Pete Evick with the Bret Michaels Band

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by Deb Rao
Staff Writer

Bret Michaels Band guitarist Pete Evick is taking his solo band Evick on the road for a Summer tour. The Evick Tour kicks off on July 3. Pete Evick spoke with Hardrock Haven regarding the upcoming Evick tour, receiving a Gold Record for his work with Paramore, and working with Rock of Love’s Bret Michaels.

HRH: Pete, Thank you for checking in with Hardrock Haven. Your solo band Evick is gearing up for a summer tour. Tell us who is in the band what the fans can expect to see on the upcoming tour.

EVICK: The band is exactly the same band as BMB only I sing and we have a guitar player named JJ. This summer we are going out doing a 2-hour show that kind of introduces us to the fans we have made through BMB without me trying to shove all our original stuff down their throat.

We have put together a set that is a chronological trip down rock and roll history that anyone of my generation will get loud and clear. We start in 1978 with KISS, move on to Van Halen and I take it right up to ROCK OF LOVE and the theme song GO THAT FAR that I co-wrote with Bret. Through the hour journey, It gives the fans a chance to know why I came to be in Bret’s band as I tell stories of each song we do and how that song effected my life. Kind of like a story tellers yet electric and with cover tunes, but its gonna be fun I promise.”

HRH: Also, will Evick be opening for Bret Michaels this summer on any solo dates?

EVICK: Yeah know from time to time we used to do that, but as ROCK OF LOVE got bigger and more popular and we were all featured on it, it became a little confusing on his shows to open, but we may do it again in the future.

HRH: How would you best describe the sound of Evick?

EVICK: EVICK is Bon Jovi/Van Halen/ Poison /Bowling For Soup and Salvia mixed up with some old Goo Goo Dolls.

HRH: Who is in EVICK? I know the band features yourself, and also other Bret Michaels members including drummer Lucky Chucky and keyboard player Robi Wylde.

EVICK: It also has BMB bass player DIRTY RAY and our guitar player JJ BRIGHT.

HRH: You recently wrapped up quite an extensive Rock of Love tour dates with Bret Michaels. Do you have any special warm-up guitar exercises to keep up your stamina onstage night after night?

EVICK: No to be honest maybe I should, We do so much vocally that I spend more time warming up my voice but we do a long sound check, and I play a lot during that so that’ s my warm up.

HRH: As a guitarist, what kind of gear do you prefer to use onstage. I know the BMB band plays a variety of shows from outdoor arenas to indoor theatres. How does this reflect on the amps and guitar you use?

EVICK: I have been a Peavey amp guy my whole life, currently DEAN guitars is making me a custom guitar and for most of this tour i have been playing there vendetta and it has been amazing. I also have a STOPM BOX pedal that I use called the PE delay, by an amazing company called PRO TONE. The pedal is a Delay Pedal that I asked to have an extra gain stage added into. The guys were very accommodating and now I have my own signature series pedal. It doesn’t get better than that.”

HRH: Any special plans to go into the studio this summer with Evick?

EVICK: In EVICK and BMB I travel with a pro tools recording rig, so we are always in the studio. I also have a basement studio in my home that I cant wait to get into on my down time and work on a new BMB and new EVICK record, I love the studio.

HRH: How did you meet Bret Michaels and become his guitar player for his solo band?

EVICK: Wow what a long answer that is, I’ll try to make it short. We were Bret’s opening band for his first solo tour, I got to be tight with my now close friend STEVE FRANGADAKIS, who is an amazing singer and player. He was playing guitar for Bret and was his musical director at the time. Some things happened and Steve wasn’t gonna go out on the next run and offered me up to Bret. Well in a strange turn of events he asked my whole band to learn a set and do one gig with him, we did, and we didn’t do great. I thought I’d never talk to him again, but he called we talked about it, then he said lets try it again. The next time we nailed it and we have been the band ever since.

