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Cover Story: Delve Into The Fascinating Sonic Realms Of Chris Lake
We spoke to Chris Lake days before he came to Brazil to headline two shows for ‘NAFF’ Festival
Prolific British musician Chris Lake still taps into the same sense of curiosity and wonder that he did when he first found his creative process of making music at a young age. His discography is monumental and has become one of the leading lights in the contemporary house music scene.
After so many years of hard work and countless tours around the world, Lake created Black Book Records, a label dedicated to supporting and nurturing the talent of a new generation of DJs and producers.
Additionally, this weekend Chris Lake returns to Brazil stronger than ever, since he will be showcasing two shows in two cities for the second edition of the ‘NAFF’ Festival created together with his partner in crime, FISHER.
We are utterly sure that he will delight us with the most select of his music; including the track ‘Beggin’ (to be released April 21st) that he recently produced with Aluna or the new prominent VIP version of the track ‘Deceiver’ made with Green Velvet.
Mixmag Brazil sat down with the brilliant selector and producer to catch up on the hottest news including the anticipated B2B with FISHER at Coachella Festival, where they will close the outdoor stage on the festival’s last day, among other topics.
Hi Chris! Thanks for having us. We can’t start talking about anything other than your return to Brazil for the second edition of NAFF, this time in two different locations! What’s on your mind (and in your heart) right now?
I’m definitely excited to return to Brazil. I had such a fun time visiting the country over the years. Brazil was a massive part of my early career; I always did various shows around the country at least twice a year. Then, when I moved to America, my trips became less frequent until probably around 2017, when I started returning a bit more.
‘Só Track Boa’ was one of the shows I did with FISHER in 2018. We both played solo shows on the main stage and after that, we went on a B2B on the Garden stage, where we played for hours; it was a pivotal moment for FISHER and me.
Our team gave us the idea that inspired us to believe in the magic we had in the B2B that we were doing together, and then we came up with all these plans and what we wanted to do.
Ironically, one of the big things we planned to do after we finished our set at ‘Só Track Boa’ was to perform a headliner at Coachella, which we already announced a couple of months ago, and now we are going to be doing it next month. We are very excited about it. The plan was to close the outdoor stage on Sunday, which we will be doing, and we are thrilled.
Brazil is inspirational for me. I had so many great shows there and being able to pull off events like ‘NAFF’ with FISHER has been brilliant, I love doing that. It was such a shame that it became complicated to continue doing it through COVID, so we had a three-year break, and now we are back to doing it properly. We are incredibly excited to do it!
You know, we have great partners in Brazil. One of the things that we have been very particular about is that we wanted to find exciting venues; it was just about finding the vibe and the right places that inspire us and make us want to go and throw an event there. Luckily, we could pull off three shows; we are happy to be out there and having a busy and exhausting weekend.
You’ve been in the scene for over 20 years... that’s a long time! You certainly underwent many transformations, so what motivates you the most to keep doing what you currently do?
Everything is driven by just making myself happy and fulfilling my creative process. I absolutely love making music, and I love making music to make people feel good. At the root of it, I make music to make myself feel good, that’s my main goal, and my second thought is to make other people feel the same.
I wake up daily and am excited about making myself first happy with the music. It sounds simple, I might sound stupid to many people, but I find it very effective, and when I get to perform for people and feel that that work is validated it’s unbelievably fulfilling; that cycle keeps me going, and I just love it. I still feel the same way I did when I was a teenager, when I was making this music, it definitely keeps me young inside.
“Brazil is inspirational for me. I had so many great shows there and being able to put off events like ‘NAFF’ with FISHER has been brilliant, I love doing that.”
With your extensive career in the scene, this should help allow you to give opportunities to new artists, right? Much of this happens through Black Book Records, your label founded in 2017. How does curation work? Do you have a team to listen to the demos and decide what will be released?
Yes, it is funny you ask that! That’s a challenging part of running a label. Especially in 2023, this generation has many music producers; many people are making house music. I think there are a lot of producers enticed by labels like Black Book Records because the records we present do well, so I’m proud of how we make the records look with the art and the promotions. It entices a lot of people to be part of that.
