2Klub - Peter Ward

Peter Ward

I knew of Peter Ward from my visits to Trade, where his style was "chunky but funky and tough edged house," but as he played in the Lite Lounge, rather than the main room, I had hardly ever heard him play. It was when he played in the main room one night unexpectedly (for me at least) that I got blown away by his set, where he played some wonderful hard uplifting music. This was when I was running 2Klub presents SWEAT at Subway City in 2001, and decided then and there that I had to have him come up to Brum and play for us. He did not disappoint! Apart from Trade he's also been playing various clubs in and around London and Brighton, with his latest residency being at Twist, at Fire in Vauxhall, the new after-hours hard dance event.

As I've got to know Peter I've discovered a very straight-forward guy with an intelligent and deep understanding of the music business, and the club scene. His roots go back to the founding fathers of the modern hard dance scene, including the legendary Tony de Vit, as you'll discover if you read his interview on the Trade website. For those who are aspiring DJs, there's a very interesting and honest story there. Below is what Trade say about him on their website. For the interview click here.

"Peter has held residencies at some of the most famous venues in the U. K. of which include the legendry Heaven and the Fridge in London as well as the Paradise Factory in Manchester. In addition to these he has been found in the Velvet Rooms, Escape from Samsara, Transcentral and Manchester Mardi Gras. His professionalism, adaptability and obvious talent caught the eye of Trade promoter Laurence Malice who signed Peter to become part of the Trade collective.

Before joining Trade Peter had already taken his sound around the world on his own, playing Italy, Germany, Belgium and Canada amongst others. Peter was the first guest in seven years to be given a yearlong residency at La Demence, in Brussels. Peter had achieved that rare feat of becoming better known for his talent outside of his own country than in it.!

Since 1994 Peter has been busy in the studio producing tracks under Transform 21 (#1 in the German charts), Injector and the Action Men. He has released under labels: Tec records, Choci Chewns and VCF Records as well as collaborated with such noted DJ's as Mrs Wood, Choci and Richard Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire. Then in 2000 he set up his own label, in conjunction with fellow producer DJ Mishka named 'Ephedrine Recordings.' He states that the label is an interesting fusion between hard-edged house and hard trance. The label has recently had its thirtieth successful release, and has had several tracks signed to compilations, including a recent Nukleuz CD.

Since joining the Trade Collective in '99, Peter has released two tracks for the label - in 2001 he released 'Trash Dance' which was quickly followed up by his latest release 'Let's Move' both of which achieved highly respectable sales and critical acclaim.

The latter half of 2001 saw Peter's international respect skyrocket and in just 3 months he performed in South Africa, Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ibiza and Paris alongside his London residency at Trade where he can be seen whipping the crowd up and priming them for the night to come with his set in the Lite Lounge, portraying his pumping style in a stylish and funky "subliminal" set that puts a sexy feel into his music. " (Extract from the Trade website, dated 2002).