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Features Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna

Interview with James Lawson Reported by billy boy / Submitted 02-11-01 13:48 James Lawson is a rising star in the hard house and hard trance scene. He is resident at Twisted and Ministry of Sound and he’s a regular DJ at parties including Frantic, Fevah, Hard House Academy, Convergence, Provocation, Fahrenhite, Riot, XLR8, Dune 35, 24/7, Ripsnorter, Storm, and also plays regularly overseas including in Finland, Holland and Canada. If you’ve seen James play, you’ll know him as an enthusiastic and approachable DJ with a ready smile. Over the past year, working with his flatmate Matthew Williams under the alias of The Edison Factor, he has also produced a number of dance floor stormers, including: Nervous Breakdown, The Beginning (Dean Peters vs The Edison Factor), Repeat the Sequence as well as an ever increasing number of remixes that have also been completed and/or are in the pipeline. The other week, Tom (harderfaster) and I had just been speaking about doing some DJ interviews to put up on the site, when lo and behold I spotted James Lawson in Cyberdog, quietly minding his own business and trying to choose out a new pair of party trousers. I accosted him and re-introduced myself (we’d met before a few times but I’m not sure he quite remembered me…) and asked him if he’d like to do an interview. I was very pleased when he readily agreed. We originally set the interview up for a bar in Soho, but then with James having a trip with Frantic to Holland pending the next day I agreed to head down and meet him in his neck of the woods – Kew Gardens – to save time. So, last week on Thursday night I headed down to have a chat with him. We started the conversation in the beer garden of one of his local pubs. We got so carried away that my recorder ran out of batteries and we headed around the corner to James’ place to finish off the interview and to have a little sneak preview of a few of the tunes he is currently working on… Here at harderfaster, we decided that the full transcript made such a cracking read that rather than condense the conversation into brief Q&A format as originally planned, we decided to put the interview up in full and release it in parts – this being Part 1. So… after arriving late and mucking around with the recording kit to get it all working – we finally settled down with a pint out the front of the pub by Kew Gardens station. And this is how the conversation went… Billy Kennedy: OK, we’re away. James Lawson: It’s good to see someone who’s checked their equipment before they’ve come here – it’s nice to see it working straight away. (Laughter) BK: Thanks mate. JL: Nah, I’m only kidding. That was supposed to be like a nice thing at the start of the tape so nobody would know we’d been pissing about here. You’ve just spilt it – oh well, never mind. BK: Yeah, after being half an hour late, we’ve now spent another 10 minutes fucking about with the kit. JL: Oh well, we’ve got time to have another pint now – you know what I mean! BK: Alright… Well, I thought to kick off with, if you could give a brief synopsis of your career so far, with emphasis on the major highlights. JL: Ahhh. I’m just trying to remember when I started. I did another interview when I did work out the actual year. I was about 21 I think. BK: So what, about five years ago? JL: Yeah, five years ago. I was living in Slough and working for ICL, the big computer company and I was going out clubbing in London a lot – this was my year off from Uni. And one day I just decided to get some decks. So I got some decks – on the company card ! – which I had to pay back. I just started there. And I was obsessive about it and basically used to come home from work and practice and then get up in the morning and piss around before I went to work – it just went on for ages. After about 9 months I entered a competition with Eternity Magazine, which was a Northern based publication. It did get National but at that time it was just up North really. And I won – for the Hard House category, hard house and hard trance. BK: Oh right, so you were always into hard house? JL: Well no, I play all sorts of stuff, I used to anyway – I have got interests in other stuff – we can cover that in a sec. Because a year later I entered again, but rather than just entering one tape this time, I entered a garage (for my sins) – a garage tape – moving swiftly on! a progressive tape, a hard house tape, a trance tape, a techno tape a Drum & Bass tape and I think there was an acid techno tape in there as well. I entered all the different categories, and every category I entered I won. That month they decided they were going to sod off all the other categories and just do this big thing on me. So, they did. So at that stage they also said, we run DJs you see, da da da da, so do you want to come on board? I said ‘yep!’ – I wouldn’t turn that down. So I went on there. And by the time all this was happening I was back at University in my final year. I started playing out, I was DJing and doing quite well – I was playing at lots of different places – the highlight of which was about a year later – no, a year and a half later, when I’d moved back down to London (so I’d been in London, gone back up to Huddersfield and back down here) and that was at the Fast Car Festival, which is kind of like a boy-racer festival. There’s all these people with their suped up cars, all doing doughnuts – so, it’s this huge thing – there were thousands of people there. There was this Eternity tent, which was one of the smaller tents – but something went wrong, for some reason in the main tent they hadn’t sorted any DJs out. So, on the Saturday and Sunday they decided to put us in there. So I was just lobbed in there headlining on the Saturday night! Which was totally before my time, I was not supposed to be that high up the line-up or whatever. But you know, it’s kinda one of those opportunities you take when you get it. And I went on there, my hands were shaking like mad, I was absolutely crapping myself, but the gig actually went really, really well. BK: How long did you play for? JL: The gig lasted for an hour and half. Oh no, on Saturday night sorry I played for three hours! BK: Wow! Your first big set… JL: Yeah, it was three hours. Cause I had to warm it up from the guy before because he didn’t play as hard and the really bizarre thing was they had all these girls stripping their tops off and doing this big strip show during the thing. So there’s me trying to do my big set, my big moment, trying to prove my point… BK: and you’re about 22… JL: Yeah! And I’m distracted – there’s about 15 women all having this competition to see who’s the sexiest – it is Fast Car you’ve gotta remember! So my girlfriend’s down the side, I’m pretending not to look, but it’s pretty hard not too – and I’m playing to thousands in this tent. But yeah, that was the big one, and then on Sunday night they did another one. But that was mad, it got out of control at one point, we had people like ripping – cause the tent was too small for the number of people that wanted to get in – and they had people like up on the top, ripping the tarpaulin and sliding down the poles so they could get in and stuff – so, it was totally mental. (Laughter) JL: So, I’d gone from that highlight – in November ‘97 I think it was – and then 2 months later it all went bust – Eternity magazine. And coming from that highlight, so early, and it going well – it had only been a couple of years – I’d been very, very lucky. And suddenly I had nothing and I was gutted. So I said “my DJing is over, I’m never going to do this again!”, Everyone says this is what it’s like – ups and downs – but I can’t take it. So, I gave in. Then I carried on doing my work and I started writing for a fanzine – Rye-beana – and one week I was sent to a club to cover Frantic – it was when it was at Bagleys. And I went there and Phil Reynolds was playing, Steve Thomas, Steve Hill was playing (he’s played every single one since it started I think). And I was just totally blown away. I still remember some of the sets from that night and where in the room I was when certain tunes were dropped! There were 3 or 4 rooms, each with different music in it, and that was it, I decided I needed to play again! BK: You were reinspired? JL: Yeah, I was reinspired. But I didn’t actually get a gig for about 6 months because I was unknown and I was starting again. I remember sending a demo and phoning Will at Frantic twice a month for 6 months before I got my chance. Finally I got the chance and I played at Provocation in October 1998 - I still remember the date – the 17th of October that was BK: So about 3 years ago. JL: Yeah, I suppose it is now. God, yeah I dunno, time’s just gone like really quick you know. And again one of those moments that people just sort of wish for and it just kind of happens to you – the DJ after me who shall remain nameless (but you’ve done me a big favour – so thank you, you know who you are!) he didn’t turn up! So, instead of playing an hour and a half set, I was on for two and a half hours. Again, it all went well, so they booked me again for the next