J Xaverre is the mysterious backwoods lofi collective featuring Pete Gofton, formerly AKA Johnny X.
Pete began playing guitar aged 11, from the twin inspirations of his dad, and Michael J Fox's rendition of 'Johnny B Goode' in "Back to the Future". Growing up in a house surrounded by music and instruments of all description, Pete can pretty much bash out a tune on anything (except the trumpet; he doesn't have the lip). Forming his first band age 12, he played everything, from bass to guitar to drums to keyboards to vocals. 35 bands, and some 200 4 track songs later, he joined his sister's ramshackle punk outfit, Kenickie. He he was the only one who knew how to tune guitars and turn on the amps.
The rest is, as they say, history; Underground acceptance/castigation, major label deal, hits, tours etc. Pete, however, rather than spending his rockstar cash on drink, fast cars and slow death, ploughed it back into buying recording gear, to record some of the songs he was writing that didn't seem to work in Kenickie. These songs were inspired by the records his parents used to play round the house; "Randy Newman Creates Something New Under the Sun" "McCartney 1" "Nilsson" "Jack Orion" "Tusk"- and his own favourites, such as Guided By Voices, Jim O'Rourke, and The Flaming Lips.
Pete used his time in Kenickie to learn about record production. He garnered a few techniques here and there, and by the time of the last album, "Get In", was not only writing most of the material, but producing, programming, and playing (by his own estimate) about 70% of the instruments on the record.
After Kenckie split, Pete, along with his girlfriend Lea, recorded songs which earned a publishing deal with Universal Music. These songs ("Wild Weekend"/"Nilsong") were released as a single in July 2000, on a label set up by their friend Matthew, specifically for this purpose. It was reviewed favourably in the NME, Record Collector and Select. John Kennedy at XFM made it one of his singles of the year, and gave J Xaverre their inaugural radio session. 'Wild Weekend' was included on Wall of Sound Records 'We Love You.. So Love Us Too' compilation. This all eventually led to an offer for a release on Moshi Moshi.
The five tracks on the Bingo Wings EP demonstrate a breadth of influences. From Mercury Rev symphonic pop on "Saturday", to 'Holland' era Beach Boys on "Bingo Wings", to Bert Jansch-style guitar on "Greg Toland" and "..On the Street".
As well as recording his own music, Pete earns a crust producing and engineering at his little studio, Wang Computers. Amongst others, he has recorded with Woodchuck (single of the week in the Independent), Spraydog, Sons and Daughters (members of Arab Strap), and his sister, Lauren Laverne.