A pioneering force in modern house, Chris Lake reached new heights this year with the release of acclaimed debut album Chemistry and his second Grammy nomination.
As one of house music’s most inventive and influential talents, Chris Lake’s story is built on two decades of persistence, evolution and an unwavering love for the dancefloor.
Rising to prominence in 2006 with breakout hit single Changes, the English producer/DJ quickly established himself as a creative shape-shifter, alternating between underground grit and radio-friendly dance hooks. From early bootleg remixes to a Grammy nomination in 2012 for a Deadmau5 collaboration, Lake has continually expanded the boundaries of modern house.
In 2025, Lake reached another defining milestone with the long-awaited release of his debut album, Chemistry – the culmination of a vision he’s spent his entire career crafting. Fully independent and self-funded, the success of the project has reaffirmed his status as one of house music’s creative leaders.
Paired with a sold-out world tour and a second Grammy nomination for his remix of The Chemical Brothers' seminal 2005 track Galvanize, it’s yet another turning point in an already triumphant 20-year career.
Congratulations on your Grammy nomination. You've been nominated in the past, but does it feel different today?
“It's nice because I feel like I've had a really enjoyable, fulfilling career, but I wouldn't say it's one that's been laden with awards and accolades. That feels like it's been shifting a little bit lately, even if it's not been a major goal of mine.”
The nomination is for your Chemical Brothers remix of Galvanize. How did you approach remixing such a culturally significant track?
“First, I told them to send me the stems so I could have a look, which is what I often do because I don't want to lead people down the garden path. If I’m going to deliver a remix, I want to feel confident I can do something good, but at first I didn't think I was going to be able to make anything with it. Actually, it didn't take long at all and all fell together really quickly. I'm really glad because I absolutely adore them and they meant so much to the younger me.”
Do you learn anything from analysing stems of other artists’ work, especially iconic tracks like Galvanize?
“Honestly, sometimes it's just nice to hear the separate parts of a great song and all the imperfections. In the case of Galvanize, the stems were quite challenging. Sometimes that's to do with the technology that was used at the time because it's so much easier nowadays to archive your songs digitally and make stems for a remix.
“Going back to when this song was released, it was probably all done through a desk and printed live with certain channels being soloed. That was likely done by a studio assistant, so I had to do some trickery to make it sound good from my side.”
Are we talking about audio artefacts that would normally be covered up in the final mix so people wouldn't notice?
“Yeah, and even the same sound playing twice - you could hear that the signal was doubled, which is problematic but I'm sure that didn’t happen on the original song. The other thing that I completely forgot to mention was the ‘push the button’ vocal. I didn't have the stems for it and they didn't either, so I had to use my own voice.
“I thought, either I can fire off lots of emails and try to get hold of a major record label to get me the original stem or just try and do it myself. So that's what I did! It's quite funny because my pronunciation of ‘push the button’ is really not that good. I remember sending it to my buddy and he's like, ‘You sound so shit.’”
Has DJing been the secret to keeping your pulse on dance music trends over the last few decades?
“Trends can be a little dangerous because they’re predominantly the opinion of others. At the end of the day, I always try to find a balance where I’m aware of what's happening in the world and what the audience is reacting to, but I didn't get into music to try and be popular, I got into it to make music that I love and would hopefully be popular if you know what I mean?
“The problem with getting too deep into trends is that they can be overly influential and you have to be very careful how you allow that to colour or sway your musical decisions. So yes, I do stay aware, but with a huge slice of intentional ignorance.”
Studying some of your early remixes for artists like The Prodigy, Leftfield and The Eurythmics. These are all electronic artists that referenced dance music but weren’t underground, so why did you take that route?
“I think they were bands and then some bugger went to a synth store at one point [laughs]. I absolutely loved the music, but I do understand the meaning behind your question and some of it is to do with skill. My hand-eye coordination is not that great and whilst I grew up learning to perform instruments and even played keyboards in a band, I wasn't that good and made a lot of mistakes.”
