Hooked on Pop Interview: Big Brother’s Pete Bennett

By Owen Tonks

Pete Bennett first landed in our telly boxes a few years ago when he appeared on Big Brother 7. After stumbling and rolling down the stairs into the UK’s most famous house he went on to have a Big Brother romance, raise awareness of Tourette’s Syndrome, become one of the most popular housemates ever and eventually win the show. Since Big Brother he has released a book, toured with his band and got married. Oh yeah, and he is also rumoured to be worth over £1 million.

Pete’s raised profile has helped him succeed with his latest band, Pete Bennett and the Lovedogs, to the point where he reached the top spot in the Irish charts in 2008. As he gears up for the release of his latest single, Superhero, Pete tells Hooked on Pop all about his music career and life since Britain’s most talked about reality show.

So Pete, what have you been up to since you left Big Brother?

When I first left BB I started work with Robbie Williams’s mate Guy Chambers and wrote some collaboration songs, some from old music I had written in the past and some we made from scratch. They were pretty good songs! Rather different from what you’d expect from working with Guy Chambers, kind of punky thrash.

You’ve written some great songs with Guy. Are you still working together?

No, Guy and me stopped working together due to no record labels wanting to know. That’s when a lovely man called Simon Hanning scooped me up and said: ‘C’mon lets go on tour and try and release Cosmonaut.’ Cosmonaut is the most commercial of the songs we’d written. This is how Pete Bennett and the Lovedogs was formed – just session players but they were a good laugh. I called myself Pete Bennett and the Lovedogs because I have a song called Lovedog and it sounds cool.

You’ve done pretty well with them……

Yeah, we went on a UK tour that first year. Then we did it again in 2008, this time in Ireland. After all the hard work it finally paid off when I got a number one in the Irish download charts. Anyway, Whilst this was all happening I started writing songs by myself. My influences are anything from punk to techno and psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve been writing music since I was eight years old but since working with Guy it started me on a new path instead of just writing dance music. Quite a lot of the dance music I’d made from the past had great riffs so I started recycling them into commercial rock n’ roll and punk poppy stuff! Lovely!

What about your latest single?

It’s called Superhero, a really upbeat fun song that will cheer everyone up. It’s all about everybody’s childhood dream of wanting to be a superhero. I spent no money on this and I’ve managed to get it produced in a studio as a favour but it has taken a year and a half out of my life doing so. I also made my own music video and my girlfriend Cherry made my superhero outfit. I ran around the beach at Brighton with my camera and stick singing along to it. Funilly enough there was a superhero fun run in Brighton so I got footage of hundreds of superheros! It’s catchy so be careful it’ll be stuck in your head forever! I’m dedicating Superhero to my best friend Wobbly Bob who I was in my previous band Daddy Fantastic with. He passed away last Christmas due to cancer and Superhero has got him playing his famous psychedelic guitar in it so it’ll be great that everyone can hear his magic.

Superhero is due for release in April.

Hear more of Pete’s music at www.myspace.com/perfectpetemusic and join Pete’s Superhero facebook group here