Steve Lawler's Darker Path

Feature, By angy, 5th June, 2008

What sort of pressure comes with being a resident on the Terrace at Ibiza’s legendary Space nightclub? All sorts of punter expectations that you’ll be dropping dancefloor bomb after perpetual dancefloor bomb it seems, and that was the predicament that faced Steve Lawler. While he’s always been a chameleon with a remarkable talent of shifting his colours to remain on the cutting edge of underground house, for a few years there he found himself being boxed into the category of a ‘big-room’ DJ.

“The trouble with becoming successful as a DJ is that as soon as that happens, the pressure grows enormously,” he told Same Same. Speaking of his legendary residency at Space, “The was just too much expectation and pressure, and all these DJs around me playing these big ‘glory’ records. You try to stand up in that, but after a while I thought, fuck it… I’m just gonna play what I wanna play.”

And so Lawler decided to throw off the shackles of being a ‘big room’ DJ and proceeded to throw himself down the rabbit hole of dark European techno and minimal. But as he tells Same Same, this really shouldn’t have surprised anyone. After all, Steve Lawler has never been a DJ who’s been happy to stand in any one place.

“For me, yes DJing is a job, and it’s one that I get paid for. But fuck that – I can’t do my job unless I really enjoy it… I have to be excited by new music, so I’m always on the lookout for something new. I’m going through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of records every week, and I never take my eye off the ball.”

This weekend Steve Lawler is finally back in Australia, after making his fans endure one of those characteristic long waits. Same Same’s Angus Paterson took time out to talk to one of the world’s finest selectors of cool underground house, ahead of his performance this weekend at Action At The Arthouse.

[To stream audio interview, click on the button at the top of this article.]

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