HRH: During the recent Bret Michaels tour, you got to sing the Dobie Gray song,”Drift Away”. As a musician how honored were you to be featured on this song?

EVICK: The song is very important to me, I love the message and its part of my history, I actually first heard the song when Bon Jovi did it on the Slippery When Wet Tour and I was like 13. I thought it was something of there’s that I never heard and just thought it was the best song ever, it stuck with me since then, One day this year Edwin McCaine came to a show and we were thinking of what to JAM, and the song came up, he came and sang it, and Bret loved our arrangement, so we just started doing it, It has been a lot of fun and I’m honored that Bret turns the mic over to me for a while.

HRH: As a musician, what have you learned from Bret Michaels the performer?

EVICK: Just to be around Bret for 5 minutes teaches you how he made it and why you didn’t. That is the joke I used to make because you instantly understand his drive and passion are like no one else. That’s why Poison can’t contain him, why he does so many things. He has taught me how to feel comfortable with the talent I do have, not bitch about what I don’t, and to take all you have and make something of it. He is very very humble for all his fortune and fame, I laugh because he works so hard, in fact the last 3 days we have been East Coast to West Coast 3 times in his private plane, doing solo and Poison shows, he barely slept and delivers to the fans every night, even with a crippling disease. He has so much cash that his kids never have to work. So if anything he has taught me that people still do believe in rock and roll and do things for the right reason.

HRH: Also, this has been an exciting year for you as you received a Gold Record for your work with Paramore on their album, The Final Riot. What was going thru your mind when you received this award?

EVICK: It was very exciting, as I said earlier I love the studio, and have been able to do a lot of great things recently. To work on a record that is part of a new generation of rock and actually get an award for it has helped me feel relevant and credible in today’s industry, so that’s exciting, I have to think my good friend Jeff Julliano for believing in my skills enough to give me the work. He is a multi-platinum award winning mixer and to have is trust is as good as the gold award. Recently I just did some editing on the new Shinedown live DVD thats coming out, That has been a real highlight in my career.

HRH: Do you enjoy working in the studio and producing artists?

EVICK: I love it. Producing is my fave, I like hearing what an artist starts with and carving it out till its as good as I believe it can be. It’s a special art to produce, you have to gain the trust of an artist with their music, That doesn’t come easy and it is a real gift when any artist be it local or international gives that to you.”

HRH: Is there anything else that you would like to say to the readers about the upcoming Evick tour?

EVICK: I just hope that all you out there that have come to see the BMB over the last 3 or 4 years will take the time to stop in and check us out, I’m not trying to shove anything down anyones throat, just celebrating rock and roll with the people that have made it possible for me to feed my family while doing so.

HRH: Pete what are your thoughts on the passing of Michael Jackson?

PETE: I have a lot of thoughts on this. First he was a musical genius, forget being the king of pop, he was the king of lots of things a total creative genius in every aspect. On the day of his death I sat on CC Deville’s bus and we took a few minutes to just remember all the great songs he wrote. Thats what I will remember of the day he died. Sitting with one of my Heroes remembering great music.

Second I feel for the guy because he was made to feel like a freak from conception, even if someone is telling you your an amazing little kid thats still a freak, when your not in the NORM you feel like a freak and he was made to feel that way from day one.

Third, I never for one second have thought he ever touched those kids, it’s insane, I have always said that. If he was alive today and I needed someone to watch my kids while I ran to the story, I would have complete trust.

Forth, I suffer from a skin disorder called Psoriasis, and it is nothing compared to what he had, I will wear long sleeves in the dead of summer, I will where hoodies and hats when I shouldn’t, because of the insecurities I have just being a rock and roll guitar player, I can’t imagine what a world wide star must have felt when your prime era was 80’s when image meant everything.

Fifth, while out of respect, I refused to pass on all the TEXT jokes I got, The one about the legos was funny, I do like jokes about anyone at anytime. so I have to admit I laughed.