Pete Haycock
Pete Haycock (born Peter John Haycock, 4 March 1951, Stafford, Staffordshire, England) is a guitarist and composer who started his career as lead guitarist and vocalist with the Climax Chicago Blues Band. Born at 63 Tixall Road, Stafford, Staffordshire.
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[edit] Early career
Formed in Stafford in 1968, the band changed their name to the Climax Blues Band in 1970. The original band line-up consisted of Haycock (lead guitar, vocals), Derek Holt (guitar, vocals), Richard Jones (bass), Arthur Wood (keyboards), George Newsome (drums), and Colin Cooper (harmonica/vocals).[1]
The Climax Blues Band went through a few personnel changes during the early 1970s before arriving at their more permanent line-up, which consisted of Haycock, Holt (switched to bass guitar), Cooper, and drummer John Cuffley. The band, featuring these players, toured heavily in the 1970s and 1980s. During much of this period, Haycock played concerts with his rare trademark instrument, a gold-plated Veleno guitar, which also graced the cover (and was the namesake) of Climax's Gold Plated album.[2]
[edit] Post Climax Blues Band
After he and the other members of Climax went their separate ways in 1988, Haycock went on to record an instrumental album for I.R.S. No Speak entitled Guitar and Son, as well as the Night of the Guitars live album (from the tour of the same name).[3] After that tour, Haycock teamed up with fellow guitarist Steve Hunter and former Climax Blues bandmate, Derek Holt, to record an album under the name, H Factor.[4]
In 1990, Haycock was approached by Bev Bevan, formerly of Electric Light Orchestra, to join the newly-formed Electric Light Orchestra Part II. The group toured and recorded in the early 1990s.
[edit] Stage to screen
In the early 1990s Haycock began scoring music for films. He was asked by Hans Zimmer to collaborate on several projects, including K2 and Drop Zone, among others, and it was on the soundtrack for Thelma & Louise that Haycock performed the Thunderbird theme music on slide guitar. Haycock was asked by Zimmer to recreate his performance, with a live symphony orchestra, for the recording of Wings of a Film, which was a compilation album of Zimmer's successful film scores.
Haycock continued to collaborate with Zimmer on several projects,[5] and also began composing for film and television on his own. For 1992's One False Move, Haycock collaborated with Derek Holt. More scores would follow, and Haycock helped produce recordings for other artists.
Haycock collaborated with Zimmer again in 2011, and was featured guitarist on the soundtrack for Ron Howard's feature film, [6]The Dilemma (starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James).
[edit] Charity projects
In 2005, Haycock supplied all the music for the Hollister Independence Motorcycle Rally DVD charity project, for producer Jeff Byler, with proceeds benefiting Emmaus House, a shelter for battered women and children. When the DVD's producer suggested a follow-up soundtrack to the project, Haycock went back into the studio to complete the album that became Bikers' Dozen, which featured a vocal performance by John Fiddler (Medicine Head).[7]
No stranger to charity work, Pete Haycock signed on as a major contributor to the forthcoming Damage Limitation [1] charity CD project in 2009, which was spearheaded by fellow musician Robin George, and was built around Robin's hit song, "LovePower and Peace". Pete contributed many trademark slide guitar tracks and donated studio time to the project, a charity effort to benefit children with cancer and other terminal diseases.
This collaboration, which includes the donated talents of scores of veteran musicians [2], not only resulted in a dynamic album of music, with proceeds benefiting charity, but has resulted in the forming a "super group" called The LovePower Band, which has landed a major record deal and completed its first album, which was released in 2011. There is also talk of The LovePower Band touring in the near future as well.[3]
[edit] Return to the stage
After an absence from the stage and live performances, Haycock formed a new band, Pete Haycock's True Blues (featuring Glen Turner). In 2008, they toured Europe and released their first recording together: Pete Haycock's True Blues Live (featuring Glen Turner).[8][9] In April 2009, Pete Haycock, in an interview, talked about the early days with the Climax Blues Band, the transition to studio work (with and without Hans Zimmer), and his return to the stage with his new band, after an absence from live performances of fourteen years.[10]