We get sent a lot of music, and it is pretty challenging to listen to everything, but we try. We tried to improve our methods and give our feedback to people when we listen to their music. It is a lot of work; I need help to do it. I have less time to listen to demos, but I have great people working with me, helping me find the next releases and artists we want to support and help develop.
At the root of it, we want to help develop the next headliners. We want to be involved in developing artists that will continue to inspire the next generation and try to find artists that are approaching things differently and have the X Factor. It’s great to be involved in developing artists within the scene, watch their growth, and increase the excitement in the scene in general.
Several artists, who released on the label still had the opportunity to play with you in the “Block parties” of the label, right? Do you feel the vibe has changed from before the pandemic to now? Do you consider that the market is oversaturated?
The market has been saturated for a long time; it is pretty normal. But it really depends on how you want to look at it; there are so many people trying to make music, throwing events, or doing a lot of things within the industry, yes, it can be problematic, but also it can be inspiring, because at the end of the day, the way of my team and I are not focused on what the masses are doing, we are focused on trying to figure it out how we can continually improve things and make things better, make things more exciting, doing block parties and finding unique venues - we go out of our way to find unique spaces, make something different from what other people do.
“‘Só Track Boa’ was one of the shows I did with FISHER in 2018. We both played the main stage and after that, a B2B on the Garden stage, it was a pivotal moment for FISHER and me.”
What are the main points of the evolution of the brand so far?
Beyond the music, I’m incredibly proud of our art direction within Black Book Records, and It might be one of the strongest parts of the label. We put a lot of time and effort into trying to be innovative and inspiring. I feel like a good mark of how much you are inspiring people is by how much people copy you soon after, and we have been copied quite a lot which keeps us pivoting and keeps us changing and improving what we are doing, but I like that, I like the fact that we are inspiring people and being copied, it just keeps us moving forward, so that’s nice.
On the events, we are constantly figuring out what events we can throw that best represent the label, it seems like a great time. We often have to go to the places and set up things from scratch, which is very challenging, but at the end of the day, we have been lucky to pull off great selling events that people love and are really excited about being repeated. We always try to evolve and do different things. A lot of the shows that we are going to be doing are going to be different from the previous ones. We are constantly trying to move forward.
How are the ideas for the merchandising part made? Do you collaborate more directly or indirectly in the pieces that are created?
There is also a collaborative effort, but it depends on the item. I am very particular about making good items that people can keep, last well, have good designs, and people would be proud to wear, that doesn’t feel like something you want to throw away after a single use; we are not interested in that, we want to do great items, and the last thing that we think about is profit, just like with everything because I believe if you end up doing good things, the rest of it works. That’s the approach that we take.
“It’s great to be involved in developing artists within the scene, watch their growth and increase the excitement in the scene in general.”
Across your recent shows, you value the conservation of the ocean, eradicating plastics from your events. Since when did this change happen or started to happen?
That was honestly inspired by when I went to Burning Man. The foundations and the ethos behind the event were unbelievably inspiring. For example, the attendees and their mental approach, not leaving any mark behind and trying not to be wasteful. I found it really inspiring, it just let me go away and look at various parts of my life and other people’s life, questioning what can be improved.
Unfortunately, in the world that we are living in, if you ask what can be improved, the answer will be absolutely everything. The job is enormous trying to figure out how we can have a sustainable lifestyle without destroying the earth where we live, so it just drove me to start asking more and more questions.
As my profile grew, I began to ask how I could use my profile or my leverage to encourage the people that I was working with on shows to try to employ better practices to improve events, to use fewer single-use plastic and things like this and trying to be more sustainable.
I cannot say that I am an expert or that I know absolutely everything, but there is an interest that I want to improve. We should all strive to improve things to be sustainable.
Sustainability should not be a dirty word; sustainability should be exciting. At the end of the day, being sustainable means that humanity can be doing this forever, and that’s amazing because it is nice to think that events could be going on forever without destroying the planet.
