Interview: Pete Tong

When Rich asked me to do an interview with Pete Tong, I thought “yeah right, what a wind up” – but to my surprise it actually turned out to be true.  Being a DJ for a long time myself, I wanted to find out things about Pete that interested me, and that I thought would interest other people.  Things like, how he started, how many records he has, and what in his opinion, is the future of DJing.

I called Pete on his mobile at 6 p.m. and managed to get as far as his voice mail, “Oh shit I thought – this really ain’t gonna happen.  I left a message and hoped that he would get back to me, but honestly I really didn’t expect the interview to come off.

After chilling out with a couple of cans of Stella, to my surprise my mobile rang at 7.30 p.m. and I answered … and got .. Hi Neil it’s Pete Tong here..

Oh shit, I thought, here we go then,  –  its now or never!

The interview started off quite formally, asking very general non obtrusive questions like what car are you into, what football team are you supporting, bla bla bla – not very interesting!

Once I relaxed I started to get into it, and ask the questions I had taken so long to prepare the day before, I really wanted to start by asking how this influential DJ got into DJing and who were his early influences, but instead I started with the first thing that came into my head  …

Neil:  How do you manage to juggle your job and your home life?

Pete:  Well its not easy all the time, I don’t know if you ever get it totally right but I think anybody in any job where you are totally committed has to try and find some kind of balance.  You have to keep your feet on the ground certainly.

Neil:  What year did you actually start DJing? 

Pete:  Probably 1975 or 1976, I was still at school.

Neil:  When you started DJing was there any one DJ that influenced you or that you looked up to?

Pete:  Well the first people that inspired me when I was a kid were the people that were on the radio. I was fascinated by them, people such as Emperor Roscoe.  They were really quite an eccentric bunch, but the first real dance DJ I was conscious of, or the first club DJ on the radio that was doing something different was a guy called Robbie Vincent.  He had a profound influence on me and it was really through him that I was conscious that you could do a specialist thing and play records that you liked, rather than being a pop presenter and playing records that everyone else told you to play.  That was the first time I was really conscious of that.

Neil:  So did you actually start of by doing mobile discos and stuff? 

Pete:  Yeah, (laughing) …  I did!

Neil:  So did you do the weddings and the 40ths and Barmitfers?

Pete:  Yeah being a DJ back in those days you had no choice really, if you wanted to be busy you had to get out there and get amongst it!  That was just what I did, then after a few years I was then in a position where I could start to concentrate on black music, soul music, club-dance music.  Then I started being quite entrepreneurial about it I didn’t think of it at the time but the only way I could get in with that gang, as I was sensing that there was an underground in London in the terms of Northern Soul, there was an elite and you became more and more conscious of the difference between what the elite did rather and what was going on in the high street. 

I started to run my own clubs and started to book the big DJs of the day such as Robbie Vincent, and a guy called Chris Hill, I just got in with them and then got on to the big all dayers and then got on to the big weekenders, in the early 1980s and then I was up and running, I started to get on Pirate Radio and Local Radio, got a job in a record company in 1983, its all in my Autobiography …  but I was just in the right place at the right time and then I was in quite a powerful position – and then electro and rap started hitting, and the emphasis on old records such as jazz, funk and rare groove was backing off, and we were more into the current records of the day.

I always went with the changes which is kind of what has kept me young and kept me valid really, in that I never really got to be too curious about it I mean I enjoyed soul music and jazz and funk and everything like that but when Rap came along that seemed so much more fresh, new and radical so I moved into that, and then kind of 1986/87 we were playing the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, T la Rock, and stuff such as the Mantronics alongside funk and soul records and Jazz funk records and old disco records and then along came House Music and the first records from Chicago hit  in 1986, and then I started my own record label FFR, to fit in with the Acid House, Rave, Warehouse culture, as when all that exploded again I was just in the right place at the Right time.  I started on capital Radio London where I was hosting the Saturday Night show and then I was offered the opportunity to Join Radio One in 1991 and that was right at the absolute peak of the whole dance explosion, and no DJ on Radio One as actually talking to that kind of audience, so that is why I made a big impact really quickly.

