Pete is celebrating a decade of spinning sunset soundtracks at San Antonoio favourite, Bar Mambo. But is it as good as it used to be? And how on earth do you get a three day hangover?
Pete at Cafe Mambo
Lets talk about Ibiza - Is it as good as it used to be?
“I think it's better now in many ways and not as good in other ways. The problem is we always remember the past being better than it really was, like saying "it's not like 1989". Well no it's not, the clubs are much busier and there is so much more choice these days, but what I don't like about clubs wherever they are now is you can only hear one sub-genre of house at any one club, like funky house all night or techno all night - back in the late 80's you would hear everything in one night. In my opinion that is so much better and far more entertaining, it stops things getting stale.”
You spend a huge amount of time there, could you ever live there permanently?
“I do really love Ibiza, I have been there every year since I was 12 years old, with my parents at first then with friends and then the last nine years playing out there. But five months a year is enough to be honest, I know many of my friends say the winter is the best time of the year, but I would be bored, I love London, which is where I spend most of my time as far as the UK goes, and I love all the other countries I play in so there is not one place in the world that I would always want to be in, I love getting a little piece of them all.”
In terms of your personal experience, do you find there is much difference between playing UK clubs and Ibiza clubs?
“The difference is that people's mentality is different, they don't have work the next day, the weather is good, they have usually enough money so they have a lot less worries and just want to have a good time. They go crazy and stay up for days at a time, so Ibiza crowds usually have a more up-for-it response I think.”
It's Mambo's 10th Birthday and to commemorate this you are compiling the Mambo CD, how are you hoping to capture the spirit of it?
“I think this compilation does capture the spirit of Mambo but that's not easy on a CD to be honest. But take this example, the first CD reflects the music policy of Sunset and the daytime, and the tempo goes from 72 bpm to 132 bpm and music styles vary from chillout to jazzy, funky electro to drum'n'bass; so it's not always easy making it flow but I'm sure I did it this time. Hopefully I captured the spirit of Mambo by putting a little bit of everything in there.
The second CD is the same, the first three tracks are 114 bpm, then it goes to 126 for the rest of the CD, and the styles include dubby, latin house, deep house and progressive; so it can be hard making it flow but if I did it any other way it wouldn't reflect the bar in the way it really is. I also put some of my classic Mambo favourites on there - tracks by Ballistic Brothers, 51 Days, A Man Called Adam and some others, so its got lots to offer as far as a single compilation goes.”
Why have you allied yourself so closely with Café Mambo in particular over the years?
“Well I really feel at home there. It's hard work playing eight hours a night but it's great fun and we always have great staff who make it a fun place to be around, the view from my DJ box is pretty unbeatable too. If you look at our DJ line up, there probably is not another venue in the world that can match it, and as I love to play a really varied music policy it's one of the only places that can accommodate it. So why be anywhere else?”
Outside Cafe Mambo
Mambo is famous for its sunsets - what do you play when it's cloudy?
“When it's cloudy I change the music to a much darker, moodier more electronic type of chillout sound, as it just feels right. You could say playing the sunset is like putting music to a film, so if you get into it, it all makes sense really.”
Who are the people behind Mambo and what would they say about you?
“Javier is the owner and he would have a high opinion of me as he knows how hard I work, and as I have been there nine years and he hasn't sacked me yet he must think I'm good. But when he reads this he will still have a laugh and a joke with me, say I'm crap and complain about how much of his booze I drink.”
When you're DJing is there any kind of play off between playing tunes that you like and tunes that the crowd likes?
“Well I think a good DJ plays to himself and to the crowd, but in Ibiza you can get away with more than you can anywhere else. If I play an hour of deep house after sunset it doesn't sound boring because it fits the environment really well, but at the end of the day I will only play records I like, I do draw a line. There are always enough good tracks around, so there is no excuse to play the bad ones.”
Tell us a tale about a really messy night of chemical fuelled music industry debauchery. You don't have to name names... but make it juicy .
