Pete Wilhoit on tour around the country with British band
By Brian Hartz
Herald-Times Staff Writer
Let's face it: Drummers of British rock bands aren't known for their longevity — or their sobriety. From John Bonham to Keith Moon and, of course, the innumerable Spinal Tap skinsmen, drummers don't fade away, they burn out — or spontaneously combust, choke on someone else's vomit or perish in bizarre gardening accidents, in Tap's case.
But Bloomington's own Pete Wilhoit doesn't seem to be too worried. Last fall he hooked up with three Londoners calling themselves Fiction Plane, driving all the way from Bloomington to New York City to answer their call for a drummer. After an audition and a live gig, Wilhoit, 31, got the job. Ever since, the unlikely quartet has been touring in support of its debut album, Everything Will Never Be OK.
Riding in the band's van in "the middle of nowhere, somewhere between Minneapolis and Omaha," Wilhoit said during a telephone interview last week that he's living the rock 'n' roll lifestyle he always wanted. He's also driving the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, unfortunately, because the road manager can't drive all the time and "the Brits have conveniently never gotten driver's licenses," he said with a laugh.
"I love the band atmosphere," he said. "Playing the drums live is absolutely my favorite thing to do."
He's getting a lot of chances to do just that. The band's tour schedule takes it to Nashville, Tenn., tonight, followed by a date in Boston and a swing through California in June.
Although Wilhoit didn't join Fiction Plane until October, after the band's album was already recorded, he's already made his mark on the band's sound.
"I knew they liked the way I played," Wilhoit said. "I altered a lot of the drum parts from the existing album, and they like what I've done."
But Wilhoit hedged a bit when asked if his drumming has made the band better.
"It's hard for me to say because I'm playing it and I'm not an objective listener," he said. "But I know that having done so many different styles — rock, jazz, country, show tunes — it's all had a good effect."
Wilhoit grew up in Bloomington and studied with Kenny Aronoff, John Mellencamp's former drummer, and Shawn Pelton, an Aronoff protégé who drummed in the "Saturday Night Live" band for seven years.
Wilhoit drummed in a local band, the Cutters, for 10 years. Although he and his wife, Kathy DeStefano, still have a home in Bloomington, they plan to move to New York — where Fiction Plane is based when they're not on the road — at some point in the near future.
"We toured, so I got a sense of what it was like," he said of his time performing with the Cutters. "That definitely prepared me."
But "you know when you're ready" for the next step, Wilhoit said of his decision to audition for Fiction Plane, which also includes bassist Dan Brown, guitarist Seton Daunt and guitarist/vocalist Joe Sumner, son of Gordon Sumner, better known as Sting.
Wilhoit said that Sting's long shadow doesn't fall on Fiction Plane. In fact, Wilhoit added, he's never even met the former Police frontman, renowned solo artist and occasional film actor. Sumner's rock 'n' roll legacy, while not exactly a non-issue, just isn't a big deal to the band.
"It's a very double-edged sword, when you're trying to become your own man," Wilhoit said of his bandmate. "You can imagine how difficult it might be. Once the media gets past it, they'll see this band for what it is. But Joe is really Joe. He stands alone."
Some critics are calling Everything Will Never Be OK a very dark, negative album, but Wilhoit doesn't see it that way.
"It's not a negative thing," he said. "We all wanna rock, and it feels good. Joe's lyrics are real lyrics. He talks about things that everybody thinks about but rarely verbalizes. And it's not that these are negative things, they're human things. It's just reality. Like the title, Everything Will Never Be OK. Yeah, things will never be totally OK, so don't worry about it."
It's obvious from the band's performance on "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" on CBS Tuesday night that Fiction Plane's potential for rock stardom is ample. For starters, it has an incredibly catchy first single, "Hate," the lyrics of which will certainly ring true with many a disgruntled teen-ager or Gen-Xer: "Take a stand and we'll cut you down/Be yourself and we'll call you a liar."
And, most importantly, the band members seemed to be genuinely having fun during their network television debut, with Wilhoit banging away gleefully at his drum kit and Sumner shooting sly glances at the camera.
If Tuesday's performance is an indicator of what's to come, Fiction Plane will be a band to watch in 2003 — and yet another source of musical pride for the Bloomington area.
http://www.hoosiertimes.com/stories/2003/05/22/scene.0522-HT-D3_JJP45403.sto
