Interview by Mark Lacey
Throughout their extensive career, FM have cemented themselves as one of the UK’s greatest ever AOR bands, built on catchy choruses, on-stage camaraderie, and a genuine connection with their audiences. 2024 sees the band scale new heights, as they celebrate their 40th anniversary with a new studio album, and shows across 17 countries, including the UK, Europe, South America and beyond. It’s a lifetime since a young Pete Jupp was introduced to Steve and Chris Overland, who were looking for a drummer for the band, Wildlife, but it’s a musical collaboration that has endured, and blossomed.
“We’re going to be really busy this year. I just feel very lucky and very privileged to still be doing it. I thank all our fans who come and see us because if they didn’t come, we wouldn’t be doing it”.
MGM: You’ve been a professional drummer for over 45 years. When did you first become aware of the drums as an instrument and decide that was a thing you wanted to play?
Pete: It started through my brother. My brother was 14 years older than me. Sadly, dad passed away when I was six, and so overnight, my brother became head of the family. He was meant to be going to university, and he had to give all that up. Bless him. He used to get lumbered with me. He was around a girlfriend’s house with me in tow, which was probably cramping his style a bit. She had a drum kit. I was shoved into this room to amuse myself while they were obviously doing more fun things. I think that’s where it started. I was probably eight or nine, and I was banging the drums, while he was banging his girlfriend. I’m not sure if that was when I started wanting to be a drummer, but it obviously sparked my interest. So that was it. And then I had an absolute dickhead of a stepfather, and I was not very keen on him, but he was a drummer. I suppose he helped me a bit, but I won’t give him any praise for anything because I hate the bloke.
MGM: So, you found the drums by accident, and then you had a family member who was a drummer. When did you first start playing in bands? And who was your influence at that point?
Pete: My brother bought me my first proper drum kit. His wife found the receipt about a year ago. Maurice Plaquets in Shepherds Bush. It was a George Hayman drum kit, Midnight Blue, and he paid £150 for it. He started me on the road, and he was always very supportive of me. Sadly, he’s no longer with us, but he was a lovely, lovely, lovely guy. I miss him dearly.
MGM: Can you remember who was the inspiration for the music you wanted to play back then? Did you start out playing rock-based music, or did you start out playing different styles?
Pete: I was absolutely mad on T-Rex. My mum got a job up in Scotland, and we relocated to Scotland when I was about 12 or 13, I think. We went up there, and it was just a totally different music scene up there. Everybody in that little town that I lived, Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, had the first Bad Company album. Just literally everybody, and they all loved Free as well. ‘Can’t Get Enough’ was out, and I thought, that sounds really good. Then, I went around this girl’s house after school one day, and she put on Led Zeppelin IV and I heard ‘Black Dog’, and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’, and I was just like, oh, wow, what is this? It changed my whole outlook.
MGM: You started playing with Steve and Chris Overland in the band, Wildlife, in 1980. Was that your first professional band?
Pete: Before that I was in a band that used to play some pubs called Hotline. I had no idea what year it was. My brother put this really embarrassing advert in the Melody Maker for me. Steve and Chris’s manager gave me a call, and myself, along with Bob Skeet, who plays bass in Wishbone Ash, we went along and that was that. We did an album with Chrysalis. That was the start of everything, really.
MGM: Could you have imagined when you met Steve Overland, that you’d still be playing on stage with him 45 years later? You’ve pretty much worked on everything that he’s done since, haven’t you?
Pete: Well, a lot of the stuff. He does about a million albums a week! We’ve worked together for a long time. It’s great. He’s such a great singer. I’m very lucky to be able to be associated with him, really.
MGM: After Wildlife, you went on to play in Samson, and did three albums with them. That band seemed to be a grounding for so many musicians. Samson had future members of Iron Maiden in Bruce Dickinson, Thunder Stick, and Clive Burr, amongst their line-ups. You also had Dave ‘Bucket’ Cowell and Merv Goldsworthy in the band during your tenure, didn’t you?
