Christopher Lawrence Interview

September 9, 2004 2:29 PM
by

Christopher Lawrence is currently on tour promoting his debut artist album All or Nothing (see review in the music section) and encouraging concerned Americans to get out and vote in November.

CoolJunkie’s Tim O’Connell caught up with CL at the W Hotel in NYC.

CJ: So, how’s the tour going?
CL: Going well, cruising right along, doing real well.

CJ: How long have you been on tour and how much more do you have to go?
CL: The official album tour started in July and will continue through August but I’ll keep the momentum going as long as I can.

CJ: What is the best, wildest, craziest city or event that you have played so far?
CL: A party that I did in LA called Red. It was fantastic. It is a once a month and they just go off.

CJ: I remember that when you were in NYC @ Avalon, there was a particular song that just blew the place up…
CL: Oh yeah, I remember, Avalon was good, a really good night. I had fun that night.

CJ: Is there a particular song or songs that are blowing places up?
CL: There is a track by the Thrillseekers that is really big right now and a song by John ‘00’ Fleming and that’s a good one…but probably the biggest song is called Connection. It’s a white label.

CJ: A lot of your set is build and break, build and break, but I remember there was one big build and it just blew the place up - It was nasty. I understand that you are in the process of launching a new record label called Pharmacy Music / Pharmacy Records.

CL: Actually, it’s called Pharmacy Electronic Music - we have to be pretty clear on that because there is an alternative rock record label in Australia by a similar name. I came up with the name because I just love the red cross symbol and the double entendre of the name (haha).

CJ: You are going to do the first release ‘Genesis’, right? Do you have any follow up releases in the works or artists signed to the label?

CL: Yeah, that’s right. I’m accepting submissions right now and doing some A&R. I’m also doing some traveling, and, I mean, I come right to the source. People can hand me stuff at parties.
CJ: I’ll have to get working then!

CL: Get working right now! [CoolJunkie, get working, CL needs quality underground trance beats]. Yes, we are setting up distribution now. I didn’t realize how involved starting a label is. It’s like starting a business.

CJ: So, it’s another full time job on top of your current full time job?
CL: Yes, it’s very slow to set things up.

CJ: What’s the date of the first release?
CL: Well, it depends on the distribution, but first we were thinking February, then May, but now, realistically August or September.

CJ: Does your record label have a mission statement, a set of goals, or a set style of music that you want to put out?
CL: I mean, it’s going to be underground trance, because that’s what I know. I always hear good stuff in other genres but I just don’t trust myself to put out say, a house record and know that’s its going to be a good one and sell well. The focus will be underground trance, more bangin…

CJ: Speaking of underground trance…I got into the scene in 98/99 when trance was huge and then it kind of died down, and now I see it coming back in another form, and that’s what you call it.
CL: Yeah, underground trance. It became huge and then, like everything else, people capitalized on it and started making commercial trance; they’ve done it to house music and to everything.

CJ: It started to spoil the heart of what was there originally...
CL: Yeah, myself included just goes, “oh god” and you kind of recoil and back away; things became deeper and darker and I went the whole progressive route, but it got so deep, it just got to be pretty boring and lost its soul!

It seemed like all we were left with was a kick drum and a high hat…because nobody wanted a hint of a melody in there. Now we’re coming back out of that. People want to have fun when they go out…I mean, its called electronic dance music, its gotta have a little something in there, its gotta have a baseline.

It’s coming back around but obviously people don’t want to go the commercial route, because that’s what ruined it in the first place. I think it’s a tougher underground sound that bridges between progressive and trance.

CJ: I agree, I noticed that in 99/00 when I started really djing, that it was more about a competition between dj’s of who could have the dirtiest, darkest sound rather than about the people. I said, this just doesn’t seem right, but now, things seem to be changing. The music is heading it a lot of different directions. Which I’m sure you’ve seen because I mean, you have been in the business for what, 10-15 years?
CL: Since 1990.

CJ: Wow, 15 years, excellent.

CJ: Is there somewhere that fans and djs can find information about your record label and tour?
CL: Yes! I’ve got a brand new website, its awesome - www.christopherlawrence.com. It just got launched, simultaneously with my new album. I can brag about it because I didn’t design it! It was designed by Eric Jordan, a company called 2advanced. They do all kinds of websites and have won all sorts of awards.

CJ: I agree, 2advanced did a great job!
CL: Yeah, it was going nuts, getting about 80,000 hits a day when we launched it!

CJ: Really?
CL: It was out of control - part of it was fans of mine, but also really, fans of Eric Jordan.

CJ: Yeah, I checked it out - I saw that it tracks your tour and has some new tracks on there too.

CJ: So, to change the topic of conversation a little, if you weren’t a dj, what would you be? Or if you weren’t involved in music, what would you be doing?
CL: Oh god, I don’t know what I would be! I mean, I’ve been doing this for so long, and its like, well, my wife asked me, “you know at some point this is going to end and what are you going to do? Either one of two things is going to happen, the music is going to change and people won’t like the music that you like, or you are going to get so old that you wont be able to play anyways - you wont be able to get into the club! At some point you are going to have to do something else!” But I really don’t know, because I cannot imagine doing anything, this is what I do

CJ: So, if you weren’t a dj, you’d be a ….dj?
CL: (pause)

CJ: How about we come back to it! [We never got back to it. Christopher Lawrence is a DJ and will continue to be a DJ because it is what he does and knows best].

