Guitarist Pete Evick Talks About the Art of Staying Positive!

By: Robert Cavuoto

Pete Evick has been Bret Michael’s guitarist for over 10 years, a friendship that has clearly been built on mutual respect and admiration; together they have jet setted across the globe playing for fans.

For someone who has been in the limelight as long as Pete, he is extremely grounded; there is no rock star attitude or ego; a genuinely kind hearted guy who is a huge Poison and Bret fan. He’s a guy who’s  thrilled and feels fortunate to be performing with his idol, night after night.

If touring and playing non-stop wasn’t hard enough on a person, Pete has written a book called; The Moments That Make Us. In it, he shares how a positive attitude can make all the difference in life and how events from childhood shape us as we grow.

He lives a life with a core belief that reflects that if you work hard, don’t fake it, and believe in yourself, anything is possible.

In The Moments That Make Us Pete he shares extremely personal stories and challenges that he’s faced, like a marriage break-up and becoming a single dad. His inspiring book is a great read and just might change your life.

I caught up with Pete just after the Bret Michaels Band [BMB] performed on Fox and Friends this July to talk about his book and about his new instrumental CD currently in the works.

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Robert: Just after the Fox & Friends show you posted a story on Bret’s site that noted he was having some health issues, just prior to that morning’s performance. From being at the show and watching Bret from a just a few feet away, I had no idea as the band was on fire.

Pete Evick: Sometimes Bret’s blood sugar levels aren’t where they should be, maybe because he doesn’t eat properly or get enough sleep so that morning of that show his sugar levels were 39. He’s a trooper and true professional. In the past I’ve had to pull him off stage to take him to the hospital when he wasn’t doing well.

Robert: You had a show in New Jersey the night prior, you pulled into New York at 3:00 am; did you get a chance to sleep before Fox and Friends?

Pete Evick: The Fox and Friends show is so unique and exciting that you can’t sleep. There is so much to do in a short period of time. You would think that after doing it three years in a row it would be easier to sleep, but it’s not.

On tour you sleep when you can get it, sometimes like with Fox and Friends, you don’t, while other times you have 12 hours in a hotel with nothing to do but rest.

Robert: Bret doesn’t have a typical tour schedule as he zig zags across the country with shows only a day or two apart.

Pete Evick: We have been on the road for ten solid years and the last three years we don’t take any breaks all the way to mid-December. We take some time for Christmas, then play a show on the 26^th then play right up until New Year’s Eve.

After that we go home for a week and then pick back up. Also, we play a lot of shows that have set dates which Bret likes to do and puts us on a different travel path than a conventional tour. Bret has a jet so we can pretty much can go anywhere we need to.

Robert: You just released a book, The Moments That Make Us, tell me about it?

Pete Evick: I’ve always done a lot of writing, whether it is has been when I hijack Bret’s site or write for my own site, people have always said they like the way I tell stories.

The idea of writing a book has been in the back of my mind for the last ten years. When I went through a change of life as my family was splitting up, I decided to write a book about broken families and how to survive being a single Dad.

When the publishing company was doing the edits they told me the book was far more than that, it was an inspirational, soul searching book.

Originally, it was written to help people get though similar things that I was going through, but it soon became a book about helping people trace who they were in their childhood and how those moments affect them today. There is a section in the book that talks about the first time I saw comedian Steven Wright on TV when I was 6 or 7 years old.

He said “Why don’t you look at life in a different way?” and then he turned his head sideways. It was a funny joke, but the moral of it was you have to look at things in a different way and always try to think outside the box.

As a young kid it was a very powerful message and gave me the credibility to be eccentric and not feel that I had to do things the way everyone else did. The book is about the moments in my life and how they changed my life. I don’t like to toot my own horn and I’m not that arrogant to think that I did something great, but I’m confident that I affected a few people already.

It took about five years to pull together all the stories. Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it again, I think I could do it in six months.

Robert: Was it difficult to share so many personal stories and were you concerned about feeling embarrassed?

Pete Evick: Everybody has gone through some horrible stuff in their lives and everybody has also done some embarrassing stuff, as well. I felt that we are all the same and we all have stories. They might feel unique, but they are all similar at heart.

