Budgie (AKA Peter Clarke) is one of my all time favorite drummers, his style and technique are unparalleled. Simply put: the man deserves his own top ten.
The Slits – Instant Hit
In the summer of 1979, Budgie and Dennis Bovell recorded, performed and produced Cut by The Slits at The Ridge Farm. Budgie plays drums on several songs, including this opening track. The mash up of punk and dub didn’t begin (or end) with this record, but it doesn’t get any better than this.
Big In Japan – Suicide A Go Go
Proto goth-punk From the From Y To Z And Never Again 7” on Zoo Records, 1978. Reissued and bootlegged a few times in the 80’s as well.
The Creatures – Godzilla
Long running side project of Budgie and Siouxsie.
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Spellbound
Great video from a 1981 show with guitarist John McGeoch. Early punk had an abundance of great drummers: Ivor Hay of The Saints, Paul Ferguson of Killing Joke, Topper Headon of The Clash, Marky Ramone (who also played drums on all the early Richard Hell records), Lucky Lehrer from The Circle Jerks and Redd Kross, Earl Hudson of Bad Brains and Harley Flanagan of The Stimulators. Except for Paul Ferguson, none of these guys have the stamina of Budgie.
Juno Reactor – War Dogs
Budgie played on this 2004 Juno Reactor single. Aside from his influence in post punk, he is also widely recognized as a major influence to techno and industrial music. Not too many drummers can say that. The fact that electronic drummers cite his analog work as innovative and original is a testament to his work.
The Creatures – Pluto Drive / Nightclubbing
The Creatures live at Glastonbury, 1999. Budgie is very interesting to watch live, but the studio is where he really shines. Some of the early Creatures and Banshees recordings have his signature moves: knowing how many layers of percussion are needed on a given song, as well as knowing how and when to adjust his playing for the bassist.
Budgie & Siouxsie MTV Interview
Decent interview from 1990. This was around the time that they were riding a wave of moderate success with their single, “Kiss Them For Me”, which was written around a sample by West Philadelphia rapper Schooly D. To further confuse lawyers, in 2008 Girl Talk sampled the sample from Siouxsie hit in his song “Give Me A Beat”. So technically he was using sample-within-a-sample. While we’re on the subject of pop music degenerating into total garbage please note that Girl Talk will never write an original drum part or show up on MTV dressed like Thomas Jefferson.
Clive Langer & The Boxes – Lovely Evening
12” from 1979, Budgie played bass and drums on this record. Nothing groundbreaking here, although it appears as if early in his career disco and reggae made a big impression on his style.
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Happy House
Kaleidoscope was the first Banshees record that Budgie played on, this song is the best example of how he reshaped their sound from the onset.
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Peek-a-Boo
Genius. If I could sit and observe any band I wanted during the song writing process, I have to say that The Banshees would be at the top of my list. As a band, they have the ability to fit many different moving parts together at once, which is no easy task.