CJ: What influenced you to originally become a DJ?
CL: I had been living in San Francisco and had been clubbing since I was 16 years old.

CJ: How old were you when you started to dj?
CL: I was in my early twenties, and acid house is what completely turned me around. It was like 1989/1990 and my friend took me to the basement of this club, and the music was just something I had never heard before and just thought, I have to get these records. I started collecting records, and then got turntables.

CJ: So the dance scene started here, went to the UK, has been bubbling there since. Do you think its coming back here?
CL: It’s here. Since the United States is such a large country, we have different scenes bubbling all over. The West Coast has its deep house. New York has its underground tribal sound. Detroit has its techno. Each area exports its specialty and we end up having a huge melting pot of sound.

We are unlike the UK, in terms of geography, where you can club the entire country in a weekend. The size of the United States is what prevents it from becoming a weekend clubbing adventure but we’re hot right now.

CJ: Any new hotspots developing in the world?
CL: Yeah, Australia is very hot. They have been going strong for a while actually. That place is fantastic. The people are really well educated with music. It’s a really mature crowd. I just did this tour called Two Tribes. The two biggest promoters in Sydney and Melbourne joined forces and brought together 10,000-15,000 people. And it’s not a glowstick and pacifier affair - it’s a sophisticated crowd, 20’s and earlier 30’s.

CJ: When you started, did you envision this type of future for the scene or were you just pursuing the scene with a pure love of the music?
CL: No, I really just loved the music; we did free parties and a pirate radio station. Getting paid $50 to play at a club was like the greatest thing. After doing free parties, $50 paid for my records! I mean, like everyone, we had day jobs. This was just a passion you had on the side. At that time, it wasn’t a lucrative job - the money was not in it.

CJ: Initially, you didn’t even think of it as a career?
CL: No, not initially. Then it started to get bigger and I started getting booked for more events. Then, I had to make the leap of faith. I had to just go with it and see where it goes, because this is really cool and it would be great not to have a day job, or I could stick with my day job and just play here and there. So, I quit my day job! Didn’t pay my student loans back for 5 years and lived off credit cards for awhile. But yeah, it turned out well - I mean, we’re here at this hotel…

CJ: The artist album, is it something you’ve been wanting to put out for a while now or is it something that came together after years of producing and releasing singles?
CL: Yeah, it was never like, I sat down and said, I’m going to do any album for the next six months. It was more like; I had been working on a bunch of singles and tracks that weren’t dance floor material. I was accumulating a lot of tracks and a lot of singles. I started to think that maybe I could do something different, instead of putting out singles, I could put out a full-length album. That decision was made a few years ago…so that’s what I have been working out.

CJ: Personally, I love the songs, ‘New Day’ and ‘Untitled Dub with Noises’. Where did that name ‘Untitled Dub with Noises’ come from?
CL: Actually, that track was sitting on my computer. I didn’t come up with a title yet. That track was a year old and while it was a work in progress, I just called it ‘Untitled Dub’, then added some noises, therefore becoming ‘Untitled Dub with Noises’. Then the album was coming out and we just decided to leave the title as is!

CJ: I also love Freefall, who is the vocalist on that track?
CL: Camille Kramer.

CL: She has such a beautiful voice.
CJ: Are there any songs from your cd that you have been playing out that are getting a good reception?
CL: Yeah, two of them: Saboteur and Hot Rod. Both of those have been doing really well. I played both of them back to back at Avalon.

CJ: One thing I also noticed at your Avalon show in NYC was that you had a shirt on that said: Anyone But Bush. Great shirt…Do you have any affiliations with or are you endorsing democraticunderground.com - the organization that put out that shirt?
CL: No, I just got that shirt. But there is a group that I am supporting; redefeatbush.com. They did a campaign where it was myself, BT, Crystal Method, and some rock bands. We were trying to get people to vote - especially in the electronic music scene. Politics have really been affecting this scene.

CJ: So, will you be voting this year?
CL: Absolutely. I’m going to vote twice!

CJ: For fans of the scene who want to keep the scene as is, what would you encourage them to do this year?
CL: Register to vote then get out there and vote - every vote counts. You can register to vote at redefeatbush.com and moveon.org. You can also register at Rockthevote.com. It’s really important. Not just for our scene, but for the rest of the world and our children as well.

It’s not only Iraqi people getting screwed, it’s our own soldiers as well. Just bring our guys home. It’s unbelievable, I have some friends who just came home, and they say that it’s fucking crazy there; you can’t believe what goes on.

CJ: I agree. We need people to vote if they feel a change in foreign policy is needed.
CL: There is so much more honor in just admitting that we made a mistake and just getting out. Know when to say when.

CJ: Just some political stuff, anything else you would like to tell your fans; interesting stories, lost records, crazy fans?
CL: No, actually things are going really well - no records lost because I always take them with me on the plane…that being said, tonight will probably go terrible! I’ll have a Bush loyalist come up to me.

But actually, my website sent out an email saying that the album has been released and this guy freaked out, saying, I will never buy your album, how could you say these things about President Bush…etc. This guy just went crazy, so aggressive. You know, if President Bush came to a party, I would be like, great, get your groove on Bush! GW doing the hokey pokey….

CJ: Thanks so much for meeting with me and best of luck with the tour and album!
CL: No problem and good luck to you too.