It All Began On East 18th Street In Brooklyn

Peter was born into an extremely talented and artistic family. His mother Annette Pallon and father Peter Ratajczyk Sr. met in Redhook Brooklyn, married, had five daughters and 1 son. His father was Polish and his mother being a mix of Irish, Scottish, English and French -- Peter got his intense eye coloring, dark hair, and powerful physique from a good genetic mix.

Between his dad's baritone voice and his mother's artistic talents for sculture and painting, Peter was submerged in music, color, singing, and laughter from the moment he was born. 

In fact, being surrounded by a large family filled with aunts,  uncles, cousins that he saw on a daily/weekly basis -- Peter's early musical and artistic influences came from what was around him. With his sisters anywhere from 10 to 20 years older, they were introducing artists, musicians and a variety of music genres helping to shape the influences you hear in his music thoughout his career. Each of his sisters have musical talents or artistic talents -- so Peter grew up with his family singing, painting, sketching, and playing a variety of instruments.

So, while it didn't concern his parents when he announced he was taking the basement over to be a practice space... it just surprised his parents that it was heavy metal that he was playing. And with his childhood friends, he played the music real loud. Stan Pillis, the first guitarist from Carnivore, remembers his parents coming over to hear the rehearsal in the basement, and afterwards, all the parents took a walk and jointly complained, as parents do, about why "the boys" were interested in that loud crazy sounding music. But, Pete's parents never stopped him from being who he was and what he wanted to express. Even when Nettie was making CroMag loin cloth and fur sashes for the bandmembers, she was proud of the performances that her son created. In fact, she particularly enjoyed making the fur boots they all wore.