Somojo Magazine Interviews with Jen | 1 Jen: What’s your latest song and what can you tell us about it? Pete Walter: It’s called ‘Money Beer and Wine’. I read about an experiment conducted by be- havioural scientists where it was discovered that people wallow in their defeats and miseries twice as much as they celebrate their successes. Being a glass-half-full kind of guy I made a commitment to myself there and then that I would always try and do the opposite i.e. celebrate my successes twice as much as my failures. Inspired by that notion I decided to write a song celebrating great achievement. I thought of accomplishments in his- tory that I admired, but also where the protagonist of that accomplishment had famously had a really good party after and had really taken the appro- priate amount of time to pat themselves on the back. After a bit of thinking and research I came up with Harold Abrahams winning the 100m at the 1924 Olympics, Crick and Watson’s discovery of DNA in 1953 and the voyage of Juan Sebastian Elcano who was the commander of the first ship to go round the world from 1519-22. Three very contrasting fields, but three achievements of massive effort and persistence that shocked the world. I narrate each of their stories in the first person and then the chorus is about their collec- tive **** ups to celebrate. Jen: What do you have going on for us to look forward to in the future? Pete Walter: I’m getting a bit of interest from various management companies at the moment so that’s pretty exciting. I really hope to have signed with someone within the next six months. But also my band has got such good musicians in it at the moment, I really look forward to just playing live each time with them. I almost have to remind myself that I’ve got to sing because I just like listening to them jamming away. Jen: How often do you play live? Pete Walter: About once a month at the moment, but hopefully more soon. If I ever managed to go on a tour I could die a happy man. Jen: Where are you from? Pete Walter: Originally I’m from Kingston-upon- Thames but now I live in Central London. Jen: Do you have a musical background? Pete Walter: My mum and dad can hold a tune but aren’t massively musical. However it’s obviously in the family as my Uncle studied piano at the Royal college of music and on the other side of the family my grandfather and great-grandfather were both in bands that played the pop music of that time. Jen: Do you play solo or do you have a band? Pete Walter: Both! Pete Walter www.somojo.net/pete_walter Interviews with Jen