Every artist remembers their first time stepping out on stage, but not everyone can say they played Bristol's Lakota nightclub at 15 years old. Pete Cunningham, who leads Bristol-based Ishmael Ensemble as its producer and saxophonist, started the collective as an experimental bedroom project, which now has a quarter of a million monthly listeners on Spotify. He recalled his first taste for stardom at the then Colston Hall, now Bristol Beacon, in the mid-2000s.
"I remember seeing all the backstage area and guts of the building and thinking this is an environment I could get used to," Pete began. "I also remember DJing at Lakota when I was 15, it was the first time I’d been in a real nightclub and immediately fell in love with the rush of playing records through a massive stack of speakers."
Bristol has a strong Soundsystem culture stretching back decades. It was born out of the city's underground Dub and Roots scene popularised by St Pauls Carnival, one of the places where Pete fell in love with music after visiting the festival when he was a teenager.
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He also remembers being shown Roni Size & Reprazent's, the Bristol DJ's Drum & Bass outfit, and their album New Forms. "The fusion of the Drum & Bass I knew and loved combined with the live Jazz elements I was learning at school definitely sparked something in me."
Mr Scruff's mixtape Keep It Solid Steel ignited his interest in Nu Jazz, which then encouraged him to form obsessions with acclaimed 20th-century musicians such as John and Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry and Archie Shepp. "I think it made me fall back in love with playing saxophone as well, an instrument I was on the edge of giving up at the time."
The contemporary UK jazz scene has been nuanced over time. It now heavily incorporates flavour from other genres, which Pete injects into his Jazz Electronica collective, Ishmael Ensemble, fusing modern Jazz and Electronica.
He started it as an experimental production project in his bedroom, but he quickly became bored with the process of using samples from records and sample packs I began recording with his friends instead. The core group now consists of Pete, Jake Spurgeon, Stephen Mullins, Rory O’Gorman and Holly Wellington, most of whom all grew up within a commuting distance of Bristol around Paulton and Midsomer Norton.
"I used to travel in on the bus from Paulton as a teenager and go skating at College Green then record shopping on Park Street before catching a gig at places like The Fleece or The Croft (now crofters rights)."
Around 2006, Dubstep was bubbling up in Bristol and there was a real buzz in the city for electronic music. "I remember meeting heroes of mine like Pinch, Appleblim or Peverelist and realising they were just normal people making music on quite simple setups and perhaps I could one day do the same."
This was also around the time a big free party scene was growing in the South West where there would be a different rave every weekend at a local quarry or derelict warehouse. "This is where I really cut my teeth as a DJ. It’s quite a rite of passage - trying to beat match two records as the rain lashes down through a makeshift gazebo with high winds coming from all angles - a real baptism of fire.
"I always reference the excitement and adrenalin of hearing a party on the horizon, the thud of a distant kick - a feeling I’ve tried to recreate in tracks like 'Tunnels', 'Lapwing' and 'Soma Centre'."
'The Rebuke' is the band's most recent release after their acclaimed second album Visions of Light. The new track is laced with the Drum & Bass and Jungle records Pete spent his teenage years playing. "The track is actually born out of quite a rough time - lyrically it deals with singer Holysseus Fly’s battle with breast cancer last year - a journey I wanted to replicate musically," Pete explained.
The collective's ingenious sound certainly lends itself to live performance and has seen them perform on some of the UK’s most respected stages - including shows at Glastonbury this year at Arcadia and West Holts.
"It’s hard to get a minute to really feel nervous or excited, but once you know everything’s working you can really get into it. Glastonbury was truly a dream come true, I’ve been going there since I was a kid and West Holts has always been my favourite stage - so yeah bucket list moment for sure!
After a string of UK shows this autumn, the collective will return home to Bristol this week to play Trinity Centre. "It feels like it’s going to be a proper celebration of everything we’ve achieved so far. Can’t wait!"
Ishmael Ensemble play a sold-out show at Trinity Centre on November 10
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