published on inthemix here
published on page 13 and online with scene magazine
13 December, 2011
image courtesy of Quiet Chaos
The media seem to portray Calvin Harris somewhat as an anti-social geek; perhaps this is so IT nerds can relate to him. Still, having a brain helps, otherwise his twitter account wouldn’t be as amusing as it is. Either way, Adam Richard Wiles knows how to keep the Calvin Harris moniker in lights with a salacious wit that rapines and wrestles egos; while perspectives simultaneously see a petulant whizz kid and a fucking funny adult. Yup, Calvin Harris hovers over that line between genius and lunacy.
Calvin Harris
So Close
By Lady Lex
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 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.
Do you prefer Adam or Calvin these days?
Everyone calls me Calvin these days – even my friends do.
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.
You have approached electronic music differently from a singer-songwriter to a producer to a DJ. Do more people listen to you because you are a musician? Or do they listen simply because it’s good?
I don’t feel like I give credibility to anything, but I don’t think it matters what people who don’t like electronic music think about electronic music. It doesn’t matter if I come along and say “listen to this! Honestly, it’s great music – listen, to Wolfgang Gartner, simply because I told you!” If they want to slag it off, let them. If it’s good it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad.
You’re doing similar things to David Guetta – but where would you draw the line in the differences between you and him?
The difference, from my perspective, is in creating the music. For me, music is a personal thing that I’ve always done, and it’s always been done on my own. Anything of mine has been done by me. It’s a personal thing. I’ve done it on my own. It’s been written by me, produced by me, mixed by me. But with Guetta, it’s more a project. The man at the fence of the project is an amazing DJ, an amazing producer but more an executive producer of the whole thing; the mastermind. He’s opened dance music up to everyone. I see myself as the introverted producer, the song-writer. You’ll see nine credited writers for a Guetta tune, whereas you’ll see one on mine. I just see him more of as a collaborative artist – which is what dance music should be about. Whereas me, I’m more of a loner who got a bit lucky.
What does it take to attract the attention of Lady Gaga or Katy Perry or suddenly feature Rihanna singing on your track?
What I like to do at the moment is try to make dance music with sounds from dance music. When you think of dance music and the stock sounds on radio from across the last few years, I like to use sounds that haven’t been used before to make it go off. I can’t remember the last time popular dance music used guitars – so I did. Everything are recycled ideas, but presented in a modern way. It’s more about sound being equally as catchy as everything else. The funk thing – with the chords and the notes are the afterthought. Like a catchy riff, the song needs the right sounds. I like instruments. I like pianos, I like guitars. Anywhere this musical idea comes from, I try. I use synths, plugins and Logic. I use my laptop and work from my laptop a lot – I’ve had this laptop forever. It’s the second mac book I’ve ever owned. And I mix it all down on this laptop.
What do you want to achieve?
I just want to carry on and get better with what I do. I want my music to be good. I don’t want to make shit music. That’s my number one priority. I’ve always got one eye on what people like. I want to people to like my music – that’s the point. People come to a rave and dance to music they like. And if I’m playing that rave, I don’t want to bore them shitless with a load of tunes they don’t like. So I keep an eye on what people are listening to and what they like. And if you’ve done something they don’t like, you find out why and look into that. It’s part of the fun.
What are you looking forward to when you get to Australia? Is there anything special we can expect from you on the dancefloor when you get here?
I can’t wait to get to Australia. I love getting out and about in Sydney especially – it’s always good fun. Stereosonic was such a huge thing for me – the first big shows I played as a DJ. And I’ll have my happy face on because it’s Australia. I’m going to do everything I possibly can to make people go off and make sure people have a great time – as always.
Calvin Harris’ Australian Summer Tour:
31 Dec: Shore Thing 2011 , Bondi Park, Campbell Parade
1 Jan: Field Day 2012, The Domain, Art Gallery Rd
1 Jan: Summadayze 2012, Sidney Myer Music Bowl, 21 Linlithgow Avenue
2 Jan: Summafieldayze 2012, Doug Jennings Park, Brisbane
3 Jan: Summadayze 2012, Sir James Mitchell Park, South Perth Foreshore