Steve Lawler
is a British house music producer and DJ born in Birmingham, England. He has held residences at many popular dance clubs such as Space, The End and Twilo. Because of his successful performances at Space in Ibiza, he has been nicknamed "King of Space". [1] [2] Lawler has released several mix albums and is especially well known for his Lights Out
series featured on Boxed. He currently runs the record label Viva Music. He also founded the now defunct Harlem Records.
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STEVE LAWLER TICKETS
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Biography
Steve Lawler originally gained interest in the music scene around the age of 16, listening to
pirate radio stations.
[3] Beginning at age 17, Lawler staged a series of illegal parties in a tunnel under the
M42 motorway from 1990 to 1994.
[4] [5] After several parties, the event began to regularly attract over 500 people and eventually earned Lawler appearances at proper clubs.
Lawler's "big break" came in 1995, when DJ Jason Bye asked him to play daily at Ibiza's reputed Cafe Mambo of
San Antonio "Sunset strip" fame.
[6] Here, he met Darren Hughes of the nightclub
Cream, who signed him to a residency at Cream.
In 2000, he released the single "Rise In" on
Bedrock Records, which featured vocals by
Prince Quick and reached #50 on the
UK Singles Chart and #15 on
Billboard's
Hot Dance Music/Club Play.
[7] [8] This same year, he was asked by
Boxed to mix the third entry in their
Nubreed
series,
Nubreed 003
. After his Nubreed release, Lawler approached Boxed with the idea for the
Lights Out
series.
[9] Lawler returned to London in 2002 with the beginning of his "Harlem Nights" event at
The End, which has since been changed to "Viva Harlem Nights" to reflect Lawler's label Viva.
[10] [11] Lawler founded the
digital record label Viva Music in 2005, citing as a reaction to the increased sales in MP3s relative to vinyl and CDs.
Lawler himself stopped using vinyl in live sets, exclusively using CDs.
Musical genres
Lawler describes his style of house music to be "filthy" and "sleazy".
Others have echoed his sentiments, comparing Lawler's music to
disco in terms of attitude.
Though he's often named a
progressive house DJ, Lawler says that he prefers not to fall under any particular genre.
Lawler's music often has elements of 1980s
electro music and
electroclash, but Lawler maintains that he is against the 1980s electro revival, describing it as "shit in the first place".
Of the music Lawler plays, he is known to perform his own edited versions.
[13]
Influences
Rather than any particular genre or musical groups, Lawler says that his brand of dark house is influenced more by "vices" and dark experiences.
He does, however, claim his biggest inspirations as
Depeche Mode and
The Doors, citing their dark lyrics and atmosphere.
Lawler says that the DJ most influential on him is
Danny Tenaglia, admiring his passion and dedication to DJ-ing and clubbers.
Selected discography
;Albums
- 2000: Dark Drums
(Tide)
- 2000: Nubreed 003
(Boxed)
- 2000: Home
(INCredible)
- 2001: Dark Drums 2
(Tide)
- 2002: Lights Out
(Boxed)
- 2003: Lights Out 2
(Boxed)
- 2005: Lights Out 3
(Global Underground Ltd.)
- 2006: Viva
(Ministry of Sound)
- 2007: Viva London
(Renaissance Records, Ultra Records)
- 2008: Viva Toronto
(Renaissance Records, Ultra Records)
;Singles
- 1999: Novacane - "Rainmaker" (Glow Recordings)
- 2000: "Rise In" (Bedrock) (UK Singles Chart #50, Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #15/Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #41)
- 2002: "Andante" (Bedrock)
- 2004: "Out At Night" (Subversive)
- 2005: "That Sound" (Beside Music, Joia Records)
- 2006: S.L.A.D.L.Y. - "Unicorn" (Viva)
- 2007: "Courses For Horses" (Renaissance Recordings)
- 2007: "Violet" (Viva Music)
References
- Steve Lawler Interview
- This Disco Rocks: Steve Lawler’s new mix-CD captures tribal house’s dark side
- DJ Profile: Steve Lawler
- Steve Lawler >> Biography
- Steve Lawler Interview
- Steve Lawler
- Title Unavailable
- Title Unavailable
- Title Unavailable
- Steve Lawler Biography
- Interview with Steve Lawler
- Steve Lawler: Viva - PopMatters Music Review
- Steve Lawler Interview