Pete McAllen's single 'Cosmic Politics' has all the ingredients needed for a good indie single. The guitar throughout flows beautifully, which is supported well by the recurring drumming. The chorus has a bit of a kick to it, which is crucial as my biggest grievance with indie acoustic music is that it never changes pace or sound. However the best thing about this single is the b-side 'Revolutionary'.

Revolutionary has everything that Cosmic Politics has, but it's just so much catchier. The lyrics:
"I want to be a revolutionary."
Are left ringing in your ears after a play or two, whilst the quite frankly shit recording quality of the song doesn't hamper Revolutionary as much as it does with Cosmic Politics.

Pete seems like a good artist based of these two tracks, its quality indie which is hard to find these days amongst the reams of mediocre toss on the airwaves. My only criticism of the single is that the sound is shocking; I've heard better quality on all my mates' demos. Still if you can get past this minor annoyance you'll find a great single.

Tom Crowther

I was viewing my page on www.roadtov.com the other day and came across this comment. It made me smile, so thought it was worth a mention:

Does your talent know no bounds? Real impressed with your new sounds As your music becomes more mature You look younger than ever before...

The stage at V should hold no fears You've thrilled fans globally over the years From Africa to Poland and every part of this nation You've done lots of sessions on radio stations.

You're a star, a tag that sticks Real impressed with Cosmic Politics We all know that you're even better live But if you get the V gig, please don't stage dive

Do you want me to play a gig in your house? You, me, a few of your mates and my guitar. Food, drink, crazy fun...

So, I basically want to play 6 house gigs this year. I'm up for anywhere in the Uk as long as I can drive there. I want you to persuade me that coming to your house would be the best thing ever.

Here are a few guidelines to help you out:

- House gigs must have at least 25 people at the event
- I come for free but you have to cover my travel expenses (I live in London and normally will be driving). It's easy to do this by asking each person to chip in with 2 or 3 quid.
- It must be ok with the other house mates/ parents/ family that I play there, and that the neighbors are cool with live music in your place.
- I can put it in my gig listings e.g. "Sally's house - Newcastle."

So, to book me to come to your house just email: info@petemcallen.com with the heading "House Gig" or message me on this blog/ myspace/ facebook. Convince me it's worth playing at your house.

Can't wait!

Friday January 9th 2009. I've been sitting at my computer for the last 2 days planning out the next two months of work. I'm so pumped at the moment. We've nearly completed the recording of Cosmic Politics, possibly the best song I've ever written. The last time I heard it in the studio I just wanted to grab the nearest piano and smash it against a huge brick wall. I didn't (in case you're wondering) but you know what I mean.The year so far has been all about saying goodbye to people. One of my top mates: Ryan has headed back to NZ, which is pretty gutting seeing he used to be a regular at gigs, always up for a laugh, and much talk about life and music. He'll be recording some material soon I hope. At the end of the month I head over to Scotland for some gigs. I've only been to Scotland once, and never played there...can't wait. Apparently my surname is Scottish? We're also hitting a lot of Uni's in the next month with the new song Cosmic Politics and Revolutionary. For those who haven't seen the video it's a must see. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwCxeb4pAqQ It was definitely one of the most entertaining days of the year, Chris did a brilliant job with it. It was just clearing up after that was a little bit of a problem...you'll see why. Check my myspace profile to hear Cosmic, it'll be up there very soon.

I'm really excited about some new songs I've been writing lately and the recording of Cosmic Politics. I need your help to get the word out about my music. Can you help with a bit of promotion on social networking sites? Send me a message if you want to know more - you can do as little or as much as you want. Just let me know which of the following you use: - Myspace (obv) - Facebook - Youtube - Flicker/ photobucket etc - Any forums Thanks Pete xx

Without doubt this was the best time I've had in Poland. "You sound like Damian Rice…but I like you more" was one of the comments from the crowd that gathered in Blue Night – one of Poznans most renown live music venues (pictured below). What amused me was the guy who danced to the band .. me – almost like he was conducting an orchestra…we tried to film it on our phones but in the end it turned out pretty bad! (Pic below is a shot from my phone - pretty bad image...but gives you the idea)






From Poznan I hoped on the train to Kalisz, where I had an interview with a local paper and then a gig at "Beca Pub", where the local TV crew came to record some of the set. Was a great night and the crowd were in good voice singing along to Cosmic Politics and One Chance. The next day we stopped off at a local school to play a few songs and travelled to the next venue 45 mins out of Kalisz. That day I sold 22 CD's, and only had 8 left of the 50 I brought over!





Lodz (pronounced Wooge in English) was the only city on tour I hadn't visited before and the church there made me feel very welcome – thanks to David for showing me around and for the food/ coffee and cake ☺





Finally off to Gniezno – the longest train journey…something like 5 hours – as you can see I got a bit bored and took a couple of pictures. I love coming back to Gniezno – we had a great time, and teased Eunika for not wanting to speak to me in English! Haha…



Thanks to those who helped make the tour happen and for the entertainment and amazing hospitality. Next year???

First day of the tour, finds me sneezing my head off on the plane, much to the joy of the bloke sitting next to me.  So, I was feeling pretty rough leaving London this morning, but after the smoothjourney I found my ears hadn't popped.  Not wanting to sound like a mouse singing under water in a swimming pool I tried several methods of unblocking my ears; yawning, sucking sweets, pressing the palm of my hand over my ear hard and then jerking it away (only made it worse), holding my breath and puffing up my cheeks...needless to say none of these worked. 

The gig in Poznan was pretty good, the locals loved new songs Cosmic Politics and Not Turning Round Now.  Was quite surprised that I broke a string so early on in the tour...hopefully no more of that.  I'm told the venue tonight (Blue Note) has held jazz ledgends from the states (will find out exact names later).

Check the awesome airport pics bellow and some new found fans

Safe x

  

 

The good people at Glasswerk have just reviewed my CD, have a read:

"A lively and expressionistic piece of music. Pete McAllen has enough vibe and vigour to keep this 6 part EP together. Six Tracks are always a curious beast - to leave you wondering if an artist is going for extended single or they didnt have enough material to produce an album.

The material is certainly devoid of repetition. 'One Chance' is certainly a wonderous construct. Pulling on more orchestral and accoustic types of strings than the electric type. McAllen swings between moody and loud with ease.

A worthy addition to any collection. "


For more information you can visit: http://www.petemcallen.com

http://www.glasswerk.co.uk/index.php?db=national&page=reviews,review&id=7242

I have just about got all the remnants of paint off my body from yesterdays filming of my first music video. The song: Revolutionary, and with a title like that it needed something a bit different. Not wanting to give the whole game away, it involved a lot of paint and water guns plus a few people to be our victims! The night before was spent on location getting my face covered with thanks to Jon Don for his masterful dripping. Pictures will be appearing soon with the edited version of the video following shortly afterwards.

Thanks to all who took part and sacrificed their clothing...