Mean Pete...

guitarist for Minneapolis' beloved Holding On as well as Hope you Choke and his current band the Holy Ghostriders, recently became a homeowner. Here's a little interview we did...

Hey Pete, how's the unpacking and moving in going?
it's going great, we've been living in the house for just about a month now and pretty much everything is unpacked and organized. we have just a few minor decorative projects left that we need to do.

We had talked for awhile about starting to look at houses, but it took awhile to get started. Once you guys decided to get started, you really went after it. What changed?
we had been thinking about buying for a while, i was ready to go for it, but kim had a few debts to pay off before she wanted to start looking. she paid off a big credit card late last fall and decided she was ready to go, so we just jumped in and started looking. just a few months ago, i was sure that we wouldn't even start looking for a house until spring but our timing turned out to be great and we found an amazing house in winter. i think with the combination of the time of year and the market being pretty good, we saved a good amount of money by buying when we did.

You guys were really strong buyers according to your lender - did that surprise you?
yes it really did. we don't make a lot of money so it was definitely our good credits scores that helped us out there.

Initially what was most important, location, price, style, condition? And did that change as you were looking?
when we first started looking i think our order of importance was condition, location, price, and style. condition was always important because we needed a house in good condition since we're not very handy. location became a bit less important as we were looking, at first we really wanted to find a place in northeast mpls. but as we looked more, we found that the houses in NE in our price range were pretty much crap, and we found we'd get way more for our money just a bit to the north in columbia heights, which is where we ended up buying. we still really like the NE neighborhood better, but the house we found in heights is so much better than what we could have got in NE, we can deal with it. it's close enough to minneapolis anyway, it's almost like an extension of NE. price was always important, we set a max early in the search and pretty much stuck to it the whole way through. we were willing to push our budget a bit to find a house that didn't need too much work and that's exactly what we ended up doing. style was a factor but was never a huge issue, kim and i have pretty specific design tastes, but we were willing to deal with whatever we could find due to our limited budget. but we ended up lucking out and finding a great mid-century house that we can easily adapt to our own style.

Any suggestions to someone thinking about buying their first house?
just go for it, you won't regret it. it's scary and a huge change but worth it. don't be afraid to stretch your budget, it really won't be as bad as you think, we're really poor and ended up buying a great house. and try not to think about how much money steve smillie is making off you (earning - edit), but make him buy you lunch because that almost makes up for it, right?

Any big projects planned for the house?
like i said before, just some minor design/decorative projects for now, and we'll probably get into the bigger and more outdoor type stuff in the spring after it warms up.

What's going on with the Holy Ghostriders? Are you going to record something soon?
yeah, we'll hopefully be getting into the studio within a month or so. we've been putting this off for a really long time and we need to get serious about it now and get something out.

I'm assuming you're excited for Naked Raygun at the Triple Rock. What do you think about a lot of these bands reforming?
yeah i'm really excited about that, already have my tickets to both shows. definitely one of the best midwest punk bands. for the most part, i'm totally fine with reunions as long as the band is genuine about it. the gorilla biscuits show last summer was one of the best shows i've seen in my life, and it was easy to see that they were having a great time, it didn't seem like they were doing it just to do it and make shit tons of money. but i'm sure the shit tons of money didn't hurt either. i got into GB probably about a year or two after they broke up, hearing them was a life changing event and they've been one of my favorite bands ever since, it was cool to finally see them in person.

Speaking of bands reforming... when is there going to be a Holding On reunion show?
it's happening soon, i'm announcing it right here first.

whoa! You better not be fucking with me. Will there be a $10 two song 7" with crap songs on it? Are you going to play in town or some damn fest far away?
no new songs. we've actually been talking about this for a while, we have it all planned out- we're going to play most every song we ever reocrded, in chronological order with each of the 3 lineups. so we'll start with the derek era doing the demo and split 7" with the real enemy. then we'll move on to the mike sonrode years for the self titled 7" (even though i think that was the worst thing we ever reocrded - sorry 1% records). and then of course we'll finish up with what came to be known as the "classic" lineup for the two lps. should be a fun time. as soon as we know more info, i'll have you post it here first.

What are you listening to these days? You're on a bit of a blue grass kick aren't you?
yeah i've been listening to a bit a bluegrass lately, a good amount of indie rock, classic alt-rock, and lots of 70s riff rock. and of course a lot of pop-punk like always. have to admit i'm totally out of touch with the current hardcore scene, all i listen to as far as that is the classics.

Who's you're favorite Realtor that's been a drummer in a grindcore band?
well, there are so many to choose from...

Thanks Pete!
thank me? naw man, thank you!

House of the Week - Peter Ave of course.

Say Anything... as long as it's nice.


a list of nice things people said about me as a Realtor...

“I hired you because of your rep as the punk rock realtor & I mean that in all seriousness, Steve. It conveys something right away. I had fun and really appreciated your feedback and honesty while house-hunting, which I thought would be a trying experience, it was far from that.” - Nichole N.

“I think I would have given up on my house hunting if it hadn’t been for Steve. His sense of humor kept me going through the long time it took to find my dream house.” - Kelly C

“I hired you because I felt you shared some similar values (i.e. punk rock!)” – Carrie C

“Regardless of how frequently my search criteria changed, you always took time to meet with me and I never felt pressured to jump into anything - and that was important! I can’t thank you enough. Your personal service and patience make you a great agent” – Nick L.

“We came to you with a tight deadline and with lots of questions and we really appreciated your patience and hard work. We are very pleased with how the sale of our old home went and especially with the new home” - Scott and Jody W.

“You met and exceeded out expectations and we had fun working with you. It was clear the entire time that you were looking out for our best interests - we appreciate that.” - Ben T. and Alison N.

“You were honest and forthright with us always. You made us feel like we were your number one priority even though you were also very busy with other clients. We had total trust and confidence in you.” - Larry and Doris R.

“Steve was very creative in finding better ways to sell my home when market conditions began to change” - Gina M.

“We wanted someone that we knew we could trust. I could not have asked for a better first home buying experience” - Chad & Meredith M.

“Thanks for all your help during our first home buying experience It was great having a realtor that we trusted and felt comfortable with.” - Crystal and Matt F.

“The friendly, low-pressure guide was great for me. I felt comfortable and confident with your knowledge and that you would draw the line or play hardball if the offer process turned ugly.” - Mike S.

“I was very impressed with the communication. I felt very informed and up to date. We could not have had the good outcome without your input and encouragement” - Ruth and Greg K.

“We’re very appreciative of the time you took with us. I’m not sure there’s anything you could have done better, you took the time to change our search and found us our dream home.” - Craig and Jill O.

“You did a very good job at being the voice of reason and remaining calm, cool and collected when I was freaking out. Thank you for that!!!”- Kirstin S.

“Steve, I was very pleased with the service you provided. You made buying my first home painless and fun. I couldn’t have received better treatment in regards to finding a nice home and a great area.” - Marc K

“Steve rocks! You were helpful in that you allowed us the experience as 1st time buyers without influencing us, but guiding.” - Jilll L. and Josh C.