Pete Way

Pete Way (2007)

Peter Frederick "Pete" Way (born August 7, 1951 in Enfield Town in the London Borough of Enfield , Middlesex , † August 14, 2020 ) was an English bassist . Way was a co-founder and member of the British rock band UFO .

Career

The golden UFO days (1969–1982)

In 1969 he formed the band Hocus Pocus with Phil Mogg , Mick Bolton and Andy Parker . Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to UFO. The model for this was a club in London. In 1970 the self-titled debut album was released on Decca Records . The cover of Eddie Cochran's C'mon Everybody , released as a single , has already achieved initial success. The second album Flying already had a playing time of one hour and brought the band into the direction of psychedelic rock . Before that, they'd rather used hard boogie . In 1971 the live album UFO Lands In Tokyo was released , which was released in Europe under the title UFO Live .

After Mick Bolton left the band in 1972, the guitar position was initially unsteady. Larry Wallis went on tour with the band in 1972 and was replaced by Bernie Marsden . In 1973, a permanent replacement for Bolton was found with the 18-year-old German Michael Schenker . At that time, Bernie Marsden was not allowed to enter Germany due to a forgotten passport, and this forced the band to ask the guitarist of the opening act Scorpions if he could represent him at the concerts. After the tour, Schenker, who did not speak English at the time, was invited to London to join the band. The first album written with Schenker, Phenomenon , is now considered the band's best album. The following albums Force It (1975), No Heavy Petting (1976), Lights Out (1977) and Obsession (1978) were able to build on these successes. In addition, the group was strengthened in 1976 by keyboardist Paul Raymond .

In 1978, however, Schenker and Mogg fell out. Then Schenker and the band parted ways. After Schenker rejoined the Scorpions without luck, he founded his own band Michael Schenker Group in 1980 and took Paul Raymond with him.

With guitarist Paul Chapman and keyboardist Neil Carter, the band broke apart. Although the albums No Place to Run (1980), The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent (1981) and Mechanix (1982) were commercially able to build on the Schenker era, Way left the band and devoted himself to other projects.

The times without a UFO (1982–1988)

In 1982 Way played a few concerts with Ozzy Osbourne on his Diary-of-a-Madman tour in England as a substitute. He had previously started the band Fastway with Motörhead guitarist Eddie Clarke . After an album (on which he only officially plays) and many disputes with the record company Chrysalis Records , Way left the band again. Since 1982 Way was also on the road with the band Waysted , in which he played again with ex-UFO keyboardist Paul Raymond until 1984. In 1987 he left Waysted and joined UFO again.

Return to UFO (1988–1989, 1992–2008)

Pete Way with Phil Mogg (2006)

Shortly before the band broke up, Pete Way joined them again. Besides him, Phil Mogg, Andy Parker and the guitarist Eric Gammans were in the band at that time. In 1989 the band broke up. During this time, however, no UFO album was released. He then disappeared again from the scene before the band finally reunited in 1992.

In 1992 the album High Stakes & Dangerous Men was released . With Laurence Archer (guitar), Clive Edwards (drums) and Don Airey (keyboards) three new members were in the band. Except for Pete Way, there was only Phil Mogg left from the old days. The album did not reach the charts. They reacted and in 1993 brought Michael Schenker, Andy Parker and Paul Raymond back into the band. However, the next album Walk on Water (1995) could not reach the charts. Then drummer Andy Parker left the band again. In 1997 and 1999 Pete Way and Phil Mogg released the albums Edge of the World and Chocolate Box as Mogg / Way .

In 2000 Pete Way released the solo album Amphetamine . In addition, he brought out the album Covenant with UFO (on the Aynsley Dunbar plays drums and Paul Raymond is missing) and reunited the band Waysted . With this band two albums were released in the same year: Wilderness of Mirrors and You Won't Get Out Alive .

In 2002 he brought out a live album with his solo band and also released the album Sharks with UFO (again with Dunbar on drums) . It was supposed to be the last album with Michael Schenker, as they parted ways. Michael Schenker and Pete Way tried again in 2003 to reform the UFO occupation of the 1970s, but this was not possible due to the differences. Vinnie Moore was hired as a replacement . Michael Schenker and Pete Way called their version of UFO The Plot and released an album of the same name in 2003. The drummer of the project was the American Jeff Martin.

Pete Way did not leave UFO and released the album You Are Here with this group in 2004 , on which the drummer Jason Bonham can be heard in addition to the returned Paul Raymond . In 2005, this was again replaced by returnees Andy Parker. In 2004 the next album was also released with Waysted: Back From The Dead . At that time, UFO played with bassist Barry Sparks for a short time .

In 2006, Way played bass on the Michael Schenker Group's album Tales Of Rock'n'Roll . In the same year UFO released the album The Monkey Puzzle . In 2007 Way again released a solo album called Acoustic Animal . In the same year he re-released two albums with Waysted in the same year: Organized Chaos and The Harsh Reality .

In addition, he was with Spike (vocals), Chris Slade (drums) and Robin George (vocals & guitar) under the name Damage Control . An album of the same name was released in 2007.

