“The third and 'final' Lights Out will be hitting the shelves around October 2005.”

One could easily be forgiven for thinking things have been a little quiet of late in the Steve Lawler camp with the exception of his packed out night at State at this year’s WMC; the “Lights Out” concept of dark and dirty house in tandem with twisted visuals and oppressive lighting once again finding the mark with punters.

In between gigs as part of his involvement with the 2005 Heineken Thirst Tour in Asia, RA recently chased down the man who will be headlining the South West 4 festival and is at the helm of what is shaping up to be the hottest residency in Ibiza this summer, Viva on Thursdays at Space.

And it would seem Steve Lawler has been keeping us in the dark for a very very good reason...

You have been known to edit and slice up a lot of the music on your compilations like “Lights Out” as well as in your live sets. Do you think more DJs should embrace this technique and get a bit more involved with the music they're playing?

Well the reasons why I do it, is because it makes what you do unique. To be honest, sometimes in tracks that I receive, I like what I'm hearing for most of the track and then I might not like a certain part of the track or think I can make it sound more suited to me, so I simply do my own re-edit.

I think if you hear DJs that do their own edits i.e. Tenaglia, Howells, Vath to name a few, it does make them stand out as they’re playing something someone else hasn't got.

Speaking of which, do you have any details or news about the next “Lights Out” album?

The third and final Lights Out will be hitting the shelves around October 2005. I'll start to compile it as soon as I get to my Ibiza home in June where I can spend hours upon hours going through music.

What are you working on production-wise at the moment?

I have just finished a remix of the all-time classic Donna Summer, "I Feel Love". My next project is going to be another single, but what direction I am going to go in, I have no idea...until I close my eyes in the studio.

“I have Darren Hughes (from "We love") co-promoting the night with me and I have Sasha heavily involved, bringing his 'Fundacion' event...”

You have residencies all around the world, from Harlem Nights in the heart of London to Space in Ibiza. Do you have any plans to extend your residencies in the following year to places like Europe or Asia and which of your residencies
do you enjoy the most?

It's difficult to do too many residencies at once because you can't give it your all! And you need to give a residency more than just turning up to play for a couple of hours. With Harlem Nights I pretty much run the whole thing. I have my brother executing all my instructions as to what dancers I want,
what lighting guy, the design and look of the night etc, and I turn up and play anything from 5 to 6 hours...

The same thing will happen with my new night I'm starting this year called 'Viva' at Space in Ibiza. I have Darren Hughes (from “We love...") co-promoting the night with me and I have Sasha heavily involved, bringing his Fundacion event to the inside of Space for an exclusive residency. And again I have had large input in the design, look and organisation of the night.

Harlem Records has featured a number of successful releases over the past years including works from Andrew Dannoui and Peter Bailey. What are the current plans for the label and what kind of sounds can we expect in coming months?

I have 3 labels now. I started another (Harlem Electric) to suit a lot of music I'm currently signing and because I have so much music signed that I just need to get out! I have some really great music lined up on the three labels from producers like Audiofly Jimmy Hill, Drax n Gooding, Stu Hirst, Deepgroove, PJ Doherty to name a few.

The aim of each of the three labels is slightly different musically. Harlem Records is for the bigger singles, Harlem Trax is for the more underground cuts, and Harlem Electric is more towards the future sound of house music.

It seems like festivals are well and truly back on the summer menu after a couple of sluggish years. As one of the headlining artists on the SW4 festival bill, what are your thoughts on the current state of festivals and how do you alter your style when playing in front of an arena of thousands
in comparison to an intimate club environment?

Festivals are great and I can't wait for the summer because this is when they start all over Europe. There's obviously a big difference when it comes to the set I play. Musically you usually only have 2 - 3 hours so you cant really do the vibe thing that I like to do in clubs. I will still play a lot of the
same records you'll hear me play in a club, but it's going to be more condensed, no building moments etc, just straight in there. Generally you go out there and play a large set! To a lot of people!

So finally, do you have any particular event from your recent tours around the globe that you consider a favorite?

One of my favourite gigs of my life was last November at Creamfields in Argentina in the main arena to 10,000 people!! And that's 10,000 Argentinians!!!! They were jumping as high as you could jump; no-one stopped from my first record to my last! It was truly amazing... definitely one of the DJ'ing highlights of my career.

You can have your chance to jump up and down to Steve Lawler at London's biggest dance music festival, South West 4 on August 27th where he'll be spinning a three-hour set.

Steve Lawler's "Harlem Nights presents Viva" at Space Ibiza will run every Thursday from July 21st to September 15th.