Cristoph | Mental Health As An International DJ | Modern Wisdom Podcast 111

Cristoph 0:00 It can get away from you, but it's not all as glamorous as everyone thinks it is. Do you know what I mean? A lot of people, and I don't even like the word, it's like they look at the fame side of things, and I don't like it because that's not what I do the job for. I don't class myself as famous. Never once thought I, I am and never ever will. I'm a daft lad from Newcastle who's been lucky enough to follow his dream and does a job that he wants to do. And I keep telling myself that because 99% of the population doesn't get to do that. Even at the start of the year, wasn't that I'd hit some sort of depression or anything like that, but I felt like I was losing my mind because I'd came back from tour and I just couldn't adjust back to normality. It wasn't like normal life, I just couldn't get round the jet lag. So you're talking three, four days with absolutely no sleep whatsoever. And I was going on, like, nighttime drives and, like this voice in my head started coming more and more and it was kind of like, "The only way you're gonna go to sleep is by smashing your car into that lorry across there," or things like that. And that's when I started to think, " ******* hell," like, "there's something wrong."

Chris Williamson 1:03 (wind blowing)

Chris Williamson 1:04 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. I've managed to get hold of him. Christophe, welcome.

Cristoph 1:09 (laughs) Thanks, mate.

Chris Williamson 1:10 A pleasure to have you on. I've managed to grab you in between flying around.

Cristoph 1:12 You have indeed, sorry for the delay.

Chris Williamson 1:14 It's- (laughs)

Cristoph 1:14 I know we've been trying to get this sorted for, uh, a good while now.

Chris Williamson 1:17 Yes. (laughs) Forever. So where've you been recently? Where have I got you from?

Cristoph 1:20 Uh, America, uh, uh, for predominantly the whole of the summer, and then the last bit there was America, South America, and then straight from there, for my last show in Ibiza, which was, uh, one hell of a journey type of thing but ƒ%$#.

Chris Williamson 1:33 And we've just, so just before we've started, you've had to take a call to sort out India-

Cristoph 1:38 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:38 ... via Australia.

Cristoph 1:39 Yeah. I've, around the UK for the next few weeks, and then literally go from here to America, back here, to India, to New Zealand, to Australia, to Bali, to Australia, to back here, and then eventually come home.

Chris Williamson 1:57 (laughs)

Cristoph 1:57 Like, when I say here, I mean like the UK.

Chris Williamson 1:59 Yeah. (laughs)

Cristoph 1:59 Yeah, it's, uh, should be good. And I'll pretend my sister was away for Christmas, so she was kicking off as well.

Chris Williamson 2:05 Oh. (laughs) You wind everyone up?

Cristoph 2:06 I'm only joking. Yeah, aye. I'm just joking. I go back to America for, for New Year and stuff like that.

Chris Williamson 2:11 Yeah.

Cristoph 2:11 So I've got a bit of downtime in December, which I don't know if I want or not.

Chris Williamson 2:16 I was gonna say, what does it feel like when you slow down now? 'Cause obviously like the whole dream, a lot of people, there'll be some DJs that are listening, some promoters, other people that know the party world and they see that DJ flying around the world playing their own tracks, you know, getting paid-

Cristoph 2:31 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 2:31 ... to, to travel and see all these different places. What does it feel like when you slow down now?

Cristoph 2:36 Um, to be honest with you, I, I, like my team always make me take time off, and I'm always kind of reluctant to do so. Then towards the end of, say, the six weeks that you've been on tour something, you n- begin to realize that you are running on fumes and it's just the adrenaline getting you through. And I mean, I always look at it this, you'll know yourself through promoting, people pay serious money for DJs.

Chris Williamson 2:59 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 2:59 People pay serious money to get into clubs and to buy the drinks and things like that, especially in the likes of Ibiza and stuff. So if you were to turn up with what I would class as a face like a smacked arse, do you know what I mean? It's gonna, it, it goes out to the crowd and the crowd look back and think he's not fucking arsed about, he's not interested at all.

Chris Williamson 3:19 Mm.

Cristoph 3:19 When really it's just you're a bit tired or something.

Chris Williamson 3:22 (clears throat)

Cristoph 3:22 So I always try and be as upbeat as I can when I'm not really one of those DJs who stands there and gives it all the hands and the air.

Chris Williamson 3:28 You're not a dancer.

Cristoph 3:29 No, ƒ%$#ing shocking, mate. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 3:29 No, you're a groover, you're a groover, not a dancer.

Cristoph 3:32 Yeah. Yeah. So I, I, I try and just be there and interact with the promoters, the crowd afterwards and things like that. So as I see, you, you do realize that you are running on adrenaline and on fumes and stuff like that so you think, "Right, I'll get back." Then I get home and I can't sleep 'cause of the jet lag.

Chris Williamson 3:49 (laughs)

Cristoph 3:49 I'm really, really bad with it.

Chris Williamson 3:51 Are you?

Cristoph 3:51 Then I come down with like a flu because of all the, the, um, like the being on the planes with the air con and stuff like that, do you know what I mean?

Chris Williamson 4:00 Yeah, of course, of course.