Pete: When I first joined, it was Paul (Samson), Nicky (Moore), and Chris Aylmer. Chris and Paul were original members. Nicky came in to replace Bruce, and I’d replaced Mel Gaynor; the most phenomenal drummer on the planet. I went to see them at the Marquee, and I just watched with my jaw on the floor. Oh, my God, this is incredible. When I joined, Paul was playing me demos that Mel was playing on. I remember saying to him, well, it’s all brilliant, but I’m just going to simplify things a little bit. That’s what I did because I’m not in his league.
MGM: It’s great to be able to play fancy fills, and odd time signatures, but most bands just want the drummers to hold the time and keep everyone else in check, right?
Pete: That’s why I tell everybody. They’ve all fallen for it so far.
MGM: Was Samson where you met Merv for the first time, or were you aware of him before then?
Pete: Let me have a think. It was, actually. Chris left and Merv joined the band. I can’t remember how we got in contact with him. Then Bucket came in as well. The two studio albums ‘Before the Storm’ and ‘Don’t Get Mad, Get Even’ were with Chris playing bass. I think we probably went out promoting ‘Don’t Get Mad, Get Even’ with Merv and Bucket.
MGM: After you left Samson, you returned to playing with Steve and Chris Overland and that became FM. What are your memories of that time?
Pete: We were coming back from Ireland with Samson; I was just sat on the ferry with Merv and he said, I fancy doing something a bit more melodic. I think I’m going to leave. And I did as well, to be honest. We got the Mark One FM together, let’s call it that, because it wasn’t called FM. It was Merv and I, and Andy Barnett on guitar. We wrote ‘That Girl’ at that point. Then Andy left and joined Corey Hart. We were a bit like, oh, what do we do now then? I was just having a think and I suddenly thought, we need a singer, we need a guitar player; I wonder what Steve and Chris are doing. I just gave Steve a ring. We went up to Norfolk, where they were living; we had a chat, and a few drinks. Merv threw up in Steve’s toilet. We got a rehearsal together, and the rest is history, really. When we got together, we just said, look, let’s just record four songs. If we don’t get a deal, then we’ll knock it on the head. But we were lucky enough to get a deal with the CBS Portrait.
MGM: Those first couple of albums have really stood the test of time. Even though that music has come in and out of fashion, the songs are so strong on that first album. It’s amazing to see that in your current setlist, those songs are still front and centre, especially ‘That girl’, and ‘The other side of Midnight’, and you’ve just started playing ‘Say it like it is’ live too.
Pete: When we first went on our first tour with Meatloaf, I think we only had six songs, so we had to play the last one twice because we didn’t have enough songs. We played it on that tour, but haven’t played it since. People just asked him for it, and we thought, it’s 40th anniversary. Let’s get it together, so we did.
MGM: I remember watching you on the Dead Man’s Shoes tour at the London Astoria, alongside Blackfoot, but it all petered out very quickly after that tour. Musical tastes were changing and grunge was gaining popularity. How do you reflect on that time?
Pete: Yeah, grunge came through, and then we just became the most unfashionable band on the planet. It was just getting more and more difficult. We didn’t fall out. We just thought, we’ve come to the end of the line here. It was just getting harder and harder. We took a little break, and luckily, a young Irishman called Kieran Dargen kept pestering us to play FireFest. We just kept saying, no. Then one year, we were like, Oh, maybe we will. It was like now or never, really, and in 2007 he got us to do it. We weren’t allowed to do any warm-up shows. We just had to do FireFest, which was nerve-wracking enough in 12 years. We had no plans after doing that gig. We just thought, we’ll do the gig, and then we’ll just go our separate ways again. But it was sold out, and we had 1,500 people in Nottingham, Rock City, and they just went absolutely mental. It was like the Beatles had reformed. It was fantastic. I was sat at the back, and I was welling up with emotion. It sounds really corny, but you could feel the love coming off the audience. Our whole thing was, let’s just try not to embarrass ourselves too much and get through the set. But we came off and it was like, bloody hell, what do we do now? It was like, I suppose we’d better do an album. And so, we did.
MGM: The love that FM generate from your audiences is really similar to the experience of being at a Thunder show and the affection their fans have with them. It’s a really unique and special connection. Do you recognise that?
