McCulloch & Bickers & Fij

Pete Fij / Terry Bickers have been announced as main support for the upcoming Ian Mcculloch show at the stunning St Paul's (pictured here) in Worthing this Saturday 21st March.

It's particularly apt for Worthingtonian Pete who recently cited 'Ocean Rain' as his all time favourite album in an interview for Louder Than War

Doors open at 7.30, with our melancholic duo on at 8pm.

A limited number of tickets are still available here. 
You can join the Facebook Event Page here

Copies of Pete Fij / Terry Bickers album 'Broken Heart Surgery' which topped 4 different critics' polls for album of the year in 2014 is available from Bandcamp and you can follow the duo's exploits via the medium of the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Facebook page or by following Pete on Twitter

It's Party (Out Of) Time - Single released

'Out Of Time' is released today (30th June), and the boys are parting like it's 1999 to celebrate.  

The single, which won 6Music Rebel Playlist listener vote, as well as winning both the panel and listener vote on Steve Lamacq's Roundtable review show, and was listed as 'song of the year on A Musical Priority is avalable on i-tunes & amazon as well as the duo's own bandcamp page for download.

Watch the Pete Fij -directed video here  As the duo party like only they know how. Warn the neighbours, alert the police and get ready for a Bickers & Fij party like no other! By the looks of it, the morning after is going to be frail

You can now pre-order the CD album of 'broken Heart Surgery'  with immediate download from our bandcamp page & you can join in the knees-up celebration with the party-loving duo at their live dates in July:

2nd Worthing
3rd Brighton
16th London
22nd Norwich
23rd Coventry 

 

Support on all shows is from I Am Ampersand the alter ego of Fujiya & Miyagi's Matt Hainsby

 

Join the Pete & Terry on Facebook to be kept up to date on all things Bickers & Fij-shaped. 

Donnie Darko's rabbit to the rescue

Sometimes help comes in the most unusual of forms. It has transpired that one of the Kickstarter guardian angels who came to assist Pete & Terry is a genuine screen icon - none other than Frank - the giant 7 foot rabbit from the cult film 'Donnie Darko'.

 Actor James Duval who played the menacing rodent in the 2001 classic, was one of those who pledged money for Bickers & Fij to help make the album, and his name appears in the credits of 'Broken Heart Surgery'. 
 

Terry Bickers (6 foot 1") said "We'll try to see if we can get Frank the rabbit to appear in our next video, lurking behind us in the shadows" whilst Pete (5 foot 9") added "We knew that our music appealed to the lost and the lonely-hearted ; we can now add malevolent giant rabbits to that list"

You can now order the album from our the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Bandcamp page. If you pre-order the album you will recieve an immediate download of the album, and the CD will be sent to your letterbox on release.

You can catch the duo, (or trio if Frank turns up) at their live UK shows in July:

 Wed 2nd Worthing, Persia Bar, Grand Victorian Hotel
Thur 3rd  Brighton Komedia, Studio Bar
Wed 16th  London St Pancras Old Church
Wed 22nd Norwich Bicycle Shop
Thur 23rd July Coventry The Tin Music & Arts Centre

Support from all shows will come from I Am Ampersand - the superb side project of Fujiya & Miyagi bassist Matt Hainsby 

Watch Pete & Terry's video for the forthcoming single 'Out Of Time' here

You can keep uptodate by liking the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Facebook page & you can follow Pete on Twitter

Photo Credit: Michael Arvis Ocker

Pete & Terry tie up Loose Ends this weekend

Messers Bickers & Fij have been invited to appear on this week's 'Loose Ends' on BBC Radio 4 hosted by Clive Anderson. Our two radioheads will be guests alongside Suggs, David Schneider, Janet Suzman, Arthur Smith, Chris Stewart & The Moulettes.

The show will be aired on Saturday 21st at 6.15pm, and will then be available on the i-player for 7 days, as well as being repeated on Radio4Extra throughout the week.


You can now order the album from our the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Bandcamp page. If you pre-order the album you will recieve an immediate download of the album, and the CD will be sent to your letterbox on release. 