Writing the book certainly opened up some old wounds, but it also helped me heal from it. It was hard to decide what to put on paper and how far behind the curtain I wanted to go for people to see. It was a positive experience for me to write it.

Robert: Talking about affecting people, what do you want readers to take away?

Pete Evick: That everybody is a star in their own way. We all have exciting stories, it’s learning how to get them out.

I’m hoping it inspires people to shine and be aware of what happens to our children.

When I was a kid I had a Cub Scout leader who called me strange. There is a fine line between strange and eccentric; it’s usually the size of your bank account [Laughing]. This guy called me strange, but I found the band KISS and the movie Star Wars strange, yet they were both glorious and amazing.

That gave me permission to be unique, eccentric, and wild. I want my fans to find the inspiration inside their own lives and what it takes to be happy in accomplishing your own dreams.

Robert: I read that you auditioned for Poison when CC Deville left in the early ’90s, how did that audition come about and what happened?

Pete Evick: The last chapter in my book is all about that. I really didn’t audition with the band. At the time I was 19 and huge Poison fan. A local guitarist where I live in Virginia got an audition with the band, so I begged him for the contact information so I could submit a demo.

He gave me the number of the management company and they told me there was a deadline, so I needed to overnight everything to them. I put together a four-track recording, took some photos, and then sent the package out the next day.

In the end I was too young and on the East Coast as the band was looking for an L.A. hotshot with a name and image. They went with Richie Kotzen who is one of the most incredible guitar players of all time. I’m a diehard CC fan, but Poison’s Native Tongue has some of the most incredible guitar work on it.

Poison’s management called to thank me for the submission but were going to pass, so I never really got a chance to play with the guys. Just the opportunity to send them a tape inspired me to keep knocking on doors. From that experience I found that if you knock on enough doors, eventually they will open for you.

Robert: Tell me about your relationship with Bret and how you got the job as the guitarist in his solo band?

Pete Evick: Bret and I have a bunch of friends in common, as he is from Pennsylvania and I’m from Virginia, plus my band at the time opened a couple shows during his first and second solo tours. On the second solo tour his guitar player, who was a good buddy of mine, left the band and recommended me to fill in.

Bret and I got along really well, so Bret took that recommendation at my buddy’s word and I got the job. Bret is hugely successful guy with jets and gold records, but I tell him all the time I’m the luckiest guy because I get to play with my hero night after night, Bret’s not in a band with Joe Perry [Laughing].

I’ll never forget the first time I played with him, at a show in Detroit for a show called Downtown Hoedown and Bret said, “Instead of flying my band down, can I use your band for the gig?” He told me it was a little radio gig and to relax and have some fun. Now Bret’s idea of a little gig and my idea of a little gig at the time were worlds apart. It wasn’t until we got there that we realized that we were going to be playing for 15,000 people. That was my first gig with Bret.

Robert: The Bret Michaels Band exclusively uses Dean Guitars; tell me about your Dean Cadillac 1980 Flame Top.

Pete Evick: They are an amazing company and my relationship with them is almost ten years old. For me it’s all about relationships. Growing up I was a real shredder, I’m a Eddie Van Halen fanatic, a big Steve Vai fan and I love Dimebag. As I got older and evolved as a musician, I started to focus more on songwriting and crafting that ability. So, I became a big fan of their Thoroughbred guitar which is in the Les Paul style guitar.

Within the last few years I started to get back into real hard core playing and just started working on an instrumental CD, in the vein of Steve Vai’s Passion and Warfare. Because of that I needed a Floyd Rose and the Dean Cadillac is the perfect guitar as it combines the best of the Thoroughbred with a Floyd, plus the Cadillac looks amazing!

My CD should be done in about six months and the first single is “Awakened” which is available on iTunes. I’m really excited about it as I’ve never done a full instrumental CD before.

Robert: You’re an extremely positive and inspirational person, what’s your best fortune-cookie wisdom?

Pete Evick: Stand by your dream, never fake it, and never give up! I encourage people to follow their heart, be true to yourself, and your star will shine bright.