Pete Long

When I first heard of Pete Long he was in the British band, Moonpump. And although I did not start receiving their tapes until the mid to late 1990s it felt very much part of the tape trading/indie/ home taping scene. Their style might be referred to as Britpop or rock and they did it well. They released a few tapes and I did not hear from Pete again until fairly recently when he sent me his Vanray: UK? CDs.

DIY. The same now as it’s ever been. The differences lie with using cassette tape, and I can say that I don’t really miss it. Especially sticking on the cassette labels. It boiled down to finding the right glue to use or the bloody things would fall off! It was never the sound you heard coming out of the speakers that was actually getting recorded on the tape, so you had to make adjustments, like having less treble on or more bass. Even using the four track multitrack recorder was a pain… But, hey! Those recordings, some of which I’ve remastered to minidisc and CD, sound great. It was all a learning curve, especially when it came to listening to sound and getting the right results, and I suppose I loved every minute of it.
Crap rehearsal rooms, but we didn’t care. Going to faraway gigs in a smelly old transit van – fantastic! Being broke and 200 miles from home…BRING IT ON! But, growing up and having a family changes things. I don’t miss being in a band, apart from the camaraderie. It was a lot of work organising us to be at the same place at the same time. It’s a lot easier being a solo artist. And of course, the internet does help…