Live Uk shows in July:

 Wed 2nd Worthing, Persia Bar, Grand Victorian Hotel
Thur 3rd  Brighton Komedia, Studio Bar
Wed 16th  London St Pancras Old Church
Wed 22nd Norwich Bicycle Shop
Thur 23rd July Coventry The Tin Music & Arts Centre

Support from all shows will come from I Am Ampersand - the superb side project of Fujiya & Miyagi bassist Matt Hainsby 

You can keep uptodate by liking the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Facebook page & you can follow Pete on Twitter

 Photo Credit: Cait Brassneck

London Show Announced

Following their two sell out shows in Brighton, Pete & Terry will be journeying up the train line to the bright lights of London where they will be playing at Heavenly's The Social (Oxford Circus) on Monday October 28th.

Tickets are available from Ticketweb and are £5 in advance / £7 on the door

You can also join the Facebook event here

Both Brighton Shows SOLD OUT

Both the Brighton Bom Banes shows are now sold out. Many thanks to everyone who bought tickets. You can next see Pete & Terry in London on October 28th at The Social (Oxford Circus) in London - tickets are available from here. Facebook event etc will be added shortly.

Like the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Facebook page to be kept informed of the duo's gigs and releases.

Photo Credit: Tiya Ivy

'Pay What You Want' Brighton Show

 To celebrate the imminent release of their new single 'Downsizing' (details to follow) Pete & Terry will be doing a very special 'Pay What You Want' show at the hidden gem of a venue that is Bom Banes in Brighton on Sunday 29th September at 8.30pm. Just visit the Wegottickets site and choose how much you would like to pay - anything from nothing to £100!


Mr Fij said "We know how times are tough for a lot of people at the moment, so we thought in keeping with the subject of the song ' Downsizing' we would make the gigs as accesible to everyone regardless of how much money is in their pockets - so both paupers and kings can come and rub shoulders together, to a sound-track of downbeat melancholia."

Don't forget to follow our two recession-busting troubadours on their facebook page and/or follow Pete on Twitter

Photo Credit: Tiya Ivy

Brighton Show - SOLD OUT

Tickets for the Sunday Service Brighton show at The Albert, Trafalgar St, for Sunday 28th April have now sold out. There might be some returns at wegottickets, but otherwise they will not be available on the door.

Another Brighton date will be arranged in August, alongside other UK dates. Details will follow. keep up to date at the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Facebook page or follow Pete on Twitter

Betty Ford Out Now

The Pete Fij / Terry Bickers debut release 'Betty Ford' is now available as an MP3 download  from Bandcamp,  i-tunes, spotify, as well as a host of other online retailers.

To celebrate the duo will be perfroming live at The Albert, Trafalgar Street, Brighton on Sunday 28th April at 8pm - tickets are £4 advance from wegottickets / or £5 on the door. Those buying tickets in advance will also get a special free gift.
Support is from the mighty fine Al Chamberlain


You can sign up to the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Facebook page and follow Pete on Twitter here

In case you haven't yet seen the video for 'Betty Ford', you can revel in the odd couple's discomfort here:

Betty Ford - Video

 

Here is the video for 'Betty Ford' with our two damp troubadours battling with the English Channel.

"It was a ridiculously cold day" says Pete "20 minutes after we finished filming it began snowing, and my body went into shock shortly afterwards. The playback packed up after the first take, so what you see is an unrehearsed first time take, but I'm not sure my body would have allowed any more - I began showing all the classic signs of hyperthermia afterwards and became quite light-headed and disorientated for some hours after."

Dried-out and warmed-up our two mermaids will be playing live in Brighton at the Albert on Sunday 28th April. Tickets are now available here (£4 advance / £5 door), with a little present for the first 20 who buy tickets in advance or through the door on the night.

Betty Ford will be released as digital download on April 23rd from i-tunes, Amazon and other online retailers. In the meantime you can obtain a special preview of the track at Bandcamp.

