Review Fix Exclusive: Ugly Clinic’s Pete The Riff Talks ‘Pink Speed and Tequila’

Review Fix chats with Ugly Clinic Rhythm Guitarist Pete the Riff, who discusses the band’s origin and goals for 2020.

Review Fix: How did the project start? 

Pete the Riff: We come from Aberdeenshire in the North of Scotland, which is quite a remote area, far away from London. There’s only a small number of like-minded musicians with the necessary talent, energy and ambition available to work with – and a lot of them are already in other bands. Bass player Davie and Rhythm Guitarist Pete the Riff already knew one another from playing in a punk rock covers band. Richard (lead Guitar), Jed (drums) and Chloe (vocals) were recruited specially for Ugly Clinic because they are all great musicians with the right rock n’roll attitudes!

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like? 

Pete the Riff: Most of our songs start off with one of us coming up with the core of the idea then they will bring it to the rest of the band for development. If it’s a good song and everyone likes it, it moves forward, and if it’s not so great, it tends to get put at the back of the queue. We don’t generate material by continual jamming or studio experimentation, we’re not that sort of band. We don’t copy anybody, or any specific era or genre, but as a group of individuals, our personal tastes tend towards the Punk/Metal/Classic Rock/Goth side of music. That’s where our influences mostly come from. With some weird left-field stuff thrown in sometimes for good measure. But anything or anyone can inspire a song, from life’s day-to-day challenges to more personal stories about past indiscretions!

Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written? ‘

Pete the Riff: ‘Pink Speed and Tequila.’ It’s so simple that when we wrote it we thought that surely it must have been done before by someone else. That’s normally a sign that you’re on to something good. It starts off with a big dumb riff and then tells a little story about a wild night out.

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2020? 

Pete the Riff: We will continue to release songs from our first album onto all major digital download and streaming platforms throughout the rest of the year, and maybe press up some vinyl copies too. 

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people? 

Pete the Riff: We’re a punk rock band, so we want to get people fired up and on their feet. Rock n’ Roll is entertainment first and foremost, so you have to give the audience a good show. It doesn’t matter if you only play two chords the whole night – play them well!

Review Fix: What’s next? 

Pete the Riff: We’ve already started making demos for Album number 2, and hopefully a whole lot of gigs once we are allowed to venture outside again. Check our Facebook page for regular updates on all things Ugly.