Pete Makowski
Pete Makowski joined Sounds at the age of 16 as an office boy in 1972 and within two years was a fulltime journalist. Mostly known for his encounters with the more rock-orientated acts like Deep Purple, UFO, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, Grand Funk, Rush, etc., during his stretch in the business Makowski interviewed a diverse array of artists including Blondie, Johnny Thunders, The Only Ones, Sparks, Millie Jackson, Stevie Winwood, Twiggy, Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols and Alvin Stardust.
His other careers included being press officer for the New York Dolls, Ted Nugent, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, the Pink Fairies, Man, Motorhead, Michael Moorcock, Gary Holton and Tommy Chase; setting up an independent record label with Pete Townshend, playing guitar and writing songs for the infamous (or is that unfamous?) Snivelling Shits. He also put together a photo journal – Powerage – with legendary photographer Ross Halfin. The two of them worked together on various projects and magazines for almost three decades.
Apart from Sounds, Pete wrote for Street Life, New Music News, Kerrang! (under the nom de plume "Toots Daley"), Soundcheck, Metal Hammer and This Is Rock. He also contributed to Q, Mojo and Classic Rock.
Pete died in November 2021.
78 articles
List of articles in the library
Ace: Hornsey College of Art, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 19 January 1974
ACE PERFORMED a nifty little set at the Hornsey College of Art last Thursday. I do not have much information about this band except their ...
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Makowski, Classic Rock, May 2007
LONDON, TUESDAY, February 20, 2007, 11.35pm. Me, photographer Ross Halfin, Aerosmith tour manager John Bionelli and oh yeah – Joe Perry and Jimmy Page are ...
Aerosmith: Sex'n'Drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll!
Memoir by Pete Makowski, Kerrang!, 6 April 1994
Up until the early '80s, Aerosmith indulged in every rock 'n'roll excess! "It's a miracle they survived!" says Dr. Pete Makowski, who met Steven Tyler ...
Anvil: What Heavy Metal Dreams Are Made Of
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 17 April 1982
LET ME tell you about Canada's number one secret weapon. It's called Anvil and when they finally decide to unleash themselves on this poor unsuspecting ...
Pat Benatar: Fire And Loathing
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 September 1981
Can Pat Benatar survive the American Rock Business? ...
Blackmore's Night, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Ritchie Blackmore: Richie Blackmore: Blackmore's Nightmare
Retrospective by Pete Makowski, Classic Rock, March 2006
"I'm at that stage where I will play anything I want to. I will not be dictated to by fans or people who say: 'You ...
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Rock's Backpages, 19 May 2012
ALMOST A WEEK LATER and my ears are still ringing – and I don't know if it's due to the rousing response of the audience ...
Black Sabbath, Girlschool: Black Sabbath/Girlschool: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1980
THE SABS are back. And after a series of false starts to their British tour due to drummer Bill Ward contracting viral pneumonia they are ...
Blondie, Television: Television/Blondie: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 4 June 1977
Television: I preferred the other channel ...
Tommy Bolin: Private Eyes (CBS IMPORT)*****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 30 October 1976
WHILE LISTENING to this white label copy for about the millionth time, all that comes to mind as an introduction to this review is 'forget ...
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 November 1976
Krautland krumbles to the beat of Macon Georgia. Pete Makowski checks out the Marshall Tucker Band and friends in Hamburg. Bourbon by Jim Bean — peanuts by Jimmy ...
Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley: Steve Harley: Mr Soft gets tough
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 2 November 1974
Meek, mild mannered Pete Makowski sacrifices his tape machine to the meanderings of that nasty Steve Harley, at home, as always, tearing at the throats ...
The Commodores: Caught In The Act (Motown import)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 April 1975
THERE'S A new breed of soulmongers on the loose, since the emergence of bands like the Isleys, The Ohios and BT Express, funky music has ...
Alice Cooper: Alice Cooper Goes To Hell
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 10 July 1976
THIS ALBUM HAS already received an almost unamimous thumbs-down form the staff, which really suprises as it's no better or worse than Welcome To My ...