Keep up to date with all things Pete Fij / Terry Bickers-shaped on the Facebook page or follow Pete on Twitter

Pete & Terry's Live Sunday Service

To celebrate the launch of their downbeat debut single 'Betty Ford', messers Bickers & Fij will be playing a suitably laid-back Sunday gig in Brighton at The Albert, Trafalgar Street on Sunday 28th April at 8pm.

Pete said "Quiet is the new loud, and slow is the new fast, so with that in mind we thought a Sunday gig would be the best night to play a live launch for our debut single. Like the train service on a Sunday everything will be a little slower, but you'll have more time to take in the view, and you'll get there in the end."

Tickets are available in advance for £4 from Wegottickets or £5 on the door. There will be a special present for the first 20 through the door or buying their tickets in advance.

The night will also include support from  the fabulous Al Chamberlain who will be giving his own low-key take on love & trains.

Don't forget to keep abreast of all PF/TB news via the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Facebook page or via Twitter

Bickers & Fij on Bandcamp - Free Download

The Pete Fij / Terry Bickers Bandcamp page is now up and running, and featuresthe expletive-ridden "I Don't Give A Sh*t About You" as a free download. At the check out, you can just put in '0' if you want and have it for free, or you can donate millions and Pete & Terry will dine like kings for a year.

The track, is as close to a love song that our downbeat mariachis get, once you get past all of the cuss words. Those of purer minds who don't like that kind of rudeness can avert their ears for now, and wait for the next release which the duo promise will be a swear-free zone.

Fij Asks Bickers

To celebrate the first release of the Pete Fij / Terry Bickers free download track, Pete and Terry will be doing a Q&A answering your questions about their collaboration, their past endeavours, future plans and anything else you might want to ask.Click here for details of how to ask Pete & Terry - but don't dally too long - you have until Friday 26th October to get your questions in.



In the meantime, to get the ball rolling, the two have agreed to interview each other, and this week it's Pete Fij -  our very own intrepid Carl Bernstein , who sat down and put some questions to Terry Bickers.

Pete Fij :Who were your musical heores when you were young?

 
Terry Bickers : The Police, U2, Siousxie & The Banshees, Magazine, Echo & The Bunnymen, Gary Numan (Tubeway Army).

Although we have a shared sensibilities about a lot of things, I think in other ways we are very different people - Which animals would you describe yourself and me as?

I like the symbolism of the spider in Shamanism. In it they represent us being weavers of our own reality reminding us of the creative power we have in shaping our own lives, spinning our web so to speak.

We first got together some time ago - I think we first played back in 2009 - how has the project/collaboration been in comparison to what you expected?

 
I expected/ hoped that our project would evolve into a group but I am happy with us being a duo now. I am thinking of using technology to add more layers to the sound (loops etc).

Our paths never crossed back in the Creation days (and judging by tales of both of our pasts maybe that's just as well, as I'm not 100% sure the twenty-something Pete & Terry would have got on), but I sense you were a very different person back then to the Terry I know now. What do you think the old Terry would have made of these songs - and would he have approached this project differently? 

I would have approached it in the same way I always have done when working in collaboration. When doing this I try to compliment each song in an appropriate way. Back then the ideas would probably have been less developed, more off the cuff.

What bands/artists from the last few  years have caught your eye (or ear)?

The Dears, Arcade Fire. Papa M, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Marina & The Diamonds, MGMT, Cashier no 9, Great Lake Swimmers, Eliza Jaye and the Tarts (Brighton band), Hollow Moon (Brighton band), Das Fenster (Brighton based band something akin to Kate Bush meets Radiohead)

If you had the option to travel back in time and revisit your earlier life would you go back and change anything - and if so what?

 

I would probably have to make quite a few trips to go back and stop sabotaging various opportunities that came my way in life.

And if you could speed on back past your birth - what era would you most like to visit?*

 *NOTE: Time travel option can currently only go back in time, not into future

Maybe pre- agricultural/ industrial revolution to see some of the wilder parts of the UK?

When you are an old, old man and come to write the story of your life - what will it be called?

'Sideman'

What one thing that you haven't yet done in life would you most like to do?

Make an album of my own songs.

