Guitaristand vocalist Pete Miller has been at the forefront of the music scene sincethe early sixties. Rockin' became Miller's business, in fact, back in 1957,after he caught an eyeful of Chuck Berry duck-walking across the screenin the movie classic "Rock Rock Rock". Dreaming of the mythicalJohnny B Goode, Miller - a gangly teenager living in Norwich, sold his HornbyDublo electric train set for five pounds to buy a secondhand guitar. Ithad been a mere two hours since he left Chuck Berry at the Regent Theatreon Prince of Wales Road, Norwich.

Withinthe year, Miller and a few schoolmates rehearsed at their youth club andthrashed about at local teen dancehalls as The Offbeats. The affection theymaintained for their idols was reflected in the songs they performed: JerryLee, Chuck, Gene, Eddie, Buddy, Fats, and, of course Elvis.

TheOffbeats promo photo. 1959

Not a collectors' item by design, "Introducing the Offbeats"- their 1958 six song E.P. survives as the Offbeats' only recorded legacy.The members of The Offbeats were: Luke Watson - drums, David Wilson - bass(later replaced by Mike Parish), Mike Lorenz - rhythm guitar, Tony Woods- vocals (later replaced by Andy Fields who also played piano), and Peteon lead guitar.

TheOffbeats at Catton Village Hall in Norwich. 1959

Posterfor the Offbeats at the Chantry Hall in Norwich. 1959

Millerwas lured away from the Offbeats in 1961 by Peter Jay, who fronted the rivalgroup "The Jaywalkers", also from Norfolk, a popular road groupthat played the big theatres and was courting a record deal with Decca.Jay was particularly fond of Miller's creative guitar techniques, whichbolstered

Admissionticket to the Offbeats at the Chantry Hall in Norwich 1961. Also on the bill are the Jaywalkers.

the Jaywalker's non-stop road show and helped boost them into the chartswith the classic "Can Can 62". Although produced by Joe Meek,Can Can 62 was actually recorded at Decca's studios in Broadhurst Gardens,Hampstead. The hit landed the Jaywalkers second billing to the Beatles onthat legendary tour in the autumn of 1963, from whence the term Baetlemaniawas coined. Then came a couple of dozen dates with the Rolling Stones. Pete"Buzz" Miller (as he was known in those days), still plays thevery same two-tone green Gretsch Anniversary guitar that was featured asthe lead instrument on all of the Jaywalkers records.

Advertisingflyer for one of the Sunday rock and roll shows at the Britannia Theatre,Great Yarmouth. (The Jaywalkers' home town). 1961

Pete'splaying debut on a major label however, was not with the Jaywalkers - heplayed lead guitar for Marty Wilde on his minor hit single "Ever SinceYou Said Goodbye". The late Heinz was the bass player. It was recordedat IBC studios in Portland Place.

Sheetmusic for Marty Wilde's "Ever Since You Said Goodbye" on which Pete played lead guitar. 1961

Between1962 and 1965, the Jaywalkers enjoyed immense popularity in Britain releasinga dozen singles for Decca and Pye records. Many of these sides were producedand engineered by the legendary Joe Meek (Outlaws, Tornados, Honeycombs,Heinz etc.) from Joe's bedroom recording studio at 304 Holloway Road inLondon. It was from Joe that Pete learned many tricks of the trade as faras recording techniques are concerned which is quite apparent in the soundson his records. It was around this time that Pete turned down and offerfrom Clem Cattini to join the Tornados - just days before they recordedthe world wide smash Telstar.

Listof Venues for Pete's first major U.K. tour with the Jaywalkers. October-November 1961

Equippedwith two bass players (a strategy that Pete employed in many of his laterrecordings), and a barriage of Vox equipment, the Jaywalkers made numerousTV appearances (Ready Steady Go, Thank Your Lucky Stars, Arthur Haynes Show,Cool Spot, etc.) and stole many a show from their headliners, sharing billswith the diverse likes of the Kinks, Animals, Dave Clark 5, Billy J. Kramer,Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, The Cream, Donovan, Freddy and the Dreamers,Billy Fury, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, The Tornados, The Moody Blues,Maryanne Faithfull, Carl Denver Trio, Joe Brown, Eden Kane, Shane Fentonand the Fentones, Brian Poole & the Tremeloes, Marty Wilde, The Byrds,Gene Pitney, Freddie Cannon, Del Shannon, Gene Vincent, in addition to theBeatles and Stones stints.

Peteeventually grew tired of the endless road work and finally quit the Jaywalkersin 1966. He was replaced by Terry Reid who settled in as guitarist duringthe group's final year.

Afew weeks after quitting the Jaywalkers, (October 29th., 1965 to be exact),Miller's first solo record "Baby I Got News for You" came outon Columbia. Micky Waller, Peter Frampton and members of The Herd were amongthe backing musicians.The record was cut at R.G. Jones Studio in Mordenand some demos were produced on the Oak label. Miller undertook a few soloappearances to promote the record at such places as the Marquee, HammersmithPalais and the 100 club on Oxford street. This record was re-released in1990 on a couple of independent compilation albums.

