Pete Way

Peter Frederick "Pete" Way (born 7 August 1951, Enfield, Middlesex) is an English bass player. He is the former, and best-known, bassist of UFO, Waysted and also Fastway and Ozzy Osbourne.

He began his career as a studio musician for many artists. He played in bands with friends from high school and later created a band with friends Phil Mogg, Andy Parker and Mick Bolton. This became the original UFO lineup. After two studio albums with their original guitarist, the band then recruited the guitar wunderkind Michael Schenker from Scorpions. Later the band signed on guitarist/keyboardist and long-time friend Paul Raymond. The group released many albums and singles and had two UK top 40 hits.^[1]

Disliking the more commercially accessible direction UFO were taking in the early eighties, Pete jumped ship to form Fastway with former Motörhead guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke. Pete was unable to extricate himself from a contract he signed with Chrysalis and stepped down to play bass for Ozzy Osbourne during the Diary of a Madman tour. In 1982, Way formed the punningly titled Waysted with Fin Muir, Paul Raymond, Frank Noon and Ronnie Kayfield. Their debut album Vices was released in 1982 and reached #78 in the UK chart. The band's third album, Save your Prayers, was their most successful in America where it reached #185.

In 1992, Way joined Phil Mogg in the reformed UFO and released the High Stakes & Dangerous Men album. Way remains in the band to this day but was unable to take part in the 2009 tours for UFO's album The Visitor due to a medical condition. He has not played with UFO since, but made guest appearances with Michael Schenker. Way released two albums under the Damage Control banner, the first album Damage Control was recorded with Robin George, Spike and Chris Slade; the second was recorded as a trio with Robin and Pete sharing lead vocals.

During UFO's 1970s heyday he used a Fender Precision bass, which along with his trademark striped trousers largely affected the stage presence of Steve Harris, who back in the day was very influenced by Pete. Way now commonly uses Gibson Thunderbird basses which are renowned for the hard edged rock tone; however he recently commented that he has been using an Epiphone Thunderbird as he found it seemed to have a fatter tone. He has also been known to use basses by Ibanez, most notably a pink Ibanez Iceman bass, and the Washburn B-20 for which he was pictured in an advertising campaign. His image was also used in an ad campaign by Artex basses.

Discography

References

External links

• Pete Way Official site
• Waysted Official site
• UFO Official site
• Classic Rock Revisited: A Conversation with UFO's revered, "wildman" bassist, Pete Way, by Shelly Harris
• Metal-Rules.com - Heart of Steel: Interviews UFO's Vinnie Moore and Pete Way