Pete Wilhoit (Fiction Plane)

Pete Wilhoit – (b. December 8, 1971 - ) – Drummer and songwriter. After growing up in Bloomington, Pete Wilhoit stuck around his home town to earn a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies and Percussion at Indiana University, where his teachers included drummer Kenny Aronoff and jazz pedagogues David Baker and Dominic Spera. In 1991, Wilhoit joined his first band, the Bloomington-based Cutters, which had a record deal with BMG. During an eleven year career, the Cutters failed to reach national prominence in spite of recording two albums and two EPS and touring nationally. (Nonetheless, the Cutters developed a following in Australia.) In that span of time, Wilhoit also played with national acts such as Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, G.E. Smith of the Saturday Night Live band, and jazz saxophonist James Moody. He has also played with Indiana jazz groups including Janiece Jaffe and Beeble Brox. His big break came in 2003, when he signed with Fiction Plane, a British Rock band fronted by Joe Sumner (Sting’s son). Now a resident of New York City, Wilhoit stays busy with Fiction Plane, which has embarked on world tours with the Police in 2005 and 2007 and has played on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Fiction released its fourth studio album in 2015.