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Interview with Christopher Lawrence — America’s answer to Tiësto
Reported by josie
/
Submitted 12-10-05 20:05
In the 2004 Top 100 DJs poll from DJMag, an American trance DJ reached number 7... ahead of such huge names as John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, Judge Jules, Marco V and Eddie Halliwell. His name is Christopher Lawrence, and compared to many of the DJs he beat hands down, he is largely unknown in the UK.
It is easy to attribute his success in the DJ Mag poll to the sheer size and voter weight of America, but looking a little closer into Christopher’s background suggests a different story. Winner of the Best DJ award at the Dancestar US Awards, he was the only US DJ invited to headline all three of the inaugural Ministry Of Sound, Cream and Gatecrasher tours of America. Described as a “highly respected producer” by Mixmag magazine, Christopher won a preliminary Grammy nomination in 2002, and his tracks have been played by DJs from Paul van Dyk to Tiësto.
His widely anticipated debut artist album ‘All Or Nothing’ met with widespread chart and critical acclaim, and his second artist album ‘Un-Hooked’, a retrospective of his work for Hook Recordings, topped the iTunes dance charts. In August, Christopher Lawrence and John 00 Fleming released a successful collaboration called ‘Attention’. It is high time the UK sat up and took notice.
Do you think you struggled when you first started out because trance is so Europe dominated?
Definitely, I definitely had to struggle harder than my European counterparts. The progressive house and trance scene was dominated by UK and European producers and DJs. House and techno originated in the US, but trance is a much more European sound and so coming up… as successful as I was in America, it was really difficult to cross over into the European market. People didn’t expect quality trance or progressive from America.
Which DJs were popular when you were starting out?
Sven Vath, but then I didn’t see myself as competing with Sven because he was an originator… he was at the beginning of the whole trance movement! There was PvD… I remember meeting him for the first time. I’d gone down to the little place that cut my acetates back in ‘95 and there’s a German guy in there, and I’m thinking what’s this German guy doing in LA getting acetates cut at my guy’s place... and it was PvD. So he came back to my place and then we went out for lunch. Paul Oakenfold obviously… Sasha and Digweed were doing their progressive thing, and they were coming over a lot at that time. Those were the DJs that were getting a lot of attention.
You must get asked this an awful lot — what are the differences between the European and the American scene now?
It’s the same differences as it was back then. As successful as it is, the American scene is still underground… it hasn’t crossed over. The European scene isn’t necessarily commercial, it’s just much bigger, and electronic music is one of the predominant sounds in Europe, whereas America is still based in rock and hip hop. Back when I started out it was all warehouse parties, and it was like that until just a few years ago, then the US Federal Government destroyed the rave scene and had all the promotions scrambling for clubs, and now we’ve become more club-based.
I hear that you frequently wear an ‘I hate Bush’ T-shirt…
Yes! I hate the man, and with each passing day I am more and more frustrated that he was re-elected for a second term! It was a bit suspect wasn’t it — the whole thing? He’s got a couple of years left, and he’s doing his best to destroy not only the States, but also the rest of the world as he heads out of office!
Have you heard this rumour that he’s started drinking again since Hurricane Katrina?
I’ve heard that rumour and I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s pretty much widely known that the man was a cocaine addict and an alcoholic in his youth, and I don’t suspect that he’s changed much… he’s just kept it well concealed. It would make sense after Hurricane Katrina that he’d probably start hitting the bottle again. The guy is a moron. I could tell you all kindsa things because my friends and I are obsessed with him.
So are you the only American superstar DJ?
That’s kind of a catch 22 question, if I answer it then I’m saying I see myself as a superstar DJ!
Well you are... you were number 7 in the 2004 DJ Mag poll.
OK, I guess for the sound I play I’ve probably got the best name coming out the United States, but then there’s Jeff Mills for techno, Danny Tenaglia for house… but yeah for my sound I’ve done quite well.
How would you describe your sound?