In 2008 he left UFO again, this time for health reasons. Ways long-standing alcohol and drug addiction was mentioned as a reason early on. Since this exit was announced as a break, his condition in the band is unknown. Drummer Andy Parker said in a 2012 interview when asked if there were any plans for Ways to return:

"He's the substance abuse factor. No, but he is surviving as Pete survives. I believe he's made a solo album, but I don't think it hit the streets yet. Pete had plenty of opportunities to straighten himself up and come back. But, he doesn't seem to be willing to do it. And we're not really willing, I mean, we love Pete. But he's not really capable of playing to the level that we want to perform right now. That's about the best thing I can say. He doesn't seem to want to make a change, so right now I don't see him back. I mean, the door is always open, if he wants to make some life changes. He doesn't seem to feel that's necessary. "

("He's the substance abuse factor. No, but he just survives like Pete survives. I think he did a solo album, but I don't think it's out yet. Pete had a few ways to pull himself together and come back . But he doesn't seem to want. And neither do we. We love Pete, but he can't play at the level we want right now. That's the best I can say. He doesn't seem to be changing want, so he will not return at the moment. Our doors are always open if he wants to change his life. But he doesn't seem to feel necessary. ")

According to UFO (2008-2020)

In 2011 Way played bass on Michael Schenker's album Temple of Rock . As a result, he often performed with this. In 2013, Way announced that he had prostate cancer. However, he has now defeated cancer. He was at the doctor's when he found blood in his urine. However, he concluded that it came from his drug use. Currently he wanted to finish his postponed solo album Walking On The Edge . Slash and Nikki Sixx had already been announced as guests . In August 2016, Pete Way suffered a heart attack after a short business trip to Germany .

He died on August 14, 2020, at the age of 69, two months after an accident that left him seriously injured and from which he did not recover.

Discography

UFO

Studio albums

• 1970: UFO 1
• 1971: Flying
• 1974: Phenomenon
• 1975: Force It
• 1976: No Heavy Petting
• 1977: Lights Out
• 1978: obsession
• 1980: No Place to Run
• 1981: The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent
• 1982: Mechanix
• 1992: High Stakes & Dangerous Men
• 1995: Walk On Water
• 2000: Covenant
• 2002: Sharks
• 2004: You Are Here
• 2006: The Monkey Puzzle

Live albums

• 1971: Live (Japanese title: UFO Lands In Tokyo)
• 1974: Live in Concert
• 1979: Strangers in the Night (double LP / Live in Chicago)
• 1992: Lights Out in Tokyo / Live in Japan
• 1993: TNT
• 1994: Live in Texas
• 1995: Heaven's Gate
• 1997: X-Factor: Out There & Back
• 1998: On With the Action
• 2001: Regenerator - Live 1982
• 2005: Showtime
• 2009: The Official Bootleg Box Set 1975–1982
• 2013: Hot'n'Live (CD 1 contains live recordings with Schenker from 1974–78, CD 2 contains live recordings with Chapman from 1980–83)

Fastway

Studio albums

• 1983: Fastway (indicated only, does not play on the album)

Waysted

Studio albums

• 1983: Vices
• 1985: The Good the Bad the Waysted
• 1986: Save Your Prayers
• 2000: Wilderness Of Mirrors
• 2000: You Won't Get Out Alive
• 2004: Back From The Dead
• 2007: Back From The Chaos
• 2007: The Harsh Reality

Others

• 1984: Waysted (EP)

Mogg / Way

Studio albums

• 1997: Edge of the World
• 1999: Chocolate Box

Pete Way

Studio albums

• 2000: Amphetamines
• 2007: Acoustic Animal

Live albums

• 2002: Pete Way (Alive In Cleveland)

The Plot - Michael Schenker / Pete Way

• 2003: The Plot

Michael Schenker Group

Studio albums

• 2006: Tales of Rock'N'Roll - Twenty-five years celebration

Damage Control

Studio albums

• 2007: Damage Control

swell

• [1] , last accessed on February 1, 2015
• [2] , last accessed on February 1, 2015
• [3] , last accessed on February 1, 2015
• [4]
• Pete Ways Facebook Page, last accessed February 1, 2015

Web links

Commons : Pete Way  - collection of images

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ufo-drummer-says-bassist-pete-way-doesn-t-seem-to-be-willing-to-straighten-himself-up/
2. ↑ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/pete-way-prostate-cancer/
3. ↑ http://www.rockhard.de/news/newsarchiv/newsansicht/37367-ufo-ex-bassist-pete-way-wegen-prostata-krebs-in-strahlentherapie.html
4. ↑ http://loudwire.com/ufo-pete-way-slash-nikki-sixx-guests-solo-album/
5. ↑ http://loudwire.com/ufo-pete-way-slash-nikki-sixx-guests-solo-album/
6. ↑ http://www.metal-hammer.de/pete-way-ex-ufo-erleidet-herzinfarkt-681485/
7. ↑ http://www.metal.de/news/ufo-pete-way-hatte-einen-herzinfarkt-186137/
8. ↑ Legendary UFO bassist PETE WAY Dead At 69