Ben’s sojourn within the twisted labyrinth of sound has an unclear and maligned oral history. Even he would admit that his rumoured birth in a coven of solar witches and subsequent carnival upbringing, raised by freaks and lions on a diet of raw meat and ecstatic song, is arguably ill-remembered and putative; the violently impassioned year he spent in the subterranean caverns of northern Laos studying Zen melody with vagabond monks a composite of half-lies and fanciful musings, in essence a life tale filled with more psychedelic koan than hard fact. He would describe his music as a half-remembered story performed by a collection of animals.

Ben has played with a number of obscure and possibly forgotten troubadours, including grunge teen legends The Sellouts and Jupiter Bloom, 4-trak experimental collective The Loopy Grizzle, one-show Nagasaki punk anarchists The Cunts, avant-folk groove monkey Astronaut Badger and roots jazz cheerleader Sparrow

The Pets are Chris Peters, Matthew Peters, Myron Schulz, and Steve Senkiw.  An ambitious first outing, Love and War was recorded over 8 months from 1998-1999 in Steinbach, Manitoba.  The album was recorded on a home computer in Cakewalk using two SoundBlaster Live gaming sound cards (the first one was fried from overuse and had to be replaced)in 16 bit.  This was the first and last official Pets album and it was released by Endearing Records in 2000.  These uploads come from the original unmastered recordings.

-Chris Peters

Excerpt from AllMusic Review

"Sounding like Brit-pop meets Elephant 6, it's kind of surprising to hear that the Pets are from Steinbach, Manitoba. Layering vocals, guitars, organ, piano, and various samples, the four songwriters create complicated soundscapes that sound amazing, but occasionally they become a little too kitschy for their own good and the fact that this is a debut disc shines through, as on "Vika." It's hard to categorize the Pets into just one category, but the typical power pop influences -- the Beatles, the Beach Boys -- can certainly be heard throughout. The Apples in Stereo-esque "Wind Blows Through Your Hair" is certainly a highlight, along with the loungey "A Lighthearted Lovesong," and the very Pet Sounds-inspired "Lately in the Shade." And then there's "Cycle of Tyranny" -- an eight-minute-and-30-second mini sound picture describing aspects of the record industry from several points of view. After creating this amazing pop spectacle, the Pets only played five live shows before Chris Peters left for Japan to teach English..."

Chinga is from Steinbach, Manitoba.

Chinga (Perfect Place) - Andrew Giesbrecht, Mark Hoeppner, Chris Peters, Joel Thiessen (1996).
Chinga (Translated) - Andrew Giesbrecht, Mark Hoeppner, Cory Loewen, Chris Peters, John Paul Peters, Joel Thiessen (1997).

Perfect Place was recorded at Basement Studio in Winnipeg, MB.
Translated was recorded on 4-track recorders all over the place and mixed straight to tape.

Tapes were reproduced somewhere in Blumenort, MB

More to come...



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