month, no December. And then by January Frantic had moved to the Rocket… BK: Oh, on Holloway Road? JL: That’s right BK: Yeah, that’s where my first Frantic was. JL: Was it? Well, that could very well have been the one. So, then I played there and so by that stage I’d kinda got in with Frantic a bit. And when they moved to Camden Palace in the April I was booked to play there too. And it went on from there. I was giving out tapes, chatting to people, going to the clubs, showing my face. You know, sometimes going to two or three clubs in one night just so promoters knew I was keen and knew I really wanted to be a DJ, and wasn’t just someone who wanted to spin a few tunes! This went on and on and on. And then gradually Twisted was one of the clubs that I got into early – and they did a lot for me in the early stages, they booked me quite a lot and they supported me. I suppose the next real highlight was on New Years Day and the Fridge yeah that was this year – New Years Day this year. It was the first time I had played the main room at Frantic and again something happened. It’s all by chance, this whole DJ deal is by chance. I think Phil Reynolds couldn’t play at the time – oh no it wasn’t, it was Spencer - Spencer Freeland – couldn’t play at the times he was supposed to – he had another gig somewhere else. He was supposed to be playing in the middle of the day. Of course I wasn’t as big a name as Spencer – still not – same with Phil and all that. So, I was then swapped with him and put in the middle of the day. Again, it went really well. And from then I was booked again and again. I mean Frantic and Twisted are the two who have really pushed me. And After that Camden Palace, Timeless, was my first time in the main room in Camden. And that went really well as well. And while all this is going on in England, I’m also playing abroad as well. BK: You’ve played a bit up at Finland. JL: Yeah, I’ve played there about six or seven times now. And that was by chance someone came up to me – again by chance! – the came up to me when I was playing at the Chunnel club at Sunflowers – years ago – and they said “have you got a tape? I’m a promoter”. And it’s the kind of thing you always hear (I say always – I’d better be careful! [laughs]) but I usually have CDs on me when I go out, in case anyone wants one. So I gave this girl this tape, and didn’t hear anything for three months and had totally forgotten about it. Suddenly I got this email saying they wanted to book me to come over and play. Six months later I was over there, in Finland, in February, and freezing cold! Actually, that was about a year and a half, nearly two years ago. And yeah, it was next to the sea and the sea’s frozen! I played there – and that went well. Again, all the Finnish promoters were there and – I don’t know – I’m waffling now! But basically, that’s how it all started. Shit! If I answer all these questions that long-windedly, we are going to be here for a long time! (laughter) BK: I’ve got some punchy ones for you now! JL: Ah that’s cool, that’s my fault not yours. BK: OK. Now the first time I met you was on Impact last year – the second Impact boat trip. JL: Oh yeah. BK: You were trying to figure out what was going on, because you had about three people on the dance floor and everyone was out on the deck behind… JL: Was that you that came up and said? BK: Yeah, yeah.. JL: Ahhh! BK: I had longer hair then and might have been about three stone heavier – all this clubbing has done me well! (laughter) JL: Wicked! Oh right, I remember that. I can remember I was looking out and just thinking “I’m playing OK, it’s not like I’m mixing bad or anything” and I thought “what’s going on?”. Then this geezer came up, which was obviously you… BK: Yeah, there were literally only about three people on the dance floor inside but outside it was going ballistic on the deck – so I came up to reassure you – ‘cause you were looking a bit puzzled. JL: I was – it was a bit weird, I was feeling a bit like “oh god, maybe they’re all in the other room”. After that person came up – who must have been you – I then went out and had a look and was like “oh, it’s OK now”, and then I was running out in between every second tune to check it was all going well! I mean, playing to a dance floor where you can’t see anyone – it doesn’t make sense to me. BK: It was bizarre, I remember Skol actually played just before or after you and he was in a foul mood – he was packing up his records and thought he had played a shit set. JL: He should have gone outside and had a look! BK: Now, I still meet tons of clubbers who say that that trip