Tune in next week for the second part of the process - 'Bickers Asks Fij', and don't forget to drop us line with any questions you might have for our songsmiths.

You can also keep up to date with all things Bickers & Fij-shaped to via the Facebook Page

Ask Bickers & Fij

Following the release of their free download, Pete & Terry will be opening the lines of communication and will be doing a Q&A session, so if you have any questions for our two downbeat troubadours then drop us a line.

One question might be: "why is Pete holding an umbrella in the photo to this story when he is quite clearly in the underground away from the rain?", but we will leave it to your imagination.


You can either e-mail your questions to info(AT)petefijterrybickers(DOT)com , you can message the duo at their facebook site, or you can post a message below this entry. All questions considered - from the profound to the bizarre, so get messaging.

In the meantime you can see the cross-examination here as Fij asks Bickers  and Bickers asks Fij

Pete & Terry Give A Sh*t

After years of waiting, Pete Fij & Terry Bickers have finally broken cover and have released the first fruits of their labours in the studio, in the shape of a free download of the radio un-friendly track "I Don't Give A Shit About You".

"Once you look beyond the cussing, it's a tender lost-love song" says Pete "I used to always steer away from swearing in songs in my younger days, but in this song it feels justified and essential. There's a tension I like with the actual words & Terry's lovely harmonies - we're like a foul-mouthed Simon & Garfunkel".

" It was my least favorite song out of all the candidates for our album in rehearsals" confesses Mr Bickers "but during the recording process it evolved way beyond my expectations. After the initial backing was recorded a lot of extra ideas came along and it was a really enjoyable process adding these and developing the song into what it is now. This experience reminded me that if we keep open to things, give them our best what we encounter may surprise us! The song is in part a homage to the Velvet Underground with a bit of Dr John's 'Gris Gris' thrown in and for me that's part of it's appeal."

The track is the first official release from the duos forthcoming album, which is slated for a release in Spring 2013. It can be downloaded here at Pete & Terry's Soundcloud page, although those who are swear-averse might want to give this one a miss due to the explicit nature of the lyrics as suggested by the title - but as you're already reading this, we've probably already offended you - sorry.

Don't forget you can keep abreast of all of Pete & Terry's activities by liking their facebook page.

Photography by Tiya Ivy.

UK & German Live Reviews

After Pete & Terry's recent gigs in the UK & Germany, here are a couple of bits and pieces that have appeared on the net.

First up is Pennyblack's review of Bickers & Fij's recent London gig which can be read here.

Next, is an in depth report of our Europe-trotting duo's debut in the beautiful town of Regensburg (review in German only, but with some nice photos to look at if your foreign language skills aren't up to scratch).

Finally is a lovely  poster designed by our new friend Jochen, posted on the Sublime facebook page, featuring Pete's teddy bear Electricity Board. For those who have yet to meet him at our gigs, there's a longer story  about him, and even a song,  that we will tell you about at a later date.

Short notice Brighton show

The special Pete Fij / Terry Bickers hotline has rung and our two intrepid downbeat superheroes have been invited at short notice to appear as support for The Sleep Room this Wednesday 14th March at the Albert, Trafalgar St, Brighton.

Tickets are £5, and messers Bickers & Fij will be onstage at 8.15pm.

For those of a Facebook persuasion, you can visit  the event page here.

Interview / Rozhover

Pete & Terry's first interview as alt-country's latest odd couple is published here in an interview with Pennyblackmusic.com .

Here the duo exclusively reveal that they first met in a bakers shop, and already the first signs of tension between the two are evident with the revelation that Pete is vexed by Terry's choice of socks. Remember where you read it first.

There is also an interview with Pete in this month's Fullmoon magazine (left), though if you are not fluent in Czech, you might struggle.

German dates announced

Pete & Terry will be in Germany this Easter for 2 shows in Munich & Regensburg, with support from Come Back Harriet.

FRIDAY 6th APRIL Munich at the Atomic Cafe
SATURDAY 7th APRIL Regensburg  at W1

Click on links for further details & ticket ordering information.

Messers Bickers & Fij will be returning to Europe in the Autumn for more dates in support of their album.