“Well, my messiest night ever was at Mambo in 2000. I was playing at Mambo with Stan, another DJ who worked for Mixmag in Ibiza. The bar was packed, even inside you could not move, and we had been drinking for hours, bottles of wine, beers, everything, then we were doing shots of Absinth, Aftershock and Jagermister. I got up on to the shelf on the back of my DJ box and started dancing, the manager called me to the bar and offered me a shot of Jack Daniels, but I just grabbed the whole bottle off him and got back up on the DJ box. I was egging everyone on in the bar with great success, but I fell off and landed on the floor in loads of broken glass, smashing loads of the equipment in the process. I don't remember much more but Danny Whitehead, the other resident DJ at Mambo at the time, told me he put valium in my mouth when I was brought home as I was in such a state. And I woke up with my blood actually sticking my sandals to my feet. I was in such a state the next day my friend had to take me to the doctors where I was given a Valium injection to calm me down plus a course of tranquillisers for a week. I had never ever felt as ill as I did then and never have since, it took me three days to get rid of the hangover.”
Have you always had an ear for music from a young age, or did it develop more when music became your profession?
“When I think back I realise I have been into music from a very young age, I seem to have so many early memories and there is always a record I attached to that memory that sparks it off.
“When I started going out in about 1988 I would be into rare groove and jazz funk and stuff like that, which really got me interested, but in 1989 I really got into house and I began to be obsessed by music. It's been the same ever since.”
What kinds of music other that house do you really like? And what is it about them that does it for you?
“If you meant stuff I would listen to at home, then that would be Frank Sinatra, I could listen to him night and day, or some of my old Cafe Del Mar cassette tapes I bought off Jose Padilla years ago, which are now treasured possessions.“
Pete at Cafe Mambo
Do you think there is any truth in the adage that dance music is currently in decline?
“It obviously is in some ways, but the media can over do it. They always need something to write, and I think they did over do it. However I think clubs were struggling in the UK a year or two ago, but the gigs I get in the UK are great now to be honest. Clubs like Turnmills, The Cross, The Bomb… all fantastic places to play and never short on punters - and worldwide there is so much happening.
“On a different note record sales are down, I think almost by half in some areas, but good records still sell well. It was reaching saturation point with the amount of releases every week – there's lots of rubbish out there, but there's loads of really exciting stuff as well. The compilation market is the same, there are plenty of boring ones but still some great ones too so I just think that these days you may just have to look a little harder to find the better quality product.”
Are you ever envious of rock stars or do DJs have it better?
“Rock stars get so famous they can't walk down the street without all that hassle, whereas DJs get attention to satisfy their egos but can still lead a relatively normal life… if they want to that is. And as weird as it is, I have never even been to a live gig or concert in my life and have never really thought about wanting to be a rock star. I'm pretty happy doing what I do.”
Does working in your position change the way that you listen to music - even when you're just listening for pleasure?
“I don't hear house music the same since I started making music, as you tend to zoom in on the individual parts and start to analyse how good they are, or to be critical, like "is that hi-hat too loud?” But non-house stuff I hear sounds the same as it ever did.”
You presumably get sent hundreds of records a week; does listening to music ever become a chore?
“I can't believe I'm about to say this because I'm grateful I get so many, but I do get sent a lot of utter rubbish, and as I review for two magazines I have to listen properly to them all. After an hour of going through promos you can loose your ear and miss good stuff, and sometimes it can all sound so average that I'll pull out an old favourite just to remind myself what a good track really sounds like. I make a yes, a maybe and a no pile, and most stuff in the maybe pile still ends up in the no pile. So it can be a chore sometimes, especially if you're really busy, but it's part of the job and I do get a lot of great stuff sent to me so it's worth it.”
What labels and acts are really doing it for you at the moment?
“People like Francois K, Josh Wink, Funk D'Void, Futureshock and Masters at Work, among many others, are favourites of mine. When I open my post in the morning, if I see a track by any of these I'll run up to my decks and put it straight on. Also Tenaglia or Steve Lawler's stuff, I don't always identify with what I'm into to be honest, mailing lists often get confused with what I like and so do I, but it's simple: if I like it, I'll play it, and that's that.”
What's the most embarrassing record you've ever bought?
“Probably ‘Holiday Rap' by DJ Sven and MC Miker G, I think I still have it in my pile of seven inches in my record racks.”
Looking back, would you change anything about the way your career has gone?
“Yes, I would have taken it seriously earlier on than I did. I would say I have only really been working hard for about six years, if I had got stuck in from day one I would have done more things by now, but to be fair I have had a great time so I probably wouldn't change anything else.”
What does the future hold for Pete Gooding?
“Well, to keep doing what I am doing now really, I love travelling the world playing music, I love making music and writing about it, I just want to spend my life doing something I love.”
