After chatting with Jessica Lynn
about how much her family mean to her and to her music, I obviously wanted to
hear more, so I caught up with Dad Peter before they took to the stage.
As with everyone, I wanted to know how Peter
came to music. Interestingly it was at the same age as Jessica – Peter was just
a teenager when he first heard the Beatles, specifically watching a Hard Day’s
Night with his sister and he thought
That looks a lot of fun
In another similarity,
Jessica’s teen band played exactly the same club as Peter’s teenage band 26
years to the day that Peter last played there
You can’t see Peter without
seeing his wife Victoria, and they are such a wonderful couple, so how did they
meet? Well, unsurprisingly it was music
that brought them together. Peter was
adamant that he didn’t write for the female voice when an agent suggested a
singer for his band. Victoria walked in and was introduced and Peter right away
said
You know what, I think I can work with her
33 years later, 31 years of
marriage I guess he was right!
Peter shares Jessica’s comments
about the difference between performing in America to the UK and Europe. In his
own words
We love the UK audiences – its completely different to US audiences. As Tim has just said on stage it is so nice to be in front of people listening to the music, whereas in America it is more of a social occasion
As a New York Italian, and
an ex New York police officer, I was curious to hear about the family dynamic
from Peter’s point of view – being the patriarch but being in his daughter’s
band
It’s interesting, there’s two dynamics all the time. I’ve been working with her since she was 13, but I’m always the Dad. In the band you have to shelve the Dad hat, she talks to you like another musician. Jessica always has the final say, but she knows that I know music and she trusts me to this day. But we butt heads, because we are Italian! Five minutes later we’re hugging
Out of being on stage with
your family, your US guitar showing your pride in being American, your NYPD
background… what makes you proudest?
My family. I’d like to think it’s the work that I’ve done as a father I’ve loved my job as a cop, I loved helping people in the NYPD, but above all its looking at my family and I see things that we’ve done that a pretty great accomplishments. If you told me twenty years ago when I retired from the NYPD that 20 years from now you are going to be travelling the world with your family playing music, going to all these great places and meeting wonderful people, I’d think you were smoking something
That’s what I’m most proud of, we’ve accomplished something nice and I’m really proud of Jessica. When we meet people around the world, our family is growing, we’re doing something right.
Talking to Peter, you can
feel as well as hear how proud he is and how much he loves doing what he gets
to do with his very extended family, not just the family on stage!
When you see the band playing
you can certainly see how much they love performing for their crowds, their
fans, their friends, their family!
Jessica Lynn – with her Dad
on bass – perform tonight (Tuesday) at Dronfield Civic Hall, on Wednesday 14 August
Square Tower, Old Portsmouth
and they finish their UK tour on Thursday 15 August at Old School Hall, East
Farleigh, Maidstone
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