Peter Ulrich is most famous for his work with Dead Can Dance, but more recently he has made some solo records that have included guest appearances by his daughters.

Name: Peter Ulrich
Bands: Dead Can Dance, The Peter Ulrich Collaboration
Website: www.themysterium.info

QRD – How old were you when you first realized you wanted to be a professional musician?

Peter – I never came to that realization - it just happened.  I was trying to make a career for myself as a publicity officer in London theatre when I had a chance meeting with Brendan Perry & Lisa Gerrard & was invited to join Dead Can Dance as their drummer.  I had no idea where it would lead & I didn’t accept the invitation in order to “make money” or “become professional” - I just loved their music & grabbed the chance to be a part of it.  It’s actually a bit misleading to describe myself as a “professional musician” as, although I have made some money out of music over the years, I have never earned my living from it.  My post-DCD solo career probably still costs me more than I earn from it, so I am actually still dreaming of one day becoming a “professional” musician!

QRD – What are a few highlights of your musical career?

Peter – Being given my first pair of bongo drums, aged about 10.  Just about every musical instrument I have ever bought - it still gives me an enormous thrill to acquire any new instrument!  Joining my first band - Mischief - & gigging with them around the pubs & clubs of East London.  Just about everything with Dead Can Dance - that was truly amazing & I still find it hard to believe that I had that opportunity.  Going into the studio in 1990 to make my first main solo recordings.  Releasing my two solo albums in 1999 (Pathways & Dawns) & 2005 (Enter The Mysterium).

QRD – At what age did you decide you wanted to become a father?

Peter – I don’t remember ever consciously making that decision.  I think from a pretty early age I wanted to fall in love with a beautiful woman & have kids - I never had any doubts about it.

QRD – What are some positive & negative impacts your family has had on your career?

Peter – That’s very difficult to say.  I decided after the DCD tour in late 1990 that I would have to give up touring.  My first daughter, Louise, was two & a half, & my second daughter, Eleanor, was on the way.  Nicki - my partner then, wife now - was working full time & committed to her career, & it had simply become impractical & irresponsible of me to go away for two to three months at a time.  However, since I made that decision, I have only actually missed three DCD tours - one in 1993, one in 1996 & one in 2005.
And even then, I was briefly involved in some of the recording for the last DCD studio album (Spiritchaser, 1996).  Meanwhile, because I had officially made the break with DCD, Brendan encouraged me to seriously pursue writing & recording my own material, & this gave birth to my solo “career” which has given me a huge amount of personal fulfillment in recent years.  So, there is an element of regret that I missed out on those later tours, but that is more than compensated for by what I have achieved since.

QRD – What are some positive & negative impacts your career has had on your family?

Peter – I really hope I’ve shielded them from any negative impacts.  I can’t think of any...  but maybe they could!  As for positive impacts, nothing dramatic... but I think & hope that it has been nice for my daughters to grow up with music all around them.  They certainly both have a very strong passion for music & I think that enhances their lives.  For me & Nicki, music has always been a very important shared interest & I’m sure it always will be.  My own music is just one aspect of that.

QRD – Have your children effected the music you make &/or listen to?

Peter – Certainly.  They have both been involved in various music projects through school, & Eleanor currently plays violin in a youth orchestra.  It has been a great joy to Nicki & I to go to their various performances over the years, & this has exposed us to musics & performance styles that we otherwise would not have experienced.  More specifically, the local education service where we live has a very active team getting schoolchildren & students to play steel pans.  Both Louise & Eleanor have played in the youth pans orchestras, & for the past two or three years I have been playing bass pans in a parents group which started through one of the schools, which I’ve really enjoyed.

QRD – Have you had problems with the lack of steady money from a musical career providing the security you feel necessary in your household?

Peter – Ha ha... the answer is a resounding YES.  Luckily, I have a responsible & successful wife who has provided security for our family!

QRD – Given the limitations having a family has on being a touring musician, would you have toured more earlier in life if you’d known?

Peter – I might have done if the opportunities had arisen earlier, but it’s not something I look back on with any regret or any sense that I have missed out.  As I said earlier, I was very lucky in that the opportunity to join DCD was just presented to me.  I toured with DCD from 1983 to 1990 & had many wonderful experiences.  I have played to thousands of people across Europe & the States, & not many people get that kind of opportunity.  So I really have no complaints!

QRD – Do you think being a father or a musician has a greater impact on your community?