Toni Tambourine
Pete at Cafe Mambo
Lets talk about Ibiza - Is it as good as it used to be?
“I think it's better now in many ways and not as good in other ways. The problem is we always remember the past being better than it really was, like saying "it's not like 1989". Well no it's not, the clubs are much busier and there is so much more choice these days, but what I don't like about clubs wherever they are now is you can only hear one sub-genre of house at any one club, like funky house all night or techno all night - back in the late 80's you would hear everything in one night. In my opinion that is so much better and far more entertaining, it stops things getting stale.”
You spend a huge amount of time there, could you ever live there permanently?
“I do really love Ibiza, I have been there every year since I was 12 years old, with my parents at first then with friends and then the last nine years playing out there. But five months a year is enough to be honest, I know many of my friends say the winter is the best time of the year, but I would be bored, I love London, which is where I spend most of my time as far as the UK goes, and I love all the other countries I play in so there is not one place in the world that I would always want to be in, I love getting a little piece of them all.”
In terms of your personal experience, do you find there is much difference between playing UK clubs and Ibiza clubs?
“The difference is that people's mentality is different, they don't have work the next day, the weather is good, they have usually enough money so they have a lot less worries and just want to have a good time. They go crazy and stay up for days at a time, so Ibiza crowds usually have a more up-for-it response I think.”
It's Mambo's 10th Birthday and to commemorate this you are compiling the Mambo CD, how are you hoping to capture the spirit of it?
“I think this compilation does capture the spirit of Mambo but that's not easy on a CD to be honest. But take this example, the first CD reflects the music policy of Sunset and the daytime, and the tempo goes from 72 bpm to 132 bpm and music styles vary from chillout to jazzy, funky electro to drum'n'bass; so it's not always easy making it flow but I'm sure I did it this time. Hopefully I captured the spirit of Mambo by putting a little bit of everything in there.
The second CD is the same, the first three tracks are 114 bpm, then it goes to 126 for the rest of the CD, and the styles include dubby, latin house, deep house and progressive; so it can be hard making it flow but if I did it any other way it wouldn't reflect the bar in the way it really is. I also put some of my classic Mambo favourites on there - tracks by Ballistic Brothers, 51 Days, A Man Called Adam and some others, so its got lots to offer as far as a single compilation goes.”
Why have you allied yourself so closely with Café Mambo in particular over the years?
“Well I really feel at home there. It's hard work playing eight hours a night but it's great fun and we always have great staff who make it a fun place to be around, the view from my DJ box is pretty unbeatable too. If you look at our DJ line up, there probably is not another venue in the world that can match it, and as I love to play a really varied music policy it's one of the only places that can accommodate it. So why be anywhere else?”
Outside Cafe Mambo
Mambo is famous for its sunsets - what do you play when it's cloudy?
“When it's cloudy I change the music to a much darker, moodier more electronic type of chillout sound, as it just feels right. You could say playing the sunset is like putting music to a film, so if you get into it, it all makes sense really.”
Who are the people behind Mambo and what would they say about you?
“Javier is the owner and he would have a high opinion of me as he knows how hard I work, and as I have been there nine years and he hasn't sacked me yet he must think I'm good. But when he reads this he will still have a laugh and a joke with me, say I'm crap and complain about how much of his booze I drink.”
When you're DJing is there any kind of play off between playing tunes that you like and tunes that the crowd likes?
“Well I think a good DJ plays to himself and to the crowd, but in Ibiza you can get away with more than you can anywhere else. If I play an hour of deep house after sunset it doesn't sound boring because it fits the environment really well, but at the end of the day I will only play records I like, I do draw a line. There are always enough good tracks around, so there is no excuse to play the bad ones.”
Tell us a tale about a really messy night of chemical fuelled music industry debauchery. You don't have to name names... but make it juicy .
