RS: There seems like a whole like kind of posse you hang with
like Deadmau5 and Sebastian Leger. With so many millions of DJs and
producers, how does someone get your attention or how do you find
someone that you're interested in working with?
Chris Lake: Honestly, I can't even remember how I started speaking
to Sebastian but I think I just made contact about one of his tracks
and we just started chatting and became friends. The main thing we
had mutually in common was the music, but we just started chatting and
we became good friends. I encouraged him to finish "Hypnotized" and
now I consider him one of my best mates. With Deadmau5, I spotted him
about eighteen months ago. One of my friends, Johnny Williams, had
found him through a mutual friend and signed one of his records. I
was really interested in it and liked the sound of it, so I got in
contact with him. We started talking and that was how our friendship
developed. I've done a bit of work with him, he's helped me out and
I've helped him out. I work with people that I've got something
mutually in common with and our thing that was in common was the music
again. The same with Mickey Slim, he's another good friend and we
just have a laugh. Its all about a common interest really.
Interviewer: There is a Youtube video of you and Joel (Deadmau5) in
the studio together. That was his studio, correct?
Chris Lake: That was his studio, he's moved from there since.
RS: Should we assume that your studio looks similar to that one?
Chris Lake: No, not particularly. Mine's much tidier than his.
RS: From that video, there was discussion about your involvement
in your own productions. You're playing with a keyboard and you don't
know that it is, and some people have interpreted that to say that
you're not really doing your own work and have engineers working for
you. Is that the case at all or it really you in there doing all the
work?
Chris Lake: It really is me in there doing all the work. The reason
I was actually over there was I moved house and my studio was out of
action, so the only way to keep doing music was to work with someone
else. That was actually the first time that I'd worked with someone.
Yes, I do my own work. I can't even remember the video but probably
the reason I didn't know anything about the keyboard was because it's
not my studio. I can assure you that I've been writing and producing
now for nearly twelve year and done everything myself, Changes was all
done by myself and nearly every record that's been release has been
completely done by myself.
RS: Good answer. It seems that most of the stuff that you've
done has been more on the underground edge, but you've done a few pop
remixes. Do you approach a remix like by a Dannii Minogue or Robbie
Williams differently than you approach another project?
Chris Lake: Not particularly, the only thing I'm more mindful of is
that if it's a major label - they normally want more vocal influence
than you'd normally probably like to do. The first version that I
submitted of the Robbie Williams mix had less than two seconds of
vocal and they weren't particularly pleased, so I had to go and change
it.
RS: The Axwell remix seems to have exploded big time around the
world. When you're working on a remix like that do you know how it's
going to go or do you have any idea how big it's going to become?
Chris Lake: No, not really. I just submit it and try and do the
best job possible when given the parts and accept the mix. You can
never tell how a remix is going to go at all, so it's just the luck of
the draw really. It depends how people welcome it.