Peter – Wow - that’s a tough question!  I suppose in my local community, I have more impact as a father.  Once you have children, your life changes instantly from being self-centered to child-focused & much of your local social activity becomes dominated by what your children are doing & the new people you meet & interact with as a result of your child’s development & activities.  So it is being a father rather than being a musician that tends to govern what I am doing in my local community.  But as a musician with an international recording deal, I am reaching out to a much wider community in which any impact I have is clearly much more as a musician than as a father.  Is that a bit too much like stating the obvious?

QRD – Would you rather see your child eventually become a musician or parent?

Peter – As far as I’m concerned, they can become either, neither, or both - as long as they’re happy I don’t mind.

QRD – Both family & music seem like things that will take up as much of your time as you’re willing to put in.  How do you end up dividing your time?

Peter – That’s true, but the demands on my time as a father are more pressing & really have to be dealt with.  Music is what I do when I can make the time - family needs to take precedence.  Having said this, Louise is 19 now & is off to university in September, so she is very independent now.  Eleanor is 16 and, although I will gladly help her through her college & extra-curricular activities over the next couple of years, she too is becoming increasingly independent & less demanding on my time.

QRD – Do you have a split/secret life between being a parent & being a musician?

Peter – Err... no, I don’t think so.

QRD – What do your children think of your music?

Peter – They are ambivalent about it.  It’s well outside the mainstream of their current tastes, but they quite like some of the songs & they tend to remember the words better than I do!  I think they quite like the fact that the old man has a recording deal & a couple of CDs available - it can occasionally give them a bit of useful kudos with their peers.  & very occasionally they encounter someone who has heard of DCD & is highly impressed that their dad was once the drummer!

QRD – Do you think you could ever do a musical project with your children?

Peter – They both sing some backing vocals, & Eleanor plays a bit of violin, on a song called “Through Those Eyes” on Enter The Mysterium.  It was great getting them involved, & a real thrill for me to have them featured on the album.  A lot of people have commented on how well their voices work in the song.  I’d like to get them involved again in future, but I don’t know if they’ll have time to fit me in!  Also, Louise set up a MySpace page for me, which has been a really big help in promoting my music over the past year or so.  So, yes, we can definitely work together if time allows - but I’m more keen that they go off & find their own projects to get involved with.

QRD – Any words of advice to young people?

Peter – Not really.  Any broad advice is too obvious, & any specific advice needs to be tailored to the individual.

QRD – Could you send a photo of yourself with your kids for the article?

Peter – Oh... I didn’t know that was coming.  My daughters haven’t agreed to be photographed with me for several years now - they have their reputations to consider.  I’ll see what I can do, but don’t hold your breath.

QRD – 2015 update - any new insight from eight more years of fatherhood?

Peter – Well, yes, eight years is a fair stretch of time & the developing lives of one’s children emphasize that more than probably anything else.  When you interviewed me in 2007, my daughters were both still teenagers.  Now, Louise is 27 & Ellie 24.  They have both graduated, both have good jobs in communications/PR/marketing & Louise has recently bought her first home with her boyfriend.  Happily, we are a very close family & all meet up, go out together & visit each other regularly, which is lovely.
On the musician front, this has been a contributory factor to me being able to spend more time on my music & also to have more freedom to pursue music.  Consequently, you contacting me at this moment happens to find me based for the next few weeks in New York for rehearsals & promo in the run up to the first live performance of my current project, The Peter Ulrich Collaboration.  This will be my first major live performance since I was on tour in the US with Dead Can Dance back in 1990!  The concert takes place at Webster Hall on Saturday June 20 - which, if I’m not mistaken, is the eve of this year’s Father’s Day.  My wife & Ellie will be coming over for the show; while Louise is demanding YouTube footage, as she can’t get the leave from work.
The Collaboration is a project I’ve been working on very closely with New York producer Trebor Lloyd for the past few years & which has so far spawned two albums - The Painted Caravan in 2014 & Tempus Fugitives which was released just last month.  Up to now it’s been entirely a studio project, with me writing & recording my contributions at home in London & Trebor bringing in all the other contributors in New York, where the recording & production has mainly been done at the Engine Room Audio studios.  Over the course of the two albums we’ve involved over 50 musicians & a correspondingly vast range of instruments.  Contemplating a live performance therefore threw up something of a “challenge”, but Trebor has assembled a mini-orchestra of around 14 -15 & from where we are in rehearsals so far, I am incredibly excited about this show.
My daughters, of course, now appreciate the significance of me doing this.  Throughout their lives they have been aware that I used to be live performer, but they have only ever seen me make a couple of guest cameo appearances with friends.  So they’re quite intrigued by this latest development - & I like to think quite impressed that their old man is about to tread the boards again.  So this year, I’m particularly looking forward to the day before Father’s Day!