Neil:  Do you think in the early days were you more into your Funk & Soul or Rap & Disco?

Pete:  Funk Soul and Disco, I have early 12” on TK that you could dance to so it was a bit of a mix up really, there weren’t many 12” imports to have at that time so you would fill your night and fill your set with a mish mash of everything.  I have a lot of the first ever 12”, which were released on TK and Atlantic, so that music was in some ways more interesting because it was new and it was music that no one else had.  

Neil:  Do you still find yourself looking for things (old things) on vinyl?

Pete:  Less so really now, I only really go looking for things when I need things, and I think partly moving around different houses and never having enough space to have my collection racked out kind of backed me off wanting to collect every release on a certain label I mean I have every release on certain labels when I have been around early house, new groove and strictly rhythm, and going back to Atlantic and Motown – I would have liked to have said I had everything they did but I was always to busy to be honest as I always had three jobs.  Big library’s kind of take over your life and I have spent the last 10 years with a third to half of my record collection in storage, now most of my record collection is in storage because I have been on the move again.

Neil:  How many records do you think you probably own?

Pete:  Probably about 30 to 40 thousand, but I have lost count.

Neil:  Things in the DJ word are moving pretty quickly, so when you do a set what is your preferred format?

Pete:  CDs now definitely 100%, I like vinyl but I like CDs because they are easier to travel with, you can replace them if they are damaged and I can now look at them in the same way as I looked at vinyl.

The main reason for using them is technological, being able to manipulate the CDDJ1000, much better than I can a turn table, if you go back to turntables now you still will get a better quality – and you still get the “train spotters” sticking their heads over the booths and giving you a dirty look if you use CDs but in terms of shear entertainment value, and filling the dance floor I am a better DJ now with CDs and using effects.  The ability to loop a CD puts a whole new dimension to it, which you are unable to achieve with vinyl.  But, although I mostly use CDs, vinyl still sounds better, but what I have found, playing in clubs all around the world is that the old 12 10s can get very neglected.  If you can control your own DJ booth and maintain and service your own decks the sound is still amazing.

Neil:  Would you ever get rid of your vinyl or sell your collection?

Pete:  I really don’t know – there is a bit of a legacy in that, as it is costing me a fortune every month to store it! – but I would like to get the collection together one more time, sometime, somewhere.  Then I could maybe get rid of half of what I don’t need – that would be nice, I am doing a show for Radio 1 extra, a basement show, the first time ever I have played on Radio 1 doing a show like I would have done in 1979/80 and that will be quite interesting, which is on a Sunday at Midday to 2 o’clock on 1 extra.

Neil:  I don’t think it’s a bad thing to delve into the past, do you?

Pete:  Well I think I was so hung up over the years, obviously being around a long time and getting a bit older, I think, and this is a really good point, I spent best part of the 1990s pretending that I wasn’t as old as I was, and thinking that my age was something to be ashamed about, or that is was something that would hold me back, and then I realised in the millennium, that actually, people really celebrated history and that it was a really good thing, I don’t know why I was hung up on the age thing, but you know, I was around in the 1980s so when the whole dance thing exploded in the 1990s and I was part of it – I thought “God!  I will get found out here”, I thought, “People are going to think that I have been around a whole generation longer than Sasha”!  Which is just bollocks really, as now people really want to celebrate the fact that you have been around a long time, and I think people actually really like that fact. 

Neil:  I totally agree with that and I don’t know what your opinion is but do you feel the atmosphere in clubs was better back then or better now?  What’s your opinion of that?

Pete:  I can’t really answer that, I think people look back and think of great times, pioneering times, when things may have seemed a little fresher or a little newer, but the clubs I play at and the gigs I do I can’t really say, I am lucky I get to play in some amazing places, when I think back to Pacha in the summer, Space or Base in Miami, or the places I have played in South America, when you see the audiences are going crazy and that’s “their” moment and they are having the times of their lives, I would have to say no.

Neil:  Do you think for a DJ to survive nowadays you have to be a producer as well as a DJ?