There is a lot of work to be done, and it is not easy. I do not want to demonize people for the practices that they are doing right now, it is more about trying to encourage people to start with the most minor changes. I always travel with a bottle of water and refill them instead of buying a plastic bottle every time. Things like that really can make a difference.
At the beginning of your answer, we couldn’t help noticing that you were inspired by Burning Man, an event that started with a fantastic philosophy about living in a sustainable world where real money does not exist. Do you consider the central core of a celebration like this has lost its early values?
Absolutely, that is my perception. However, I cannot say I know it intimately because I have yet to back since I am never available when Burning Man is on. But it is definitely my perception. And, of course, money seems to change things, and when you have more people approaching the event with money bypassing some of the ethical foundations of what the event meant to be, it is problematic.
“I like the fact that we are inspiring people and being copied, it just keeps us moving forward.”
Speaking of concerts, in addition to ‘NAFF’ in Brazil a few days later, you go on stage at the giant Coachella with FISHER. What can the public expect differently from this special gig?
Well, I met FISHER about eight years ago. When we met, we just simply connected; I am lucky to call him one of my best friends; he is a fantastic human, and it is impossible not to have fun when he is around.
We inspire each other musically; we share the same manager and have similar team members. So, it is really quite easy for us to pull off these events. Sometimes you can see in events that they put two DJs to perform together, and it can be a bit messy when they have different teams; getting everyone on the same page is difficult, but for FISHER and me it is really easy.
Our friendship and musical connection can be felt when we perform together; we have so much fun. We also have friends and family with us when we are doing shows together; we don’t do it very frequently, but when we do it, we get everyone together and have a shit load of fun. One of the best ways to describe our B2B is having a party with our friends and inviting other people to join us, and that’s what we feel a B2B is. We simply love it; we are very proud of what we have done.
Early March, you released a VIP version of the hit “Deceiver”, with Green Velvet, a track that was part of Black Book’s 50th release. What would you highlight about this new version?
During the pandemic, one of my other best friends, Chris Lorenzo called me up, and he said, “Chris, I’ve got one of these drive-in shows in California, and I really want you to do a VIP version of one of your tracks, anything for my set. I said, “Mate, I can’t be bothered with this, so no.”
At the end of the call, about one hour later, I spent an hour trying to see if I could make something, and I made that version in an hour and sent it to him. He played it, and it had one of the best reactions all night. He had a copy of the track, I had a copy, and I gave one to FISHER.
It was one of those tracks that had such a good reaction. In the beginning, I just wanted to keep it for myself. I told everyone I didn’t want to release it and kept it for my sets. I don’t know because, at that moment, I felt like the last few months, I was putting so much work into my next music. But people constantly asked me about the track, so I released it.
“I met FISHER about eight years ago. When we met, we just simply connected; I am so lucky to call him one of my best friends.”
What can you share about the lessons that personalities like Green Velvet have contributed to your musical vision?
It is impossible not to be inspired by Green Velvet, his discographies are unbelievable, and his relevance even today is impressive. He is exceptionally relevant to today’s youth; he is unique. I love him; his personality is infectious, and his musical contributions have been felt for generations. To say I’ve worked with him is a very proud moment.
And ahead, there’s the single ‘Beggin’ (to be released April 21st) in collaboration with Aluna, which we already had the chance to hear, and it’s amazing! Did you ever get together in the studio to create it?
We had multiple sessions in the studio, creating all that music. I had not met Aluna before, and I’m really impressed with her; she is a fantastic artist; I’m so happy with the music we created together; it just feels different, and I can’t wait for people to hear it.
Finally, we always like to ask artists for any tips or messages to encourage those who are at the beginning of their careers, fighting for their space. What would you say to them?
At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you need to find what makes you unique. That’s what you really need. It’s not trying to find the sound or imitating the person who is hot right now.
You just need to discover the part of your music that makes you exceptional. Don’t be shy to show that uniqueness; embrace it; it is the most powerful thing any artist has.
Thanks!
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Photos: Corey Wilson
