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Pete
Budd
(Wurzel
1974-present)
Pete
Budd is "Somerset
Born And Proud", as his song lyrics proclaim - born in Brislington,
and brought up in nearby Keynsham. His father was an engineer and
had no time for a son with ambitions to be a musician, so after
he left school, Pete got a job at the big local employer - Fry's
Chocolate Factory in Keynsham (now owned by Cadbury's).
But
it was the Fifties, and rock'n'roll had even reached Keynsham. Pete
was a Teddy Boy, a rocker - and played electric guitar in a number
of local bands. In the early 1960s he joined Les Watts And
The Rebels as the band's guitarist and backing singer.
Pete was subsequently voted West Country's No 1 guitarist in a 'Western
Scene' poll and eventually took over as the band's frontman (renamed
Pete Budd and the Rebels) when Les quit the band. The Rebels
also included a young Micky John Bull who went on to form The Best
Of British, a comedy showband that supported The Wurzels in the
mid-1970s. Pete also made a few records in the 1960s in a band called
The Rainbow People. This was a six-piece outfit with two
female singers fronting; and they were resident band at the Glen
(Locarno) Ballroom.
Pete
had known Adge Cutler for a long time; both performing on the same
local circuit. In 1974, he was asked to take over following the
departure of Reg
Quantrill. The story then goes that when Reg left,
there was a frantic search was made for Pete. He is an keen angler
and was, naturally, found after many hours of searching across the
Somerset Levels, sitting fishing on a riverbank. Pete did not, apparently,
need much persuading - and less than two and a half hours after
he had been found with his rod, he was on stage with Adge &
The Wurzels filling the gap left by the departed Reg. It
was a big gap to fill too, not least because Pete was half the size
of Reg, and at those first gigs Pete had to wear Reg's old Wurzels
clothes! And there was also the small matter of playing the banjo
- Pete was a guitar player, and had never played a banjo in his
life. Such trivialities never bothered Adge though, and Pete had
to learn on the fly. As with all new Wurzels, Pete was given a nickname,
and so it was Pete "Rose" Budd from then on!
But
Pete was suddenly thrown into the limelight. With Adge's death later
that year, it was Pete who took over on lead vocals. His is the
distinctive lead vocal on all of The Wurzels 1970s chart hits, including
their number one smash Combine Harvester and the
follow-up hits I Am A Cider Drinker and Farmer
Bill's Cowman. His distinctive Somerset voice was also
chosen by Ambrosia for the TV commercials
to promote their Creamed Rice (Devon knows 'ow they makes it
so creamy!). Pete is still the frontman with the band today,
and is therefore the second longest serving current Wurzel after
Tommy Banner.
At
the time Pete lived in a small village of Bitton, on the old Bristol-Bath
road, with his wife Chris and daughter Julie; and for a while he
ran a Water Leisure Centre near Keynsham selling fishing equipment!
During the 1980s, Pete and Chris emigrated to Devon. The official
line was that he did it to run the Seven Stars pub; but we suspect
that it was a good excuse to spend more time fishing. As John Miles
said on the Combine Harvester LP sleeve notes, Pete "spends
ten per cent of his spare time catching fish and the other ninety
per cent eating them. Not very Rock 'n' Roll - but very Scrumpy
& Western! He recently moved back to Somerset.
Wurzel
Discography
- The
Wurzels Are Scrumptious (banjo,
guitar, lead vocals)
-
Combine Harvester
(banjo, guitar, lead vocals)
-
Golden
Delicious (banjo, guitar,
lead vocals)
-
Give Me England!
(banjo, guitar, lead vocals)
-
Never Get A Scrumpy
Here
(banjo, guitar, lead vocals)
- Freshly
Cut
(banjo, guitar, lead vocals)
- Mendip
Magic
(banjo, guitar, lead vocals)
- The
Wurzels Live
(banjo, guitar, lead vocals)
- Never
Mind The Bullocks - 'Ere's The Wurzels (banjo,
guitar, lead vocals)
- A
Taste of the West
(banjo, guitar, lead vocals)

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