was one of the major highlights of their clubbing careers – I was just wondering how you remember it? JL: What? That Impact? Oh, that cruise, - I’ve never been on anything like it – ever. It was just mental. BK: Nor I, it was probably the all time highlight of my clubbing career… JL: It was a Friday we went out wasn’t it? We sailed out on the Friday…Friday night, Saturday, Sunday. God knows how I recovered from that. It was just carnage everywhere! That was mental, that was absolutely mental. The whole customs thing when we came back as well… BK: Yeah, with all the rooms turned upside down… JL: Yeah, it’s difficult, unless you sit down and have a real good chat with a few people that were there, to describe what it was like. But it was, it was just full-on carnage for three days. I mean, people go out on the weekend here and they go out from club to club to club to club but it’s a different atmosphere. BK: It was a real community. Like, there’s still about 50 people who are really actively involved in the scene who know each other from that Impact cruise. We’ve talked about doing a reunion actually. JL: Oh I’d be right up for that mate! Especially if it was going to get as mad as it was! BK: Do you have the light? JL: Oh I’m a terrible lighter thief (takes my lighter from his pocket) BK: Yeah, one of my friends – he wouldn’t come – he was so worried about jumping off the boat! Like if he got a bit carried away and euphoric and thinking he could fly or swim like a dolphin or something. But it was phenomenal – being out on the back deck – watching the wake with the music blasting out. And then the final morning with everyone up on deck and the smokestack streaming away overhead. JL: And the great thing about that was that. I mean, on the Ibiza trips that Fevah and Frantic did, which I played on, they were really, really good and it was kinda in the same vein I suppose. But because you were on an Island and you could do your own thing – everyone is not in the same place. But on the boat you’re contained. You can go to your cabin, you know, you can get some sleep if you want to – but no one did! (Laughter) JL: But like, everyone was kinda pushed into the same area – I made so many friends on that trip, people I still speak to now – like you’re saying. BK: Absolutely. JL: Nah, that was wicked. I don’t really know what else to say apart from it was fucking amazing and they should do another one! BK: Alright. JL: What they should do though – if they do another one is put a little monitor screen in the DJ box so you can see what’s going on outside. BK: Yeah, I think on the second night of Impact they put a lot more speakers out on the back deck – they just realised. They could put the DJ booth out on the back deck, I mean they were selling fast food or something out there. JL: Yeah, but I can understand why though, cause if it suddenly starts raining or something. BK: Yeah, that’s true. JL: The party would stop for an hour basically, until they set up inside. BK: Alright. So, last weekend you had a fairly hectic weekend JL: Yes! BK: You played Storm v Frantic, Twisted, Hard House Academy, XLR8 and Provocation. Storm v Frantic was up near Leicester wasn’t it? JL: It’s at Coalville in Leicestershire. That is a mad club! BK: It holds about 2,500. JL: Umm, it very well could do. I dunno how many it holds but it is certainly large – it’s certainly a big club. BK: Was it full? JL: It wasn’t quite full, but that was good. It was comfortably full. You know how sometimes you get clubs and you can’t fuckin’ move? BK: Yeah. JL: Well it wasn’t like that – everyone was going off – there was room for everyone to dance, which was great. When I say that, it’s not the excuse of “oh good, there were enough people there for a party”. There were loads of people there, but you weren’t stepping on people’s toes. BK: And how did it go and how was the crowd? JL: Really well. First of all the club itself is nothing like you see in London. If you ever get a chance to go to Storm, go up there. The sound system is just crystal clear. There’s a separate chill out room with air-conditioning in it with chairs and sofas and a separate bar. There’s actually three rooms there but they only had two rooms open – the Frantic room and then the main room. Yeah, it’s just really, really good – the perfect setting for a club. BK: Right! And the Frantic room was well received? JL: Yeah mate, yeah. Went in there and it was a little bit like a warm up cause people sort of had to find the room – they had to go to the chill-out room, chill out and then it was next to that – the chill out room was in-between