Pure Floyd were formed in 1999 with the vision of recreating the classic Pink Floyd songs in a professional and dynamic live act, and we've established quite a name for ourselves on the Welsh gig circuit.
You can read more about the history of the band in the Biography and follow the links in the list below to read individual biographies.
Pure Floyd are
| Pete Davies | Electric, Acoustic and Slide Guitars and vocals |
| Derek Cook | Keyboards, Synthesizers and Samples |
| Jeff Williams | Bass Guitar |
| Julian Hutchings | Drums, Percussion and Vocals |
| Neil Hutchings | Stage Lighting |
The idea for Pure Floyd came about whilst Pete and Julian were in the popular Swansea covers band, Rough Justice, which had some Pink Floyd numbers in its repertoire, and they noticed that a lot of the fans were asking for more Pink Floyd.
Around the same time, Pete and Julian saw a "big name" Pink Floyd tribute band at the Swansea Grand Theatre, and came away from that gig thinking that they could do as well as what they saw.
So, Pure Floyd was born in 1997.
The first line up for Pure Floyd was:
| Pete Davies | Electric, Acoustic and Slide Guitars and vocals |
| Colin Elward | Keyboards |
| Paul Jarvis | Bass Guitar and Vocals |
| Julian Hutchings | Drums, Percussion and Vocals |
| Stephanie Sexton-Thomas | Backing Vocals |
| Louise Lynton | Backing Vocals |
| Graham "Cider" | Saxophone |
We built up quite a reputation, playing the Welsh gig scene and also hiring venues ourselves to put on our own shows, and we became known as “the Welsh Pink Floyd”.
In 1999 we split up as some of the band members had different opportunities that they wanted to pursue.
Fast forward quite a few years, and in 2006 we got back together with a slimmed down line up of:
| Pete Davies | Electric, Acoustic and Slide Guitars and vocals |
| Colin Elward | Keyboards |
| Jeff Williams | Bass Guitar and Vocals |
| Julian Hutchings | Drums, Percussion and Vocals |
However, at this time Julian was away a lot doing session work and couldn't provide a full commitment. So we went on with different drummers deputising until Stuart Mall became a permanent fixture on drums in 2007. Simon Bate also joined us to provide us with a two guitar line up.
In early 2008 Colin announced that he was leaving for the opportunity to tour with a Beach Boys tribute band. Stuart and Simon also left at this point, and Julian rejoined the band on drums.
Derek replaced Colin on keyboards and we started playing gigs again in July 2008. However, due to a new job, Jeff couldn’t make a full commitment to the band, and had to leave so we invited Paul to rejoin the band in August 2008.
Sadly though, work commitments have made it hard for Paul to provide a long term commitment to the band, so he announced his departure in early 2009.
So over 2009 and early 2010, we gigged with deputising bass players, Lee and Alun, both of whom brought their own style to the band, and helped to keep us going whilst searching for an elusive permanent bass player. Luckily by 2010, Jeff had more time to commit to the band, and we were delighted to welcome him back.
Pete has been playing guitar for more years than he cares to remember, or can actually remember, as all the numerous bands from his youth onwards are a bit of a haze! But it looks like he picked up a six string at the age of 16 and went on from there.
His recollections firm up at the start of the eighties, when he was playing in a heavy metal band called Bomber.
The Squirts followed around 1984, which played quite an eclectic mix of music, including Bruce Springsteen, Alex Harvey, Elvis Costello and The Boston Tea Party.
Around 1985, Pete lost a few strings and played bass in Catch 22, which was a popular Swansea covers band.
1987 saw a return to guitar duties in Bomber, but this was quickly superseded by Rough Justice in 1988.
As our main bio records, Pete and Julian formed Pure Floyd in 1997 and when the first line up split up, Pete went on to play in Strictly Quo until 2005 when Pure Floyd reformed.
There could have been a few other bands mixed up in all of that timeline which are too numerous to mention or, more to the point, ones that Pete can't remember!
Pete likes cheese sandwiches!
Derek is quite a late starter when it comes to playing live. Having an electronics background and a love of listening to music, he had an interest in synthesizers in his teenage years but never had the disposable income for a decent one until much later in life, and a Casio home keyboard and its cheesy sounds didn’t quite have the same appeal! In 1998 he brought the Yamaha DX7 that he had always promised himself (15 years earlier!) and doodled about in a little attic studio for six months before suddenly realising that he was not getting very far on his own in terms of playing skills, and that he needed the influence of other musicians.
