I then had a bit of a gap whilst I concentrated on running discos., both general mobile and rock support. I made quite a name as Pete Rave (cringe!) and later combined with Sponge Disco, City Limits, Tender Trap and Adams Audio. (1967 - 1978). I was known for crazy onstage (and sometimes offstage) antics. In one my head caught fire, another time people fell through the floor and it was not unusual to see me in masks, exotic costumes, entering via a cage or even on the end of a Tarzan rope, amidst explosions, dry ice and mayhem! Some of this time I was also writing music columns for local papers as well.
I still kept singing in folk clubs and sessions for fun, and this led to my first folk radio show on Radio Orwell & Saxon Radio, two local commercial stations. It ran for 7 years before the station changed format. I helped VIC Community Radio do a broadcast or two for a year, and then landed my folk show at the new BBC Radio Suffolk, where I have presented 'Suffolk Folk' since 1990. Due to the station being forced into going to network early on Saturday nights now, my last full show was on 2/8/2003. I did continue to drop into Fozs Drivetime 6.30-7pm on the 2nd Monday of the month for a while, and was also invited to do some shows on Ipswich Local Radio, 87.7 FM who had a 28 day temporary licence during August 2003. I had thought that my radio activites had now finished, and I look back with pleasure at memories of twenty years broadcasts, and the many lovely people (artistes and fans) that I came into contact with. With a little more time on my hands I hope to expand some other activities: Viking re-enactment, singing, storytelling, writing and acting in murder mystery evenings. However, I did present some folk and rock shows on Pentacle Radio, webcasts connected to the Pentacle Pagan magazine from August 2006. Like most web based stations it is off air at present due to the international dispute regarding royalties for such stations. To find out the music that turns me on, visit my Top Tunes page.
From about 1977, I started getting back into bands, and wrote a folk musical around the local smuggling story Margaret Catchpole. I formed a band to tour it around the clubs called BUNKAS, which contained Lawrence & Kate Joyner and Neil & Lorna Mellor. We recorded a radio play version for Radio Orwell, which was also broadcast in Australia.
WYSIWYG was my next band, formed with Chris Hollifield & Howard Matthews. We gigged heavily over 2 years, and recorded two cassette albums, no longer generally available. The first was Awake! on Homebrew, and the second Chocks Away, recorded live at Truro Folk Festival. The trio played traditional, contemporary and original acoustic folk.. After it's break up I performed some gigs with a pick up band that varied in line up. It was usually known as PETE JENNINGS & THE INNOCENT BYSTANDERS, but once went out on St. Patricks night for an Irish society as the KERRYFOLKIE MACHINE! The only recorded output was a session for the BBC.
My last band was PYRAMID OF GOATS, an original rock outfit that was hard to pigeon hole. A lot of our compositions found their way onto Just Kidding, a cassette album, and we reached the finals of the Suffolk Pop & Rock competition. The album is now reissued as a CD. I do not have the time to commit myself to a band at the moment, but still occasionally perform solo at folk events. I also act as consultant to various events, and often act as compere. Events I have been involved in include Reedham Ferry Folk Festival, The Snape Maltings Festival of Folk, BBC Children in Need, Felixstowe Folk Festival, Shotley Marina Classic Sail Week, Walton Folk Festival and Ickworth (National Trust) Feast of Folk as well as creating and running the Real Music Club in Ipswich and booking for the Toad & Raspberry and Black Horse pubs.
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