the two. But everyone seemed to converge towards there. Andy Farley was in the main room to start off with, which kind of… BK: Right! (laughter) JL: …that went against us a little bit initially. It was a little bit slow to warm up but then yeah, it went really, really well and everyone was really pleased. It was mad – when Phil [Reynolds] went on, he was on before me, everyone started coming round and getting him to sign autographs and all this and the Frantic lot were giving out vinyl – some of the Frantic stuff. And then suddenly all these records started to appear in the DJ box, which aren’t mine but people wanted me to sign them, and it was the same for Dan [Madams] and it was the same for Steve Hill. It’s strange up there because the DJs are seen as celebrities a bit more than they are down here. Like here we all go out and we all go and mix with everyone. BK: You see DJs in the crowd here very often. JL: Oh yeah totally – you finish playing and you go and dance. But up there, because the clubs are so far away, once the DJs finish they’ve gotta go, ‘cause they’ve gotta get in their car to get to the next club. Whereas here very often you can get there in 10 or 15 minutes so you’ve got time to hang around. But yeah, it was really good – great! BK: Awesome. Now you mentioned you’re off to Holland this weekend. JL: Yeah, tomorrow night. It’s me, Phil Reynolds and Andy Farley – again it’s the Frantic room at HG, which is the Dancevalley crew’s club night. It’s been moved to a club called Club O at the Hague. I’ve never been there before, so I don’t know what it’s like. But I’m really looking forward to it – it’s going to be really good. EnergyUK DJs and JP are playing up there as well. There’s going to be a return leg of the event over here with Frantic – so look out for it. BK: OK. Now, Provocation – the one just gone – you played under The Edison Factor name. JL: Yep. BK: I haven’t heard you playing out as The Edison Factor, what’s the story there? JL: Well no-matter how much you shout about it, people always think that tracks like “The Beginning”, “Nervous Breakdown”, “Repeat the Sequence” and all the remixes we’re doing – everyone sees it as me. But it’s not just me, it’s actually my flat mate as well, Matthew Williams. And so basically, as well as the production work, we’re going out and we’re DJing as The Edison Factor, which is a back-to-back DJ set – much like the Knuckleheads do. And so, depending on where it is, you find something special, you might find a new remix or something. There wasn’t anything for this one, but when we did Hard House Academy we did a special remix [Get The Fuck Right In] of Good God by JFK at the start of our set. We try and be a bit different. Rather than just being a couple of guys playing records behind the decks – we try and you know – when the other’s not playing the other’s out shouting at people and kickin’ their arse and makin’ sure they’re dancing. (Laughter) JL: And if they’re not we’re trying to find out why. It’s a bit of a show, it’s a little bit different – it’s not totally different. But it is very different from me on my own – it’s very much the partnership thing. BK: OK – so that leads me to my next question. At Hard House Academy and XLR8, we were asking people on the dance floor if they realised that you and The Edison Factor were one and the same. And the great majority of people didn’t realise. Everybody knows The Beginning – it’s a major tune – but your average clubber doesn’t know it’s you. So do you regret in any way not using your name? JL: That’s a strange one. That was for Nervous Breakdown, which was our first single. And we were very lucky, people really liked, it went on, it got put in compilation albums and kind of went quite ballistic for a first single. It took us totally by surprise. BK: Yeah, I was over in Sydney at Christmas and I heard it played over there. JL: Played over there still? Oh wicked! So when that came out it was like “whadda we do?”, ‘cause I was just starting – you know – my name was getting to the point where it actually meant something on a flyer. Where it wasn’t just me collecting flyers with my name on it for my ego wall (laughs) – my name was actually pulling people in. And I was worried that if people didn’t go for the single – ‘cause you never know, you can’t be up your arse about it – at the end of the day you might be quite pleased with something but how do you know if anyone’s going to like it? You don’t. So I didn’t want the effects of that single to upset things – at that critical point in London – remember I’d been working really hard to get my name out – to suddenly have people saying “oh yeah James Lawson, he’s the one that made that crap Nervous Breakdown”. You know, I didn’t want that happening. So, we decided that we’d go for the “band name” – so we came up with The Edison Factor. Which by the way, Thomas Edison – Sir Thomas Edison – invented the phonograph, hence the needle on the record… BK: Right! JL: And the “Factor” was for if we ever did a remix – we’d give it that “Edison Factor”! So that’s where the name comes from. At first it was OK, but now – I mean look at BK for example – Cortina and Music is Moving – that’s BK. Imagine what a huge name he would be now if he had BK next to that record – and he’s not exactly a small name now! And it’s kind of the same feeling – it certainly would have helped me out. I do like the Edison Factor thing now though – because we’ve started doing the DJing thing together as well – I like that. So, I’m pleased we’ve got the name but we’re trying to think of ways of makin’ sure that people know it’s me and Matt. So on the records we’re actually putting quite big now “Written by James Lawson and Matthew Williams” – quite bold – and when The Edison Factor goes out in brackets underneath the name on the flyer it usually says “James Lawson and Matthew Williams”. So we’re trying to connect the two. BK: So a bit of a re-branding then? JL: Yep – we’re going to keep the name but I think it’s going to work out good in the end, ‘cause both myself and Matt aren’t just into hard house and hard trance or techno and all the harder edged stuff. We both quite like house and progressive stuff and perhaps even cheesier trance – I hasten to add! You know I’ve played up at Ministry and I’m doing stuff up there as well. BK: Right! JL: So, probably what we’re going to do is we’re gonna keep The Edison Factor brand for that style of music and then when we do another style we’ll come up with another name. Just so when people see it, they know what they’re buying. BK: That’s an interesting point. I spin a few tunes myself – just in the lounge room! JL: Good man – that’s what I like to hear! BK: Towards the end of last year the hard dance scene – if you could categorise hard house and hard trance that way – seemed to be getting harder and harder. And it seems to now be getting more trancey and uplifting again. So, what’s your preference and what way do you see the scene going? JL: I think it’s going to go a number of ways. I mean, I’ve always played hard house and hard trance in my set. I play records I like. I generally play hard music – I’ve always done that - always have done, always will do. Just like Phil’s always strayed – not strayed, wrong word – ha ha – sorry mate! He’s always veered towards the trancier elements – that’s where his preference is. So it’s not like Phil’s suddenly changed or I’ve suddenly changed or anyone’s suddenly changed what they’re doing, it’s more that it’s been accepted on the dance floor a bit more. BK: Yeah, cause last year Phil wasn’t headlining so much. Like Ed Real and BK were playing the final set at Convergence and Frantic. JL: Well the final set isn’t necessarily the headline set. BK: Sure. JL: For example, I remember when it first happened, Phil speaking to me about the fact that he wasn’t playing last anymore. He pointed out that it was just simply down to the fact that Andy Farley had been made a resident as well – and as we all know, Andy Farley plays elsewhere in the country. And the only way he could come and do Frantic is if he played last set. Because he played everywhere else first and then played there last. BK: Oh right, OK. JL: I mean that’s a very London thing – the last set being the headliner – it’s very, very London. BK: Yeah, in particular last year when I was really getting into Frantic, I remember Phil closing at Convergence, closing at Frantic. One of the biggest nights I ever remember is Phil closing at Camden Palace and the place was just going absolutely nuts. JL: He is fucking incredible when you put him on last. ‘Cause I don’t know – he just taps into everyone – he knows exactly what to play. BK: Yeah, half the people could seem dead – they’re sitting around – and then suddenly Phil comes on. At Camden Palace when you stand on the stage and look out – there’s thousands of people on the floor and then you look up and on every balcony people’s arms are in the air charging away. JL: Yep – it is amazing. You may even notice – OK I mean Andy Farley is certainly a bigger name than Phil – but I reckon his sound at the end of Frantic sets for the last half hour has certainly been influenced by what Phil used to do. Because he goes