Birth name Peter Gofton Name Pete Gofton Genres IndieFolkPower pop Role Musician | Occupation(s) Musician, producer Siblings Lauren Laverne Years active 1994–present Movies Confetti | |
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Origin Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England Instruments Guitar, drums, bass, vocals Albums At the Club, These Acid Stars, The Days Run Away, Catsuit City, Hunger | ||
Short Term, Long Term
Pete Gofton is a Sunderland-based musician and producer who is well known on the North East music scene and has been involved with many artists either playing with them or producing.
Contents
- Short Term Long Term
- History
- Personal life
- Albums
- Singles
- Compilations
- As producer
- Mixing
- Remixes
- Filmography
- References
History
As Johnny X, Gofton was drummer with Sunderland punk band Kenickie, formed in 1994 and disbanded in 1998, best known for the singles "Punka" and "In Your Car".
After Kenickie, Gofton worked under the name J Xaverre, described as "pop with knobs on", releasing These Acid Stars in 2003 on Memphis Industries after much critical acclaim. Gofton also found time to produce work by former Kenickie bandmate and sibling Lauren Laverne and bands such as Spraydog and Woodchuck.
A brief but popular stint as Meet Eric Roberts, alongside Maximo Park's Paul Smith, Field Music's Peter Brewis, and Jennie and the Bets' John Egdell (Caw Records) in 2006, led to current project George Washington Brown. George Washington Brown released the album On the Night Plain in 2007 with further material in the works.
Gofton contributed to the album, and was a touring member of The Week That Was, the new project of Field Music member Peter Brewis.
Gofton is an ex-guitarist with Frankie & The Heartstrings.
In 2012, Gofton began working at the North East Surrey College of Technology (NESCOT) as a music technology teacher.
Personal life
Gofton is the brother of Lauren Laverne, presenter of The Culture Show and Transmission. He has had many pseudonyms, such as Johnny X (as drummer in Kenickie), and then Pete X (guitarist in Kenickie). The name J Xaverre stems from Kenickie's entry in the The Great Indie Discography, which listed his supposed full name as "Johnny Xaverre" and furthermore claimed him to be the band's chief songwriter. (It has been suggested that this error stemmed from a misreading of the surname "Laverne" in the handwriting-style songwriters' credits on the CD booklet of Kenickie's first album At The Club.)
Originally thought to be pronounced to rhyme with 'fair' (one Metro article came with the punning headline "All The Fun of Xaverre"), Gofton has since confirmed that it is to be pronounced 'Xavier'.
He appears on the cover of the Field Music album Tones of Town, as a café patron. He made an appearance in the 2006 film Confetti as a member of Snoopy's band.