About Me
Pete Lockett is one of the most versatile and prolific percussionists in the World. His percussive skills range from traditional Carnatic and Hindustani music of North and South India to traditional Japanese taiko drumming; from blues, funk and rock to classical, folk and ethnic. Having worked in virtually every field of music conceivable both live and in the studio, his boundless talents have earned him a reputation as one of the most wanted percussionists in the world.
Renowned for his remarkable ability to bring traditional instruments out of their original cultural setting, he has recorded and/or performed with Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Bill Bruford, Jeff Beck, David Torn, Vikku Vinayakram, Selva Ganesh, Ustad Zakir Hussain, The Verve, Steve Smith, Chris Potter, John Spencer Blues Explosion, David Holmes, Ganesh Kumaresh, Michael Nyman, Pandit Sharda Sahai, Natacha Atlas, Texas, Trans-Global Underground, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Phil Manzanera, Bedlam, Edwyn Collins, Jon Hassell, Damien Rice, Trevor Jackson, Craig Armstrong, John Bergamo, Bernard Butler, David Mcalmont, Metro Voices, London Sinfonietta, Natasha / Daniel Bedingfield, Euphoria, Catherine Bott, Playgroup, Taufiq Quereshi, U Shrinivas, Rajesh Mandolin, Suga Babes, Hughes De Courson, Ronan Keating, Nitin Sawhney, Evan Dando, Adrian Sherwood, On-U-Sound, Kula Shaker, Afro Celt Sound System, Vanessa-Mae, David Arnold, Evelyn Glennie, Errol Brown, Rory Gallagher, Gary Husband, Pet Shop Boys, Beth Orton, Martina Topley Bird, Shankar Mahedevan, Little Axe, Dino Merlin, Doug Wimbish, Ronu Majumdar, Hari Haran, Amy Winehouse, Mel C, The Players, Junior Delgado, The Aloof, David Toop, Lowell Fulson, Joji Hirota, Skip Macdonald, A R Rahman, Archive, Luke Vibert, Eumir Deodato, Andy Gangadeen, Steve White, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC concert orchestra, Youth of Killing Joke, Catriona MacDonald, Reshma, Aziz Ibrahim (Stone Roses/Simply Red) DJ Judge Jules, French band INTIK, Sinead O'Conner, Elefantes, Andy Wright, Paul Heard/Mike Pickering (M People), Hands Ensemble, Antonio Forcione and more!
He has also worked extensively in the film industry, playing on the three most recent Bond movies, as well as the City of Angels, Moulin Rouge, The Insider, Plunkett and Maclean, and the Guy Ritchie movie Snatch. He has also taught and lectured in Britain and the USA including at The Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music in London, and continues to run workshops and lecture all over Europe. He continues to contribute technique articles for drum magazines internationally, inc Modern Drummer and Rhythm magazines and his web site, petelockett.com has become increasingly popular for the hundreds of free video and audio percussion lessons.
Pete has two percussive groups which are regularly touring; Network of Sparks and Taiko to Tabla. The two groups currently have four albums on release. Network of Sparks featuring Bill Bruford was released on MELT2000 in October 1999 coinciding with a Contemporary Music Network tour of England that was supported by the Arts Council of England. The second album, featuring musicians from Pakistan, Ghana and Japan was released on ARC in 2003. The result of this Network of Sparks is an eclectic mix of percussion from all over the world. One is a dynamic journey through the diverse and expansive world of percussion, juxtaposing instruments and sounds that are not tradition-specific and weaving through both ambient and tempestuous textures. The sparks ignite by fusing the ethereal echoes of the east with the powerful full thrust grooves of Africa and the thunderous rhythms of Japan. There are two Taiko to Tabla albums with Joji Hirota, Live at the Bruges Festival on Zoku-EMI label and a studio album also on ARC. Both projects have performed to packed houses all over the world including the Edinburgh Festival, Bruges Festival, Rhythm Sticks- London, Drumusique Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Glasgow One World Festival, Pontardawe Festival, Belfast Festival, Guildford Festival, Sufi-Soul Festival, Lahore Pakistan and the Newbury Festival. The Taiko to Tabla show was also broadcast live on the internet from the Edinburgh Festival in. Petes new project is Parallax Beat Brothers with electronics wizard Scanner. They have released their first album in 2005 which featured trumpet genius Jon Hassell as special guest. They also toured extensively in fall 2005.
WWW.PETELOCKETT.COM Percussion You'll never forget!
..1 Best live percussionist 2005 as voted by readers of Rhythm magazine
Check out the videos below, inc lots of solo stuff and duets with STEVE SMITH, SELVA GANESH, ZORO, JOHNNY RABB, BENNY GREBB, BICKRAM GHOSH & lots more!!
