Steve Lawler: Tenaglia, Tunnel Parties & Electroclash

Ever since he launched his DJ career by throwing illegal tunnel parties under motorways, Birmingham based DJ Steve Lawler has progressed dramatically nowadays finding himself regularly name-checked alongside Danny Tenaglia . Regularly touring the world as well as presently holding down residency at Ibiza's most prestigious club Space, he's a prime example of clubland's transformative potential; finding fame, fortune and favour from a lifestyle that developed from hanging out with his mates, smoking weed and more importantly, buying records

Chatting to Skrufff's Jonty Adderley this week, however, a small but significant cloud was obscuring his otherwise sunny disposition, namely a vicious review of his new Global Underground mix CD, which labelled him the "nemesis (bitter enemy) of interesting music". More curiously the review suggested he's "gone electroclash", a suggestion he clearly disagreed with.

"Muzik are now tagging me as an electroclash DJ because I put one fucking record with an electro sample on my mix album!" said Steve. "It's… disappointing."

Stressing that he preferred to avoid personalising or discussing the dispute any further, returned to his main interest; his music.


Skrufff (Jonty Adderley): What was your approach on the new Global Underground CD, to provide a journey-

Steve Lawler: "My main goal was to condense a seven hour set onto a two hour CD. When I play in places like New York I do longer sets which means I cover a wider scope of musical genres and influences. I get thrown in the progressive basket but I personally wouldn't class myself within any genre, I play many different styles of music. Whether it's a techno or garage record each track has to have a certain something that reflects what I'm about musically. The CD reflects that, going from deep house to vocal house, from funky Italian stuff to solid big tribal rhythms and techno. It's across the board."

Skrufff: You've previously held a residency at Cream and are a regular at many superclubs, what's your perception of the strength of today's scene-

Steve Lawler: "I think the club scene is quite healthy overall, it's just going through one of its dips. It always does from time to time, I've been DJing for long enough to have seen a few full cycles. It just takes something or someone to happen then it all kicks off again. Usually that something is Ibiza. People go to Ibiza, they do loads of drugs, they have rampant sex with loads of people, have a really good time and a fantastic holiday then go home and they're back 'on it'. They start going back to clubs again, they're excited and everyone's happy. That happens every few years, that's the truth.

At the moment, England's been experiencing a bigger dip than ever before but that's only because the more that it grows the more it can dip. The bigger the club's get, the bigger the money machine becomes, so the further it has to fall. This time around the superclubs have been hit hard and have really suffered. Some of the major labels have also been hit hard by signing big tracks sometimes for astonishing amounts of money then not making them money back on sales."

Skrufff: Where do you see yourself fitting within club culture, do you still in any way identify with the term underground-

Steve Lawler: "There was a time when everyone used to say they wished it was like the old days, back to the underground and all that and I'd always think 'Shut the fuck up' because it's actually really healthy right now and we're all making a really good living out of it. I personally couldn't be happier, I'm regularly playing amazing gigs to packed out clubs and developing a good career. I still sometimes play for smaller parties at lower rates but if I'm playing at an event which has a big corporate sponsor then obviously the fee is adapted to that. I've come from a hard working background and I've gone through the years of earning £50 a gig for long enough- that's how I grew up with it Tags

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