Cristoph 4:00 It's like, it's really bad for it. So I always come down with some sort of flu, and I get through that. So the past week that's what I've been battling with. Now I'm still a little bit tired but I'm fucking bored out my mind-

Chris Williamson 4:10 (laughs)

Cristoph 4:10 ... and I, I'm like just trying to hold off from going in the studio. Now I'm just like, "Right, I'm definitely writing a track this week so I'll probably go in tomorrow or Friday-"

Chris Williamson 4:18 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 4:18 "... get something done." And I just want to be back on the road again, just like, uh, you know what I mean? All my mates all loved up. I'm sat here single-

Chris Williamson 4:25 (laughs)

Cristoph 4:25 ... just twiddling my thumbs on a nighttime light, "ƒ%$#ing hell this is boring."

Chris Williamson 4:28 Desperately scrolling through Tinder. (laughs)

Cristoph 4:30 (laughs) I haven't got it yet but I'm really close.

Chris Williamson 4:32 Coming up next.

Cristoph 4:33 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 4:34 Yeah. Didn't you used to really be bad with flying?

Cristoph 4:37 Yeah, mate, terrible. Terrible.

Chris Williamson 4:38 'Cause I remember when we went out to Ibiza and you were, I think it was about midday in maybe 2013, something like that, middle of the season, and you were sinking a couple of pints.

Cristoph 4:48 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 4:48 And I was like, "F- you're getting on it a little bit early." And your thing was, "No, this is just so I can kind of get on the plane-"

Cristoph 4:53 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 4:53 "... and not feel too uncomfortable."

Cristoph 4:55 Yeah. Yeah, and I think like the, the whole drinking beforehand used to really relax us, didn't it? You get to that point where you don't really care that much.

Chris Williamson 5:02 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 5:03 Uh, now it's, it's a second nature. I mean, I still do panic when you're going, I don't know, across the Atlantic and you hit major turbulence and stuff like that. But it's, I don't know, I've got this voice in my head which keeps on telling me that the plane's going down and I'm arguing with... And I kind of bypass the whole turbulence thing 'cause I'm arguing with a voice in my head.

Chris Williamson 5:22 (laughs) Okay.

Cristoph 5:23 But yeah, I mean it's, I, I just realized that it is work. It's what I've got to do to-

Chris Williamson 5:27 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 5:27 ... to climb the ladder and to reach the dreams which I've set myself type of thing. And I'm still not 100% comfortable with it, and I don't think many people are.

Chris Williamson 5:35 Mm.

Cristoph 5:36 It's just something that you have

Cristoph 5:37 to do.

Chris Williamson 5:37 It's very unnatural-

Cristoph 5:38 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 5:39 ... like being, being in a plane-

Cristoph 5:40 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 5:40 ... at 35,000 feet in the air.

Cristoph 5:41 Yeah. My doctor tells me that all the time.

Chris Williamson 5:43 Yeah.

Cristoph 5:43 Like all the time, he's just like, "It's not normal for you to sit on planes for as much as you do, for as long as you do, as many times of the year as you do."

Chris Williamson 5:51 Yeah.

Cristoph 5:51 You know what I mean? The pressure on you and things like that. But ƒ%$# that's it, mate. It's work.

Chris Williamson 5:55 I

Chris Williamson 5:56 get it.

Cristoph 5:56 So, uh, by way of starting a little bit of an origin story for you, I think...

Chris Williamson 6:02 One of the things that I've quite selfishly probably enjoyed about being able to see the trajectory of your career is I got to spend a lot of time with you like 10 years ago-

Cristoph 6:10 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 6:10 ... when we were both partying in Newcastle.

Cristoph 6:12 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 6:12 And we, we were playing gigs together. And you've played for some of my ve- uh, events, uh, just as, you know, little normal local gigs. And then I've seen that trajectory as it's climbed up and climbed up and how you've got to the place that you are now-

Cristoph 6:26 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 6:26 ... where you're supporting Eric Prydz on New Year's Eve and-

Cristoph 6:29 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 6:29 ... releasing tracks on his, on his record label. When ten years ago, you would be talking about him with the same kind of starry-eyed fanboy-ness that everybody

Chris Williamson 6:39 else does.

Cristoph 6:39 Yes.

Chris Williamson 6:40 And seeing that trajectory, seeing you go from being a DJ of which I know hundreds-

Cristoph 6:47 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 6:47 ... to being those of which I know like maybe two, maybe you and Patrick Topping?

Cristoph 6:51 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 6:52 Are pr- the only two guys who are even really close to that kind of, like, uh-

Cristoph 6:56 Oh, there's a few coming up in Newcastle, mate. There's some good ones. I mean, Richie's doing well.

Chris Williamson 7:00 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 7:01 Uh-

Chris Williamson 7:01 I don't know him, though.

Cristoph 7:01 Yeah, all right, fair enough.

Chris Williamson 7:02 Yeah.

Cristoph 7:03 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 7:03 Jackie, Jackie Morris-

Cristoph 7:04 Jackie, yeah.

