PEG - THE STORY SO FAR

Peg began in the basement of an unfinished Shoreditch juice bar in the chilly winter of 1999. At the time Jane Fitz was playing a few dodgy house gigs, after coming back to the UK from Hong Kong. 'No-one knew me, I wasn't getting anything decent in the way of DJ gigs, so I thought I'd better start my own party.'

The first Peg was on the first Saturday in December 1999. Assembled were a crew of mates, and mates of mates, locals and neighbours, 180 in all, crammed into the bottom of tiny juice bar that was still having the floors fitted. There was no license, no space and the queue for the two toilets extended onto the dancefloor. But it didn't matter. Djs Teak, Liz Edwards and Jane kept the floor packed til the 4am close, while mates handed out half time oranges and shots of tequila. It was that kinda party.

Parties continued, the line-ups changed, the word spread. People liked Peg. It was friendly, really friendly. It was acid house, in the sense the vibe was up, the venues changed, and the DJs were unknowns. And the music? House, all kinds, as long as you could groove to it. The tagline said 'proper music. For the hips.' That said it all.

After just a couple of parties Peg had gained props in Ministry mag (who said 'the spirit of acid house lives on at Peg'), Time Out ('east London's favourite underground party'), Hot Tickets and Spaced. And this was without flyers, magazine promotion or big name DJs - Peg was totally word-of-mouth, with info being spread from 'peg master's' legendary email correspondence.

'The thing that has struck me about Peg is the people,' says Jane. 'It's unpretentious, safe, friendly and it's what everyone says to me after a party: 'Where did you find these people? They're so nice.' And it's true, everyone wants to dance, they want to chat, they want a rollicking good knees-up and everybody's prepared to do whatever it takes so have one. So that means, check your ego in at the door, and your head-nodding anorak trainspotting you can elsewhere. This is a PARTY. And so far...that attitude works.'

By the spring of 2002, Peg had begun to change. It was still super-friendly, but two massive parties for the 2 nd birthday and New Year introduced a whole new crowd to Peg. With it came harder sounds...as the DJs forged a more tech house path. So after a successful, but rather gloomy party in February 2002, Jane decided it was time to get Peg back to basics. 'I really felt that Peg was beginning to feel like a lot of other parties. And that wasn't what I wanted. Lots of blokes standing around discussing tunes and getting supremely spannered. I want dancers, smiling faces, people who want to talk to other people. And for me I think that had a lot to do with DJs keeping the vibe the same all night. Everyone enjoyed it, but it didn't move enough for me. So I wanted to bring the funk back.' She took a three-month break, found a new venue, got a second room back, and when May's Peg came around, Peg was back with a deeper sound and proper groove. Jane said this is what she'd always wanted...not a laddy sound, but something trippier, groovier, maybe more jackin and altogether better.

As the parties rolled by the list of Djs began to incorporate some of the most respected names in underground house, although never forgetting the homegrown talent. "If I like them, I'll book them," explains Jane. "I'm not interested in who's made what record or if this DJ brings a crowd. I want talent, I want quality. And so do the crowd. If people are handing over good money for a night out, decent music is not much to ask for."

As the house scene in London mutated, Peg suffered. Having held many parties in the East End, it was a shock to see electro and minimal sweep through this side of town. As the house nights disappeared, the area's nightspots swelled - but was house still relevant? Jane wasn't sure, so she decided to try something new - to take Peg out of London. And so in August 2005 Peg held a party in deepest Kent, in a barn in the middle of nowhere. It was brilliant. Only a hundred or so people could cram into the barn, but the music, the vibe, the setting was perfect and the party finally wound down on Sunday afternoon. It was this party that marked a new age for Peg - it could go anywhere, or stay home in London - it didn't matter. "As long as the people, the atmosphere and of course the music are there, it doesn't matter where Peg is," concluded Jane. "It will always feel like a Peg party."