Peter Warren

aka Rooda


Whatever happened to Peter Warren? “Rooda” as he was known, came to the attention of the nation as the drummer in DD Smash, the biggest rock band on the local scene in the early 1980s.

In band photos of the time, standing beside Dave Dobbyn with golden curly locks cascading about his head and wearing a signature uniform that included split colour Lycra pants, Rooda looked every bit the rock star. “That name was coined by a guy called The Future who was with me in a band called Lip Service. He called me Rooda because I was rude, as in not shy about saying whatever was on my mind. It was not a sexual reference as everyone thinks.”

Peter "Rooda" Warren
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
Pop Mechanix - Beat Goes On (Friday Night Live, 1987)
Gold discs for DD Smash for debut album Cool Bananas, with Minister of Justice Jim McLay. Peter Warren, Rob Guy, Jim McLay, Lisle Kinney (behind), Dave Dobbyn (front). Taken at Record Warehouse in Durham Lane, Auckland, 22 May 1982. There was a countdown to gold and Jim was on hand to present and press the flesh.
A mid-1980s pack-em-in at the pubs touring band put together by New Music Management: Graham Brazier, Dave Dobbyn, Jenny Morris, Mike Chunn, Peter 'Rooda' Warren and Dave McArtney. The image is a cut and past of other PR shots.
Dave Dobbyn and Peter Warren, 1983
Photo credit: Simon Grigg Collection
The Australian DD Smash line-up pre-show at the 1984 Thank God It's Over gig
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
Peter "Rooda" Warren from DD Smash talks to the crowd during the ill-fated Aotea Square show, 7 December 1984
Photo credit: Photo by Bryan Staff
The Cool Bananas line-up of DD Smash. L to R: Lisle Kinney, Rob Guy, Dave Dobbyn, Peter Warren
1983-84 DD Smash line-up after the RIANZ Music Awards. L to R: Ian Morris, Peter Warren, Gary Langsford, Scott Calhoun, with Dave Dobbyn at front.
DD Smash drummer Peter Warren (top) and Andy Dickson during the Cool Bananas tour in 1982.
Peter "Rooda" Warren, 1982
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
Peter Warren, September 2015, at the Graham Brazier farewell show at Auckland's Powerstation: Brett Adams, Jordan Luck, Peter Warren, Dave Gent and Bryan Bell.
Photo credit: Photo by Peter Fyers
DD Smash - Outlook For Thursday (1983)
Peter Warren and Dave Dobbyn, 1985
DD Smash on tour - Rooda and DD, 1983
Photo credit: Ian Morris Collection
Peter 'Rooda' Warren in Waiouru at a photo taken by Rip It Up's Chris Bourke while touring with Dave Dobbyn & The Stone People, 1986. 
DD Smash - Whaling (1984)
Trivia:

After Disciplin's first appearance on John Peel’s iconic BBC radio show, Peel was amazed at the intensity of Pete’s drumming and thereafter referred to him as "the Human Beat Machine".

Labels:

Mushroom Records


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