Recordshop poster for Pete's Columbia single"Baby I Got News for You". 1965	Demodisc of "Baby I Got News for You" on the Oak label. From the R.G.Jonesrecording studio in London. 1965

Hebegan doing extensive work as a studio session musician in London, playingon dozens of records from that golden era of British Pop. He even contemplatedworking with Jerry Dorsey (later Engelbert Humperdinck) and did a coupleof rehearsals with him, but decided this was not the avenue to pursue. Decidingthat five years in London was enough (1961-1966), he quit his flat in MaidaVale and returned to Norwich.

Thisbrings us into the beginning of the "psychedelic era". . . Psychobollux?

Overthe next two years, Miller concentrated on songwriting and had over 100of his songs published by major publishing houses in London. Frequent tripsto solicit the music publishers in Tin Pan Alley (Denmark Street) foundhim often hanging out in the infamous Giaconda coffee bar. One lunchtimean informal jam session took place in the upstairs studio of one of thepublishers' offices with Pete, Clapton and Page exchanging licks.

Someof his demos were recorded at Advision studios in New Bond Street with MickyWaller playing drums. Others were cut at R. G. Jones studio, Regent Sound,and Olympic studios. His songwriting soon rewarded him with a writers' contractfrom the Campbell Connelly publishing company. Freddie and the Dreamers,Sounds Orchestral, Boz, and The Knack were just a few of the artists whorecorded his compositions. More recently The Damned covered Pete's song"Cold Turkey" on their Nazz Nomad and the Nightmares album.

Backin Norwich Pete was able to do what he liked best - writing and recording.From his studio in Margetson Avenue, Norwich, surrounded by lava lamps andHindu visuals, literally hundreds of recordings were completed between 1966and 1969, including "Cold Turkey". Many of these, rejected atthe time by the London publishers as being "too far out" are nowavailable for the very first time. Comparisons to tracks from the classicalbums of those days are inevitable - Pete unashamedly admits to the influencesof Sgt. Pepper, Satanic Majesties Request, and Axis Bold as Love.

Interviewwith Pete and Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) from Beat Instrumental magazine. 1965 Click it to zoom

Foryou hi-finatics, the equipment in his studio consisted of the following:For tape recorders - Vortexion, C.B.L, Bang & Olufsen, Brenell, and later,an old mono monster EMI BTR-1 (which came from Abbey Road studios). Bouncingsignals between machines gave Pete multitrack capabilities. Up to nine bounceswere achieved on some songs before severe signal degradation prevented further.Tape speeds of 15, 7 1/2, 3 3/4 , and even 1 7/8 inches per second wereused to produce various delays of slap-back echo. Other echo devices includeda Binson Echorec, Watkins Copycat, and a couple of Farfisa spring reverbunits to achieve stereo reverb. Extra reverberation was acquired by commandeeringthe bathroom as an acoustic echo chamber, and also the underground concrete-walledbomb shelter from World War 2, which was located in Pete's garden. A visitingproducer once remarked that it may have been illegal to have so many echodevices in one place!

Acustom made six input mixer linked to an RCA orthophonic equaliser providedfrugal mixing power. The monitor system consisted of a Norwich-made HACOamplifier linked to a pair of Golden Wharfdale speakers. Two local electronicwizards - Granville Hornsby and Tony Howes built Pete a couple of uniqueeffects boxes (the Goobly Box and the Humbert Humbert) with which some unprecedentedsounds could be created. The sound of a monophonic synthesizer was simulatedby hand-twisting the oscilator dial on a Honor sine wave generator. Petediscovered that the recognizable Joe Meek sound (squashing signals througha Fairchild 670 compressor), could almost be duplicated by carefully overloadingthe valve pre-amps of certain tape recorders, hence saturating the tape.

Studioinstruments included Fender, Marshall, and Haco amplifiers; an upright pianowith tacks in the hammers, a Fiesta red '62 Fender Precision bass, electricviolin, electric sitar, wooden flutes, various percussion instruments, Levinacoustic guitar with DeArmonde pickup, and of course let's not forget Henry- Pete's trusty Gretsch guitar -which he still plays to this day.

Pete'sfamily (left to right)- Billy Joe (1962), Bobby Jo (1968), Bradley (1978), Henry (1961), Marilyn(1958), Darlene (1979), Danny (1960), Clayton (1956). Big Red (1964) andPedro (1980) are in the foreground. Amplifires - Fender Concert (1960),Fender Bandmaster (1958), Fender Deluxe (1964), Fender Vibroverb (1964),Gibson GA90 (1964).

