UK DJ Tom Ravenscroft convinced the likes of rock heavyweights the Manic Street Preachers and The Duke Spirit to cut a live session straight onto vinyl for the On Track with SEAT series – check it out on YouTube now. We sat down with the 31-year-old BBC Radio 6 DJ, son of the iconic John Peel, to learn a little more about him.
He had a fiery baptism into live music.
‘One of the earliest concerts I can remember was one of the first ever Nirvana gigs in London, the famous one at the 100 Club. I was very, very young indeed. I must have been a little kid – I spent the whole evening on my dad’s shoulders. It wasn’t that busy, but I remember loads of guys, and no one had tops on. And it was very noisy. I remember it being kind of violent, and coming home and thinking: what the hell was that?’
He has an old-school boudoir.
‘Hilariously, a friend of mine came into my room at my mum’s house the other day and was like “Wow, your room is still like a child’s room.” I still have The Fall posters up. I used to buy posters from this American website when I was a teenager. They had these Curve posters that were billboard-size, and I had two; they’d cover the whole wall of your bedroom. So I had two walls in my bedroom that were just Curve posters.’
He was a school dinner lady.
‘I was a dinner lady for about four years. It was very humbling. I used to go to the slightly crummy state school in the local town, and when it finished at 3.30pm I would cycle to the local private school to serve them dinner. I think their food was worse, mainly because I was making it. I did that for years; it was a humbling experience, serving food to kids your age. But I managed to buy a motorbike out of it.’
He’s a public service information film waiting to happen.
‘I recently decided it would be a good idea to chuck an empty crate of fireworks on to a bonfire that was surrounded by children, not realising that there were clearly loads that hadn’t gone off. Lots of my friends who have babies weren’t impressed. There was a moment where there were adults diving military-style and pinning kids to the ground, thinking: I’ll sacrifice my own eyes.’
He hates small dogs.
‘I got attacked by a pack of Jack Russells once – I think they only come in packs. It was at the private school up the road. I snuck into their playground, which, bizarrely, seemed to be patrolled by a pack of Jack Russells. I’ve hated them ever since. If you’re gonna buy a dog, don’t buy a dog the size of a cat.’
He has a spooky psychic sister.
‘Whenever my sister dreams that somebody’s going to die, they do, which is quite troubling for her. So I’m quite glad I don’t. I rarely see anything coming, quite frankly.’
He has a great deal of difficulty getting home.
‘Me and my friend got a cab from one side of London to another; we fell asleep and ended up at Stansted. We found out afterwards that the guy driving us was out of his mind. He was singing a lot. He then pulled over a police car to ask for directions. We were in the car for four hours for a 15-minute journey. Most of the taxis that I get from the BBC on a Friday night are often quite similar to that. I had an absolute lunatic last week, in fact – the guy had no idea where he was going, so they sent out a taxi to pick me up from my taxi.’
To see Tom in action, go to www.youtube.com/show/ontrackwithseat
