To change yourself is the first step to changing the world. I believe everyone has gifts to offer — and that sharing our individual and collective spirit is what brings about real change.
My current work is as conceptualist and firestarter of Campfire Convention — an ad-free, algorithm-free, member-led social network that puts people and the planet at its heart. We gather every summer at Campout, as well as meeting online throughout the year.
I'm also a musician, a speaker, a writer, and a space-holder. My vision is simple: to join the dots and find the common ground between people working towards the conscious transformation that I believe is already starting to happen.
Much of my early-millennium energy went into starting The Big Chill, as co-founder and originator of what many now recognise as the original "boutique" festival experience. I was actively involved between 1994 and 2007, as the event grew by word of mouth to a peak size of 35,000 in 2005. Along the way I gave early exposure to names including Amy Winehouse, Gotan Project, Mr Scruff, Norman Jay, Jon Hopkins, Max Richter, Bonobo, Röyksopp, Zero 7, Lily Allen, Goldfrapp and Lemon Jelly. I was chuffed — and a little surprised — to be included in Time Out's Top 100 "movers and shakers," alongside the likes of Ricky Gervais and Madonna.
In the mid-80s, my focus was as a tastemaker with an unconventional flair, following a synchronistic experience on my first US trip in 1986. I "discovered" — and spontaneously recorded — US folk singer Michelle Shocked on a walkman around a Texas campfire, for my fledgling label, Cooking Vinyl. The resulting album, The Texas Campfire Tapes, made on a £1 "field recording" budget, topped the independent album charts in 1987 and put the label at the forefront of the world and roots music scenes.
Glastonbury 1987. We watch as Michelle Shocked wins over a huge audience.Photo: Giacomino Parkinson
Subsequently, I became a writer, radio DJ and journalist. Through the 90s I wrote regular columns for Top, Update and Jockey Slut, as well as founding, editing and publishing On magazine. I made my BBC Radio 2 debut on August Bank Holiday 2006, with a two-hour chill-out show.
As an artist, I've recorded under the name Chilled By Nature, releasing my first solo album, Under One Sun, on Big Chill Recordings in 2006, with guests including The Swingle Singers and Mozez of Zero 7.
After a familiar tussle between ethos and commercialism, I resigned as a shareholder and director of The Big Chill in early 2008, and moved to the village of Braunston in Northamptonshire. I spent the years that followed developing the blueprint for a social network — Campfire Convention — an evolutionary platform for creative thinkers, funded and shaped by its own members, which now also stages community-focused events, most recently the Campout series.
My main project today is the recording of my first album in over twenty years, This Is The Fire — a collection of simple, timeless, multi-purpose songs rooted in a hymnal folk tradition, intended for everybody to sing, in a variety of settings. A much-needed antidote to a fragmented world. Read more about the album →
"Pete Lawrence has a knack for being just a few key steps ahead of everyone else. When he started Cooking Vinyl, he didn't follow trends but anticipated them. More so when it came to creating The Big Chill, the event that set the stage for what became an international chillout music movement that lasts to this day."
Gerald Seligman Director of WOMEX 2006–9, advisor to the UNESCO Creative Cities initiative
"Pete Lawrence is a legend. In addition to his not inconsiderable DJing and producer skills, he has a gift for bringing together lovely people and creating something really special."
Mr Scruff DJ
"I've known Pete Lawrence since the mid-1980s and have always wondered just how he keeps so ahead of the game. There seems little doubt he'll keep on doing it."
Mark Ellingham Founder, Rough Guides; Publisher, Sort Of Books
"Pete's ability to predict our cultural and media future were brilliantly manifested by the success of the Big Chill. He is a genuine visionary who has had a colossal impact on us all."
Erica Ruben Former Central Park Summer Stage Producer
Campfire is now online, and I currently split my time between living on Paros, Greece, and a UK base — camper van and shepherd's hut included — on a farm in south Wales.
