Outro: Ralph Lawson

Ralph Lawson

Outro

ralph lawson

interviews, outro, March 2007, COMMENTS

Bill Brewster once called you the UK’s ‘best kept secret DJ’. How do you feel about that title?
Oh that was a long while ago now. I mean it was great to get that respect off Bill, but as I think he said at the time, that doesn’t mean I’ll get any gigs on the back of it! Hopefully I’m not the ‘best kept secret’ these days, I hope more people know me these days.

You dropped the first record at Back to Basics in 1991, name that tune?
I remember it really well, it was Marshall Jefferson ‘The Truth’.

And how did it go down?
There was no-one there! It was 10.30pm and there were probably about 65 people in the whole room. But that doubled every week from then on until they were queuing around the block.

With your long running weekly night at Basics you’re known as one of the best resident DJs around. We looked up the dictionary definition of ‘resident’ and it said ‘a person who has their home in a place’. Is Basics your home?
It’s funny you should say that because in the Ralph Lawson dictionary the phrase ‘resident DJ’ has a different meaning. If someone plays somewhere for three months and then moves on they aren’t a resident. It’s about being there every single Saturday, although lots of places don’t have weekly nights anymore. But it was when I went to New York that I was blown away by these DJs who played in one place all night and I guess that’s what my idea of a resident DJ is, it’s based on a more American model. You need to be there every week to have that bond with your crowd. That way it becomes more than just playing records, it’s more like our home, more like a real house music experience.

You’ve been out and about with the 2020 Soundsystem recently, how does it feel to go back to your roots working on the new Fabric mix CD?
It’s a f*****g relief to be honest, after trying to organise 2020 and get all those guys from Argentina over here together and ready to play! It’s so easy when I’m on my own. I just turn up with my records and that’s it.

And what’s the flavour of Fabric 33?
I’ve bought in a lot of experiences with 2020 Soundsystem, mixing live and electronic sounds to create what I hope is something interesting. There’s some great new music in there and the live stuff has naturally influenced what I am doing now too. Really it’s just me doing my thing.

Words: Caroline Shaw

From: March 2007 Issue

Subscribe to NIGHT magazine