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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Pete Lawrie
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 26 April 2011
Hailing from Liverpool, singer-songwriter Pete Lawrie struck out from a film degree with the ambition of becoming a professional musician, working in petrol stations to fund his developing career. This first took off when he posted a song called ‘Just Dust’ on his MySpace page. The self-penned tune, which now features on his debut LP, drew major label attention, with Pete signing to Island Records imprint Field in 2008. With the album ‘A Little Brighter’ several years in the making, Pete has collaborated with Lauren Pritchard and Fyfe Dangerfield, and also toured with acts including The Feeling.
As he gears up for the grand release on 2 May, Pete has a live show booked on 30 Apr at Cardiff Arts Institute, with several summer festival appearances also lined up at Dot To Dot, Larmer Tree and Standon Calling. With all this excitement yet to come, we offered Pete an extra thrill in the form of our Same Six Questions.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Well, it’s hard to define, really. My parents are both musicians professionally and so there were always instruments in the house. I suppose I first started taking composition seriously when I discovered jazz and was encouraged to improvise by my music teacher. That was probably when I was about fifteen. I was playing the trumpet at the time!
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
It’s really a case of 27 years summed up in a collection of songs. Songs like ‘If Not For You’ are about my childhood, “coming home too late for dinner, to my Mother’s worried face”, and songs about living in various flats with friends, like on the song ‘Paperthin’, “best friend living on my bedroom floor”. So I suppose life up to this point inspired this record. I better do some more living for record two!
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
I nearly always start with the drums. I come from a production background of making instrumental hip hop, where it is essential to start from the drums up and I never let go of that. My favourite part of writing is the words. I find the escape in writing the words; it puts me in a zone that I enjoy being in.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
For the sound of this particular record, it would be, I suppose, artists that I have always loved, such as Paul Simon and Elton John, though I think you would be hard pushed to actually find any of that in the sound of the album. It’s more lyrical influences really, and they range from Jay-Z to Bright Eyes and plenty inbetween.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I hope you like it. I hope something in there connects with you. I have tried to be honest on this album and I hope that is what relates to people and comes across.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
This year, to play to as many people as possible. To play as many live shows as we can. I think it’s the best way to directly connect with people.
MORE>> www.petelawrie.com
