RS: Well let's go to something more positive. What was the inspiration for doing All or Nothing, an artist album, as opposed to another DJ mix compilation?
Christopher Lawrence: It was a completely different thing. I've done several DJ-mixed compilations, and those are fantastic because they're a snapshot in time, a souvenir of a night out that captures a DJ's particular sound. I think an artist album is far more expansive and involves a lot more creativity, if just for the fact that I had to make the music myself. I couldn't just pick out the best records in my box, no matter who they were by. Actually, I did come up with some good ones myself and made them. Having made the singles over the years that I put out on labels like Hook Recordings and Moonshine, along the way there were other types of music that I liked that wouldn't necessarily translate best on a dance floor but was music that I felt inspired to create. An artist album is an outlet for that type of creativity, and that's why I think All or Nothing has a bit more diversity to it than a straight-up compilation CD.
RS: Do you find it more difficult doing an album as a project as opposed to doing singles over time?
Christopher Lawrence: Oh, it's way harder. Singles over time are a lot easier because you sit there in the studio, work on a track, and it either works or it doesn't. Then, when you get done, you go wow and road test it, play it out, and I go wow, this is fantastic, this is good, let's go with this. Or it doesn't work so good on the dance floor and I think, you know what, I took the wrong direction, we'll just shelve this one. So singles are pretty easy because you road test them and you put them out if they're good or you don't put them out if people aren't into them. You can't really road test an album. I put what I felt were the best tracks that worked together and formed a bigger picture. You put it out and I hope that other people respond to it in the same way that I did when I put it together.
RS: You worked with some really incredible people on the album, both US and European, how did you hook-up with BK?
Christopher Lawrence: BK was an interesting one. I'd been playing his tracks and at the time, he was producing what's called hard dance or hard house. There was a period of time a few years ago where the trance that was being made was that commercial epic stuff and I just couldn't find anything that I liked. So I was having to do a lot of my looking for records in other areas like techno and in the hard dance area, and I discovered BK. His production is fantastic and he made the classiest hard house records that I could find. Pitched down a bit, they fit perfectly in my set. I got into contact with him and his label and they were really excited because I was playing in different outlets than most of the DJs that were playing the Nukleuz sound over in the UK and I was coming at it from a trance angle. So we decided that when I was going to be over there in the UK the next time, we'd get together and see how we got along and how it worked in the studio. He's a really nice guy, fantastic to work with and we got two tracks out of it.
RS: You're such a trance guy and he's such a banging a hard house guy, I just wouldn't imagine the two of you would meld so well together.
Christopher Lawrence: It went really well because both of us are quite open to other influences and that's why I found it creatively inspiring to work with him, because he's coming at things from a different angle than I do. I think you meet half-way. He's a really talented producer and he's done all types of music. His background was doing television and advertising soundtracks, so he's got a lot of experience in a variety of styles.
RS: I'm a big fan of his, I love that hard UK sound. I see you also the single, Attention, coming out with John "OO" Fleming. How did the two of you meet-up?
Christopher Lawrence: Oh God, I've known John for years. It might have been when we were touring in Australia or in Canada when we started really hanging out. We got along really well on a tour and then every time we played together again, we really looked forward to the night. We kept in contact and have been playing together for years, so we said why don't we work on a track together? We both play a similar sound and get along well, so let's see what can happen. Again, it was one of those things where I was going to be over in the UK for a couple of weeks, we hooked-up at his studio and things just worked out really well.
