With #1 singles coming out of his ears and a chart-topping album to add to it, the Scotsman’s success in 2009 has been less than modest. “The other day I was looking at these gold bathroom tiles that Donald Trump has. They’re made of 24-carat gold leaf. They cost a thousand pounds a square metre.” You might think for a moment that he’s in in over his head. That’s until his disarming Doonhammer accent brings him back down to earth with a chuckle. “Never actually gonna get them though.”

Pottering about in his London apartment, Calvin Harris seems restlessly bored when not jet-setting or producing in the studio. Ever since the release of Holiday with Dizzee Rascal, which he cites as one of the year’s highlights, and the subsequent release of his second record Ready for the Weekend, saying he is living life in the fast lane would be a terrible understatement.

Although the fruits of his labour are now being seen, he confessed that he maybe took “a bit too long” to release his sophomore album. The tall tale of his album work being lost in the new Heathrow Terminal was eventually revealed as a diversion for Sony to allow him more time to complete it, but he cheekily laughed it off when it was brought up. “Oh yeah… that ‘happened’”. With this, as well as him having recently ambushed the stage of X-Factor during a live recording with a pineapple on his head, it’s clear to see (and also refreshing) that he doesn’t take it all too seriously.

Amongst his shenanigans, travelling to all corners of the globe numerous times a week have become commonplace for the disco hit-maker. The day we spoke, he was off to the Abu Dhabi Creamfields Festival the following morning, before heading back to London for Christmas and New Year. Although, having played once before in Dubai he declares that the crowd is just full of English people, “It was like playing to an English holiday resort really. No different to playing here.”

Admitting he has spent most of 2009 playing in Britain and wider Europe, he is now excited to bring his new music to a fresh audience. After having played the Good Vibrations Festival in early 2008, he will bring his new sound to our shores for the Big Day Out Festival at the dawn of 2010. He will be accompanied by a bevy of other UK acts, such as Lily Allen, Muse, Kasabian and his mate Dizzee Rascal of course. He puts this mass migration down to the weather. “We just want to all come down for a bit of sun.”

Whilst reveling in the thought of the tour, the seemingly over-confident pop star definitely harbours some doubts about how it will all go. “I’m looking forward to it but I don’t know what to expect. We’ve had a really good reaction here. Everyone has gone mental everywhere… so entertaining the thought of getting to Australia and receiving a lukewarm reaction fills me with a bit of dread really.”

With the sound of Ready for the Weekend definitely being a lot more euphoric and and synth-driven than his debut, I Created Disco, he promises a bigger and better live show than the last time he was out. Almost apologetically, he remarked that, “At Good Vibes we were fully live and it lacked that punch. This time we have the sub bass and using a lot more. So, not everything is 100% live. No dance act should be”.

Alluding to other colossal live act Basement Jaxx, he also aspires one day to take a more passive role in the vocals department and focus more purely on the production side. “It’s hard enough [singing] as a 25 year old, but when I’ll be 30 it will all get a little sinister. It was alright when I was 22… I’d probably prefer the part of David Guetta.” And having used guest vocalists, including Dizzee, on three out of the four single releases he has had on this album, it seems he is already creeping away from the microphone.

When finally asked whether another big name were to possibly clash with his set at the BDO, the man who I found to be very humble to talk to showed a smiling cockiness: “If you wanna dance, go mental and put your hands in the air come see us. If you kind of just wanna chill out and drink a beer, go see someone else.”

Calvin Harris national dates:

Sun Jan 17 – Big Day Out, Gold Coast
Tues 19th Jan – River Stage, Brisbane (with Dizzee Rascal + Lily Alen)
Thurs 21st Jan – The Metro, Sydney
Fri Jan 22 – Big Day Out, Sydney
Mon 25 Jan – Melbourne, Prince of Wales
Tue Jan 26 – Big Day Out, Melbourne
Fri Jan 29 – Big Day Out, Adelaide
Sun Jan 31 – Big Day Out, Perth