
DISCOGRAPHY
VERDANT STUDIO
TAPE OP MAGAZINE
NEWS ARCHIVE
LISTEN/BUY
SOOL
THE WEISSTRONAUTS
PETE WEISS & THE ROCK BAND
|
Pete Weiss
Producer/Engineer/Mixer/Musician
Pete
Weiss is a New England-based producer/engineer/mixer/musician. His
unfussy, organic, "artist first" work has earned him a reputation as an
outstanding producer who can adapt to many musical genres and is
unafraid to ignore stylistic convention. Notable artists Weiss
has worked with include Charlie Chesterman, Chris Brokaw, Kustomized,
Slim Cessna's Auto
Club, Doug Yule, Moe Tucker, The Upper Crust,
Aimee Mann, Lee Ranaldo, Bell X1, Drive By Wire, One Happy Island, Kingsley Flood, Willard Grant
Conspiracy, Two Dollar Pistols, Bow Thayer &
Levon Helm, Don Lennon, Hayley Thompson-King and many others.
In 1989 he co-founded Zippah Studio in Boston. Selling his
share of Zippah in 2004, he built and opened Verdant Studio, an "open room"
retreat-style studio with artist lodging in rural Vermont which he now
uses as a home base.
When
not in the studio, Weiss fronts the instrumental band The Weisstronauts
and is a member of the experimental pop collective known as Sool. He
released a solo album in 1996 and three albums while fronting the
subversive Pete Weiss & the Rock Band from 1995-2000. He has scored
four independent films, "Methods" (1998), "Metal" (2001), "Bad Gravity"
(with Sool 2006), and "The Arcadian Ideal" (2007).
He is a Senior Contributor for Tape Op Magazine,
writing reviews of audio equipment as well as conducting interviews
with recording industry figures. Over the years he has served on
many
panels & workshops at Tape Op's
and Potluck
Audio's conferences. In the early 1990's Weiss authored two books
on baseball,
"Baseball's All Time Goats" and "Longshots!", both published by Adams
Media.
Artists interested in working with Pete can contact him via gmail: peteweiss2000
News:
Some of Pete's production/engineering projects
that have recently been released include:
• Hayley Thompson-King's solo debut album "Psychotic Melancholia."
Eclectic, garage-country led by an incredibly strong, singular voice.
Pete co-produced and played a lot of the lead guitar on the
record. He will be on tour, playing guitar with Thompson-King in
Scandinavia May 22 - June 17, 2018... Tour dates HERE.
• "Shoot Tomorrow / Learn Tonight" on Jigsaw Records by Brad San Martin (former One Happy Island-er). This thoughtful, bittersweet collection was produced by Pete and features Mitch Easter on drums and Kevin Dunn on guitar.
• Pete engineered and mixed Princeton NJ duo Dharmasoul's groovy, soulful new album.
• Erin Harpe & the Delta Swinger's new album "Big Road," full of bluesy swagger and Delta stomp, is out now on vinyl and digital.
• "A New Low" by Vapors of
Morphine - low, moody rock that picks up where the legendary Boston
band Morphine left off.
• "Scream Under Starlight" by Womanizer - super-fun electro-pop with female
vocals. Fans of the B-52's and Go-Go's should take note.
• "Time I Let It Go" by Caleb Stine & the
Brakemen - Baltimore's pre-eminent singer-songwriter has found his
groove with the Brakemen, one of rock's most intuitive bands. Very nice
video culled from the recording sessions HERE.
• "Badville" by Rick
Berlin w/ the Nickel & Dime Band - done in a whirlwind couple
days at Verdant Studio; some of Berlin's strongest work to date.
Pete's mastering work has ratcheted up a bit lately... He has been
doing more and more of this type of work, notably in conjunction with Jeff Powell (who cuts the lacqer at Sam Phillips, Mempis) for boutique vinyl-only label Run Out Groove. Recent releases include reissues/rarities by Dr. John, Morphine, the Beau Brummels, Lou Johnson, Marshall Crenshaw and more.
Pete recently collaborated with Chris
Ballew (Caspar Babypants, Presidents of the United States of
America) on a 7" single for UK-based label WIAIWYA. The pair swapped
recordings every Friday until two songs were complete, hence they called
themselves The
Friday Swaps.
Influential roots-pop-cowpunk band Scruffy The Cat recently got the long-overdue anthology treatment from two labels. Sony Music digitally released Time Never Forgets: The Anthology, the band's complete catalog of two albums and two EP's. Simultaneously, Omnivore Recordings released The Good Goodbye,
a comprehensive collection of previously-unreleased rarities. Pete
assisted with remastering the Sony collection, and compiled,
remastered/restored the Omnivore album (and also wrote the liner notes).
In various configurations, Pete and the
Weisstronauts have been sporadically backing up NYC musical institution
Jack Grace,
as well as his alter ego Van
Hayride. The latter did a brief tour in late 2014, opening for Puss N Boots
(side project for Norah Jones, Cat Popper and Sasha Dobson). Video of
the 2nd gig of that tour HERE.
In 2012 Pete Weiss
& the Rock Band
reunited in the studio and created a new 10-song album with co-producer
Adam Fuest called "Sex Contest." The album includes a cover of the
Tracey Ullman / Kirsty MacColl hit "They Don't Know," and a
shot-by-shot parody
video was created by Jeff Mellin and John Soares. Here it is,
side-by-side with the original. Also, here's a video for the song/anthem "Ermahgerd," that was created by
Sool's Neal Spaulding.
The Weisstronauts have
released an anthology of their best songs, "Control Is In Your Command:
The Best Of The Weisstronauts" in the form of a deluxe vinyl LP/CD
pairing.
Press:
"Pete Weiss Interviews Pete Weiss"
in Tape Op Magazine online. There are at least two engineer/producer
Pete Weisses. The "other" one was most active in the 60's and
70's and worked with artists such as Bill Evans, Looking Glass (known
for "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)", Edgar Winter, Barbra Streisand and
others. These two Petes became friendly a few years ago and the
younger Pete figured it would be fun to conduct an interview with the
elder Pete. Confused? Read the interview...
Interview (with Rafi Sofer of the Invisible Rays),
discussing instrumental rock for Jonathan Donaldson's blog.
A podcast
from Björgvin Benediktsson's excellent Audio Issues site. Pete talks
about simple and not-so-simple things that happen in a recording studio.
A chat with The Easy Reasons, while recording with Pete at Armory Sound.
Interviews with Mojo Flucke for Popdose...
and with John Clarkson in the U.K. webzine Pennyblackmusic...
and an older interview in Pennyblackmusic, from 2002...
|