I hate even using the word trance because a lot of what I play is techno. The sound that I play… you’d call it trance but I’m not particular as to the genre that the records I play come from as long as they fit within the sound. I’ll play techno if it’s a trancey techno record, I’ll play house if it’s a trancey house record. Does that make sense? I don’t go for the really obvious sounding trance records, I like to go for something that’s got a bit more depth and substance and a bit more mystery.
You released your first artist album in 2004. Is it a really frightening experience doing a first artist album?
It was a horrible experience! It’s bad enough to do singles but that’s one track… people either like it or they don’t. It’s got a shelf life of three months then it’s gone. But an artist album… you toil on it and toil on it until you think you have something that is worth putting out... maybe it’s ready to go out into the world — but then you’re at the mercy of the critics and your fans! They’ve been waiting for this and waiting for it, but then I pulled the old Sasha manoeuvre where I said it was originally coming out in 2000, and it came out like in 2004! I was saying in interviews “it’s coming out this fall”... “it’s coming out this spring”... “it’s coming out this winter.” It was really getting embarrassing, then it finally came out and there’s nothing I could do… there it was.
You worked with quite a lot of people on that.
Yeah I worked with Chris Cowie who’s a talented techno and progressive house producer, and I worked with BK, which was fantastic.
When you choose people to work with do you just choose them on their sound, or are there other considerations, like choosing British producers to get better known over here?
I actually choose people because I like them, which you’d think is the worst way to choose when it’s business! It’s on the material that they’re doing, also that I like the quality of their production, and thirdly is that I like the person, because you’re going to be sitting in a room with them for a long time. That’s how I decide, not to sell more tracks. I’ve never made decisions just to increase sales, I’d rather do what I do with integrity.
Is there anyone out there you’d like to work with?
Yeah but they don’t even know that I exist! I’ve been playing a lot of psy trance lately and it’s so well produced! It’s evolved quite well over the past couple of years. There’s this guy called Astrix… I listen to his music and I’ll sit there in the studio and think how the f*ck did he do this?! Guys like that and Demetrius, I don’t know how they do it.
And you don’t think they’ve ever heard of you?
Doubt it… well maybe… but I don’t think so!
I notice that you’ve played an Arnie party, do you do quite a lot of commercial events?
Yeah for the Terminator III movie, I do some of that stuff on the side… like Playstation parties. When I did the Terminator party I was half an hour into a five hour set and the woman who was in charge came into the booth and said, “are you going to play techno all night? It just sounds like you’ve been playing the same track since we opened the doors.” I said “I’m sorry, you guys booked me for this, I’m doing what I think’s, what were you looking for?” She said, “don’t you have any Michael Jackson? Do you even know what RnB is?!?” and starts going through my record bag! Then she said, “you were supposed to be one of the best DJs, I thought you’d know good music! This happened the last time I let my assistant choose the DJ, we got this guy who was supposed to be the number one DJ in the world — Paul Oakenfold or something and he was terrible!” And I had four hours more to go! Her assistant came up and said “this is what happened when Paul played, we’ll just take her off and get her completely drunk, and then we’ll send her back to her hotel room.”
What are your thoughts on Miami, has it become as commercial as everyone says?
I’d have to say yes. What’s kinda sad is it’s become a lot of branded parties, and the more commercial labels have pushed their way in. It’s lost that magic that it used to have — it used to be up and coming DJs and producers passing things out to each other. It was a vacation from the rest of the year, where all the guys that you bumped into in airports or briefly during parties you actually got to stand around and drink with them or go to parties and listen to DJs and have fun and now it’s… I'm actually thinking of skipping it this year.
Did you play in Ibiza this year?
I played Jules’ party. We played together in Glasgow at the Arches and then we flew down to Ibiza and played there together. I really like Ibiza. It’s fantastic that you can just have parties 24 hours a day… everyday… for the whole summer. It’s like utopia with dance music. Know what else I like? The lack of inhibition that people have there… people go there, and they go for it. That’s what the WMC used to be like.
