The latest instalment of our podcast series sees us rubbing shoulders with a legend of Ibiza, Pete Gooding. A frequent player at the world's finest clubs such as Ministry of Sound, Pacha and Space, Pete's residencies read like a who's who of the globe's discerning dancefloors; having held court for Cream and most famously Cafe Mambo. But it's another residency that informs this mix, one Pete has held since 1998, that of resident for midlands clubbing powerhouse Renaissance.
They celebrate twenty years of electronic music involvement this year with a series of parties which begins with a two instalment soiree on Easter Sunday in Leeds and Birmingham, both headlined by original resident Sasha. Pete helms the second room of the party in his hometown Birmingham, playing Renaissance Classics all night long. This mix is inspired by that theme, and we caught up with him to ask some questions about his involvement with the club.
Can you remember your first Renaissance experience?
Yes very clearly, it was the very first week they opened in April 1992 at Venue 44 in Mansfield. Me and loads of my mates travelled up to see Sasha play, we were all huge fans and regulars at Shelly's and after that closed we needed a new place to hear him play every week. It was an amazing night as it always was at Venue 44, I came out lost for words as to how good it was and it was like that every week!
How pleasing is it to be back and involved with the club again? Did you ever envisage it lasting twenty years?
It's amazing and I feel really proud to still be a part of it. I started with them in 1998 and I did always see it lasting, as it stands for quality.
Favourite Renaissance moment?
The early days in 1992 listening to Sasha playing at Venue 44 dropping tracks like Jam & Spoon 'Stella', Age of Love 'Age Of Love', Dance 2 Trance 'We Came In Peace' or the remix of Shabba Ranks 'Mr Loverman'. Also one amazing night I remember he played The Jacksons 'Can You Feel It' and The Weather Girls 'It's Raining Men' which may sound strange but that was amazing at the time!
Other great memories were any of my gigs at The Cross in London, they were all just so good as the atmosphere in there was so intense, I really miss that place. The residency for them in Ibiza was also strong; we had live acts like Leftfield, Moloko, Kylie and others along with all the biggest DJs.
Tell us about the mix; how hard was it narrowing the tracks down?
Well it's always hard to be honest when you do a mix like this, I had to burn everything in from vinyl from my collection, then play with the EQ and also re edit everything so it all fitted together perfectly. Also the mix needed to all be in key so it works properly; this eliminates certain tracks that you can't get to but I spent a lot of time on the mix and I'm happy with it. I also stuck to mostly tracks from the clubs early history so they are mostly from the Venue 44 days.
Are there any classics you couldn't squeeze on?
Yeah: Jam & Spoon 'Stella' and Age Of Love 'Age Of Love' but due to the mix all being in key I just couldn't get to them unless I did a much longer mix, so maybe I'll do part 2 soon which could start where this one left off! :)
What else is planned in your immediate future?
Well I'm always busy working on lots of stuff, right now lots of production, remixes, my radio show The Global Network, which is on well over 100 stations worldwide every week. Then then lots of gigs worldwide which fills my weekends and apart from that I manage a few DJ / producers, so lots going on.
And obviously we couldn't do an interview without talking about Ibiza! What are your plans for there this summer?
Well I used to live there all year round in 2010 until I moved to America for a bit last year but now I'm back in the U.K, I have decided to move back there all year round again starting this spring, so really excited and I'm just starting to organise where I'm playing at the moment so more info to come later on that front.
SPTL080: Pete Gooding Renaissance 20 Years
