Calvin Harris is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in dance music today. Responsible for bullet tracks Ready for The Weekend and You Used To Hold Me while working with the biggest pop names on the planet from Rihanna to Dizzee Rascal and Kylie Minongue, Adam Richard Wiles knows how to keep his ‘Calvin Harris’ moniker in lights – and that’s not only due to his notorious wit on Twitter.

With an amazing array of skills as a singer-songwriter and fine instrumentalist, in this day and age of throwing a stone and hitting a DJ, jumping onto the decks was merely a natural progression. It was one that certainly agreed with him – if one were to judge the favourable crowd responses since he debuted in 2010 for Stereosonic Australia. Calvin Harris has since become a standard addition to the festival circuit, with his sets well received across the world. As a producer, he continues to come up trumps with his third album Awooga touted to be his third bull’s eye: Bounce featuring Kelis, and Feel So Close featuring his own vocals have already clambered up radio charts across the world.

In the lead-up to his Australian summer tour – lighting up the Summadayze mainstage and doubling up in Sydney at Field Day and Shore Thing – Calvin Harris ponders what makes a great DJ and what it takes for him to write a great track.

So Calvin, as a fairly new DJ to dance music, what have you found makes a great DJ?
Reading the crowd is the most important thing. Playing the right record at the right time is a pretty difficult act – not many people can do it. That’s the most important thing: to drop the perfect tune at the right point. You know when you’ve done it. And it’s amazing.

You have quite an edge in electronica with your musical background. How did you come to acquire your arsenal in music?
I’m not trained or anything like that: I’m as much of a musician as anyone in the DJ industry. I’ve played guitar since I was really young but I never got lessons. Same goes for piano and keyboard. I just do whatever. I listen to most music. I don’t see myself as being different to anyone else really.

But if you have learnt how to play guitar, piano and keys, how have you come to be behind the decks?
I was into dance music at 14. I used to buy all my favourite house music on vinyl. I had Gemini Excel 400s and a little mixer and I used to bedroom DJ for a while. Then I started making music – and that took over and I didn’t really give a shit about DJing for years. Then I had a record out and people talked about me doing DJ sets. I reconsidered it. I was shit at first, learning about what it was I wanted to play. But that’s how it started all off for me.