12 Questions with Pete Wilkinson
David Lancaster talks to Pete Wilkinson formerly of Liverpool band Shack and a founding member of Cast.
Although having taught himself to play bass at an early age by listening to new wave bands such as The Stranglers and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wilkinson took an interest in jazz and went on to tour the jazz circuit across the northwest of England and North Wales. He gained a college diploma in the genre before deciding that he would never be able to move out of the small clubs he was already playing whilst playing jazz. In 1990, Wilkinson joined Shack with whom he worked on the album Waterpistol. The album however would not be released until 1995, due to problems with the loss of the master tapes and the original record label folding leading to the band splitting up. In 1992, he co-founded Cast with former La’s bassist John Power who fronted the band. Following the band’s split in 2001, Wilkinson released a solo album in October 2002 Huxley Pig Part 1 under the guise of Aviator. He also began working as a session musician, playing with artists including Ian McCulloch, Echo & the Bunnymen. In 2005, Wilkinson rejoined the reformed Shack, who released two albums on Noel Gallagher‘s record label. In 2010, Wilkinson re-joined the reformed Cast for a UK tour in November 2010. Wilkinson released the long-delayed Aviator follow up album Huxley Pig, Part 2 in 2012. He released the third Aviator album No Friend Of Mind in August 2015 on his own label AV8.
DL: You’ve been on the live scene since the late 80s I’m guessing Pete, how did it all start for you? Like where did you go to school and was it always bass guitar? Was it always a plan to be a musician when you were growing up?
PW: My love of music started from a very early age, I’m guessing it soothed and transported me to other places. My first musical memory is Durham Town by Roger Whittaker,my mum worked in a club with a jukebox in it , she’d give me 10 cents (lived in Australia for a time) and I’d play that tune over and over. I can’t quite remember what it was that I loved about it, but I’m thinking that the whistle caught my attention. Also, my older brother was a massive music fan, he still is, so, I’d listen to his cassette player. He had stuff like Paul McCartney’s Red Rose Speedway and cassettes by the Australian band Skyhooks. Eventually, moving back to the UK in ’75 we just caught the beginnings of punk. My brother was a massive influence, he’d bring home some amazing albums, that’s when I heard The Stranglers. That bass sound was just so powerful! it cemented my love for the bass. I very quickly decided I’d never do anything other than be in a band.
DL: So you joined Shack who became reasonably successful and are probably remembered as a cult Liverpool band now, how did you end up in Shack with the Head brothers?
PW: I joined Shack in late ’88 I think. My mate Hollo was friends with this loon, turned out to be Alan Wills of Delta Sonic. I was soon hanging out with Alan most days. Alan had been asked to help out on drums on Shack’s new album, which turned out to be the start of Waterpistol. Al told Mick and John that they should get me to play bass, so we started rehearsing in Alan’s bedroom, a real “baptism of fire”.I went from being quite a silent, quiet kid, to hanging out with a bunch of mavericks, it was an absolute dream.
Pete Wilkie (Image supplied by artist)
DL: Shack recorded an album that got destroyed in a fire, what happened there ?, that must have been soul-destroying, I know it came out eventually but that musta been stressful, no digital backups back then I’m guessing ??
PW: Those bedroom rehearsals were where Shack first started doing stuff like Time Machine and Al’s Vacation. “I Know You Well” if I remember correctly, was something Alan and I were messing around with. He was playing that Beatles, Tomorrow Never Knows beat and I was jamming the bass line, which became I Know You Well, the next day after our jam Mick had the song. Waterpistol was recorded at different sessions, Mike Hedgess house and the demo studio at Ghetto Record Company, a studio down in Lincoln. Tbh yes, it was a bit chaotic for many many reasons. It came out in ’95, by which point I was so unaware of it and involved in “Cast” that it completely passed me by, I actually didn’t get a copy until 2018.
DL: So early 90s you moved on from Shack and you join Cast. I remember John Power said in an interview that you, Skin, and Keith were headhunted by him when he left The La’s and that if he hadn’t have got you guys onboard he wouldn’t have bothered .. is that true? You guys were a bit of a scouse supergroup.
PW: Cast was John Power’s idea. He’d been writing songs but The La’s wasn’t the right vehicle for his songwriting. Super difficult for him when you’ve got one of the best songwriters around writing gems too. As for being headhunted, I’m not sure tbh, John asked me first and we started Cast. We went through various line ups before settling on Cast as it is known. It took quite a bit of time before Keith and Skin completed the line-up and once they were in, it wasn’t long before record companies started being interested.
DL: I became a real fan of Cast at that time and I remember you didn’t really rush to release your music, you seemed to just gig non stop, I remember some great shows at The Picket actually. Cast were and still are a great live band. What is the best Cast gig you can remember from that period ?.
