Pete Lawrence
This Is The Fire
New songs of protest, hope and connection — written to be sung together, around fires, in halls, on marches, and on the terraces.
"Singing together is the key to world peace." — Brian Eno
In an age marked by division and disconnection, collective singing is more vital than ever. It reminds us of what it means to be human: to raise our voices in harmony, to listen deeply, to come together around a shared vision.
That's the spirit behind This Is The Fire — Pete Lawrence's first album in two decades, due in 2027. A powerful collection of new songs, some designed to be sung together in community, carrying messages of protest, hope, heart connection, and universal love, inspired by both traditional folk culture and contemporary community singing movements. These are songs for our times — not just to listen to, but to sing.
Pete, the visionary behind the Big Chill Festival, the Cooking Vinyl label and the founder of Campfire Convention, has long believed in the transformational power of music. As a lifelong campaigner for peace, social justice, and systemic change, he now returns to his roots with a project that feels both timely and timeless.
"Music connects us emotionally more deeply than anything else," says Pete. "Singing together symbolises harmony itself — cutting across divisions, dissolving boundaries. These songs ask: what do we want from the world? How can we reimagine the future together?"
"When I saw the Dylan biopic, it highlighted how Pete Seeger and others had united a whole movement. I then remembered a letter Seeger wrote to me in the early '90s, responding to my fRoots column, where he reflected on how technology had shifted focus to music made into microphones, rather than what happens in communities — kitchens, buses, and hiking trails — reducing people to mere spectators."
A generation gathering not only in studios and stages, but around campfires, in community halls, on marches and in schools.
Pete's new compositions were first sung around the fire at the summer Campout gathering in Wales, drawing positive emotional responses and communal joy. Now, after a crowdfunding campaign in 2025, the album recording process has been ongoing through 2026 and will be ready for release in spring 2027.
"My co-producer Oskar Vizan heard the demos and was keen to come on board. He's an instinctive technical craftsman with a musical ear and has an uncanny ability to elevate songs into art," Pete says.
The album marks a new chapter in Pete's creative life — not just as a producer or event curator, but as a singer and songwriter in his own right.
"This project has helped me find my own voice — literally and creatively. It's very different to Under One Sun, the chill-out album I made as Chilled By Nature. These songs are direct, from the heart and, I'm told, very catchy. They're rooted in a folk-hymnal tradition, yet made to be sung around fires, in schools, at rallies — even on the terraces."
At its heart, This Is The Fire is a call to rekindle what connects us — through music, through stories, through song.