Peter, tell me a bit about yourself and your background?

I was born Trinidad in the West Indies, but left there when I was about 4 or 5. I'm a bit of an exotic mix - I'm half-Caribbean and half-English, with a bit of oriental on my mother's side. I just celebrated my birthday recently, I'm not telling you which one - but that makes me a Pisces.
I studied photography at college. I was following the City and Guilds course, which I majored in Fashion photography. When I moved to London, I had an exhibition in a gallery and continued taking photographs. I went to the first ever Clothes Show Live at Olympia, and walked past the Storm modelling agency. They asked me if I' d ever thought about becoming a model. I told them that I took photographs, so I did some test shot for them, and started taking photos for them, but they kept suggesting that I should be on the other side of the camera. I did some shoots for Dolce & Gabbana for the Face magazine.

Is it true that you used to be a model?

At the same time whilst I was doing the photography, this was 1992. I got a job at the old Bar Industria on Hanover Square, which was owned by Wayne Shires and Rod Lay. This was when I first met Laurence Malice. It was very glitzy and glamorous in there, always full of industry people and models. During the time I was working there, I made some contacts and I got signed to the Boss model agency in London and New York. I carried on working at the bar whilst my modelling career was taking off.
One night Vivienne Westwood was drinking in the bar, and I got chatting with her. In a drunken state, I asked her for a suit, and she asked me to visit her workshop the next day, when she did give me a suit! From this meeting, I started working with her, and became one of the house models - They used to cut the suits from my size in the fashion house.
By this time I had stopped the photography, but thought that it was something I return to, I decided to give the modelling a go.
I eventually left the bar, and was modelling and living in America for a while. And then I did many shows and campaigns all over the world. To name a few designers for example Yohji Yamamoto, Hugo Boss, John Richmond, Copperwheat Blundell. My favourite thing must have been doing the catwalk shows. It was Linda Evangelista taught me how to turn properly on the catwalk, and I was there when Naomi Campbell wore those shoes and fell over on the catwalk.

Have you got any more good modelling stories to share with us?

There was an incident at a Vivienne Westwood show. I with Linda Evangelista and the fashion press were hounding us, and wouldn't leave us alone, so we ended up hiding underneath a big table all night, drinking bottles of champagne. Also you can still buy a life-sized mannequin, which was modelled on me. Whilst I was modelling, they cut a lot of the suits from my size, and they also made a mannequin of me to use in shop windows and in workshops. The last asking price was around £800 from Adel Rootstien on the Kings Road. It's exactly like me, and I come in two different skintones. There are three different hair colours to choose from - blond, black or blue!

Why did you stop it all?

It was 95 or 96 and I'd got quite heavily into the music and club scene by that time - A lot of my friends were night time and club people, and I was doing this job in the daytime which had started to feel a bit meaningless. Sometimes I would get paid in clothes and I had so many of them. It got to the stage where I was wearing a £1000 suit to go the supermarket. I found that it was the kind of industry where everything was judged on looks, which I didn't like and after a while of being immersed in it, It actually started to get a bit upsetting and depressing for me.

What about your progression into the dance music scene?

Music always went hand in hand with my modelling, and was always something that I was interested in. It was whilst I worked at the bar that I met a lot of players from the club and music scene. Laurence Malice, Rachel Auburn, Fat Tony used to run a night there called Abba, I'd met Steve React and George Mitchell, The Sharp Boys at Garage, the club that they used to run at Heaven on a Friday night. I started making and producing records before I became a DJ. I had always really wanted to make a track, knew an engineer, and got myself some studio time. The track eventually came about and it got submitted to React, but it got turned down. It was a trancey record made under the name of Transform 21. They passed it on to John Truelove, and it came out on his Tec label. It made number one in the trance charts in Germany. I made a follow up to this track with called the Cellular EP, but at this stage I still never intended to be a DJ.

How did you get into DJing?

When I stopped modelling, I became involved with The Edge on Soho Square. They also owned a club called Vortex and I started working there in promotions and bookings. I think this was because I knew a lot of DJs and people about on the scene. It was Mrs Wood who suggested that I learn how to mix, as it would go well with my production work, and give me a better understanding. My first gig was actually at my own club, but it was the final night of the club. I put myself on at the end of the night - I was shocking, and my mixing was dreadful! After Vortex closed, they turned level 4 of The Edge into a club, and I started playing there on Friday and Saturday nights. I got my break through this, and started playing at The Star Bar in Heaven on Saturday nights, the slot before the Sharp Boys. I then went on a Heaven tour of Belgium, and on the back on this, was offered a year long residency at La Demence in Belgium.

