By Don R. Lewis
Buddies and fellow musicians Pete Delaney (the Grain) and Pete Hale (the HOTS) had just finished a round of golf and were relaxing over some adult beverages when they started trying to think of a fun tribute band they could form together.
Naturally, after a few said bevies, they started toying with the fun idea of how to incorporate their same first names into the title.
After failed attempts at names like “Petewood Mac” and “the Peatles,” Delaney’s wife entered the chat and threw out, “You should call yourselves ‘Pete Floyd.’” And thus, the two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl launched a new band.
One would think the combination of a “fun” tribute band would be better served through local mainstays like Petty Theft or Fleetwood Macrame. Yet drummer Sean England said he was surprised at how much people like to sing along and dance at the band’s shows.
“You know, I always think of Pink Floyd as a sort of introspective band,” England said, taking a break from his day job as a foley artist and sound engineer at Skywalker Sound to speak on the phone. “But, it was surprising how much people are dancing and grooving at our shows.”
Delaney spoke to this by saying that when he and Hale decided to form a Pink Floyd tribute band, they had to come out strong. “We knew Pink Floyd fans wouldn’t be impressed if we didn’t do this right,” he said.
Thus, the initial group, consisting of drummer Mike Sather (who fell ill before England stepped in, but continues to drum for the mighty Trainwreck Junction), bass-player Toby Tyler and vocalist Paige Clem began gigging in earnest at smaller venues like Petaluma’s Aqus Café.
Response was strong, so they decided to go all in, pairing Clem with Bay Area legend Teal Collins, as well as bringing in keyboardist Bob McBain and sax player Alex Garcia. Both Delany and Hale noted that when the latter players joined the group, “everything just clicked and came together.”
The Petes recount similar stories in how they became fans of the band they now cover. “I was surfing with a buddy who was into Pink Floyd and other bands I’d never heard of,” Delany said. After a day of surfing the two were “relaxing,” as he recalled, “and he put on Dark Side of the Moon, and I had never heard anything like it before.”
For Hale, it was more of an Almost Famous moment, as his sister was a Floyd fan. “She had all these great records when she came back from this boarding school in England; she had Dark Side of the Moon,” he remembered.
Visuals
A big question might be, what Pink Floyd tribute of any kind would be complete without an incredible visual show? Hale answered this by noting that’s when they decided to bring on a laser light artist as well as incorporate a person in a giant pink pig costume to commemorate the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, Animals.
“We bring that out for special occasions,” Delaney said with a laugh.
And speaking of special occasions, Pete Floyd has a gig at Healdsburg’s Coyote Sonoma on Saturday, March 8. They’ll take the stage at about 9pm.
England said this show will be a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Wish You Were Here, and they will perform that 1975 album in its entirety. England added, “We’ll also do all the most-loved songs from 1971-1979.”
Of course, the big question for the Coyote shows is, will the pig be in attendance? If it does and you miss out you’re going to wish you were there …
Everything one needs to know about Pete Floyd can be found at: petefloyd.com.
