D A N C E  N A T I O N  M E E T S  D A V E  P E A R C E

Dave Pearce has a long record as a DJ on pirate, commercial and BBC radio, and in the clubs. His first taste of radio came in 1981 as a DJ on the popular pirate station Radio Jackie in South London.

After Dave persuaded the BBC station to hook up with top New York station WBLS for live satellite shows, he was approached by BBC television to help create their first dance show 'Behind The Beat'. He then went on to present a nightly show for young Londoners on BBC GLR for 3 years, focusing on dance, acid house and rap.

Dave joined Radio 1 in April 1995, initially hosting the Early Breakfast Show on weekday mornings, moving to weekend mornings in October of the same year and has presented his current shows since February 1997.

So Dave, how did you start DJ-ing?

Basically it all started at school, I started collecting records and then it led to DJ-ing for friends and at parties and so on, then I managed to get into pirate radio – a station called Radio Jackie – this was all when I was still at school

Do you think its harder nowadays to get into the industry?

In a way yes but then again no. When I first started in the industry there was only a handful of radio stations and far less clubs, but now the scene has absolutely exploded. There’s so many opportunities and jobs in the industry that in a way its maybe easier to get into nowadays

What’s you favourite nightclub?

I think the friendliest club is perhaps Escape in Swansea – its absolutely crazy in there. I also like Tall Trees in Yarmouth and you cant beat the main room at Ministry of Sound – the sound system in there is superb

What’s you favourite club in Ibiza?

Well its got to be Eden really!

What’s your main tune at the moment?

Dirt Devils – The Drill

Signed it to my own label and we’re releasing it soon, it’s a kinda Mauro Picottostyle, Hard House-esque tune – I’ve put it on my new Euphoria CD too

Are you one of these DJ’s that hates it when Dance Tracks go commercial?

Not really no, I like to see records make it and I don’t like to only push them half way, I like to see them go all the way, obviously there's a point where they get over played and you have to leave it but other than that it doesn’t really bother me. A good example is Push – The Legacy which is set to get into the charts, that hasn’t been on the radio 1 play-list and has simply relied on dance specific shows and club play.

Have you always wanted to be a DJ?

Well obviously when I was a kid I wanted to be a train driver but once I found music I knew there was nothing else I could go into

How important do you feel the internet is in the music industry?

I think its very important – we’re thinking of doing an overhaul of the Nu-Life website and I’ve got my own website www.davepearce.co.uk I think it’d be a good idea to put some of our tunes Nu-Life signings on the site.

I get e-mails from all over the world and one funny thing happened to me in a clothes shop in Miami when I was at the Winter Music Conference. A guy from Columbia came up to me and it turned out he listened to my show over the internet on the radio 1 site and recognised me from the photo on the site!

What do you think of Napster style sites?

Well it’s a catch 22 really. As a label we invest a lot of money in a record to the point where sometimes we only break even. It’s a very useful promotional tool and can get music heard by people – in the example of Darude’s Sandstorm – that was signed up off an MP3 site and became a massive hit. Then again if everyone gets free music, its difficult for the musicians to keep going. It is useful but can cause trouble but at the moment its not really a problem as not everyone does it – people still like buying good old CD’s. At the end of the day, I think it needs regulating.

Another interesting thing I found was in India when I was in Bombay, DJ’s over there were downloading tracks of Napster because they couldn’t get the vinyl!

Personally I prefer Vinyl to CD’s, even though CD’s are much easier to store.

Any future ambitions? Where will you be in 10 years time?

10 years time?!?!?!? I haven’t got a clue. I definitely want to keep on building up Nu-Life and I’d also like to start DJ-ing in more unusual destinations abroad, that’s where you meet more interesting people

Dave let us into the new tunes you should be looking out for from Nu-life…

Warp Brothers – Blast of the Speaker

Ian Van Dahl – I will

Dirt Devils – The Drill

Jam and Spoon – Re-angled (featuring a Paul Van Dyke Mix)

Sagitare – Shout

Big Fella - Beautiful