Peter Shoulder is a name that is familiar to a good few who have followed & enjoyed his career over the years, which has seen him perform & record with his previous bands Winterville, as well as The Union where he successfully teamed up with guitarist & songwriter Luke Morley from UK rockers Thunder. Peter’s pedigree was first identified back in 2006 when he won the coveted W.C Handy (Blues Foundation) award, one of only three British artists to have collected that particular award, the other two being Eric Clapton & Peter Green – not bad company to be keeping. At the same awards, which are known as the Blues Grammy’s and held in Memphis, Shoulder also co-wrote the ‘American Blues Song of the Year’. The song, called ‘Think of Me’, was covered by blues legend Little Milton on his final album. He also co-wrote another two tracks on that release, which was also named ‘Album of the Year’.
Shoulder is back with a new project, SILVERTHORNE and is joined by legendary drummer Brian Tichy (Ozzy, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Foreigner) & bassist Daniel Spree (Phil X & the Drills) as they release their debut EP ‘Tear the Sky Wide Open’. Early signs are extremely promising as the first two singles have done well and the EP has received glowing reviews across the globe. The Rockpit managed some quality phone time with Pete while he was back home in the UK to discuss how Silverthorne came to be, recording at Brian Tichy’s place in Southern California and what influences started him on the road to being such a talented singer/songwriter.
Sean: Hi Pete, it’s Sean from The Rockpit over in Perth in Western Australia. How are you doing?
Pete: Hi Sean, I’m good thanks mate. Hope your well?
Sean: I’m great thank you. Before we talk about the wonderful EP ‘Tear the Sky Wide Open’ I have to ask, how did Silverthorne come to be? It’s a fantastic line-up.
Pete: Ah, thank you. Yeah, well me & Brian (Tichy) met years ago when I was in The Union. The Union was supporting Whitesnake on their UK tour and Brian was playing drums for them… we kind of met briefly there but we didn’t get much chance to hang out or chat much because we were on different schedules and things like that. Fast forward a couple of years later, we were both working on a project with Dean & Robert DeLeo from Stone Temple Pilots and once again Brian was playing drums – sadly that project got put on ice but we enjoyed working together, got on well and talked about doing some stuff together so I went back out to LA and stayed with Brian for a month and we basically wrote enough material for a whole album. Then Daniel (Spree) came into the fold, he’s a friend of Brian’s and Brian had played with him and said, “I know this guy and he’s really good” so he came in and he was great. And that was it really.
Sean: Well, the results are fantastic. I’ll be honest, I haven’t been able to turn it off – it’s everything I love about rock music and more. The first single, which was the title track ‘Tear the Sky Wide Open’ received phenomenal reception in its first week of being out there – not doubt many of the listeners would have been fans of your work with Luke Morley (Thunder) in The Union, which is still a wonderful body of work I listen to even now having got all three of those albums in my collection that you guys did. I know that I have been eagerly waiting to see where you were going to pop up next and after hearing the EP I’m dying to hear a full album from Silverthorne.
Pete: Well, thank you mate. Like I said we have already written an album’s worth of material but the really tough thing was what to leave out and which five tracks to pick for the EP. I personally feel that the songs we have left off are some of the best ones we’ve written but with the EP we want to give people a taste so there’s some great stuff sitting on the shelf and on top of that we’ve started writing new stuff as well and recorded a little bit of it – me & Brian are going to keep on doing that this year. So, I’m just excited for the album too [laughs] but I’m so pleased that this EP is finally coming out because it’s seems like it’s been a long time coming and now we’ve had two singles out I think the EP release will finally cement us as a band in people’s eyes.
Sean: I must say because all the songs are so strong I found this one of the easier EPs to review – it kind of wrote itself in a way. Vocally you sound incredible as always and there is some wonderful guitar work on here too. Daniel is someone I’d come across last year when I reviewed Phil X & The Drills last EP which he played on and Brian… well, is there anything Brian hasn’t done? [laughs]. Everyone’s CVs are right up there. And you guys recorded it in Southern California overlooking vast canyons I believe.
Pete: Yeah, if you look at the video we released to coincide with ‘Tear the Sky Wide Open’ that’s basically where it’s at in the Santa Clarita Canyons. Brian rents this little house there where he keeps all his gear; he has his set of microphones and stuff. It’s his little studio there and I was staying there and you’re just surrounded by gear and guitars and stuff. So we wrote it there and basically, like I said it’s just surrounded by canyons – it’s just such a cool place. It’s far enough away from LA & Hollywood that there aren’t too many distractions so it’s great for the creative process.
Sean: Are we to expect some time out on the road and get some Silverthorne tour dates happening? It must be hard with the three of you spread out across the world and with other projects on the go too.
Pete: Yeah, we really want to do that, you know but like you say we all have got other things going on to pay the bills… it’s tough these days in the industry. We did two gigs at the end of last year where we played in Vegas and LA but we’ll concentrate on the new album and get that done and then we’ll start talking to agents and things – we need a good agent in place basically to find us some good tours… we’d ideally like to get on a tour supporting someone else for a while just to introduce ourselves and build a fan base. So, even though we do have other stuff going on this is definitely a huge priority for us.
