A couple of years ago Tin Alley drummer Peter Hofbauer hit a kangaroo (yea, they’re an Australian band) while riding his motorcycle. He nearly died the same way Echo & the Bunnymen’s Pete de Freitas did, but three weeks in intensive care put him back on track to recovery. Hofbauer was 27 years old at the time.

Tin Alley’s latest single, “Out of Control,” spawned from the drummer’s near-death experience at 27. In an interview with Oz Music Scene, singer and guitarist Jim Siourthas provided some background context to the song.

“So we were just playing with the idea of dying at the age of 27, and doing a bit of a search on the internet we found out that there was a club called the 27 Club. So that’s basically what “Out of Control” talks about. The idea was spawned out of Peter’s accident, but it actually talks about Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and other members of the 27 Club, and what their lives would have been like, and the reason why they died, and so on. So that’s what the song deals with lyrically.”

Speaking of the words, the trio allowed themselves to paraphrase Neil Young’s line (and that Kurt Cobain later included in his suicide note) by singing “Best to burn our bright than to fade into the night.”

In mid-November, 2009, “Out of Control” reached #1 on the Big Pond rock charts where the single (and EP) is for sale. At the time of writing, you can listen to the track on the band’s myspace page. It’s a catchy rocker in the same vein that the Foo Fighters mine, which explains the radio play it’s garnered in Oz. Also available on iTunes.

Pete de Freitas (“Mad Louis,” “Boomerang Pete”)

Born: August 2, 1961, in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Died: June 14, 1989, in England
Bands: Echo & the Bunnymen, The Sex Gods

Pete was recruited as a replacement to Echo and the Bunnymen’s drum machine. De Freitas proved quickly that he was much more than an average drummer. Opting for tribal rhythms and shunning excessive cymbal use, de Freitas established himself as an original rock drummer in the reverb-drenched eighties music scene. He was the backbone of Crocodiles, Porcupine, Heaven Up Here, and the brush-laden Ocean Rain.

In early 1986, Pete de Freitas left for New Orleans where he set a new record in rock ‘n’ excess. He consumed vast quantities of LSD, molly, cocaine, and booze while pretending to create music with his new band The Sex Gods. Instead of creation it was a macabre display of destruction. De Freitas totaled two cars, two motorcycles, and nearly himself. He stayed manically awake for eighteen days straight. The party ended when his money ran out and his compadres-in-excess drifted home. Pete de Freitas returned to Liverpool like a burnt-out shell and asked for a second chance. The Bunnymen took him back in, albeit on a salary, but the Bunnymen never found the way back to its creative glory (not just because of Pete). Vocalist Mac left and the three started recording with a new singer. In 1989, Pete de Freitas died on his Dukati motorcycle on the way to the studio in a head-on accident with a car.

Villiers Terrace
Echo & the Bunnymen

Here’s Julian Cope’s 1989 music video for “China Doll.” Pete de Freitas plays his natural role as the mysterious motorcycle man who rides into town and grabs the girl: