In this world of superstar DJs who are just so damn serious and self-important, it's nice to meet a goofball like Lee Burridge who just likes to have fun and spin to crowds. Everything about Lee is larger than life - his bold personality, the 365 tour, and especially the new 3-disc mixed set in the Balance series. Just in case you live in a city where Lee hasn't played recently (which are few and far between), check out the new set for a taste of this jovial prankster.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: How're you doing today, Lee?
Lee Burridge: I'm doing great, actually. It's been a long and arduous
journey from the UK to Peru to Burning Man to Australia to last
weekend, and by Sunday I was kind of melting, but I'm OK now. I've had
a couple of days to recover and actually go to bed.
RS: Sleep? What's that?
Lee Burridge: It was something like – I'm eighteen years old but I look
sixty, so I definitely needed to grab a little bit of beauty sleep.
I'm still hideous, so obviously I need more beauty sleep.
RS: So I'm looking at listening to this new Balance CD, and a
three-CD set, that's pretty decadent. Is that how it was really
envisioned?
Lee Burridge: Well, you know, a few other people had done the three-CD set
thing, and to tell you the truth, I obviously enjoy making mix CDs,
but I find it very hard (to do) what I do in a club over two CDs,
because I've always liked to play long sets. So the third CD really
allowed me to stretch my legs, take my time, and tell the story fully,
as opposed to just highlights. Highlights actually are (the tracks)
one of the CDs. The story in brief is two CDs, so this (three CDs) is
the full Harry Potter.
RS: Would you describe the three CDs together as being a night
of your DJing?
Lee Burridge: Yes, definitely. Obviously every time I play out it's
different, but this really expresses the range of music that I draw
upon when I play in a club set. I try to give each CD its own flavor
as well, so I was treading in between two ideas which would represent
the club set over three discs, but also try and give each disc its own
story. The chances of people sitting down and bothering to listen to
the three CDs back to back, that's a lot, that's a commitment. So each
CD has to tell its own story as well. But yes, I think it's a fair
representation of point A to B to C to Z.
RS: CD One is kind of deep and it's a little minimal. Is that
what you'd call like your opening?
Lee Burridge: No, CD One was (about) this idea for a CD I've had for a long
time. For me, it represents a melodic and beautiful and melancholy
sort of area of my record box. You know, it's kind of a chill out CD
without being a chill out CD. I find when DJs do the chill out CD on
their compilations that it always seems to be the same records these
days, and it seems all those records have been done. So I wanted to
make something nice to listen to – you know, it's warm, a CD you could
fall in love to.
RS: That's touching. CD Two is definitely a lot more pumping,
but it's not as aggressive as CD Three. So I'm guessing CD Two is more
like your warm up CD?
Lee Burridge: No, I mean that's the part of the night you sort of get lost
in, and you're not really sure what's happening. It's a druggy CD.
That CD, actually, I was struggling with for a long, long time. I had
initially asked for three CDs and then I asked Tom from Balance,
towards the end of the project, what do you think about me doing two
CDs? Because I just couldn't get any flow going. But then, I got up
one morning, got high and put that together. That CD, I don't know, I
never get a set direction with my night. That can be the end of the
night for me sometimes, or the middle or the beginning. I don't really
have a set way of playing, but it's definitely the druggy part of the
night.
RS: And three is like you're bouncing to the finish line. So I
guess three is like more your prime time, because…
Lee Burridge: Yes, definitely I would feel under pressure to put a CD on
there, be it two discs or three discs, that is the dance floor,
rocking CD mix. It seems people want that. So yes, that's the part of
the night when you're sweating, the heart rate's up, hands thrown up
wildly, all over the place.
RS: You're really known for doing a lot of DJ mixes, like your
Fabric CDs, all that kind of stuff. Do you like doing mix CDs as
opposed to doing artist production CDs?
Lee Burridge: Yes, I'm really not that talented yet, that I'm going to put
out an album of my own tracks. I'm still working with people, and mix
CDs are the copout for DJs. We can just put other peoples' music out
under our name somehow. But it's a nice way of sharing music with
people. You meet a lot of people in clubs and they say, 'Oh, you've
got to watch this record, it's amazing.' If they actually remember to
go and buy it, but of course, a lot of the time, people don't. So it's
just a slice of my record collection that I can share with people and
hopefully they'll enjoy it, hopefully for more than one listen. I've
really tried to put together a collection of music that will grow on
people, that will open up to them over time, and not just a collection
of records that are hits. I could do that, it would be very easy, but
you find those CDs, you love them for two weeks or a month and you
never listen to them again. So the idea is to put together a
collection of music that hopefully people will listen to in a year,
five years, or when they're retired, and look back and think well, you
know, it was a really great part of my life.
