Monday, 27 August 2012 16:18

PETE GOODING

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Pete Gooding is a club DJ, music producer and radio presenter, but way beyond any name or title he's a music fan. In fact, Pete is a Music Man. Thanks to his broad musical taste, deep musical knowledge and boundless energy and enthusiasm, he's one of the lucky few who have managed to turn 'what I love' into 'what I do'. Pete does music full time, full on, all the time. Take a quick look at his current list of globally happening projects and it's not hard to see why 2011 is going to be Pete's year.

• Doman & Gooding
• The Machine
• The Global Network radio show
• No Logo
• Gooding & Coco

At the heart of these good things is his fruitful production partnership with James Doman. Doman and Gooding have already had a hit in Canada and the UK with the club anthem Runnin', it's still on rotation on dance radio and MTV and has over 1.8m hits on Youtube. The super-hooky follow-up, I'm Hooked On You, is set to be even bigger.

Cool club tunes are handled by the duo's alter-ego The Machine who have already released on Size, Audio Therapy and Stereo Productions, three of today's biggest and best dance imprints. Pete and James have also set up a label called Superficial Recordings, as a joint venture with dance music giants Strictly Rhythm.

Pete lives right at the centre of all things clubby, in Ibiza, where he plays regularly for We Love at Space and at the coolest bar on the island, Cafe Mambo. James lives in Los Angeles. So when they're not working together, and when Pete's not on one of his regular trips round the world DJing, he still manages to fit in a few extra collaborations to satisfy his insatiable desire for, yes, you guessed it, more music. For example, he's currently working with chill out don Afterlife on the No Logo project and with Chris Coco on some space disco.

If you need even more musical energy, there's his weekly Global Network radio show, now on over 90 stations worldwide. With all that going on it's hard to imagine how Pete has time for human stuff like sleep. Perhaps the dude is less of a music man and more of a music machine.

Key Career Moments:

• 2009 - Doman and Gooding Runnin' a hit in Canada and the UK
• 2007 - started Global Network radio show
• 2006 - Doman and Gooding production partnership began
• 2002 - Best Ibiza DJ at Ibiza DJ Awards
• 1998 - the present - Resident DJ for Renaissance events worldwide
• 1996-2010 - Resident DJ at Cafe Mambo, Ibiza
• 1993 - started DJing in and around home town of Birmingham, UK
• 1989 - introduced to the world of clubbing in an underage trip to Amnesia, Ibiza

The five tune that made Pete Gooding:

• Lil Louis - French Kiss: "I heard this in Amnesia in Ibiza aged 15. It made me want to become a DJ."
• Aphex Twin - We Are The Music Makers: "This was on the first Cafe Del Mar cassette tape I bought from Jose Padilla in 1994."
• Dr Baker - Would You Like To Seduce Me: "My most-played sunset track at Mambo."
• Sydenham & Ferrer - Sandcastles: "Deep, epic, uplifting, this really blew me away."
• Stardust - Music Sound Better With You: "An amazing party track, one of the best house tracks of all time."

Top Five Favourite DJ Gigs:

• We Love @ space, Ibiza. Sept 2010
• Pacha Ibiza main room set. June 2006
• Bestival main stage Sept 2010
• Sirena, Brazil 7 hour set on the terrace 2007
• Glastonbury Cube Henge arena 2010

The Back Story:
"I always have loads of energy because I'm always getting over excited by music, I have the same love for it I had at 15 years old when I first went to Amnesia in 1989!"

Pete Gooding lives in Ibiza where this story begins. He fell in love with house music at the age of 12 after being given a cassette of The House Sound Of Chicago Volume One by his older (and naughtier) sister. The Gooding family were regular summer visitors to the party island of Ibiza. And in 1989, the same sister took Pete, then a sweet, impressionable 15 year old on his first clubbing adventure - to Amnesia.

