The first Interview with Pete Lawrence for more than 2 years; co-founder of The Big Chill Festival, DJ, Writer, Curator of the Folk Stage at Festinho 2009, Music Programmer and much more….

After news in recent weeks that The Big Chill festival had sold majority shares to Festival Republic Perfect Pitch Magazine wanted to catch up with original co-founder Pete Lawrence to find out what his views were of how The Big Chill festival had and would continue to evolve. This was also a perfect opportunity to find out more about the highs and lows of creating such a unique independent festival and to find out more about his plans for the future. The Big Chill Festival has been a major part in a lot of people’s lives, meeting new friends, discovering new music, finding new loved ones and creating a whole new sense of lifestyle. Camping at festivals has never been the same since the Big Chill started to introduce itself to the market and for that we have a lot to be thankful for. So here’s us having a good old gossip about the festival scene and how Pete pictures it changing over the coming years….

How does it feel to leave such heavy involvement with The Big Chill festival behind?

Well, as you might guess, it’s a real mixture of emotions, but essentially it feels great! Everything changes and I had moved on, as had the event and the organisation. People generally only see you at your ‘public persona’ best on the weekend itself, but behind the scenes, it’s different - the stress of working on something that had taken over my life all year round for the previous fifteen years was pretty relentless and that timing coincided with a lot of new ideas bubbling up which I felt would be better appreciated in a different context. I feel really well and happy and have also had some rare space to be creative with new projects that I really want to do, and to rediscover how to enjoy time with my kids and my friends again, away from the daily office pressure and meetings merry go round.

What was the final deciding factor for selling your shares of The Big Chill Festival?

I’m limited by what I can say by the terms of my exit agreement at the moment, and in time the book I’m starting to write will deal with that period in more detail, but let’s just say that you get attached to something you’ve given birth too, but after 14 years, it was time to distance myself. In many ways, I’d achieved what I wanted to with The Big Chill and we’d already broken the mould with festivals and shaken the whole thing up as a prominent independent player and achieved far more than I ever thought possible. Whilst it was pleasing to see that we had clearly influenced and inspired a lot of people, some of those had, by proxy, become our competition in terms of being able to sell tickets to a limited potential audience. It was all becoming too much of a struggle and there were opinions that were taking it in more generic directions, and I was never one to be happy marking time and cruising along anyway.

Are you proud of how the Big Chill Festival has grown over the years and does it still stand for the ideals that you had when you first started the festival?

I wouldn’t have swapped those years for anything, even with the stress of such a dramatic rollercoaster ride, soaring to unimagined heights and plunging to the depths of despair. It has proved to me that if you stick by an idea and are passionate about it, you can still win through. The highlight for me wasn’t about the logistics of putting on a successful event, the early bookings of Zero 7, Seasick Steve, Amy Winehouse, Goldfrapp or Lily Allen or the places we took it too such as all over Europe, Cairo, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Greek islands and India. It was more about how were able to touch people’s lives and make a difference.

What has been your best festival moment working with The Big Chill?

There are too many to single out, but it would be between covertly pulling off the first ever outdoor event in the Black Mountains, getting a round of applause from all the artists and press as I stepped onto the coach after the Cairo event, or the many late nights spent chatting with Big Chillers over the years and getting to know them, and seeing so many people marry or have kids, or make new friends through meeting at The Big Chill.

How do you see the ownership of Big Chill by Festival Republic changing the festival itself in coming years?

I’ve honestly no idea how they run their business, nor do I know what attracted them to The Big Chill. They’ve not been in touch with me. They are a large company and have their own way of doing things. I met Melyvn Benn a few years back and he seemed very interested and respectful of what Katrina and I had achieved over what seemed like a lifetime, and had been to the festival at Eastnor so let’s hope there’s some respect for something which such a rich history that essentially, in its early days at least, went way beyond just being a festival.

How do you see festivals changing over the next 5 years?

I see the whole thing polarising into the big and the small, and yet more corporate ideas and business rationale ruling the roost, and fewer people controlling it. The Festival business is pretty much Festival Republic, V, Womad and Bestival now. Anyone who breaks through on an independent level will risk being swallowed up as they won’t be cash rich enough to sustain themselves in what is a phenomenally risky business, which is still essentially based on old, relatively inflexible models and, as if that isn’t enough, is also dependent on the good old British weather.

In the current climate how do you see the future of smaller festivals evolving?

As above, it will be a struggle, unless they have deep pockets. Many will go bust and any that succeed will run the risk of being swallowed up. I wish them good luck!

Which other festivals do you attend and any that you recommend in particular?

Last year I went to WOMAD and Sidmouth Folk. And of course, Festinho, which is my favourite festival at the moment.

How did you become involved with curating the folk stage at Festinho this year?

I was invited by the organisers, who themselves had originally been inspired by what we’d done with early Big Chills. In many ways, they were trying to create a similar feel to those early, more intimate events, and they’ve more than succeeded.

What happens now? What new ventures are you working on? I see that you’ve been travelling a lot since selling your shares what have you been filling your time with and have you been camping at all this year?

I have been working for over a year on the prototype for a new post Big Chill project which is very soon to be unveiled…..If people are interested they can check my website. Other than that, I’ve been getting organised in my new house after finally managing to get out of London, when I left the Chill. I’m keeping my hand in doing a few small events – promoting artists I like. I’ve put on Bellowhead in my original home town, Leamington Spa, which was a fantastic success, and recently have done some music events in my village including putting on The Swingle Singers in my village church in Braunston in Northamptonshire. I’m managing a young singer-songwriter called Emily Davies, who is making many new friends and still doing the Chilled Cider weekend in Dorset in June, as well as helping plan a village fayre here next summer. Travel has taken me to Malaysia and I was also invited to Russia last winter, which culminated in an annual event I’ve been asked to consult on in the Seychelles called Ocean Beat.

What was your festival highlight of 2009?

Without doubt DJing at the Silent Disco at Sidmouth Folk Festival, in a showdown with Jim Moray. I’ve written more about it here. The word must have got around as we’ve just been booked to do it again at Bellowhead’s New Year’s Bash at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

What makes your Perfect Pitch?

There’s a good one under the trees at Burnbake Campsite near Corfe Castle in Dorset, at least during the quieter weeks and weekends in early or late summer. And you can find plenty at Woodyhyde in Dorset where most people camp during Chilled Cider weekend. The Swingle Singers seem to have near perfect pitch, and Edgbaston isn’t bad too on its day, with a little love and care from the groundsmen. I’m also quite enjoying putting together the pitch for my new business ;)


www.petelawrence.net