One World Festival recently moved moved to 31st July teaming up with Rave In The Park <\/b>to bring you an even better and more complete experience. In the event of further delays, tickets will automatically be rolled over, or can be refunded on request.\u00a0 One World Festival will make history as the first-ever event in a brand new location set in 1200 acres of rolling green landscape in the outskirts of London inside the M25. Every single detail of this debut festival has been painstakingly designed to make for the perfect musical experience. The eclectic and world-class line-up features five spectacular stages hosted by the likes of Art E Fect, Audio Rehab, Un-Mondo, Feel the Fruit and the newly added Rave In The Park, with headliners Steve Lawler, Mark Radford, GW Harrison, Devstar, Sam Supplier, Carnao Beats, Marcus Nasty, Art E Fect, Nightshift, Andy Mills, Sooney and many more.\u00a0Here we chat to legendary DJ Steve about the event and whats been keeping him gong through the past year.<\/p>\n
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What do you reckon about last year, it’s been a bit weird right?<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cIf you would have asked me that question six months ago I would have said to you \u201clast year can kiss my ass!\u201d But actually, I am quite thankful for it now, I\u2019ve got a different perception on it all\u201d.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s the thing though, right? It feels like it couldn\u2019t get any worse, especially for the music industry, right?<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cNo, I don\u2019t believe that, I believe it could easily get worse, lets face it, the restrictions, and rules and regulations have been changed, back peddled, and already there are threats of an impending winter lockdown! So who knows!!! We are no longer in control of our own lives sadly.<\/p>\n
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However from a different perspective, when you hit rock bottom, what always happens is you find strength.<\/p>\n
And my strength was to step back and appreciate what I did have, as opposed to more of the things that I have lost. And by changing the way that I perceived my life as a whole, it made me so happy, grateful and so relieved for so many reasons. I became very grateful for everything in my life, instead of being negative about the things I have lost, and I am in a much better place for it.<\/p>\n
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I have been so career-driven for the last 30 years, which is why I got to the top of my craft, through relentless dedication. And I just realised I am sacrificing some very good things in life here and I need some time to be spent on me, as opposed to just doing it for the career, and as a result I am much happier for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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And how would you take what\u2019s happened over the past year and work it positively through your projects? Have you thought about that?<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cI have, yeah. I have meetings with all my team, my manager, assistant, social media guys, marketing guys, I have very much got a definite strategy and plan going forward. I also spoke with some of the promoters that I am in partnership with\u2026 we had big announcements to make in 2019, we had a Warriors residency in Ibiza, it was a big deal but obviously didn\u2019t happen, so when things open up again that will be a big focus. I am not going to be touring doing hundreds of gigs anymore, I will be doing 40\/50 gigs a year at the most. I could almost tell you potentially all my 2022 shows for a whole year. That\u2019s how much things have been planned. My agent comes to me with something that sounds amazing and I\u2019ll do it. I will not let my career be driven by numbers anymore, have to do this to achieve that type thing, it\u2019s almost like I\u2019m saying I\u2019m not gonna be a career DJ anymore. I\u2019m not gonna be going to the studio trying to relentlessly make music all the time. I want to do what I want, be where I want, when I want and with who I want\u201d. I am going to be way more selective to parties I play.<\/p>\n
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How have you picked the upcoming gigs for the next year? Is it because you know them really well, or because they are really cool, or different?<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cThey are gonna be split into various different shows, they are gonna be either WARRIORS shows and will feature guest dj\u2019s along side myself and new up and coming acts. Warriors has always been about the gang mentality, and building new talent, these will tend to be the bigger shows.<\/p>\n
