Established UK-talent Made By Pete lands on Damian Lazarus’ flagship Crosstown Rebels imprint this February. Collaborating with Savage & SHē on the two-track ‘Walls of Zion’, it acts as the debut release of 2022 for each artist and marks Made By Pete’s long-awaited return to the label.
Born and raised in London, Made By Pete is an artist who can count mavens of the electronic music scene like Damian Lazarus, Sasha and Kolsch as big fans of his sound. He has seen his work snapped up by taste-making labels such as Crosstown Rebels, Saved, Rebirth and Radiant to name a few, whilst performances across the world at clubs such as Space (Ibiza), Chinese Laundry (Sydney), Fabric (London) as well as Thailand’s famous Full Moon Party have highlighted him as a truly global artist.
WWD: Hi, thanks for taking the time to speak to us today! Where about are you talking to us from?
Hi. Thanks for having me. I’m in my studio which is in Surrey just outside of London.
WWD: We’re here to talk about your forthcoming release on Crosstown Rebels. This is your third release on the label. Can you tell us the inspiration behind it?
‘Walls of Zion’ is structured around a drum groove that I played on my Djembe. I had actually just bought it that day. I was really keen to start experimenting with it so I took it straight into the studio and started recording it. The track had already been sketched out a few weeks before when Savage & SHē were in my studio and this groove just bought it all together. I ended up pitching it down a whole octave and running it through a distortion pedal to get the final result. For the B-side, I had written the lyrics for ‘Too Drunk To Dream’ about 4 years a go but never found the right way to use them. I pulled them up and read them to Chris & Sheena (Savage & SHē ) and they really liked them, so with a bit of refinement from all of us, Sheena was able to bring them to life and deliver a great performance.
WWD: Your music takes a listener on a melodic journey full of different textures and tempos. Tell us what your early influences have been for your sound and production.
When I first started as a DJ I always found myself drawn towards tribal house and live percussion, listening to the likes of like Danny Tenaglia, Dubtribe Soundsystem and the Cafe Del Mar Chill House series. As a result, grooves, beats and textures have always been at the core of my productions. I find that if I can get those in place first and find a vibe then it gives me the direction I need to find the melodies, leads, vocals, or any other elements. As for my more recent influences… I would say that now more than ever I find myself looking outside the world of dance music for inspiration. I think that is what drew me towards Damian and Crosstown Rebels. Tracks like Tuvaband ‘Trees’ and Yuma ‘Smek’ were so refreshing to hear. Outside of the electronic world, I’m a big fan of Fleetwood Mac. The vocal harmonies between Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham and Christine McVie have always inspired me and I often find influences in their early music when Peter Green was at the helm.
WWD: What are the main pieces of electronic equipment you have in your studio, are you mainly hardware or software based?
Over the years I have refined my studio setup to be a hybrid of both hardware and software. Both have their strengths so for me, when I get them both working together in harmony, that’s when the magic happens. Logic Pro is the DAW I use and it is at the heart of everything I do in terms of arrangement and utilities. I’m lucky enough to have some great synthesisers like the Moog Matriarch, Moog Sub 37 and Vermona Performer. I also have an Allen & Heath GSR24M console which gives me great routing options and allows me to have everything plugged in, synced up and ready to go. When I have an idea, I don’t need to faff around plugging things in or setting anything up. This is really crucial for me as it stops the tedious stuff getting in the way of the creative flow. I’ve been collecting percussion instruments for a while too and I have a few great mics to capture their individual character. I find that most of my sound sources come from hardware simply because I enjoy the tactile experience of playing them. Software can be just as inspiring too. Sample based instruments like Cycles from Slate & Ash and Omnisphere from Spetrasonics have both provided key elements in my music over the past few years.
WWD: This is your third release on Crosstown Rebels, how did you first make contact with the people behind the label?
Luck… and I hope this story will inspire other producers to keep persevering. My first release on Crosstown Rebels was ‘So Long’ with Jem Cooke in 2018. We had actually written the record specifically for another label, who sat on it for a few months before deciding to pass on it. I was gutted when they did that but also kind of relieved because the record turned out to be quite different to the original idea. I had always been a huge admirer of Damian and Crosstown rebels and I thought ‘So Long’ would be a perfect fit. I had never met Damian nor did I have his contact details so I went to on the CR website and found the generic demos email address. It must have been no longer than 20 mins before I got an email back directly from Damian saying that he loved it and wanted to sign it. It can be really hard to reach the big labels at the start but you just have to keep knocking away and have faith in what you’re doing.
WWD: The release is in collaboration with Savage & SHē. You have been following them for some time, can you tell us a bit about them and how were they to work with?
I had been chatting with Chris & Sheena (Savage & SHē) via Instagram for a few months after loving their remix of Doyeq feat. Jay Medvedeva – Break Into My Walls on trueColors. I saw that they were touring in the UK and invited them to my studio. We spent a few days recording loads of ideas and the result was this 2 track EP. Collabs can often be a bit hit and miss but things flowed really well. We all seem to have slightly different strengths and skills which we are able to combine. We also got on really well and I have just returned from visiting them in Tulum where we played together in the Jungle at SET Underground.
WWD: How has your experience been during the pandemic? And we are interested to hear your views on what’s in store for the industry in the wake of it.
The pandemic and resulting lock-downs were quite devastating for our industry as a whole. Especially for the venues and promoters who were completely frozen out. For me personally, I found it to be a bit of a blessing. It afforded me time… which can be hard to come by. I locked myself away in the studio 9-5 every day and just worked hard on music. Some days I would ignore trying to make ‘tracks’ and focus on delving deeper into new equipment or experimenting with recording processes. I tend to write music quite slowly so having all the extra time really helped me. As for what the future holds, who knows. I just returned from Mexico where one of my gigs was canceled due to Covid so it’s still having an impact. I think we just need to support each other and try to find innovative ways to evolve and continue doing what we love.
WWD: What’s coming next in your schedule? Anything exciting planned for 2022 now that things seem to be going back to normal?
Well, the year has started really well with touring in Tunisia and Mexico alongside this new EP on Crosstown Rebels. I’ve been collaborating in the studio with Emanuel Satie & Just Her so that music will be coming out later this year. I have a remix for UNDERHER ft. Eleonora ‘Calling’ coming out on 18th Feb. I was such a huge fan of the original track so when Gene at trueColours invited me to remix it I was really happy. I’m really proud of the result and am looking forward to sharing it with everyone. I also have a three-track EP coming out on Emanuel Satie’s new label in April. The lead track is a collab with my good friend Zoe Kypri and I think it’s my best piece of music to date so I’m really excited about that.
WWD: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today, is there anything else you would like to add before we finish?
Just a huge thank you to everyone who supports me and enables be to do what I love 🙂
Made By Pete x Savage & SHē – Walls of Zion. Released 11th February on Crosstown Rebels. Buy HERE