Monica Topping
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Pete Bernhard always wanted to be a musician when he grew up. With both a father and older brother as musicians, it seemed like an obvious choice.

When he was ready, Bernhard left the small Vermont town he grew up in and moved west to Nashville, then Olympia, Wash., where he joined a band and went on the road, touring south into California. When a band mate and he broke down in Santa Cruz, they crashed with an old friend of his from Vermont and Bernhard became the voice and main songwriter for The Devil Makes Three.

Bernhard says he doesn’t have any hobbies. When he’s not on the road or in the studio making music, he says he’s at home writing music and practicing what he already knows. There are songs he writes that fit best in the high-energy, acoustic string band setting, and there is the remainder, which Bernhard says he can hear drums or pedal steel on. The former are incorporated into The Devil Makes Three’s repertoire, and the latter turns into Bernhard’s solo material.

In 2006, Bernhard released his first truly solo album, “Things I Left Behind.” That album, he says, was recorded quickly and released right before The Devil Makes Three went back out on the road, so he only got about 1,000 copies printed and toured for it one time, but didn’t have much time to do anything else with it.

He followed up that release last September with “Straight Line,” on Milan Records, which he says he likes more that the prior album.

“I’d say I ... (got) to spend more time on (‘Straight Line’) and I like that,” says Bernhard.
“I didn’t really feel rushed. It was during a time when The Devil Makes Three had time off.”

“I (also) like playing with other people,” he says. “The other record is sort of just me and a guitar and a couple of friends play on it, but this is more like playing with a band, and I really enjoy playing with other people, even though it is a solo record and it’s different people playing on the record, it’s really fun. I think it makes me play better.”

“Straight Line” features friends Max Hart on bass, pedal steel and organ and Jason Chase on drums. The duo also backs up Bernhard on the road, though in Bernhard’s perfect world, Hart would be able to focus on playing pedal steel, organ and vocals, and the band would pick up an additional bass player, but right now, he says, that’s “just not logistically possible.”

Bernhard met both of his band mates in the Sacramento area, where he’s been living most recently. Hart lives in New York now, but comes out west to play with Bernhard and other musicians.

“They’re just guys who I ended up playing with for fun, not necessarily to make a record or to go on tour, but it just ended up going so well that we kept doing it.”

Bernhard embarked on the current leg of his solo tour for “Straight Line,” last week in Los Angeles. He’ll be playing in Arcata on the heels of a sold old show with The Devil Makes Three last month at the Eureka Theatre.

One thing that Bernhard points out about his solo shows is that it is not a Devil Makes Three show.

“The songs vary a lot more,” Bernhard says of his solo project. “There’ll be more slow and when they’re fast, they tend to be louder. I guess what you can expect is a little bit more of a straightforward band. It’s electric bass, drums, electric guitar — I do a lot more finger-picking.

“It’s not like people who like the Devil Makes Three won’t like it, because I think they will,” he adds. “I’m the same songwriter as I am in the Devil Makes Three, but if you come wanting to hear the Devil Makes Three, you might be kind of disappointed.”

Bernhard plays at the Jambalaya this Tuesday night with Mendocino’s Blushin’ Roulettes and locals The Bad Lilas. Tickets are $7, available at the Jambalaya and at the door, if there are any left. The 21-and-over show will start around 9 p.m.


Listen to Pete Bernhard's "Warning", from his "Straight Line" album.

(Submitted photo)