“I don't know how to explain it, but I've always felt the ideas in my head were better than whatever came from my fingers or my voice, and I guess that led me into making structured recorded music. If my performing skills were better, particularly with the piano and keyboards, I think my music would have been different because I would have wanted to perform it in a different way.
“I talked about that a lot last year when I was exploring the idea of making an album and performing it live, but was soon given the stark reminder that I'm just a bit too shit at it… and if I’m not enjoying listening to it, why would I expect anyone else to?”
It's very honest of you to say that, but as a mentor of sorts do you think it would be wise for people to recognise and focus on their strengths quite early in their careers?
“We're all different and have our own skills that make us unique, and we've all got different backgrounds. You've got to play to your strengths and bolster your weaknesses, but if you’re really shit at something, don't kid yourself.
“When I was younger, I didn't have the discipline to get better at keyboard playing and I just don't see myself ever getting past the level I'm at, but even if I had I probably would have stayed on the path that I'm on but dabbled more in making truly live performances.”
What were you using to produce with in the beginning, considering software was not in its infancy but not as widespread as it is now?
“You’re right that I got into it right on the cusp of when sequencers started incorporating audio capabilities. The first equipment I bought was a Yamaha QS300, which was a pretty shitty keyboard and not the best of purchases. Soon after that, it would have been a Roland MC-303, which I quickly upgraded to the MC-505. Then I had a bunch of other little synths that I’ve completely forgotten the names of.”
“I think I was recording onto four-track tape, but before long I got a PC with a Sound Blaster soundcard and the first software I used was Sonic Foundry Acid. That’s when I started making audio loops and dragging in sounds from sample CDs. I progressed to Reason and there was a period where I was shifting between Logic and Ableton, but Ableton ended up winning out and I’ve been using it for a very long time.”
Did Ableton change how you thought about assembling tracks?
“In the ‘90s, the two main MIDI sequencers were probably Logic and Cubase, but Ableton bolted on all of this audio capability and developed features for the 2000s and beyond. It was different because it was born during a digital era where people were starting to develop a new mindset and a fresh way of thinking about production rather than the old, bloated approach.
“I thought it was really refreshing, and now it’s a lot older but its principles are still in line with how I like to look at making music. Ableton just speaks my language and doesn't feel like it gets in the way of me taking an idea from my head into the computer.”
Are the younger generations lucky to have such sophisticated tools these days?
“It's pretty cool how everything’s progressed because there's no barrier to anything you want to do, so yeah, kids are pretty lucky nowadays. When I first started it was unbelievably challenging, but that gives me so much more appreciation for what's available to us now. You have to remember how difficult it was to get anything to sound good back then, and how expensive it was.
“If you wanted to make any kind of music it was a real financial commitment, but it’s easy to imagine how spending thousands of pounds could create very driven people. Especially Brits – we hate getting ripped off with anything so we knew we’d have to make some bangers to get our investment back [laughs].”
What are the net positives of running your own label in 2025 and being able to self-fund your debut album, Chemistry?
“I feel very fortunate that I'm surrounded by very passionate people that love the scene and the music, which allows me to fulfil a vision without any corporate influences. I just wanted the album to be a snapshot of where my head was at the time of making it. Even though it took a long time to put the music together, I didn't want to dwell on it too long and it's been one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done.”
It's rare for someone to release a debut LP more than 20 years into their career. Was it a case of having a whole load of songs that didn't have a home?
“Ironically, it's linked to what I said earlier about musical limitations. I had this vision of how I wanted to improve as a songwriter and create songs with more structure, and I also wanted it to be quite collaborative. I did a lot of sessions at the house working with people I hadn't met before and others I've worked with a lot.”
“We’d be down here making coffee, talking shit in the car or in the kitchen, getting to know each other and creating a really good vibe. Then we’d go upstairs and spend a couple of hours in the studio cranking out beats because we'd all be caffeinated up to our tits. That’s literally how this album came together, by having really fun sessions with great, talented people that inspired me. It was a completely selfish endeavour – then I got to spunk loads of money on releasing the bloody thing.”