“Well, my messiest night ever was at Mambo in 2000. I was playing at Mambo with Stan, another DJ who worked for Mixmag in Ibiza. The bar was packed, even inside you could not move, and we had been drinking for hours, bottles of wine, beers, everything, then we were doing shots of Absinth, Aftershock and Jagermister. I got up on to the shelf on the back of my DJ box and started dancing, the manager called me to the bar and offered me a shot of Jack Daniels, but I just grabbed the whole bottle off him and got back up on the DJ box. I was egging everyone on in the bar with great success, but I fell off and landed on the floor in loads of broken glass, smashing loads of the equipment in the process. I don't remember much more but Danny Whitehead, the other resident DJ at Mambo at the time, told me he put valium in my mouth when I was brought home as I was in such a state. And I woke up with my blood actually sticking my sandals to my feet. I was in such a state the next day my friend had to take me to the doctors where I was given a Valium injection to calm me down plus a course of tranquillisers for a week. I had never ever felt as ill as I did then and never have since, it took me three days to get rid of the hangover.”
Have you always had an ear for music from a young age, or did it develop more when music became your profession?
“When I think back I realise I have been into music from a very young age, I seem to have so many early memories and there is always a record I attached to that memory that sparks it off.
“When I started going out in about 1988 I would be into rare groove and jazz funk and stuff like that, which really got me interested, but in 1989 I really got into house and I began to be obsessed by music. It's been the same ever since.”
What kinds of music other that house do you really like? And what is it about them that does it for you?
“If you meant stuff I would listen to at home, then that would be Frank Sinatra, I could listen to him night and day, or some of my old Cafe Del Mar cassette tapes I bought off Jose Padilla years ago, which are now treasured possessions.“
Pete at Cafe Mambo
Do you think there is any truth in the adage that dance music is currently in decline?
“It obviously is in some ways, but the media can over do it. They always need something to write, and I think they did over do it. However I think clubs were struggling in the UK a year or two ago, but the gigs I get in the UK are great now to be honest. Clubs like Turnmills, The Cross, The Bomb… all fantastic places to play and never short on punters - and worldwide there is so much happening.
“On a different note record sales are down, I think almost by half in some areas, but good records still sell well. It was reaching saturation point with the amount of releases every week – there's lots of rubbish out there, but there's loads of really exciting stuff as well. The compilation market is the same, there are plenty of boring ones but still some great ones too so I just think that these days you may just have to look a little harder to find the better quality product.”
Are you ever envious of rock stars or do DJs have it better?
“Rock stars get so famous they can't walk down the street without all that hassle, whereas DJs get attention to satisfy their egos but can still lead a relatively normal life… if they want to that is. And as weird as it is, I have never even been to a live gig or concert in my life and have never really thought about wanting to be a rock star. I'm pretty happy doing what I do.”
Does working in your position change the way that you listen to music - even when you're just listening for pleasure?
“I don't hear house music the same since I started making music, as you tend to zoom in on the individual parts and start to analyse how good they are, or to be critical, like "is that hi-hat too loud?” But non-house stuff I hear sounds the same as it ever did.”
You presumably get sent hundreds of records a week; does listening to music ever become a chore?
“I can't believe I'm about to say this because I'm grateful I get so many, but I do get sent a lot of utter rubbish, and as I review for two magazines I have to listen properly to them all. After an hour of going through promos you can loose your ear and miss good stuff, and sometimes it can all sound so average that I'll pull out an old favourite just to remind myself what a good track really sounds like. I make a yes, a maybe and a no pile, and most stuff in the maybe pile still ends up in the no pile. So it can be a chore sometimes, especially if you're really busy, but it's part of the job and I do get a lot of great stuff sent to me so it's worth it.”
What labels and acts are really doing it for you at the moment?
“People like Francois K, Josh Wink, Funk D'Void, Futureshock and Masters at Work, among many others, are favourites of mine. When I open my post in the morning, if I see a track by any of these I'll run up to my decks and put it straight on. Also Tenaglia or Steve Lawler's stuff, I don't always identify with what I'm into to be honest, mailing lists often get confused with what I like and so do I, but it's simple: if I like it, I'll play it, and that's that.”
What's the most embarrassing record you've ever bought?
“Probably ‘Holiday Rap' by DJ Sven and MC Miker G, I think I still have it in my pile of seven inches in my record racks.”
Looking back, would you change anything about the way your career has gone?
“Yes, I would have taken it seriously earlier on than I did. I would say I have only really been working hard for about six years, if I had got stuck in from day one I would have done more things by now, but to be fair I have had a great time so I probably wouldn't change anything else.”
What does the future hold for Pete Gooding?
“Well, to keep doing what I am doing now really, I love travelling the world playing music, I love making music and writing about it, I just want to spend my life doing something I love.”
Toni Tambourine
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