PeteTong

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Outro

Pete Tong (Merrily on High)

interviews, outro, December 2006 , COMMENTS

How do we get over the winter blues Pete?

Face the blues - wrap up warm, get out there and enjoy some of the best bits of England. It’s all very bright and crisp and a good antidote to a summer of hot sweaty madness. Or get out of the country. I just got back from Ibiza, it’s very quiet and peaceful out of season.

Have you brought back any stories of wild summer hedonism from Ibiza?

The Spanish government have invested heavily in transport in Ibiza, rebuilding roads and easing access and congestion around the island. It’s an exciting time.

What will you be listening to on Christmas day?

I’ll be listening to Gwen Stefani’s new album and maybe a bit of the new Faithless record. I might also put on some traditional Christmas stuff.

Do you have a favourite Christmas carol?

I like Jerusalem. It reminds me of being at school.

What’s the new CD about? How did you go about making the selection?

It’s a good CD although choosing the songs wasn’t rocket science. It features songs that I would play on the radio but perhaps not in a club. It’s not for music trainspotters, rather an extension of what we do on the Essential Selection show - supporting decent commercial dance tracks.

Does dance music need a lot of support? Are we in trouble?

Not if you look at the charts - dance music is well up there. I’ve noticed that the quality of clubs is improving, so we have the environment for good music to come through. The fall of dance music in the 90s was a convenient news story, whereas dance music just reinvented itself in all sorts of different forms. The last five years dance music has slowly been coming back. But, where are the new Chemical Brothers, the new Prodigy, or the new Basement Jaxx?

So you don’t believe all this about ‘New Rave’ and the Klaxons that the NME are talking about?

Anything that encourages people to dance is good. But the Klaxons are kind of off message. They self-styled themselves as ‘new rave’, but that slogan isn’t catching on. It’s not like they’re the Stone Roses or anything. They wear glow sticks and smilies and whistles. But if you take that away and listen to the music, it has nothing much to do with dance.

Pete Tong’s Essential Dance Hits is out now

Words: Leo Batchelor

From: December 2006 Issue

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