Chris Cornell, Soundgarden: Chris Cornell: An Interview
Interview by Pete Makowski, unpublished, Spring 2011
NOTE: This is an uncut version of an interview I did with Chris Cornell in Los Angeles in Spring 2011 for MOJO. Soundgarden had reformed ...
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 2 November 1974
IT IS going to be interesting to see the fans' and critics' reaction when they lay their hands on Stormbringer. ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Metal Hammer, 20 June 1988
"Rock'n'Roll is the perfect art which conceals art, that satisfying spontaneity which can be achieved only by taking intense thought" – Kathleen Cleaver (paraphrased) ...
Deep Purple, Ian Gillan: Ian Gillan: Rock And Roll's In Gillan's Soul
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 March 1976
"We all came out to Montreux, On the lake Geneva shoreline. To make a record with a mobile, We didn't have much time." ...
Def Leppard: The Leppard Doesn't Sleep Tonight
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 6 February 1982
ROUGH NOTES/ROUGH NOTES (Prelude) ...
Detective, Michael Des Barres, Silverhead: Silverhead: Studs Silver
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Makowski, Classic Rock, March 2006
MOST OF you will never have heard of Silverhead. The pseudo-flowery moniker of frontman Michael Des Barres probably doesn't even tinkle the vaguest of bells. ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie and the Hot Rods: The Rods Are Awright
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 6 August 1977
"All my friends at school grew up and settled down. Then they mortgaged up their lives. When things get set too much but I think ...
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 26 April 1975
THE STAGE was set. On the left hand side, Steve Hackett was seated with guitar and a melange of effects around him. Behind him, Michael ...
Girlschool: Back to Schooldays
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 9 August 1980
Pete Makowski deciphers the scrawl in his exercise book. Mike Laye makes with the paints, crayons and Box Brownie ...
Girlschool: Girls At Their Best
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 7 June 1980
THESE SCHOOL-TYPES WILL MAKE THE ORCHIDS WILT, SEZ PETE MAKOWSKI ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Get The Funk Out
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Makowski, Classic Rock, October 2005
WHO THE hell are Grand Funk Railroad? More to the point, why should we even care who they are? These are pertinent questions for any ...
The Groundhogs, Stray: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 5 January 1974
THE GROUNDHOGS' Rainbow concert was plagued with problems from the word go! ...
Hanoi Rocks: Mystery Boys From Mystery City
Report by Pete Makowski, Kerrang!, 19 May 1983
A heart-to-heart on the art of falling apart. PETE MAKOWSKI meets HANOI ROCKS. ...
Heart: Dreamboat Annie (Arista)***
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 31 January 1976
THE FIRST time I heard this album was in the offices of another record company (who shall go unnamed) who were pretty hot to get ...
Hole, Mother Love Bone, Nirvana: Rock 'N' Roll Suicide?
Report by Paul Elliott, Pete Makowski, Kerrang!, 9 July 1994
Seattle's heroin nightmare continues. First ANDY WOOD of the seminal MOTHER LOVE BONE overdosed and died. Then KURT COBAIN ended his desperate addiction by committing ...
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 4 June 1977
SOMETIMES I feel so good I can feel my body growing... YEAHHH!!! Y'know CBS were really surprised (in fact speechless) when I enquired about this ...
Jethro Tull: New Wave From An Old Hand
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 18 June 1977
OII!!!!! EVEN IF YOU THINK JETHRO TULL ARE JUST A BUNCH OF ARTHRITIC CLAPPED OUT OLDTIMERS, COP A READ OF THIS, YOU MIGHT EVEN FIND ...
Jethro Tull: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 19 February 1977
IT'S STRANGE, but up until Sunday night at the Hammersmith Odeon, Jethro Tull had been an anonymous quantity in my musical catalogue. ...
Kansas: (1) Who Are These Persons and (2) Why the Silly Clothes?