How did you land your Trade residency?

I was playing in the star bar in Heaven at the time. After being at the Trade New Year party for 1998/1999 Laurence called me and offered me a trial to play at Chameleon, but I played at Trade first to see what the crowd reaction was like. I started playing in the Lite lounge in January, and went down really well. By the June of 1999, I had been offered a full and proper residency.

How would you describe the music that you play?

Tuff, chunky, energetic House music… With Balls!

Tell me about the history of Trade Lite?

The Lite lounge started off just over four years ago - It has its fifth birthday later on this year in September. For a start, it was never in the room it now occupies. That club was much smaller and the T2 room was never there. At the time it was known as the Sharp Lounge and it always took place in the upstairs in the old Gaudi café, which is soon returning as the Trade coffee shop.
When Alan Thompson finished his set on the main floor, he would go upstairs and start playing in the chill out coffee bar. When they arrived from playing at Heaven, The Sharp boys would follow on. After playing downstairs Malcolm Duffy would play there too and then Fat Tony would finish everything off at the end. Sometimes there would be a Bongo player too.
The lounge quickly developed a following and grew in popularity. With such a loyal crowd, the lighter side of Trade was just as much in demand; and the music and DJs were moved downstairs when the second room in Turnmills opened, and the Lite Lounge was born.

What did you get up to for Trade last year?

I started doing tours for Trade in the middle of last year. First of all I went to Ireland with Steve Thomas, then Los Angeles. In South Africa I was filmed for a promotional video for the club, arriving at the club with two page three girls on my arms drinking Champagne. Later on I played in Ibiza, and finished up in Malaysia with EJ Doubell, which was fantastic. We played a gig in Penang and then in Kuala Lumpur to princesses from the Malaysian royal family. Coming up next month in April I'm going to be DJing at Trade Paris at Le Queen club again.
On the production side of things, I released a track called Trashdance for the Trade Medium label last year, which did pretty well, and I've just completed a follow up to this for Trade called Let's Move, with Andy Allder, which should be out sometime soon.

What does Trade mean to you?

Trade is a fantastic place to introduce new sounds. I like to try different things out in my set, and gauge the crowd reaction to them. It's good to be able to move to music on, and try out fresh ideas and styles.
Trade is somewhere that I feel honoured to play at. I received so much support when I was starting out from Trade. The Sharp Boys, Steve Thomas, and Malcolm Duffy were all really helpful. I used to go there before, and sit in the box and watch Tony de Vit playing - He taught me to use the masters, rather than the cross fader for mixing.

Do you have any embarrassing Trade stories?

It's not really so embarrassing, but it was the first time that I went to Trade. It was during the time that I was working at Bar Industria, so in about 1992 or 1993. Laurence came to the bar and gave me VIP tickets to Trade, so I took a friend along. We got refused entry and turned away at the door. I think that it was because we weren't members or known on the door. It was a lot harder to get into the club in those days, but I sorted out my tickets, and got VIP membership, went again and got in the next week.
Also, I've been thrown out of the club once before, for being naughty…

And you run your own record label?

When I got involved in DJing and producing in 1995, I started working in a record shop on Saturdays in Soho. It's Choci's Chewns in St. Anne's Court. In fact I still work there. Whilst working there, I met my business partner Andreus, who set up the Ephedrine record label, which I now run in conjunction with him. The style of music on the label is harder than the music that I play at Trade. It's sort of a fusion of Hard House and Trance music. We're just coming up to our 30th release, and we've had one of the tracks signed to a Nukleuz CD compilation. I use the name DJ Injector when I produce tracks in the hard style for the Ephedrine label, and also to DJ when we get bookings and gigs for the label. I play in two different styles, and like them both. And of course I maintain the two music collections. It's a completely different way of thinking and mixing. It's a good discipline, and nice to be able to have the full skill spectrum.
Apart from the Ephedrine label, I've started up my own record label PW Trax, which has had one release so far called the International DJ EP, which came out on a Reactivate CD.
It's funny though, one Sunday at Trade I played on of my House tracks in my set, then I heard Malcolm Duffy play a track from my EP earlier on and then EJ Doubell played one of the harder Injector tracks at the end, all in the same night!

What's your favourite drink, as all the other DJs have told me so far?

My absolute favourite drink is a Vodka Martini or a good glass of champagne, although they are a bit hard to come by, especially on a Sunday morning!

Anything else you'd like to say?

Yes. Come over, say hi to me at the club, and have a chat and drink.

And as a special treat here are some of Peter's modelling pictures:

Interview and words by Ramón. © Trade 2002

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