Vocals/Guitar
Patrick got his start playing rock music in 1983 as a member of Ozzy Osbourne's
touring band for the Blizzard Of Ozz tour. Often uncredited as a rhythm guitar
player, preferring to defer credit to the flashier and more charismatic Randy
Rhodes, Patrick nonetheless provided intense backing guitar tracks on such Ozzy
classics as "Crazy Train" and "Flying High Again." After leaving Ozzy's band, Patrick left the rock world for several years to focus on his career as a model. While helping to redefine the fashion world in the 1980's, he met Chad "Melvin" O'Brien, who at the time was working as a hair stylist for Esmerelda, Inc. Linked by a mutual love for musical luminaries Duran Duran , S.S. Sputnik, and Dead or Alive, among others, Patrick and "Melvin" began working to put togther a band that would continue the path of these pioneers. The band they eventually formed, The Pet Shop Boys, built a strong following in their native England and attracted a fierce bidding war among major record labels, which was eventually won by Capitol/EMI. However, the gluttonous cocaine comsumption of their bandmates left both Patrick and "Melvin" discouraged, and both left the band prior to the release of the smash album "Please." Despite writing the hit singles "Two Divided by Zero" and "West End Girls," both "Melvin" and Patrick came away from the experience frustrated, and determined to avoid making the same mistakes again. For "Melvin" this meant taking an almost 3 year leave-of-absence from rock and roll to focus on his first love, fly fishing. Meanwhile, Patrick found himself back in the spotlight of the modeling world, landing on the covers of GQ, Vogue and Harper's Bizarr
within a few months. Patrick might have forever forsaken the world of groupies
and tour riders, were it not for a freak chain of events triggered by an
encounter with Cassidy "Maurice" McAuliffe, who was to the rodeo circuit what
Patrick was to the modeling world. A rising star in ! the "large bull" division, McAuliffe was making a name for himself for his innovative riding style, derived from an ancient Teutonic technique crypically nicknamed "The Bavarian Drill Press." After accidentally setting his own hair on fire while at a mass photo shoot for Cosmopolitan's "10 Most Highly Fuckable Men In America," McAuliffe found himself attended to by none other than Chad "Melvin" O'Brien, back behind the heads of some of the most attractive people in America. When "Melvin" learned of McAuliffe's inability to perform his fabled "Drill Press" without first listening to Animotion's hit single "Obsession," he knew he had found a kindred spirit. Having just styled Patrick's hair moments before, he introduced the two, and history was made. Just 2 short months later, the trio entered the studio to record their monumental debut, "The Ten Inch Demo." Still widely bootlegged to this day, this musical epic ranks up there with The Sex Pistol's "Never Mind The Bollock's" and The Clash's "London Calling" as one of the truly brilliant punk-rock compositions of this century. Picked up soon after the recording of "The Ten Inch Demo" by Sony Records following a harsh bidding war, the band entered the studio to record the now legendary "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained." Recently certified 33 times platnium, the ablum is a slab of pure punk prowess, from the incendiary "Waltzing Matilda" through the scorching "Bushel and A Peck." Never content to rest on their laurels, T.I.P. embarked on an ambitious 49 country tour that would last almost 3 years, reaching over two thirds of the entire world's population. Along the way, they even found time record the stunning follow-up "Drunk On A Bike." A more mature work, yet still retaining the joie de vivre of their early days, "Drunk On A Bike" became the band's first multiple Grammy winner, and absolutely shattered any possible contention of a "sophomore jinx." Soon after its release, the band, newly augmented with a full horn section, decided to fire their manager, Bret
"Douchebag" Verdrager. The move served to increase the band's pupularity
tenfold, and their next release, "Pleasantly Plump" was certified triple
platinum within hours of its release, breaking RPAA records. Including the
topical anthems "Monica" and the profoundly-titled "I Wanna Bitch-Slap Bob
Dole," the band showed a new side, one unafraid to push a political agenda while
simultaneously unabashedly rocking. Using their influence to help in freeing
their homeland of Tibet will always be remembered as a significant achievement
for T.I.P., regardless of other successes. Riding high on this success, the
band returned to the studio to record their monumental "Hoggercore" LP.
Combining the best elements of their previous releases, the album served also as
a fitting send-off for the band's horn section, who left shortly after the
album's release to collectively get married. Newly de-augmented as a three!
-piece (again) T.I.P. prepares to enter the new millennium as the undisputed
Most Popular Band Ever. Here's to the next thousand years!
-written by Ronnie James Dio
London, England
03.27.01