So in 1999, at the tender age of 35, he joined a band of complete beginners that were all starting up, and who were probably all having the same early onset mid-life crisis! The band was christened Highly Strung and it became a very popular functions/weddings/pub rock band in the Cardigan Bay area of Wales, including a high point of playing for a high society wedding in the grounds of Pembroke Castle, and they even escaped the Welsh borders on a couple of occasions to gig for people who had been on holiday to Cardigan, seen the band and amazingly wanted more of it on their home turf in preference to their local bands!
Highly Strung came to a natural end in 2005. Derek and Ron, the guitarist from the last Highly Strung line up, had a shared love of progressive rock music, and after years of playing the same old stuff that all pub/functions bands seem to do, they decided that they wanted to play progressive/classic rock covers (Pink Floyd, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Mountain, David Bowie, etc.)
So Echoes was formed in 2006. Echoes as a gigging band was short lived and only did three gigs in 2006, but they were all sell-outs. At the end of 2006 Derek and Ron decided to move towards doing all original music, as a few original pieces sneaked into the covers set had appeared to go down as well as the covers.
Sadly, life outside of the band kept getting in the way of Echoes, and it is currently on hold awaiting a time when Derek can turn the demos into completed songs.
By 2008, Derek was really missing gigging, and when he saw the opportunity to try out for Pure Floyd he jumped at the chance!
Derek is also working with a local singer on original music in Carreg Ddu
Derek was saving to buy Rick Wakeman's old Gold Lamé Cape and Pointy Wizard's Hat, but sadly lost all his hair from the stress of waiting to fulfil that dream! So Wakeman can keep his silly old cape and hat!
Jeff was brought up on a diet of jazz and big band swing, but we don't hold that against him!
Jeff played his first gig at the tender age of 16 with jazz band Gypsy Jazz, and he still gigs with his brother, Stevie, in Gypsy Jazz.
Like Pete, Jeff has played with more bands than he cares to remember over years, none of them sucsessful enough to mention!
Jeff enjoys playing all styles of music, and was heavilly influenced by his Dad Alfie, a local jazz bass legend who taught his lads all that he knew. Jeff reckons that Guy Pratt isn't too bad either!
Jeff plays a Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass and runs that through a Marshall 4x10 combo that gives the rest of us a hernia when trying to shift it.....
Jeff loves all music, especially Pink Floyd (just as well, really!), and loves football (so why does he support the Swans?), beer, wine, chinese food,and a laugh.
The first band Julian played in was called Five-Below-Zero which changed its name to Raven and toured the UK and Germany between 1969 and 1973, including a tour alongside Thin Lizzy in the UK.
Whilst in Sweden, Julian played in Shaggy, recording the album Lesson for Beginners, and touring UK and Europe.
Julian moved back to Swansea in 1982 and played with different bands including OLT and joined Rough Justice in 1986.
Julian formed Pure Floyd with Pete and Paul in 1996, obtained a Performing Art Degree at Swansea College in 1998, and in 1999 recorded Everything Under The Song with Pure Floyd.
In 1999 Julian ran away with the Rock’n’Roll Circus who played holiday camps, theatres, clubs, etc.
In 2004 Julian played with the Freddie Starr Band, touring UK theatres and performing a summer season in Blackpool.
2005 saw Julian in Surfin’ USA, a Beach Boys tribute band, including playing at a charity concert at The Cavern, Liverpool with Joey Mullen and the Swinging Blue Jeans.
There was also time in 2005 for The Somethings and Beatles-4-Sale.
In 2006, Julian helped to reform Pure Floyd, but had to dip out due to commitments to the session work that he was doing as a new challenge.
And 2008 sees Julian back with Pure Floyd.
Phew!
Julian can do a mean Tommy Cooper impersonation, and is a treasure trove of terrible jokes - but they say that the old ones are the best (is that referring to Julian or the jokes?).
Neil has performed Lighting, Sound Engineering and equipment lugging duties for a number of bands, including Rough Justice, Pure Floyd, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus, Freddie Starr, and The Somethings.
Neil has also played drums in Dreadlock.
Neil is nicknamed "the ox" due to amount of gear he can lug on his own that the lesser (and older) mortals in the band whimpishly consider to be two man lifts!
