pete lawrence
1980s 1990s / 00s 2100s
Cooking Vinyl The Big Chill Pic-Nic Village

Pete Lawrence is a music programmer, recording artist , DJ, writer, broadcaster and conceptualist.

The Big Chill
Pete is best known as the co-founder of The Big Chill which has spawned a ground breaking festival, club event and London
venues. Lawrence conceived an idea for a new type of Sunday multimedia club back in early 1994. It was the first London club to
have its own website and to offer free internet access and paved the way for the chill out’ boom of the late 90s, which became the
soundtrack for lifestyle TV and advertising.
Lawrence soon adapted the formula for an outdoors setting, and The Big Chill Festival was born, growing by word of mouth from
600 people in 1995 to its current size of around 30, 000, setting a new agenda and giving birth to the concept of the “boutique”
festival, at the same time becoming one of the top half dozen outdoor events in the country. The attention to detail, idyllic rural
locations chosen, and nurturing of a loyal online community, created a blueprint for a unique and groundbreaking event, which
spawned many imitators, and changed the face of festival history in the UK.
Media attention followed swiftly. The Guardian described The Big Chill as “Britain's premier youth culture and arts specialists",
The Times as “the leader in multi-media entertainment” whilst Time Out said "plenty of elements that we take for granted about
contemporary club culture, from multimedia nights to innovative ambient listening, really stemmed from London based event The
Big Chill."
Pete resigned as director and shareholder of The Big Chill in February 2008. The company has just been bought by Festival
Republic.

Cooking Vinyl and Michelle Shocked
In the mid 80s Pete was becoming recognised as a respected tastemaker when he discovered and spontaneously recorded US
folk singer Michelle Shocked on a walkman around a Texas campfire back in the for his fledgling Cooking Vinyl label. The resulting
album ‘The Texas Campfire Tapes’, with its £1 ‘field recording’ budget, went on to top the Independent album charts in 1987 and
sold half a million copies, and provide Cooking Vinyl with the perfect launch pad to become one of the country’s top independent
labels.

On Magazine
Through the 90s he had regular columns in Top, Update and Jockey Slut as well as founding, editing and publishing his own
On magazine. His first book, ‘Crossfade, a Big Chill Anthology’ was published by Serpent’s Tail in 2004.

Music Programmer
Via The Big Chill, Pete has programmed and worked with over 3, 000 artists and gave early exposure to such names as Lily Allen,
Goldfrapp, Amy Winehouse, Gotan Project and Zero 7.
He has also worked with clients to provide audio sensory branding - sounds, styles and audio approaches for specific
environments, including the Hyatt hotel chain.

Compiler
Pete is one of the most influential and respected tastemakers on the electronic and downtempo scenes and has produced over
20 music compilations in a variety of styles, for labels including Cooking Vinyl, Big Chill Recordings, Rough Guides, Resist,
Sanctuary and Universal.

Broadcaster
Pete has worked in radio, with a regular show for Chill and also hosting two 2 hour shows for Radio 2 as part of their Chill Out
season, in 2007-08.

Artist
Pete records under the name of Chilled By Nature, a project which has been very much a labour of love over the last ten years. It
is the realisation of an ongoing musical vision that has been distilling over time, shaped by a bewildering variety of musical
influences, and real life experiences. He describes it as “spiritual music, that celebrates being alive on earth, with all its beauties
and imperfections, joys and sorrows. The Chilled By Nature sound is my personal travelogue - an attempt to capture the bigger
picture and through it, to reflect my experiences and emotions.”
Through Chilled by Nature's EPs, one-off tracks and collaborations, live performances and the debut album ‘Under One Sun’
Chilled By Nature's music illustrates a love of cinematic orchestral textures, drawn from components of musical traditions and
forged ahead in new directions, perhaps best described as a new kind of electronic chamber music.

Worldwide
Pete has put together events in France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Brazil, India, Japan,
Australia, New Zealand, USA and Egypt.

Photographer

DJ

Mover and Shaker
After establishing itself as one of the top half dozen UK festivals, The Big Chill branched out into opening two
London venues - The Big Chill Bar in Brick Lane, and the three storey Big Chill House in Kings X, and Pete also took
The Big Chill concept to Goa for what turned out to be a successful first festival in April 2007.
In December 2006, Pete was voted into Time Out’s Top 100 ‘movers and shakers’ alongside the likes of Ricky
Gervais, Gordon Ramsay, Madonna, Phillip Green, Brian Paddick, Ken Livingstone and Tony Blair. The magazine
famously described him as “chief eskimo of kingdom chill”.

Tastemaker and community builder

www.petelawrence.net