Sean: Well, Alice Cooper & Joe Perry have shown that even they were happy to open as a support band when they first started touring The Hollywood Vampires.
Pete: Yeah exactly. I love supporting because you’re sometimes in front of an audience you wouldn’t normally get to play to because it’s another band’s audience really [laughs] and you can go on, play for forty minutes and show them what you’ve got so that’s what we’d really love to do.
Sean: Eventually, all being well, we’d love to see you guys heading down our way to Australia. We mentioned The Union earlier and before that there was the wonderful Winterville but taking you right back how did music first grab you?
Pete: It was actually Nirvana. My sister, who’s three years older than me, got me into them by playing the ‘Nevermind’ album over and over… I would have been about eleven at the time, I think. The songs started sinking into my brain from the next room so I copied it onto a cassette and listened to it non-stop to the point of becoming obsessed with it and that’s when I decided I wanted to play the guitar. So, I had this little acoustic guitar and my friend’s dad was a musician and would tune it for me and show me a few chords and I just went with it. From there my dad saw me getting into music and introduced me to his music collection, which consisted of bands like Free & Led Zeppelin, The Beatles… I just started getting into all of that and early Fleetwood Mac and stuff, then started reading about all their influences which then took me to Blues. So, there was a lot of blues & rock and I started getting into more singer/songwriters like Neil Young & Stephen Stills, that kind of thing…
Sean: …just taking influences from the songbook of some of the best music ever written really?
Pete: Yeah definitely.
Read review of Tear The Sky Wide Open
Sean: Well, I was listening to some of The Union stuff today that you did with Luke. I have to say Pete, that second album ‘Siren’s Song’ has some fantastic songs on there. ‘Cut the Line’ & ‘If I Could Make You Mine’ which are two of the slower tracks on there are so powerful. You’re vocals on those songs is just incredible.
Pete: Thank you. There was some great material on that Union album. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve heard those songs.
Sean: All three albums were strong. I see you also worked with Scott Gorham with 21 Guns and recorded some material but I believe it never got released.
Pete: Yeah, well Winterville, my old band went on tour with Thin Lizzy a while back and he called me after the tour and invited me up to Norway to throw down some vocal ideas on some demos. So I went over and did it – we recorded about seven songs I think and then Scott asked me to join the band and I said yes. Then we went back and did a few more recording sessions but Scott started getting busy again with some anniversary Thin Lizzy tour stuff and then he was with Black Star Riders and I was in The Union so it just never really came together. I got a text from him about a year ago asking if I’d still be up for it but he’s just so busy is Scott. He never stops [laughs].
Sean: I spoke to him last year just before the release of the new Black Star Riders album and was just so blessed to find he was such a nice laid back humble guy – a real pleasure to talk to him… and even though he is so busy he still finds time for his golf [laughs]
Pete: [laughs] Yeah, he sure does.
Sean: I must admit to missing Winterville when they first came out. You released a few EPs and only the one album ‘Everything in Moderation’ which I had on again the other day – it’s a wonderful body of work.
Pete: Thanks mate. It was a great band. It was a good live band too and we were just getting started really. We got the one album out and then dropped by the record label and then there was no money to do anything. It was such a shame. I’d love to get back together to do some stuff again with them all. I’m working with Mario (Goossens) the drummer at the moment actually in another band in Holland so we are all still in touch, which is great.
Sean: Well, I know you have more interviews lined up so I won’t keep you too much longer but I love to finish with a few more of my regular questions if I may?
Pete: Yeah, of course.
Sean: Let’s start with what was the last album you listened to, Pete?
Pete: Oh, the last album I listened to? What was it? I was listening to Tom Waits the other night. It was ‘Rain Dogs’ by Tom Waits – it’s one of my favourites. It’s great but also so unusual… it’s brilliant. If you haven’t heard it before it might take a while to get used to his voice [laughs] because it’s all crazy & unusual but once you get past that it’s amazing and I love it.
Sean: That’s my journey home album for the car today. If I booked you a table at a restaurant and you could invite three guests from the music world, dead or alive, who would you choose to join you?
Pete: Ah, god! Tom Waits [laughs]… John Lennon and… Mozart. I’d love to talk to him.
Sean: My second ever composer invited to The Rockpit Restaurant. I had Beethoven last year from someone so will chuck Mozart on the table…
Pete: Yeah, get him on [laughs].
Sean: If you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you pick?
Pete: Oh my god. That’s a difficult one [laughs]. I’ll say ‘Happy Birthday’ as it’s sung every day [laughs] and I’d make loads of money from royalties [laughs]…
Sean: [laughs] Great answer Pete. From all of us at The Rockpit we wish you, Brian & Daniel all the best for this wonderful EP and hope to see Silverthorne come down to visit us in Australia sometime in the future.
Pete: Thank you for the kind words mate. It would be great. We are getting some great press down in Australia so I do hope so.
Sean: Well, if you do finally get here the first round is on me.
Pete: Right, I’ll hold you to that [laughs]. Brilliant.
Sean: Thanks for your time. Cheers Pete.
Pete: Cheers mate. Take care.