It was a night that would set the course for his career, his love, his life. When Pete heard the DJ drop Lil Louis' French Kiss he knew that he wanted to be up there one day, playing the tunes, at the heart of the party, making the world dance.

Back in the real world, the family home in Birmingham, England, the life, the dream, felt a million miles away. Undeterred, Pete started building something local, hope of going global with the music still burning strong.

He moved from glass collecting at a local club to running his own night there and booking some of those DJs who were already living the dream (Erick Morillo, Judge Jules and Dave Seaman were visitors). Then progressed to Rafael's, the biggest bar in Birmingham, for more successful DJing and promoting and a few forays into the world of guest DJing for Moneypenny's, down the road. But Ibiza was still calling and in 1996, with a little help from old school friend Steve Lawler, Pete landed a career-defining residency at Cafe Mambo. He would return every summer for the next ten years, making a varied and well-received compilation CD each season and watching as the fortunes of Mambo rose, partly thanks to his eclectic music soundtracks, and it became the best known and best loved sunset bar on the island.

Of course, being a regular behind the decks at Mambo meant Pete got to meet, and build relationships with, a healthy chunk the world's top DJs and promoters who would come down to play pre-club parties or just hang out for sunset. That's how he me Geoff from Renaissance and, after a little persuasion, became resident for that global party brand.

"Every week when Geoff came in I'd play a tune that I knew would make him come over. The first time he said - I've only ever heard Sasha and Digweed play this, what's your name? "Then Frankie Knuckles was with Geoff at Mambo, and quizzed him about who I was. The following week Danny Rampling did the same and asked for one of my mix tapes."

Pete's adolescent dreams were fast turning to reality. He was now the man, resident at the best bar and a regular at all the big clubs, including his beloved Amnesia, as Renaissance resident, no less. In 2002 Pete was voted Best DJ at the prestigious Ibiza DJ Awards and since then his music has taken him on a continuous whirl of touring and recording around the world.

"I've been abroad virtually every weekend for the last eleven years, and have played in over 65 countries" says Pete, still amazed that he is doing pretty much just what he always wanted, still excited by tunes he is playing.

"My connection to the crowd comes from the fact that when I'm DJing, I couldn't be happier. I'm having the time of my life and that links me to the crowd, simple as that. We're all on the same wavelength."

The last couple of years have been the most successful so far for Pete. He's found himself putting more energy and just as much passion in producing with musical partner James Doman and a host of other collaborators.

“It’s the music that has taken me across the world, and now I’m producing and engineering my own material it’s given me even greater freedom."

There has been 'that' tune, Doman and Gooding Runnin', a massive radio and MTV hit, as well as remixes for some of the world's biggest musical names including Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and Lady Gaga, Cheryl Cole, Will I Am, Kelis, Professor Green and many more. The new label, Superficial Recordings, in partnership with dance music players Strictly Rhythm. Underground releases as The Machine on today's most happening labels including Size, Stereo Productions and Audio Therapy, the weekly Global Network radio show, now on over 90 stations round the world; and a packed DJ schedule that has included high profile sets at Bestival, Glastonbury and, of course, in Ibiza. Whew, what a scorcher. And 2011 is set to get even hotter and busier, with a new Doman and Gooding smash, I'm Hooked On You, first on the menu, and plenty more typical Pete-style musical madness and variety to follow.

But let's leave the last word with the unstoppable Mr Gooding:

"The reason I am different as a DJ and producer is that I don't pigeon hole myself in one genre of music. For me there is only good and bad music, so I play all styles of music that I love. This also applies to my production. I have made music that stretches from chill out, electronica, drum & bass to house, techno, pop and dubstep. The key residency I had at Cafe Mambo only cemented this as I played every style of music there".

"I always have loads of energy because I'm always getting over excited by music, I have the same love for it I had at 15 years old when I first went to Amnesia in 1989!"

Additional Info

  • Country: UK
  • Music: ELECTRONIC
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