brighton

I thought he was extremely accomplished. The whole package just sounds like he really knows what he’s doing. It was a nice song, an interesting lyric. He plays very well.
He bought and interesting edge to it.
The band were understated but right where they wanted to be.
Very Good.

- Nick Coquet, The Brighton Source

Nice sparse arrangement, a simplicity emphasises the story-telling aspect. There’s a melancholic maturity in what he’s talking about and I think that matches the maturity of the man.
Uncluttered – Let’s the flow of his words come out.

Pete Christie on YouTube singing ‘Normal Shade of Blue’ Live at Mr Kyps

Review by Fiona Heyes

This review was originally released on the Acoustic Magazine community website in USA.

Pete Christie album cover 'Frank'. Photography by Robert Whetton

Excellent review by Tony Foster of the sell-out gig at Mr Kyps on Jan 28th 2010 at BHOne

“On paper (or the internet) part:three certainly looked like a gig worthy of attendance. Three quality artists, all of who ply their artistic trade simply (for the most part) through voice and guitar, sharing the stage, each other’s songs, and banter with an appreciative and attentive audience”.