Steve Lawler- Love, Life and the Death Of Ministry Magazine
Author: Benedetta Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Articulate, intelligent and fiercely passionate, Steve Lawler is one of clubland's most outspoken and popular characters, in keeping with his old skool DIY ethos which has taken him from squat parties under Birmingham motorways to adoration on super-rich terrace at Space. As a no bullshit hard-working perfectionist who's always kept his eye firmly on the ball, he's watched his own career prosper and even flourish as labels, clubs and mags have imploded, not, he makes clear, to his own surprise.
"When Ministry magazine shut down, I thought it was well deserved," he continues.
"They were giving less and less importance to the punters and to the new talents, instead they went off on their own ego trip. Lots of those journalists would go to clubs, take lots of coke and care less and less about the music. For them, all that was important was what they thought was cool, the rest was just there to be slagged off.
Writing shouldn't be just about one person's opinion; it should be more about a reflection of what is actually going on. There should be a degree of responsibility in being a writer, because of the influence you can have on people."
On happier topics, Steve's also recently completed his second mix CD for Global Underground, Lights Out 2, a project he revealed he'd found considerably easier than the first one.
Skrufff (Benedetta Skrufff): How long did it take you to produce Lights Out 2 compared to the first one-
Steve Lawler: "It took me about six weeks, which is pretty normal for a mixed compilation, whereas the first one took me over four months. The reason why that one took so long was because, technically speaking, I did some very challenging things on it. I approached it as an experiment into the darker side of house music and I added extra production on virtually all the tracks, such as baselines, samples and vocals and I even played records at the wrong speed and then added them into the mix. However, six months on, even though I'd made a product that I was really proud of, I realized that nobody else had noticed the amount of work that went into it. The album in itself did well, but it might have done just as well anyway. I was too much of a perfectionist when I could have used that time to do other things equally important to me. I even lost a girlfriend from all the work I put into it."
Skrufff: The press release stresses that the CD's designed to reflect your DJ sets . . .
Steve Lawler: "All the tracks on the CD are tracks that I play out and they all reflect what I do, that's what a mix album should be about. This is also part of a trilogy: the first CD was darker, trippier, and more experimental. The second one is funkier, dirtier, chunkier, sexier, made specifically for the dancefloor. The third, which is due next year, will represent the tougher end of what I do. When you put them all together, you'll have nearly eight hours of music representing what I'm about. When I do a CD, I tend to put a lot of pressure upon myself, probably I shouldn't, but it will stay there for the rest of my working career, therefore I take it very seriously. I want to get it right."
Skrufff: There's a few classics on the CD such as Jaydee's Plastic Dreams, how well do you think dance music is standing the test of time-
Steve Lawler: "House music isn't a phase, if it was, it would have been and gone by now. It's electronic music and will be here forever because we're living in the future now, when most music is made electronically. It's not difficult to make, anybody can make it, and it's made for everybody. It doesn't relate to a particular genre or aimed at a particular group, it transcends all that, and i Tags