trancier at the end now as well. I love Andy’s sets at Frantic. He brings the music right down and then builds it all up again for this huge finish – similar to Phil but in his own style. Anyway, that whole thing of him being taken off last and then being put on different sets – I mean, that’s probably actually aided him – suddenly people realising that “Shit! This guy is really fucking good.” You know it’s not just that Phil plays last – he used to play last ‘cause he is amazing – you know – he’s such a good DJ. And then it’s like – hang on, if he can play so good then, surely he can do it at other times of the night. And so then I think that’s part of the reason that his name has suddenly got bigger. He’s had the chance to play a different type of set at other times of the night and he has gone out there and proved his versatility. So it probably did him a favour in the end. BK: OK. JL: So anyway, going back to this whole sound. I think what’s happening is that people are realising that there’s more to life than just a hoover and a hard beat. There’s nothing wrong with hoovers – they’re great! – but not when you hear them all night. And also at one point there was kind of a lack of decent records – certainly at the start of this year. BK: Yeah, it really was quiet wasn’t it? JL: That’s due to pressing problems, one of the big pressing plants closed down, which meant record companies couldn’t get their records out. BK: Ah! JL: And that went on for about six months. So then we’ve got these few good records going on – so everyone wants to play them. And it’s like – “Well hang on. We can’t all play the same stuff, ‘cause it’s the same music all night”. And I remember back in like January, February, March – people complaining because they’re hearing the same tune three times a night. And it wasn’t just the anthem of the moment – it was loads of tunes. And so everyone went off and they started tryin’ to find different stuff. And I think that’s what’s happened – you’ve got the techno influence, you’ve got the trance influence, you’ve got the NRG influence, you’ve got housier bits – you’ve got… you know all sorts of stuff! And it’s done the world of good for the scene, cause it means you’re getting different sounds throughout the night and you’re seeing clubs build from like a low starting beating bassline to a big finale. And it’s going to carry on like. And because people have been listening to those different records, now when they’re making records they’re being influenced by them. So, that’s what’s happening I think. BK: So, as far as you’re concerned you’re quite happy to see it going with the techno and trance elements. JL: Yeah. Well if you look at like Khemikal Imbalance – I mean that is a mixture of – you know – it’s got the techno / teckie side to it, it’s got a big a big riff, which is certainly trancey, but it’s certainly got more hard house elements in it as well. It’s just a mish mash of everything. Nick Sentience – the ultimate cross-over king – I mean, you’ve got people like him who are getting these influences and bringing them all in. So, as producers as prolific as him, BK and Paul Janes do stuff like that it’s eventually going to pass down to other people. And people are getting used to the sound now, they’re getting used to the fact that it’s not just this one sound the whole time. At first people were a bit like – “Oh, I dunno if I like this?” Now everyone is opening their minds a bit more and they’re like “Yeah, this is good!”. BK: Great. JL: Nice. BK: Alright. JL: Have we made it down to Question 2 yet? (Laughter) BK: Are you OK for time? JL: I’m absolutely fine mate, don’t worry about me! I’m just concerned that I’m talking too much. BK: No, it’s great. Alright – I’m interested to find out how much energy you’re putting into the production side as opposed to your DJing – just out and out DJing? To be continued… • Out Now!: The Edison Factor – Repeat The Sequence (Freezing Point) • James Lawson’s next release is coming out Freezing Point records in December. It will be: The Edison Factor Remix of Gary B – Donuts. • His latest compilation CD is being released on Freezing Point Records in March 2002. There will be a tour to support the release. To email James Lawson re: tour bookings: theedisonfactor@btinternet.com Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By billy boy: Synergy Anthems - Review Tasty 2 - The Valentine's Love Dance - Review Frantic Valentine's Ball - Review Interview with Matt Clarke Fevah - Review 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. Comments:

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