MUSICIAN-INSTRUMENTALIST-TEACHER
Hi I'm Pete Henley and at the beginning of my musical life, the piano was my first instrument. At grade three I wanted to play like Elton John so I gave up grades and listened and copied and have tinkled away ever since. I got my first guitar at 12 years of age and at 14 joined my first band and played Bass guitar. An opportunity to play drums arose when the current band's drummer found it difficult to keep time! Unfortunate! So after playing drums in a couple of bands I then met a ‘real talented’ drummer, and we agreed me going back to guitar and him on drums was a good idea. We subsequently missed out in favour of Robin Trower when so close to a record deal, but that's another story. With my developed piano playing and always singing since my choir boy days, I had a good grounding musically. Rather than playing cover songs I'd always wanted to perform my own songs and finding musicians of a similar mindset was a challenge, even my drummer and I couldn't find a dedicated bass player! In fact the first decent bassist I played with went to the states and joined Blondie, my drummer friend following a few years later. Having subsequently played many gigs with different line-ups, and mixing with various talented musicians over the years, I’ve picked up tips helping me increase my own playing ability along with a better understanding of song writing and production.
At 24, I met my future wife and everything changed. Working to support a family meant, writing songs, forming bands and playing live, took a back seat, so naturally less gigs but still a couple of enjoyable bands with real potential but the inevitable band member leaving made things difficult. Looking back to the early years EMI and A&M records showed enough interest in my songs to provide free studio time which was exciting, but there was never any commitment. So with gigging behind me, in 2008 I had a studio built away from the house which gave me the opportunity to concentrate on recording my songs. Having a studio also lent itself to teaching, so I taught electric guitar and drums and then through recommendation, taught both guitar and drums at a local school. This all came to an end when Covid arrived which in turn helped me finish my album.
Playing all the instruments was an advantage and enhanced the creative side, which made the process much more enjoyable. I knew what I wanted to create, so mixing the sounds, and producing a final product was the motivation. Only recently were some songs mastered on my finished album ‘Days gone by’, with the many other songs waiting to be mastered for my next album. The hope is that anyone reading this might have a listen to some of my songs and hopefully like what they hear.