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And then KNCT’D is another brand that I started that\u2019s gonna tour globally, mainly with myself playing all night long with the exception of the opening act, which will be driven by localised competitions. So for example the next time I play in Buenos Aires, it will be in a 7000 capacity venue and it will be a KNCT’D show where I will play for 6 hours, and before that they will play a competition for choosing the opening act, to play in the first 2 hours of the show. KNCT’D is more like a \u201cSteve Lawler Journey\u201d proper DJ\u2019ing for extended sets.\u00a0 The places I will be playing at will be places in which I resonate with the people. Buenos Aires I\u2019ll play twice a year, Toronto twice a year, London four times a year which includes a Warriors show, a KNCT’D show, a festival, I sort of pick out the ones I want to do. I got to the point where I want to be more choosy about who I am playing for and where I play. I want to make these gigs more important, more valuable.<\/p>\n
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I will do Burning Man and Coachella as these are special gigs. I have done most things that DJs are now just achieving,<\/p>\n
So now it has to be what works with my life, as a human, as opposed to being a human comes after being a DJ. The gigs need to mean something to me now.\u00a0The meaningless money-driving touring is just not for me anymore. \u201c<\/b><\/p>\n
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Speaking about festivals, I know you will be back in One World, that should be cool, right?<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cThe guys contacted me and what resonated with me was sort of the old school mentality and I am totally up for that. I have wanted a festival and I think this will be a great act. \u201c<\/p>\n
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I had a quick look through your social media and you have been selling off your vinyls, what was that about? Was it a hard decision to come by, what you\u2019re going to sell, what you\u2019re going to keep?<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cSo it is one I have been doing during lockdown. I have so many vinyls. I have over 20.000. Which is way too many. You probably know about the streams I have been doing called KNCT’D. Where I am now playing vinyl again. So For the streams I have been starting to go through my records and organise them a bit better and it\u2019s just so so many! So much fucking incredible music that even I don\u2019t play! It\u2019s just sitting there and they have been just forgotten pieces of vinyl. I\u2019m keeping probably half of my collection , which is still an enormous amount of records. I probably have at least a couple thousand of just doubles. Some of the music I just need to let go of. I\u2019m gonna sell some, and give some to charity. I will basically get rid of 10.000 of them I think\u201d.<\/p>\n
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And are you going to get more records? Or is this going to be more of a purge?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cSince I started doing KNCT’D, I am getting sent vinyls through post again. To play them on the KNCT’D stream as it’s been doing pretty good and getting thousands of views\u201d.<\/p>\n
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I don\u2019t wanna necessarily continue with the pandemic vibe, but you must be pretty buzzing for clubs working together at the moment. It\u2019s a nice thing to see, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 You certainly see it here in the UK…<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is what I mean. Through something that has been quite depressing, and very difficult for lots of people, something positive comes out of it. And what you said is a very good demonstration of that. Places and promoters that are usually rivals, they have come together as this is not just about them anymore, everyone has been losing a lot of money. And I don\u2019t just mean venues. It\u2019s promoters, DJs, doormen, people working in the bar, PR people, the whole industry got flattened. Through that massive slack, we all went \u201cOh, hold on.. wait a minute! We’re all in this\u00a0 together actually\u201d and that is a positive thing, like you said. So yeah, it\u2019s been nice to see this happening\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Obviously Ibiza has a big place in your heart. How do you think they have handled it? Are you headed back there this year?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cIbiza is my second home, and they have been hit very hard, because the whole island basically survives on tourism, and tourism in Ibiza is centred around the nightclubs. With clubs being closed, tourism has massively suffered. But most people that I have been speaking to have been just going through it. I mean, this has been happening for so long now that it\u2019s almost like all of us have been through a similar path, we ve gone down and come back up in a better way. You have to come back stronger and better, it\u2019s the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n
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I saw you have been making a remix of Ronnie Spiteri. Is that about to come out?<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cYeah due to come out this month. Also my new single featuring Dateless on the vocals called Jus Sayin (Ecstasy) coming out on my label VIVa MUSiC<\/p>\n
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Wicked! Steve, I appreciate your time, always a pleasure speaking to you!<\/b><\/p>\n