Do you play in London much?
Yeah I play there twice a year at the Gallery. Then I’ll play for Godskitchen up north, and the Arches, and then I usually do one of the festivals — either Global Gathering or Creamfields. Playing in the UK is fantastic, there’s all these people saying “oh it’s not like what it used to be,” well maybe… but it’s still fantastic. Particularly London — you guys are spoiled — you have no idea what it’s like outside of London! You get the best parties, and they go all night. In the States, our clubs have to close at two. If they’re lucky they’ll get a late licence until four. Security’s absolutely shocking as well, practically pulling your pants down as you walk in the door [ladies and gentlemen, remember Americans call trousers ‘pants’].
Are you now using Ableton Live?
Not when I play out, no. I use it in the studio for production purposes. I’m not a big fan of using laptops for DJ sets. I like the idea that you can have all your music in there, and Final Scratch… fair enough, because at least a DJ still has to mix, but I think Ableton Live is for those who are barely able to mix live.
PvD uses it!
Yeah, but he knows how to mix! He’s been mixing for years, and I already respect him. He’s a producer, and I know that PvD knows how to use Ableton Live the way it’s meant to be used. BT uses Ableton Live as well. I was on tour with him, and he is as live as live can be — he’s bringing things in and out and remixing his tracks basically on the fly. But I’ve also been in the booth with DJs that turn on Ableton Live… and there's nothing live going on, and that’s what I don’t like.
Is this story true that a fan came up to you and asked you to sign a burned CD copy of an album you hadn’t released?
Yes! It happened here in the States! I got done playing and they came up and they had a blank CD and they said, “can you sign this, it’s your new album, ‘All or Nothing’, a friend of mine he had a copy of it, I think he downloaded it then he burned a copy for me.” I said, “you know that as a producer, and the other people involved in the production of my album… we count on the sales of this. You realise you’re hurting the people who are making the music?” “No but I really like it!” It went completely past him, he just didn’t understand what I was saying.
You weren’t tempted to give him a bit of a slap? You'd be in good company, Judge Jules and PvD have both done it.
It happens sometimes. Two weeks ago I was playing at a club in Atlanta and Tommy Lee was there. So he was in the DJ booth, and there was like, 20 girls in there as well… and they were not there for me! All for Tommy! This one comes up to me while I’m in the middle of a mix, and said “let me put one on!” I said “what?” There’s like a thousand people in front of me. “Come on I’ve never DJed before, I just wanna give it a try!” I’m looking at her, and I said “no!” She said “you’re telling me you’re not going to let me put one on, you're a f*cking asshole!” and starts yelling at me. “Security!”
Would you clear up some American-style questions for us, we’ve formed our views on America from TV and that can’t be good.
Go ahead.
Is it true that everywhere is covered with poison ivy?
No. There’s no poison ivy up here in LA, I think that’s in the south or something.
All the good bits are cut out of TV shows, like the sex and the swearing?
Oh yes that’s true, and if you go to Blockbusters they censor their videos.
Are all cops overweight and eat doughnuts?
Yes, except for in West Hollywood where I live, where they’re all calendar models!
Do they wear aviator shades?
Do you know what, all cops do wear aviator shades, I think it’s a prerequisite! It’s part of the uniform!
Did Michael Jackson do it?
I hope not. You know what, he’s a freak but my gut feeling tells me no.
Did OJ do it?
Yes!
Christopher’s own label — Pharmacy Electronic Music — will release its first tracks this winter.
www.christopherlawrence.com
All photos courtesy of Christopher Lawrence.
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Other Features By josie:
It's the Generation game featuring Agnelli & Nelson, The Thrillseekers and Lange
Peach at Heaven: Reviewed
The Gallery at Turnmills: Reviewed
The International Indoor Festival at SeOne: reviewed
The double ender: interview with trance legends Darren Tate and Mike Koglin
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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