Step one to becoming a globe-trotting DJ with a weekly slot on the radio: get kicked out of broadcasting school. At least that’s what worked for Gilles Peterson.
“When I was young, I didn’t do that well in school,” he told tabloid! over the phone. “My parents, ‘cause I couldn’t get into university, they put me into radio broadcasting college, which was a three month course in London, and I ended up getting kicked out after a month because I just didn’t fit in.”
“I just couldn’t play by the rules of broadcasting, so it’s quite ironic that I managed to make a career out of it.”
Now, with three decades of experience under his belt, Peterson has a Saturday afternoon slot on BBC Radio 6 Music and performs on international stages among household names in EDM (Electronic Dance Music). On March 21, he will perform with his buddy DJ Carl Cox at Atlantis Beach in Dubai, and ahead of his gig, he told us where his love for jazz stems from, and why he thinks the oldies are just as important as the fresh-faced stars.
What are you looking forward to about coming back to Dubai?
I’m always looking for a bit of mid-winter sunshine. We’ve been through quite an extreme winter this year in England. I’m also looking forward to playing with Carl Cox, ‘cause we tend to play once a year together in Ibiza, when I play at his residency at Space, that’s always a good time because he’s one of the nicest people in the planet of DJs. There’s always lots of people — lots of old friends who are still running about Dubai. It’s always nice to come.
Jazz is one genre that’s seen a lot of attention from you. What is it about jazz that pulls you to it?
I’m one of the old school, I suppose. Even people like Carl Cox, we kinda grew up at the same time in South London, and back in those days, the fundamental key to DJing was jazz, funk and soul. And within that was disco. Jazz was kind of part of the fabric that made up what became funk and what become disco. Which became house, which has gone on to become EDM, I suppose. In a way, jazz has always been the base of all of that good music.
You started out on pirated radio. Do you still champion the underdog?
The thing is, I’m lucky ‘cause I do a radio show in London on the BBC and I’m known to be somebody who champions the new as well as the old, in a way. So on one hand, I’ll be able to bring over some old, legendary jazz musician and talk to them about what it was like travelling around America in the ’60s, but on the other hand, I can introduce a new artist like Laura Mvula or James Blake or whoever it is. For me, that’s the perfect combination because, in a way, there’s so much exciting music going on around the world, not just in the UK, these days, and there aren’t enough radio shows that are really championing a lot of this amazing new music, so that’s something that I found myself doing a lot, but then equally, I like to find those old legends and magical moments in the past and bring them to life as well.
You’ve played small clubs and you’ve played to huge crowds — do you have a preference?
My perfect club is probably about 700 people, all night long, amazing sound, huge disco ball, after-dinner start, sunrise end. My perfect gig, I think!
Favourite place you’ve been to?
I go back to Japan twice a year. That’s always a really important place for me to go to, because there is a really strong passion for the music that I play over there. I always feel like I come back lifted. So I would say, Japan is really a special space.
Radio presenters always have so much energy first thing in the morning. Do you think the medium keeps them young?
I have no idea. It’s weird, I mean, I listen to those guys on the radio who do the daily shows, I’m like, “I could never, ever do that.” Once a week, for me, is absolutely fine.
Live @ Atlantis with Carl Cox, Gilles Peterson, Sharam and Yousuf will take place on Atlantis Beach, Atlantis the Palm, on March 21 between 6pm-3am. Tickets are Dh200 regular and Dh400 VIP, available online through virginmegastores.me.