Pete MacLeod is home from LA and ready to hit the Hut

Jul 21 2010 by Michael Pringle, Airdrie & Coatbridge

COATBRIDGE singer and songwriter Pete MacLeod has returned home from the United States and is looking forward to his first UK gig for a number of years.

Pete (32) from Kirkwood is now based in Los Angeles but recently returned home to Scotland after his father took ill.

He’s now spending time catching up with his family and friends while promoting his new EP; Lost and Found.

On his last tour of the UK, an acoustic one, he was joined by the legendary Bonehead (Paul Arthurs) of Oasis fame for the entire schedule of dates.

The ex-Rosehall High pupil met the ex-Oasis guitarist after being introduced by music mogul Alan McGee, who told Pete that Bonehead was a fan.

The pair hit it off so well that Bonehead offered to join Pete on tour. McGee, who discovered Oasis at King Tut’s, offered Pete the opportunity to come and play at his London club night; Death Disco after watching him appear at Glasgow’s ABC.

Reluctantly, Pete had to turn down the offer as he had already made a committment to go over to the States but McGee was following close behind and helped him meet the right people on the other side of the Atlantic.

McGee, the founder of Creation Records, confessed to using one of the Coatbridge singer’s songs on his MySpace profile.

Pete joined Ocean Colour Scene as support on their UK tour in 2007 and has appeared at T in the Park, Scotland’s biggest music festival.

Ocean Colour Scene guitarist Steve Cradock introduced Pete to the Modfather himself, Paul Weller. Pete was invited to a friend's house in Malibu who owns a guitar company.

He offered Pete a couple of guitars worth thousands of pounds each.

“I was offered me these guitars that were worth about £6000 each but I told him I didn’t play electric guitar live so they would be wasted on me,” said Pete.

"I suggested I call Steve Cradock and he took the guitars on tour with him when he played with Paul Weller", he added.

These aren’t the only friends that Pete has in the music world, he’s good friends with another megastar but keeps it relatively quiet, jokingly he said: “I’m good friends with Robbie Williams and I’m in regular contact with him but it’s not so good for my Indie street-cred.”

Pete is torn between Scotland and the US as he has a son in San Francisco, Cameron who will be three soon, and twin boys here in Coatbridge, Lewis and Rhys who are nine-years-old.

He’s enjoying being back home for the time being, admitting: “Life’s been great for the last five or six years but it’s good being back, it’s kind of fake in LA at times.

“Bonehead wants me to support him when he goes on tour in September so we’ll see what happens.”

In the meantime, Pete will be be appearing solo at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow on August 5, a venue he has previously sold out three times.

Tickets for the gig are available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk or through Pete’s website www.petemacleodmusic.com.

You can listen to some of Pete’s tracks at www.myspace.com/petesolomusic