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 30 April 1977
(1) They're Kansas, one hot US band (2) They're pictured at a ritzy bash to celebrate the platinum status of their current long player Leftoverture. ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, ZigZag, April 1980
MY FIRST sojourn into the pages of this fine mag and what a balls up. Cock up amundo, mate. ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 February 1982
"What Alice Cooper was to dead babies and corpses, Kiss became to fire breathing and sadomasochism. With Kabuki-whitened faces, they leap on stage puking blood, ...
Led Zeppelin: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1975
"SIX AND A half years is a helluva long time," said Robert Plant who was standing one side of the Earls Court stage, bathed in ...
Phil Lynott: Phillip Lynott: Solo In Soho (Vertigo 9102038)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, April 1980
Black and Irish is beautiful ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 5 February 1977
TO SOME people, kicking off a British tour in London is the equivalent of musical suicide. ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Saturday Night Special
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 30 October 1976
"It's like throwing a bleedin' virgin into a bed of rampant nymphomaniacs," commented Pete Makowski, our jotter on the spot. Sis he lose his white ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The Wild Bunch
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 February 1977
Hey, You Shoulda Bin At The Trial!!! ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rossington Collins Band: Lynyrd Skynyrd: If I Leave Here Tomorrow
Retrospective by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 15 March 1980
Dear Everyone,I would like to say how shocked and sorry I am at the deaths of Steve, Cassie and Ronnie. I know how it must ...
Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music: Roxy Music: The Two Sides Of Mr Manzanera
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 August 1974
Since the beginning of Roxy Music's career there have been many reports of fights and ego stomping between various members. One man who's been keeping ...
Motorhead: Motorhead (Chiswick WLK 2)*****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 20 August 1977
MOTORHEAD BANGER ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 November 1976
NAZARETH are pissed off!!! Well, they're not that pissed off. Only a bit. In fact they're probably just pissed... ...
The Only Ones: The One and Only
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 15 April 1978
PUNK. NEW Wave. I groan inwardly at all these new clichés that seem more painfully predominant as the years go by. It seems that most ...
The Osmonds: Mass Masochism In Belgravia — The Story of O
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 7 June 1975
Young girls spend hours queuing in Eaton Square in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Osmond Brothers pop group. Some of them get ...
Robert Palmer: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 1 December 1979
A BIT trendy-poo's, y'know? ...
Dolly Parton: Here You Come Again (RCA PL 12544) **
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 18 February 1978
I DON'T KNOW if reading the Marquis De Sade's Juliette (phew wot a scorcher!) before hearing this was such a good idea. Since broadening her ...
Iggy Pop: Lust For Life (RCA AFLI 2488)*****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 20 August 1977
"Yeah I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk,no more beating my brains,no more beating my brains,with liquor and drugs,with liquor and drugs,well I'm just a modern ...
Bernard Purdie: Purdie's School of Drumming
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 26 April 1975
Pete Makowski talks to top American session drummer Bernard Purdie ...
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 9 March 1974
IT WAS A bad night for Queen at Friars Hall, Aylesbury, last Saturday, but this was not completely their fault. For a start one of ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 29 January 1977
SO THERE we were, surrounded. But where does the story really begin? ...
Rainbow: If You Don't Like Rock'n'Roll, It's Too Late Now
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 11 September 1976
"We're not in Kansas We must be over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland, Wizard Of Oz ...
Rainbow: There'll Always Be A Rainbow As Long As Ritchie's Here
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 25 June 1977
"THERE'LL ALWAYS be a Ronnie, there'll always be a Cozy and myself in Rainbow and that's all that matters, others may come and go because ...
Rainbow: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (Oyster OYA2001)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 16 August 1975
VOLCANIC BLACKMORE ...
Rainbow: There'll Always Be A Rainbow As Long A Ritchie's Here
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 25 June 1977
Well, and as long as Cozy and Ronnie are still here, and as far as you — dear SOUNDS reader — are concerned, as long as Pete ...