Pete:  I think it’s a bit of a foregone conclusion now that to make an impact in a very crowded market, and a very competitive market, I think it kind of goes without saying that if you are into electronic music, your into the whole scene, then I can’t see how you would want to resist being involved in making music, so I think it is just assumed, it doesn’t matter whether your great at it or not, but it seems that everybody that arrives on the scene now, that has something to say, is doing that, it just goes hand in hand because now its so much easier to do.  I was with Paul Harrison, in the studio the other day and we were making something and we were just joking about how in the late 1980s early 1990s when you talk about the Felix’s and the Rollo's, we used to put those people in the studio at £1000 a day, a £1000 a day!! Just to get a house a record, that was just the norm.  Now you buy a computer for less than that and so that just does not happen anymore – you just would not think of it.  It was so difficult back then to go and make music, it was really really hard.  Now if you want to be a DJ, these music-making programmes just naturally intrigue you.

Neil:  How did you decide which records to put on your new CD when there are thousands of records out there, where do you start?

Pete:  Well a year of thinking about what kind of classic records I wanted to play on the show, and then looking at what the most successful end of the competition had put on theirs, CDs like Cream, Gatecrasher ect, and then it was like a game trying to avoid anything that they had used, and still coming up with a really cool album that would be entertaining and not too kind of two faced in that “if you were not around at this time - sod off” kind of thing!  That’s why I put the scissor sisters on there as a kind of softer introduction for the younger crowd, but we started playing two kind of classic records on the show in 2005, which gave me 104 records right there to pick from, and every week what I was really intrigued about was that I was playing records that were huge with everybody but were not really pop hits, and I thought cream really did that well on their first classic compilation album over two years ago, where they had a huge selling successful album but actually when you analyse what was on it they were not hits at the time they came out, but they became hits over years of being played by residents in bars and clubs, stuff like Saturday Night  Sunday Morning by Tempo, I was intrigued that there were so many records out there that people really know, when they were not really hits.

Neil:  What is your favourite decade of Music so far?

Pete:  For the variety and innovation I suppose if you had to put me on the spot I would say the 1980s, for electronic music it was amazing, but then there was some amazing records in the 1990s as well.  When I started I was playing records from the 1970s and 1960s, … I guess it’s all good!

Neil:  Lets say its your 50s birthday party, all your friends are there, as well as mums and dads, aunties and uncles, name one DJ that you would have playing at your party?

Pete:  Shit … that’s hard, …. It would be nice just to get Larry Levan!

Neil:  I was interested to know how many new tunes you get sent every week?

Pete:  Well that is difficult to say, but you are easily looking at literally hundreds and hundreds every single week.

Neil:  How do you get a chance to go through them all?

Pete:  I have a team of about 5 to 6 people that filter through to me about 50 to 60 tracks, which they think I may find interesting, so basically they filter out the crap for me!  I then put these on my I-pod and I can listen to these at home, in the car, on the move, whatever it is I am doing that week, I can take them with me.

Neil:  Where do you think DJing will be in 10 years time?

Pete:  Laptops, PCs ect are going to play a major part in clubs and dance venues this year and I am looking to incorporate Abeleton into my sets, which is used for the Radio Shows all the time, I have got the equipment to use, but it is just a case of perfecting this for clubs ect. 

Neil:  Finally what are you up to this year?

Pete:  Well obviously I have my album to promote, then I will be doing all the usual big events and festivals, and of course … pure Pacha nights in Ibiza, but I am also going to try and do a lot more gigs in the UK, I will be doing a night at the Ministry every couple of months, but there will be a lot of studio work to consider this year, with hopefully some more interesting things to come … watch this space!  

And so ended my interview with the legendary Pete Tong.  Obviously there were lots of questions that I just didn’t get the chance to ask, I mean, how can you find out all you want to know about a man like that in just 30 minutes?  Personally I thought he was a really down to earth friendly bloke, he gave me time out of his busy schedule, after what had clearly been a VERY long day for him, and he really made an effort, which I was very grateful for.


Interview by Neil Little.
You can find Neil playing at the weekly UBER at Basement, Carlisle