Artful Dodger Interview

Virtual-Festivals.com - How did it go tonight?

Pete - It was really good. It was interesting to see, at the end, everyone kinda left. That's probably not because of the next DJ. I think that they were just here to see it really. They came and made the effort and now they are going to do something else. That was really encouraging. They had plenty of opportunity to leave, when we did tracks like 24/7 and songs that the general public aren't familiar with cos they haven't been singles. But people stayed and people, you know, jut vibed.

VF - How's the future looking for Artful Dodger?

Pete - The summer's really hectic cos obviously Ibiza, Aiya Napa, Tenerife, all that lot. 24/7 is the next single. That'll come out some time in August with a big guest vocalist, yet to be announced. We'll do another single this year, then another album next year and just keep on. We want to do more with the live thing. People expect us to be DJ's, to play our records on a set of decks. I think that today will shock a lot of people, that we can actually put together a live band and that's maybe the way we'd like to go. Some way to showing that we are a serious act, not just a flash in the pan couple of DJ's.

VF - Do you feel that you are put in the non-serious category?

Pete - Rightly so - we come from the dance scene so people do make assumptions. They all assume that we are a couple of DJ's from Southampton and you have to go out there and educate people and let them know that, you know, I'm a classical pianist, I have been since I was 5 years old. We wanna go out and take it live. It's a big step for dance music because there are not many acts who do go live. If we can sort of bridge that and get away from the turn tables. DJ's are fantastic and people love it, but it's another dimension to play live. It takes a lot of work, a lot of effort but it was worth it tonight.

VF - Do you prefer playing festivals or clubs?

Pete - A bit of both. If I was on the road all the time, I'd get very bored very quickly and it's a nice balance. Festivals are a break from the norm, they don't happen every week. Really, this is the beginning of the summer, the Homelands festival but you know, I can't wait to get back in that small sweaty little club cos that's when you get a real different atmosphere. Not a better atmosphere, a different atmosphere. We're doing as many things as we can, to bring as many more people into it as we can.