Mick Ronson: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 9 March 1974
"TWINKLE TWINKLE little starman". Mick Ronson possesses all the necessary qualities to ensure stardom but his good looks and lithe limbs seemed to be the ...
The Rossington Collins Band: Born Again
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 March 1982
AFTER SO much tragedy and so much pain the Skynyrd people are back on their feet again...almost. ...
Todd Rundgren: Initiation (Bearsville Import) Time: 68.00
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 7 June 1975
TODD: ONLY FOR THE INITIATED ...
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 18 December 1982
PETE MAKOWSKI finally delivers the goods on RUSH ...
Saxon: Biff Byford: An Interview
Interview by Pete Makowski, unpublished, May 2012
This is a previously unpublished Q&A with Biff Byford, Saxon's enduring, uncompromising and down-to-earth frontman as he contemplates, amongst other things, the prospects of getting ...
The Scorpions: Boom! Boom! Out Go The Lights
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 March 1982
HERE WE are in Spain – San Sebastian to be precise. Poli de Portivo is the name of the venue and the Scorpions have just ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey: Rock And Roll Warrior
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 26 October 1974
Pete Makowski talks to a man who fought at Waterloo. Here, back in his reincarnated form, he talks about making peace with the people. ...
Sparks: Come Into Marks and Sparks
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 1 June 1974
LOOK AT those two, aren't they cute? Who are they? Why they're the Mael Brothers. You know, Ronnie's the one who looks like a crossbreed ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 28 February 1976
BY THE time you read this, Status Quo's new album and single should be riding high in the charts. You don't have to be an ...
Retrospective by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 14 May 1977
"Status Quo are one of those peculiar groups who have been around for years and who go through cycles and surges of popularity that make ...
Stone Temple Pilots: Scott Weiland (2008)
Interview by Pete Makowski, Rock's Backpages audio, March 2008
The late singer recalls childhood friends Stone Temple Pilots disintegrating through success and drugs; talks about leaving STP and joining Velvet Revolver, about the latter band also falling apart, about the overdose death of his brother and about rejoining STP... and at length about his own addictions and attempts at rehab.
File format: mp3; file size: 58.6mb, interview length: 1h 01' 03" sound quality: ****
Supertramp: The year of the 'Tramp
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 December 1975
Pete Makowski traces the success of Supertramp ...
Thin Lizzy Rule At Reading OK?
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 August 1977
THE TELEX ended something like: "And besides he's black, Irish and only wears one earring." ...
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 March 1976
Pete Makowski's putting his money on Thin Lizzy making the real big time. Here, he talks to Phil Lynott and looks at the past, present ...
Thin Lizzy: Malady Of A Thin Man
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 16 October 1976
A CASUAL conversation. A relaxed Sunday afternoon at the, er, Chez Lynott. I mean if you want to catch the man, it's got to be ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: D*T*K*L*A*M*F
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 4 June 1977
WHAT JT's HBs SAID TO PM ABOUT TP & HIS HBs AND A LOT OF OTHER STUFF ...
Review by Pete Makowski, Classic Rock, February 2008
WATCHING THIS once-great band drag their bruised, battered – and in some cases surgically-enhanced – carcass around metal's chicken-in-a-basket circuit, it's difficult to believe that ...
Utopia: Todd Rundgren's Utopia: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 February 1977
HoooooRa! ...
Van Halen: Women And Children First (Warners) *****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 5 April 1980
VAM! BLAM! KAPOW! SPLAT! ...
ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: An Interview
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Guitar Aficionado, Fall 2010
"It's not really about fashion; it's only about STYLE. Style lives on and fashion dies." John Varvatos, contemporary menswear fashion designer* ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Rock's Backpages, October 2012
"TWO FLAT TIRES on a muddy road. Thick and Throbbing. The rhythm section from Hell and holding on strong." ...
ZZ Top: Fandango (London FHU 8482) (31.00)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1975
ZZ Top will tear this country apart ...
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