Changes: Chris Lake

The name Chris Lake goes hand in hand with electronic music, and over the past six years he has achieved more than many could in a lifetime whilst retaining an enduring popularity with fans from across the spectrum of electronic music which culminated with  him signeing a multi-album deal with American dance music powerhouse Ultra Records. Now residing in LA, Chris Chris’ popularity Stateside and beyond is continuing to grow at a remarkable rate as the scene continues to explode into the public consciousness.  Speaking with Chris ahead of his upcoming performance at the London Leg of the Electric Daisy Carnival it was clear to us that with several projects in the pipeline that the best is still to come from the ‘Changes’ producer with a new album on the way and his own imprint continuing to support fresh talent. Now we just can’t wait for him to descend upon the capital with fresh material this July. So read on to find out why Chris feels boundaries in music are meant to be crossed, showing up to a gig in an ambulance and his deep love for Norwich City FC! 

The electronic music scene has become very popular at the moment with many acts breaking into the charts, why do you think this is? 

I think there’s a number of reasons. There are lots of very uninspiring producers out there, playing it very safe. They’re perhaps a little bit boring and probably a little bit shit but at the same time they’re getting some great sounds out of it. The improvement in production quality as well is something I think is really key to success. It has evolved from being some of the worst production on records, very shoddily done to now when they probably sound better than pop records. I am just really glad that dance music has finally caught up. And with 99% of producers downloading cracked software for free, it’s allowing people to create records. Shame on those people for downloading cracked software haha!  With the amount of technology coming out, music creation has been made easier and more accessible. And the internet has made it much easier to share it with the world. As a result a lot more music is readily available.

Do you think the internet making so much music available to us all is a good thing? 

Of course this is a good thing, I mean the majority of people on the planet are born with two legs, this doesn’t mean everyone is as good as running the 100m as Usain Bolt. So it’s brilliant that everyone can try making dance records, it just doesn’t mean they are all making good ones. I think it is really good that everyone out there can create records and express themselves. It can make it a little bit frustrating when you go on SoundCloud, open up your inbox and you’re getting a thousand messages a day from producers or people wanting you to hear their track. Every message is understandable and they all have the genuine desire to be heard but 99% of those records are shit. Overall it’s a good thing though because everyone can express themselves and some good tracks do come from it.

With the lines between genres becoming blurred, do you think this is giving people more freedom to branch off and create other music or is it a hindrance making people feel they need to cover a number of genres? 

I have always had the philosophy “if I like it I will play it”. I have been saying that for over ten years now. Over the past year or two it seems that other people are doing the same and this can only be a good thing. I like loads of different genres, I like electronic music, some people seem to be too snobby about it and think it’s not cool. I just want to create good music. 

That is refreshing to hear because we always find it frustrating when certain artists criticize other artists for cross pollinating certain genres…

This is the one thing about the industry I don’t like. I think some artists have some of the most disgusting, grotesque egos. I mean at the end of the day we make music and that doesn’t make us Gods or better than other people because that’s your gift.

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