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Pete Briquette | |
|---|---|
 Briquette in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Patrick Cusack |
| Born | 2 July 1954 Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland |
| Genres | New wave, punk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Bassist, record producer, composer |
| Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, keyboard |
Patrick Martin Cusack (born 2 July 1954), known by the stage name Pete Briquette, is an Irish bassist, record producer and composer. He is a member of the Boomtown Rats and has also played in Bob Geldof's band.
He was born in Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland. His father ran a solicitor's practice in the town. His stage name refers to his upbringing in Ireland where peat briquettes were burned for heat instead of coal. [1]
He is the bass guitarist, backing vocalist, occasional songwriter, and sometime keyboardist for The Boomtown Rats, a band that reached worldwide popularity in the late 1970s. His bass lines are evident on such Boomtown Rats songs as "Rat Trap", "Banana Republic" and "Like Clockwork", the last two of which he co-wrote with Bob Geldof. Briquette was the only Rats member who frequently collaborated with Geldof as a solo artist, playing on some of his biggest hits such as "Great Song of Indifference" and "Love or Something".
Briquette also works as a record producer and produced the French singer Renaud's 2009 album of Irish ballads Molly Malone – Balade Irlandaise which includes contributions from Terry Woods (The Pogues), Barney McKenna (The Dubliners) and Glen Hansard. [2] [3] Though criticised for the quality of Renaud's voice, the album was commercially successful reaching number one on the French chart.
Briquette is a first cousin of Johnnie Fingers, the main keyboardist in the Boomtown Rats, as their mothers, Margaret "Peggy" (Bowles) Cusack and Cecilia "Sheila" (Bowles) Moylett, were sisters. They are nephews of Irish conductor and composer Michael Bowles. He is the younger brother of Annette Andrews (née Cusack), the wife of former Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs David Andrews. He currently lives in Acton, London, England.
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised six musicians; five from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts, plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the New Musical Express.
Johnnie Fingers is an Irish keyboardist and co-founding member of the new wave band The Boomtown Rats. He was notable for his attire of striped pyjamas on stage and his melodic piano style.
The Boomtown Rats is the debut album by Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats, released in September 1977. It included the Rats' first hit single, "Lookin' After No. 1", as well as the subsequent single, "Mary of the 4th Form". The album peaked at No. 18 in the UK Albums Chart in 1977.
A Tonic for the Troops is the second album by Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats, released in June 1978.
The Fine Art of Surfacing is the third album by Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats, released in June 1979. The album peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart in 1979.
V Deep is the Boomtown Rats's fifth album, and the first to be released as a five-piece band, following the departure of guitarist Gerry Cott. It includes the minor hit single "House on Fire".
Mondo Bongo was the Boomtown Rats' fourth album. It peaked at No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart in February 1981, and No. 116 in the US Billboard 200. This is the band's last album to be recorded as six-piece band, as the guitarist Gerry Cott left the band shortly after the album's release.
The Boomtown Rats' Greatest Hits is a compilation album of The Boomtown Rats' singles on Columbia Records from 1979 to 1985.
Garrick Roberts was an Irish musician best known as the lead guitarist with The Boomtown Rats, a band which came into being in 1976. He and Johnnie Fingers (Moylett) had decided to put a band together and, between them, they recruited the other four members, Pete Briquette (bass), Gerry Cott (guitar), Simon Crowe (drums), and singer Bob Geldof.
"Rat Trap" is a single by The Boomtown Rats which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November 1978, the first single by a punk or new wave act to do so. It was written by Bob Geldof, and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. It replaced "Summer Nights", a hit single for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from the soundtrack of Grease, at number one in the UK chart after the latter's seven-week reign.
"I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979, and ranks as the sixth-biggest hit of the UK in 1979. Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers, the piano ballad was the band's second single to reach number one on the UK chart.
Loudmouth – The Best of Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats is a 1994 greatest hits compilation album from Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats, consisting mostly of Boomtown Rats material but also some of Geldof's solo work. It peaked at No. 10 in the UK Albums Chart in July 1994.
In the Long Grass was the sixth studio album by The Boomtown Rats, released in 1984 in the UK and 1985 in the US. It was the band's last studio material for well over three decades until 2020's Citizens of Boomtown.
"Like Clockwork" is a single by The Boomtown Rats. It was the band's first to reach the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 6.
"She's So Modern" is a song by The Boomtown Rats. It was the first single taken from the band's second album A Tonic for the Troops, whose title comes from a line in this song: "Charlie ain't no Nazi, she just likes to wear her leather boots, 'cos it's exciting for the veterans and it's a tonic for the troops". The single continued the Rats' high-energy post-punk/new wave sound that had typified earlier releases, but its fame would later be eclipsed by that of the band's more ballad-like global hit "I Don't Like Mondays". It has been described as "harmlessly smirking bubblegum a la The Knack".
"Mary of the 4th Form" is the second single by The Boomtown Rats. It was the first song taken from the band's first album The Boomtown Rats but the single is a different, re-recorded version from that on the album and 19 seconds longer. On French and Dutch releases of the single, "Do the Rat" was the A-side. The song's theme, of a teacher's sexual attraction to a pubescent girl, who behaves in an overtly sexual manner, was resonated in the Police song "Don't Stand So Close to Me".
"Lookin' After No. 1" is the first single by The Boomtown Rats. It appears on their first album The Boomtown Rats. The single was released in August 1977 after the band had performed a five-date tour supporting Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. "Lookin' After No. 1" was the first so-called new wave single to be playlisted by the BBC and the Boomtown Rats subsequently became the first New Wave band to be offered an appearance on Top of the Pops, performing the song. The song reached number 2 on the Irish Singles Chart and spent nine weeks in the UK Singles Chart reaching a peak of number 11. Different covers were produced for releases in the Netherlands and Japan. Reviewer David Clancy described the song as having a "breakneck sneering selfishness".
The Vegetarians of Love is the second solo studio album by Bob Geldof, released in July 1990. 'The Vegetarians of Love' was also the name of the band of musicians with whom Geldof recorded the album. It includes Pete Briquette from Geldof's previous band, The Boomtown Rats, who also co-wrote one track. Another notable co-writer was David A. Stewart of Eurythmics. The album was produced by Rupert Hine, who also played on it.
How to Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell is the fifth solo studio album from Irish singer, Bob Geldof. It was released on 12 October 2010. How to Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell is Geldof's first album since 2001's Sex, Age & Death, and marks his return to the Mercury Records label. The album reached no. 89 on the UK Albums Chart in its week of entry on 13 February 2011.
Citizens of Boomtown is the seventh studio album by Irish band The Boomtown Rats, released on 13 March 2020 via BMG. It is the band's first album since 1984's In the Long Grass, and the first album to be recorded as four-piece band, as the keyboardist Johnnie Fingers didn't return when the band was reunited in 2013. It is also the last album to feature longtime guitarist Garry Roberts who died on November 8, 2022.
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