We spoke about Ableton, but did you rely on any hardware synths or gadgetry when making the album?
“There were other synths involved. I used a Prophet-8 quite a bit, the Novation Summit and a Crumar Seven electric piano with a couple of pedals. The Hologram Microcosm is a great granular looping pedal for creating spatial delays and stuff like that. I'm not much of a sound designer - I'm a preset and tweak kind of guy and I'm not very patient either.”
“When I’m in the studio, I want things to happen quickly and get on a roll. That’s why I'm not into modular. That stuff’s fantastic, but it takes a very particular type of person to create music on a modular system. I've got a lot of friends that make albums and I see how they can sometimes get caught up in tracks – they keep trying to perfect things, but lose other qualities at the same time.”
Does that mean you’ll work with a mix engineer rather than slave over the post-production yourself?
“There was additional mixing from a few people on a couple of songs where I felt I needed more help. Eric J Dubowsky did a bunch of vocal mixing and I used Vaughan Oliver, who’s quite well known for being the creator of the Oliver Loops on Splice. He's just obsessed with it.”
“After we finished recording Ease My Mind, we had hundreds of tracks and I’d put so much into getting it to that point that I was lost in the source and needed someone to help me take a step back from the screen and get the song to where it needed to be. Vaughan really helped with that, and I also worked with Kevin Grainger from Wired Masters in the final month to bring everything in line – not crazy changes, but they made a huge difference.”
You did a Q&A at Harvard University recently. What sort of things did you discuss with the audience?
“They were actually really interested in the team that I’ve built around me, so there were lots of questions about how to put shows together and stage design. They're all so young, but it felt like they’re more adult than I am. There are a lot of very intelligent, organised people over that side of the pond. These days, kids go to Harvard wanting to learn how to put together a festival or start a record label or publishing company.”
Why do you think it’s important to engage with people, whether at Harvard or on your Twitch and YouTube streams?
“It's so difficult to find your own individual path and place within today's scene. I'm 43 now and the young kids that come through are predominantly popular on TikTok and connect with their audience that way.
“I’m not very good at making daily content or standing in front of a camera – it's very unnatural to me. However, conversation feels fine and during the pandemic I toyed with streaming because I had nothing else to do and some good moments came off the back of that.”
“When I was looking at what I wanted to do around the album, having that direct connection with people felt like the most natural path, and that’s given me all the little clips and content I need to work on TikTok. Suddenly, I say one dumb thing and it’s been looked at by hundreds of thousands of people.”
Have you noticed a lot of young people asking you about the use of AI within their productions?
“It's funny you should say that because over the last few weeks my tolerance for sugarcoating things has become less and less, and I've become an irritable old bastard! People have mentioned AI to me a couple of times and I’ve started talking about it and gotten really angry.
"People have mentioned AI to me a couple of times and I’ve started talking about it and gotten really angry"
“I don't know whether that's really the best way of handling it, but while the technology is phenomenally exciting in certain places, for example stem splitting and the gold rush of being able to successfully strip vocals from songs that you could never get the acapella from, other facets of music-making that I took as being special, personal and unique are now deeply under threat.”
“Now someone can type a prompt and make a song that sounds like Chris Lake – and that's wild! People have been imitating my sound or learning how to make it for a long time. That's one of the things that keeps me wanting to evolve and move forward, but this is the first technology that's come along where I’m thinking: ‘oh man, is this really what we want to do?’ Do we want to strip the humanity out of everything?”
Do you think things will settle down and AI will find its own place once people get used to it?
“There are a lot of examples of how mass production came along and automated and cheapened manufacturing to lower the cost for everyone - like furniture making, but that’s not been a threat to great furniture makers. If anything, they end up being worth more because their value stands out, so I think there's an opportunity there if you can say ‘fuck you, computer’ and hit a higher level.”
Check out the Chris Lake, Skrillex & ANITA B QUEEN single LA NOCHE.
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