Pete: Oh, definitely. It’s just so lovely. We’re very lucky. The fans are absolutely passionate about us. We’ve just come back from South America, and we’d never played there before. Again, we were absolutely gobsmacked at the that way we were received out there. They knew everything. Some of the people, we were like, you’re too young; you wouldn’t have been alive when the first album was released. They were like, but we’ve seen you on YouTube and we love your band, and they play you in the clubs. We’re actually going back next February. We’re very lucky.
MGM: FM have just finished a run of UK dates to celebrate your 40th anniversary. During that time the band have released 14 studio albums, half a dozen live albums, and as many EPs again. Why do you think that FM has managed to stay in people’s affections for so long when so many other bands have just fallen by the wayside in your genre?
Pete: I don’t really know. We always try to make the best albums we can. We’re lucky that Steve is still singing as he did 40 years ago, so I think we’re very lucky there. But when we make an album, we don’t just throw it together. We try and make the best album we can.
MGM: In between FM’s first tenure and your second tenure, you played with some other projects with Steve, including ‘So’ and ‘The Ladder’ What is it about your playing that keeps Steve coming back to you, and vice versa?
Pete: I always like to play for the song rather than for me. I guess when you’re in a band, the other members of the band like it that you’re playing with them rather than trying to say, look at me, look at what I can do. I always play for the song. That’s my main goal.
MGM: You’ve changed your set up to work with the British Drum Company a few years ago. What prompted that change? And what does that bring to your sound?
Pete: In the early days, I was with Premier. I went to Pearl because I saw Iain Paice with Gary Moore when we toured with them. I thought his kit sounded great. It was a Pearl MLX and I thought, oh, I want one of them. So, when ‘Tough It Out’ came out, I got one. But when we got back together again, I went back to Premier. Unfortunately, they were having money problems. The guy that I was dealing with at Premier went to the British Drum Company, so I followed him. But they’re amazing drums. They’re totally hand-built. I went to the factory, and even when they’re making the shells, it’s all hand-glued. Everything’s handmade. I had a go at doing it. I was rubbish. They’re making some great drums.
MGM: FM will be touring extensively throughout 2024, and travelling across the world. As an older player, how have you had to adapt your style over the years to comfortably play as many shows as you do, and avoiding injuries?
Pete: I don’t really do any training. The thing I find hardest is actually standing up at the end of the show, getting off the stool. My knees are really bad. Climbing up onto the drum riser is always a problem. Getting off the drum riser is always a problem. Back in the day, I was jumping on the bass drums and all sorts of things. There’s no way I can do that now. I used to throw my sticks in the air. But now I can’t see them coming down because my eyesight is not very good. I can’t do that either now.
MGM: You’re well into to your 40th anniversary tour now. How have the dates gone?
Pete: Really, really good. We’ve done some great venues. The attendances have been great. But we’re playing all the way through until November. Merv did tell me it’s something like 17 countries. We’re going to be really busy this year. I just feel very lucky and very privileged to still be doing it. I thank all our fans who come and see us because if they didn’t come, we wouldn’t be doing it.
MGM: You’ve been playing some new songs from your new albums ‘Old habits die hard’ including ‘Don’t Need Another Heartache’ and ‘Out of the Blue’. What does this album signify for you and the band?
Pete: We were trying to think of something that tied in with the 40th anniversary. And that really does sum it up. Old habits die hard. We’re still doing what we do.
MGM: What plans do you and the band have after this 40-year milestone?
Pete: Well, we’ll start getting another album together. Then we can do it all again next year, hopefully. Fingers crossed. we’ll keep going until we can’t. Everyone’s pretty healthy. We’ve all got aches and pains, but it doesn’t stop us. So, we’ll keep going. While the fans want to see us, we’ll come out and play to them.
For more information:
www.fmofficial.com/fmofficial/index.html
ww.facebook.com/FMofficial/?locale=en_GB
FM’s latest album ‘Old Habits Die Hard’ is out now
The band’s 40 anniversary shows continue from 2nd August – 10th November across UK / Europe
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