I've had the pleasure of booking and working with over 3,000 artists across fourteen years at the helm of The Big Chill, including debut appearances for many formative names. Two decades ago, I produced and composed as Chilled By Nature — and right now, I'm making my first solo album in twenty years, 'This Is The Fire' under my own name.
My life's work has been about bringing people together and finding our voice. This new album brings that together with my life's passion — music. It's a record of community songs, rooted in a hymnal folk tradition, designed to work at the campfire, the community hall, the school, even the football terraces.
In a divided world, I believe new songs of hope and connection are needed more than ever — in the spirit of 'We Shall Overcome', 'This Land Is Your Land' and 'Blowin' in the Wind'.
Singing together is the key to world peace.Brian Eno
There's an indefinable quality to the buzz we all feel when singing with others — each playing our part, creating harmony together. It's a starting point for imagining the changes we need to make, finding hope through connection, and finding our voices, individually and collectively.
1986
Cooking Vinyl
I founded the independent label Cooking Vinyl in May 1986 — my first self-employed business, set up with help from the government's Enterprise Allowance Scheme. My focus through the mid-80s was folk and world music, as a tastemaker with an unconventional flair.
On my first US trip in 1986, I "discovered" — and spontaneously recorded — American folk singer Michelle Shocked on a walkman, around a campfire at the Kerrville folk festival in Texas. That £1 field recording, released as The Texas Campfire Tapes, went on to top the independent album charts in 1987, sell close to a million copies, and establish Cooking Vinyl at the forefront of the world and roots music scene.
The label went on to work with The Oyster Band, The Cowboy Junkies, Flaco Jimenez, Bruce Cockburn, Davy Spillane, Boiled in Lead and many more, before I moved on in 1990.
I compose, produce and remix under the name Chilled By Nature. My first artist album, Under One Sun, was released on Big Chill Recordings in 2006, featuring live guests including The Swingle Singers and Mozez of Zero 7, who collaborated on 'State Of Grace'.
I made my BBC Radio 2 debut that same year, on August Bank Holiday, with a two-hour chill-out show — and have since presented for BBC 6 Music, Chill, and other stations.
Listen
Go Forward
Compilations
The sound of The Big Chill
I've enjoyed compiling albums since The Cutting Edge for Cooking Vinyl in 1987 — building a sound that critics came to recognise instantly.
"A tour around the world in 80 minutes, all without buying a plane ticket. Now that's what we call value."
Mixmag
"From outdoor festivals to club nights worldwide, the Big Chill set-up has won a lot of friends... about as uplifting as downtempo gets."
Q Magazine
"This is the sound of the underground as it sprawls across a field and gets a suntan."
i-D
"Pete Lawrence has opted for smooth mood manipulation, removing you far from urban chaos... a cool, street-smart chillout number."
iDJ
Seasonal favourites
Midwinter Mixes
Some of my most-cherished mixes are my winter sequences — in particular, Deep and Crisp and Even.
In December 2000, The Big Chill hosted one of the most memorable concerts I've had the pleasure of being involved with. Tom Middleton — our resident DJ through the years, and now an esteemed club and yoga session DJ, composer and sleep therapist — fulfilled an ambition to score and perform two tracks from 76:14, the seminal album by his project Global Communication. He invited me to play the DJ warm-up set, alongside Muffled Visions images on the night.
The resulting mix, Deep and Crisp and Even, has remained one of my most-loved — receiving several thousand downloads over the years. To mark its 20th anniversary, lockdown on Paros gave me the time to finally put visuals to it: a 62-minute film of slides, my own photos and found footage, set to a soundscape through choral, classical, electronica and piano music.
We watched it during our solstice dinner — still beautiful. We also listen to it every Christmas Day morning, a tradition born out of something that, at the time, wasn't a tradition... but now is so ingrained in our family's Christmas it absolutely is. 25 years...Kate Kinsella
I was first invited to DJ by Vince Power at The Mean Fiddler in 1985, and haven't stopped enjoying playing music to an audience since. I've been a radio presenter for BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, Chill and other stations, and a journalist for fRoots, Jockey Slut, Update and Top — as well as founding, editing and publishing my own magazine, On.
Support This Is The Fire
The crowdfunder is still accepting donations, and every bit of support helps bring this album of community songs into the world.
