EXTENDED BIOGRAPHY PETER LAVELLE
like his music, there is a darker side to peter lavelle. as a self confessed lover of melancholy, there is a particular shade of “dark” that has always shadowed his path: a deep, introspective, even happy shade of dark rather than anything too depressive. coupled with this are some other trademark traits: a consistency born of a confidence that what he is doing is right - if only for himself - and a patient faith that if one is true to oneself, the rest will follow. nothing in the career of this enigmatic artist has been forced with everything coming naturally when the time is right.
peter’s first forays into the world of electronica began in 1991 playing what we now like to call progressive house and progressive trance. a residency in the then new club dome in lindau (germany) gave him the scope to experiment, discover and develop his own style and 10 years growing up with the club also gave him the valuable insight into both sides of clubbing and a more complete feeling for the psyche of the clubber. having thus honed his skills as the sole dj for so many years, peter developed a particular liking for long sets so he can, as he puts it, “ . . . take them on a journey . . .” and that’s what he does carrying the audience through chapters of ambient to progressive house to progressive trance. though you would hardly realise it if you were on the floor all night because this drift is so subtle, if you were to walk out of a set only to walk in an hour later, you would swear that it was a different dj. another peculiar aspect of the diversity of his music is the number of old tracks that one would find in a set. even in the instant world where consumption is the war cry, you will still hear a track from the mid 90s in the middle of one of peter’s sets. not one or two but a few. because some tracks really are just that good. because some tracks are just too good to consume.
with ten years at the dome, peter had paid his dues and it was his turn to collect. a single gig with timo maas brought timo himself to exclaim that he was “ . . .fascinated by peter . . .” in an interview with the german raveline magazine. and with that, it would not be long before peter found himself playing alongside timo once again but this time, it was in such company as pete tong at the majestic in leeds, uk. a few months later, they still hadn’t had enough and they had to have him back for more, this time with max graham at the space also in leeds.
quite incidentally and at around the same times, doors began to open in zürich and peter took up cream residencies at clubs such as labyrinth and q bringing him to join a select family of djs which include gogo, steven s, nukem and the moogwai chab. peter’s rise to the top was far from meteoric but as he himslef puts it, he “relished” every small step of his constant and steady growth.
after five years studio time and well over 50 tracks without a single demo or release, the time was right and peters career as an artist let alone a producer goes ballistic. it was with steven s that peter struck a magical chord and once the two began playing around in peter’s studio, it was on for young and old. one project was not enough for their weekly “workshops” so they had to create another: loader for full-gas dance tracks and smith & lavelle for the deep and dirty beats for which they are both so well known. within months of their first release, they were offered a publishing contract with bristol’s hope recordings (timo maas, starecase, max graham) and had signed their next track to timo maas’ four:twenty label. now with labels in switzerland and the uk scrabbling for their signatures for productions, remixes and compilation requests, much of their time is spent in the studio during the week and behind the decks on the weekends.
craving silence and solitude with all the mayhem about him, peter is more than happy to drive the 150 km from his retreat and studio in lindau to zürich for his gigs. paradoxically, though he lives in germany where it intersects switzerland and austria, he is austrian by birth but his popularity in zürich draws him mostly into switzerland. the man knows no borders and now, with the bag of productions and remixes signed up by uk’s top progressive labels, lavelle has the uk firmly in his sights.
watch this spot because things are just heating up for peter lavelle. |