Writingand recording in the afternoons, he worked nights in the resident houseband at the now infamous Washington 400 club in the rural outskirts of Norwich(casino - striptease - cabaret - gangsters - you name it, it all happenedthere!) As personnel were replaced, the Washington houseband went throughvarious incarnations - Paul Saint Trio, Peter London Trio, and finally TheNews. Pete played in all of them. Some of these musicians, along with thecream of Norwich's rockers are featured on "Cold Turkey", andall of the others perform on various tracks on this album. Many of Norfolk'slocal bands also recorded demos at Pete's recording facility. He helpedlocal songwriters get their works published through his contacts.

Advertisementin the New Musical Express for Big Boy Pete's "Cold Turkey". 1968	BigBoy Pete's first release - "Cold Turkey" - on the Camp (Polydor) lable. 1968

Hissecond solo single "Cold Turkey" was released on January 26th.,1968 on the Camp label - a subsidiary of Polydor. This record is now regardedas one of the most collectable 45s from that era. As it was the heyday forstrange names, Polydor issued the record under the name Big Boy Pete. Itwas re-released on a compilation album in 1990, sparking several "Whereis he now?" items in Melody Maker. Pete's five years of strenuous roadwork with the Jaywalkers had left him drained, so when there was talk ofpromotional touring for "Cold Turkey", he absolutely refused andtold the executives to find another "Big Boy Pete" to do the dirtywork. Miller agreed to continue to perform on, and produce the records,but someone else must be found to hit the highways. This is why there hasbeen some conjecture as to who exactly was Big Boy Pete. The record companyreluctantly agreed and employed a touring stand-in. A German video existsof the stand-in, lip-synching to the record on the now famous Beat ClubTV show.

Eventuallythe stage beckoned once more and, searching for excitement, in July of 1969Pete took his current band (The News) on an extended tour of the Far East,entertaining the Vietnam G.l.'s for three years in Bangkok, Singapore andthe U.S. bases scattered throughout the Jungles of Thailand. In 1972, Millerended up on the beautiful island of Hawaii with a young Hawaiian girl he'dmet and stole from another lead guitar player - an American, in Bangkok.Upon discovering the liason, the American's retort was "You want myStrat as well?" The lady would later become Pete's wife.

Peteplaying electric sitar through a wah-wah pedal, Binson Echorec, and FenderAmplifier at the Impossible Cafe, Bangkok, Thailand 1969

In1974 Pete returned briefly to the U.K. just long enough to record an albumwith his old cronies from the sixties Big Boy Pete sessions and releasedthe resulting album on his newly formed label .22 Records. The album wasentitled "Music from Little Flint".

Onhis return to the U.S. he relocated to San Francisco, California, He realizeda lifelong dream by building his own recording studio in America and spentthe remainder of that decade putting together a somewhat eclectic albumentitled "Pre C.B.S." (Pete Miller and The Wildcats). Since thestudio became operational, Peter has been responsible for producing andengineering hundreds of American artists and has won great respect withinthe industry as an engineer and producer. Thanks to Joe Meek.

PeteMiller and The Wildcats at the "On Broadway" club, San Francisco 1981

Thenext album "Rockin' is my Bizness"was released in 1985. Aptlytitled considering the course of Miller's life, this LP focused on rockabillyand the traditional aspects of rock and roll. It celebrated the spirit andabandon of Pete's fifties idols and his years spent with The Offbeats andThe Jaywalkers. No drum machines, no synthesizers, just real musicians -real gone cool dudes who knew how to play the shit right! Some famous veteranAmerican rockers accompanied him on this project, including drummer KennyDale Johnson, currently with Chris Isaak. Honking and squealing on saxophoneis none other than the late Steve Douglas who waxed many unforgettable performancesduring the golden years on hits by Phil Spector (Ronettes, Crystals, SamCooke, Duane Eddy etc.) Vocalist Roy Loney from The Flamin' Groovies sangback-up vocals for Pete.

Petemade a surprise appearance in the British clubs in 1986. He guested as bassplayer with the American Cajun band, "LeRue", on a gruelling threeweek tour ending with a one hour BBC Welsh TV special which was taped bythe Manor Mobile recording unit and later released as an album.

Tuckedaway in a quiet courtyard between yuppie boutiques and chic restaurantson San Francisco's famous Union Street, Miller's studio is still recordingLoud & Proud and was the base for the recording of his recent album: "DoubleDiamonds". (1995, Maitai Records). Maybe surprisingly, it is an instrumentalalbum in the style of Pete's idol Hank B. Marvin. (Pete and Hank becameaquainted early one morning in 1962, over breakfast in the Golden Egg restaurant- opposite the 2 Is coffee bar in Old Compton Street.) Double Diamonds wasreleased under the artist name "Shig & Buzz". (Shigemi Komiyamawas drummer for Hot Tuna for many years.) The sound is authentic, yet brandnew. Rave reviews have prompted a follow-up entitled "Lucky Charm".

Staytuned!