PW: Cast started gigging loads. We’d rehearsed for about a year then got a deal and just gigged nonstop for the next 5 years. Pinpointing a favourite gig would be difficult, but I’d have to say 3 nights all sold out at The Royal Court in Liverpool takes some beating… I’d spent years watching gigs there, so to “come home” spiritually, was full circle.
Pete Wilkie (Image supplied by artist)
DL: Any funny stories about being on the road ?
PW- Being on the road, for any musician is what it’s all about. You’re with your friends, band members, hangers-on meeting loads of new people along the way. The events and experiences are vast and there are always funny moments, they’re endless but for now, I’ll tell you this one. Shack had played a couple of gigs in Paris and were then set to travel to Switzerland to do a show. During the drive, in a small minibus, someone thought it would be a great idea to drop some acid. We arrive at a service station, take a walk around for a bit and get back on the bus, remember, we’re all sitting very very close to each other, but five miles down the autobahn someone says, ‘”Where’s Eastie?” We were so hard into the trip we couldn’t remember who was, and who wasn’t with us anymore. Anyway, we stopped the bus and started to reverse down the hard shoulder, hoping Eastie woulda stayed at the service station. He’d decided to walk all the way to Switzerland, without a coat in heavy snow, while tripping !!! We eventually get to him and he gets back on the bus and says, almost nonplussed, “I knew you’d remember me at some point!”, and off we went. Kinda funny, you had to be there to get the vibe.
DL: What is your spirit animal, Pete?
PW: My 8-year-old often asks this and the convo goes like this. “If you could be any animal what would be?” “What about biscuits, what biscuit are you ?” “When you’re asleep who are you?” It gets quite out there and psychedelic. My answer is always the same, I’d love to be an eagle, swooping over vast canyons, gliding on thermals at peace with everything. So eagle it is. In reality, I’m probably a donkey, hard-working, moody, and not that bright. Prone to temperamental episodes and rather sad at times.
DL: If you go on a long drive or a long journey, what album do you like to play?
PW: Usually a Beatles album. If we go on long journeys in the car, our go-to album is anything by them really, the best for singalongs.
DL: So Cast take a little break, you then work on another Shack album then start up with Cast again and then leave, while also working as a session player with Ian McCulloch and Echo & The Bunnymen while also releasing 2 solo albums, is my timeline right there? You’ve been super busy since the early 2000s is that how you like to work Pete?
PW: As a musician, there’s nothing better than being involved in many projects, and the noughties were really prolific. In those ten years till 2010, I’d made an Ian McCulloch solo record, an Echo and the Bunnymen album, Miles and Gil with Shack, plus my Aviator albums and various other sessions too. I loved it and wished it was like that again, but there’s always a payoff, relationship breakdowns, not looking after oneself in a psychical and spiritual way, etc. These days are quite different, however.
Pete Wilkie (Image supplied by artist)
DL: How did you come up with the “Huxley Pig” title for those albums, your first “Aviator” solo records?
PW: It was an old girlfriend who’d call this guy it. We knew him, he was a bit big and kinda piggy looking, a bit mean tbh but we were young. I liked the title, for me, it represented something just not right, almost like Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, someone trying to be something they’re not. Pigs pretending to be human, with human traits. For me to write songs and play everything on the recordings (apart from drums), seemed alien to me, hence the thread with pretending to be a songwriter and the pigs. The referencing of Animal farm might be completely “off beam”, but that’s how I was thinking. I had no idea it was a children’s series until 10 years later, takes on a whole new meaning now.
DL: You have your own AV8 label Peter, is that where you see your future, working with and helping fellow musicians get their projects off the ground? What is the ethos with AV8 ?, I know you just helped Tommy Scott with his album, how did that come about btw? , also, what does the future hold for AV8 ? anything else exciting on the horizon with that?
PW: To get more current, I started a label with my good friend Nick Graff about 5 years ago. The idea was to release Aviator’s music. Paul Hemmings, a big part of Aviator, and Liverpool music in general was recording music with Tommy Scott (Space). Our Aviator “ethos” is to make limited edition products, make them collectible, and to use local artists. Tommy liked the punk D.I.Y. approach and asked Paul if we’d be interested in releasing his first solo album. It was never our plan to help others, but it worked so well that it seems the way forward for AV8. Our whole approach is to do a good product, pay everyone involved, and not go into debt. So far it seems to work. We’re not sure how far we can take it, but as long as we’re having fun and remain friends, then long may it continue.
DL: What are your plans for 2021/2022 in general? Might we see you back on the road with Aviator or back with one of your old bands, or will it be more studio and label work?
PW: Plans for 2021/22 are to continue releasing music. There’s a new Aviator record almost finished and there are some other very cool projects at the development stage, it’s all looking great for us. As for live dates, who knows? If the pandemic is under control, and venues are allowed to function, then I’d love to do a show. Get to play “All You Haters”, (Aviator’s latest album) live, that’d be very cool. Once again thank you for giving us the chance to interview you, anything else you’d like to add ?.
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Listen to Aviator on Spotify
