Christopher Lawrence studied English literature at university only to become America’s leading trance DJ. But he still takes an avid interest in the literary world, reading books at airports or on planes. “I find it difficult to read long novels – or Russian novels in particular. I haven’t been reading a lot of Tolstoy lately, ‘cause when I’m reading it keeps on getting broken up. And so I find that I’m reading things that are a bit more fast paced and things where I don’t have to memorise, like, 30 different characters and what time periods they’re all from, and so I’ve been reading – oh look, this is really bad – I’ve read all of the Harry Potter books because they’re interesting and a pretty easy read, so I got caught up in the Harry Potter books!”
Christopher Lawrence has been dubbed, much to his own embarrassment, ‘the Trance Messiah’. Lawrence may still be overshadowed by British progressive house names such as Sasha and Digweed in his home country, yet he doesn’t regard them as competition. “I think it’s kind of neutral. I think that the thing is that there wouldn’t be a trance scene in the US if it wasn’t for the US trance DJs, in the same way that there wouldn’t be a trance scene in Australia if there weren’t Australian trance DJs. I think what happens a lot is when somebody comes, for example, from the UK to the US, they’re inevitably gonna get press and they’ll talk about the sound that they play and so people then attribute it to them, ‘Oh well, they must be bringing this sound,’ because they see their name in the press. But it’s not the case. It’s the same in Australia – like, we’re doing this interview and we’re talking about me playing trance, but I wouldn’t be invited to come over there if there weren’t already people who were fans of the music.”
Lawrence has expressed frustration at the way in which the term ‘trance’ has come to be associated with commercial Euro-dance music – something he steers well clear of. So what is ‘trance’ for him? “For me, it’s a style of music that relies on the repetition of interesting sounds and melodies to convey a feeling, whether that feeling is sadness or anxiousness or even happiness. The music conveys that without the use of lyrics and I think it is also important that whatever it is that the music is conveying is not overtly obvious, in the same way that a good book is one that develops over time – maybe in the first 30 or 40 pages you’re just kinda sussing the characters out and what’s happening, but it’s the type of book that when you finish the last page, that’s the worst thing, because now you’ve read it. I think that’s the same thing with a good trance record – a good trance record is one that isn’t necessarily obvious when you first listen to it, but over time develops and becomes something that you would want to hear again.”
Lawrence was the first US artist to sign to Scotland’s Hook Recordings and was likewise responsible for the anthem Shredder. He’s also put out a series of influential mix-CDs, with the latest being United States Of Trance on Moonshine. “There’s definitely no commercial cheesy trance!,” he kids. “This CD is partly what you would hear me play out live, but it also includes tracks that I think are ones that over time I would really like to hear but I may not play it in a live set, so it kind of incorporates both of those- music both for listening to at home and for capturing the live feel.”
Lawrence enjoys visiting Australia – he’s in fact married to an Australian with family in Melbourne. Christopher snuck into the country in December to spend Christmas with them. “We were visiting over the holidays and I wasn’t playing anywhere, so I just spent the time record shopping in a few of the shops in Melbourne and so I’m looking forward to coming back and playing this time.” As it turns out, Lawrence was inevitably spotted by fans who tried to talk him into DJing. “In a couple of the stores I ended up signing CDs and things (laughs). I just happened to be in there shopping and then I got spotted, but that’s a good thing. I didn’t wanna play and that’s the thing. A couple of people we talked to said, ‘You’re out here, why don’t you play for us?’ And I was like, ‘No, I’m waiting, I’m coming back for Two Tribes!’” Indeed.
Christopher Lawrence plays Two Tribes at Melbourne Park on Sunday 11 March.
United States Of Trance is out on import through Moonshine.