PETE'S NEWS
2007 has got off to a very Indian flavour for Pete. In early January pete went out to Kolkatta where he toured locally and recorded with Bikram Ghosh. There was also a TV special recorded for an international Indian station which featured Pete being interviewed by Tanmoy Bose. Pete then set sail for Chennai where he recorded with Rajesh Mandolin. After a brief break back in the UK for some sessions it was back to Chennai for a solo gig on the same bill as Indian legends Shuba Mudgal and Bombay Jayshree. Then there was a performance with U Shrinivas at the Dyhanalinga temple in front of 100,000 people. The show was also broadcast live on national TV. The trip was wound up with recording work on a 'big news' Tamil film called 'SIVAJI' with Superstar actor Rajini Kanth and music by AR Rahman. Then it was back to London to perform at Ronnie Scotts with Steve Smiths Vital Information. Pete also got news that he narrowly missed first spot in the readers polls of Rhythm magazine for BEST LIVE PERCUSSIONIST 2006 and BEST STUDIO PERCUSSIONIST 2006
Pete was then back in Chennai for ten days performing solo on the same bill as Shakti at the founders day celebrations of Vikku Vinayakrams grandfathers percussion school. There was also another TV special recorded for SS music and a number of live radio performances. Photos here! Pete also started work on a special new album which features the great Vikku Vinayakram, Bikram Ghosh, Rajesh Mandolin, Mahesh Vinayakram and Pete.
Then Pete was off to Canada to perform at the Cape Bretton international drum fest. Pete performed a solo set and also duets with Michael Shrieve (Santana) and Ed Mann (Zappa). Pete is also writing and recording with Michael Shrieve on his new album. Then it was back to India for more recording with Bickram Ghosh and then back to the UK for recordings with Lee Scratch Perry and Aidrian Sherwood / Primal Scream.
Pete also performed with Steve Hiltons FLYKKILER and Pete Lawrences Chilled by Nature at the big chill festival along with Remo Fernandes. Then Pete was off to the USA for a solo performance and duet performance with Steve Smith at the New Hampshire drum expo. He also got a chance to visit the Zildjian factory in Boston where there could well be some 'Lockett creations' in their drum circle ranges.
Pete was then off to Russia for recordings and performances with George Brooks and Russian outfit, Goatika. The TAALISMAN project with Amit Chatterjee also performed at Birdland in Austria.
Pete is also working on a new project called XTAL. This is a re-mix project taking Aphex Twin tracks and giving them the full percussion treatment. The project gets its first outing in November @ Big Chill House in London. It will be a multi media show with visuals.
NEW ALBUM RELEASED APRIL 07. Pete live in Istanbul @ Babylon club 2006 with special guests Tarik Tuysuzoglu on percussion and Serdar Pazarcioglu on violin. Lots of solo percussion with electronics and some tracks with some great Turkish flavours.
It was a busy 2006 in Pete Lockett’s percussion world. Pete has been working closely with Doug Wimbish of Living Colour on his new album, including a few live dates with Doug, the highlight of which was with Will Calhoun and Skip Macdonald at Wembley conference centre. Pete Has also been touring the UK with his Parallax beat brothers project featuring Scanner which has a new release in Japan autumn 06. Their summer performances included the Big Chill festival, including visuals by Pete and Scanner.
Pete also toured in June with with a new trio featuring Fazal Qureshi (Zakirs brother) and Amit Chatterjee, guitarist from the Zawinal syndicate. The project was a great success and lots more is planned for the future. They have recently been recording in London. There's also a Quartet with Bikram Ghosh from Calcutta, British saxophonist Jesse Banister and Algerian violinist Djamel Benyelles – They recorded in the summer and have done a video for their debut album. On the session front Pete arranged and recorded solo percussion on the new James Bond film, becoming the first one to freeze the entire ProTools system at Air Studios with 96 simultaneous tracks of percussion! Bwahaha! Pete also recorded percussion for Adrian Sherwoods acclaimed new album on Real World. Pete also performed solo at the South Bank Centres Purcell Room for the Indian Bahar festival in June. TV and Film work continues thick and fast, including the bad girls TV series and numerous projects wit composer David Arnold. Pete has also been busy with clinics and solo shows and was one of the tutors at the Marktoberdorf drum week in Germany along with Steve Smith, Johnny Rabb and many more. There have also been live performances with Indian Sarod masters, Amaan and Ajaan Ali Khan, including a show at Womad, UK and in San Francisco.
Other solo shows included the vibes from the vines festival, drums in the weald and some shows in Switzerland. From there, after a chill out period in Kenya pete was off to LA to record with Steve Smiths Vital Information and then Russ Miller on his new album and Nelly Furtado. Pete got writing credits on the Steve Smith album. Then there was a video shoot with Steve Sidelynk for their new project, Force of Two shot by video guru, Steve Chivers in the Hollywood hills. Pete is also recording tracks with drummer Johnny Rabb for an up tempo drum n bass project. There have also been performances with Little Axe following the release of their new album. Pete also arranged and recorded all the ethnic percussion for the new bond 007 film, casino royale. Watch out for the credit at the end! Visit my website for lots more, inc loads of free lessons on ethnic perc!
