Page 44 - Zone Magazine Issue 030 - Lexicon Avenue

Before, during and after tasting top 10 national chart success with 4 top 30 records he remixed everyone from Depeche Mode to Danny Tenaglia and with his productions being championed by the likes of Sasha,Digweed, Catteneo, Howells, Seaman et al there's no doubt of how highly regarded he is in Progressive House music.
Major labels such as – Virgin, Island, Mute, Warner Bros and Mercury to name a few, and, a 'who's who' of the most influential underground labels such as Deconstruction, Yoshitoshi, Renaissance, Hooj Choons, Global Underground, SAW Recordings, Stereo, Audio Therapy, Junior Boys Own, NRK and Plastica along with his co-owned label, the seminal Forensic Records have all made homes for his talents.
With his productions and international DJ career taking him to some of the worlds greatest clubs in every corner of the globe It's fair to say that Chris has always been at the forefront of this electronic music movement we love.
So you grew up in North East England, what
music did you like growing up?
Yeah, North East although radio and TV were mostly national through the seventies and eighties so TV shows like The Old Grey Whistle Test and John Peels evening slot on Radio 1 were there for all and when the electronic stuff started filtering through it opened up a whole new world of sound for me in the post punk era. Bands like Joy Division then New Order played a big part in my formative years, also the stuff coming from the US, like the early Electro stuff which was available compiled on the Street Sound series of vinyl.
When / how did you get intoDJ'ing? Where do your musical roots lie, what are your first memories of electronic music and when did you know you wanted to pursue it seriously?
My best friend at school was Peter Riding better known now as the artist Zero B. We listened to this electronic stuff together then around 84 and 85 – as young teens – we would travel to Newcastle every weekend to go to the record shops selling the import stuff. Both fascinated, we also started to go to the music shops to check out the synths and drum machines that made these sounds. I worked early morning
and weekend jobs to save for equipment and we both started to build on learning those instruments we bought. Around 89 we started raving and other friends had decks so, as I moved out of home fairly young, there was always a mate who had decks set up where i lived. The Djing and productions went hand in hand.
I had my first record out in 92 (Little Rascal – Moving to the beat) on Circuit Records which then got licensed to a Deconstruction Compilation and, after working shitty jobs for 4 years, it was the catalyst for me wanting to take it seriously.
How difficult was learning to produce for you in the beginning? Did you take any audio engineering programs or production courses to help you out or are you pretty much self
taught?
When I started making music with electronic equipment there were no courses that I knew of 85 – 92. You really had to learn it yourself. There was no internet. I read a lot of magazines at the time but they weren't really focusing on house music in the early years. The other thing was, when you're saving up for equipment (which was very expensive back then) every time you bought a piece of kit, you had lots of time to learn it inside out before you could afford your next piece, so every synth, sampler or drum machine was known completely and the studio was basically built up like that and the knowledge was gained exponentially. So yes, completely self taught.
How long did it take you to develop a
sound you love and feel is a reflection of
you?
I think the sound developes naturally, with developements in tech and in personal taste. I've always thought of house music, the scene, the people and the music, as a movement. I think it's fluidity is what keeps it fresh and artists who embrace that will always be able to make a valuable contribution. That's all anyone in this should want to be in my a opinion. A contributor to the movement so I guess Djing and production should always reflect that. In both fields there's a quote that works for me (can't remember who said it) but it's relevant to Djing and production 'give them what they want, but not what they'd expect'.