Chris Williamson 7:04 ... is starting to get there as well, yeah?

Cristoph 7:04 Jackie's doing well, yeah, yeah. He is, yeah.

Chris Williamson 7:06 It's a hot spot, isn't it, for DJ talent in the North East?

Cristoph 7:08 It is, mate. Honestly, you get, like, a lot of people are starting to see, like, what's in the water up in the North East.

Chris Williamson 7:12 (laughs)

Cristoph 7:13 And I'll just say, I'll say the North East because there's only two from actually Newcastle. And even though the rest of them are just like-

Chris Williamson 7:19 Got like a-

Cristoph 7:19 ... "Oh, yeah."

Chris Williamson 7:19 ... Sunderland and-

Cristoph 7:20 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 7:20 ... Gateshead.

Cristoph 7:20 And all them are like, "Oh, we're from Newcastle." I'm like, "No, you're fucking not."

Chris Williamson 7:23 Stop branding yourself as something you're

Chris Williamson 7:25 not.

Cristoph 7:25 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 7:25 So can you just give us a little bit of a, how would you define your career? That'd be a good question.

Cristoph 7:30 Um, I don't, I don't really know. I, I mean, ever since I've been a young kid, I've, I've DJ'd. My dad was a DJ, my brother was a DJ, so it's kind of been in the family and it's all I've ever wanted to do. Um, but actually understanding the whole of the industry and how I would get there, I didn't really have a plan.

Chris Williamson 7:49 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 7:50 Didn't understand it whatsoever. I mean, we would just sat around and I'd be like, "Oh yeah, I'm gonna be a DJ," that type of craic. Do you know what I mean? Everyone's like, "Oh, of course you are, mate."

Chris Williamson 7:58 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 7:59 And then, uh, it actually took, sadly, like, one of my friends passing away. Uh, he just died out of the blue, had toothache. Do you know what I mean? And I think just basically he's took too many, um, like, painkillers in too short a period of time by accident.

Chris Williamson 8:13 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 8:14 His body's just shut down type of thing.

Chris Williamson 8:15 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 8:16 Uh, and that just gave me a massive kick up the arse. It's that whole cliché that could happen to anyone.

Chris Williamson 8:21 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 8:21 Uh, and I was just, was just like, "Right, the only way I'm gonna kind of reach these goals which you wanna, which you set yourself in life type of thing, is by, like, learning to produce." Now, I can't play an instrument or anything like that. I just-

Chris Williamson 8:36 Still now?

Cristoph 8:36 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 8:36 Not even the trumpet?

Cristoph 8:37 No. I've s- just like considered learning the piano, 'cause I'm ob- I really do like pianos. But, uh, and you can obviously pass that on into the keyboard and sit there with your MIDI keyboard. But I find it easy just to draw in on Ableton on the piano roll what I wanna do. And so I'll just loop certain, like, one bars, two bars, four bars, whatever, and start writing my patterns and messing around. And fortunately, I know what kind of works on the dance floor because I've been in that many night clubs and I go out that much and stuff like that. And I know exactly what I wanna make for what time in the night and things like that. And just went

Cristoph 9:13 from there really, like-

Chris Williamson 9:14 So your foundation is a club DJ playing like high volume-

Cristoph 9:18 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 9:19 ... lot of nights, lot of like time and attention.

Cristoph 9:21 Yes.

Chris Williamson 9:22 That has created a good base?

Cristoph 9:24 Yeah. Without a doubt, yeah. Without a doubt. I mean, for DJ-ing alone, some of the, the nights that I used to, to, when I worked for you guys type of thing, I would be DJ-ing for six hours from 10:00 till 4:00, whatever like that, or five hours, 10:00 till 3:00 or 9:00 till 3:00, whatever it was. Um, and, and that has taught me a lot what I need to know, uh, reading a crowd, seeing what's going on, seeing what to play, doing y- your homework on i- i- and making yourself, like set sound different to anybody else out there. You know what I mean? Like, homing in on certain areas and things. I mean, Newcastle's been a city where predominantly it's been, when I've been around, it's been R&B, pop music, which has been the big sound.

Chris Williamson 10:08 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 10:08 But there was a huge surge of house music, that funky house stuff which come through-

Chris Williamson 10:14 It's the funk and stuff like that.

Cristoph 10:14 Yeah. Like the Hed Kandi style and everything like that. And every DJ in town was playing that.

Chris Williamson 10:19 Stereo Sundays.

Cristoph 10:20 And at that moment in time, I was thinking, "Fucking hell. Like, there's big competition out there."

Chris Williamson 10:24 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 10:24 Because at one point I was literally the only DJ in town who was playing house music. So then you've gotta kind of look at it and think, "Right, what's working? How can I get myself some promos? How can I make my set different to theirs and stuff like that?" So that's when you start looking at making like a, a bootleg, a mashup type of thing, uh, and going from there. But yeah, like the, I would, I would say without a doubt that the whole long set thing, working for five, six hours has really honed in on, uh, on the DJ-ing side of things and helped you, like helped me become a lot better at it type of thing-

Chris Williamson 11:00 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 11:00 ... and reading a crowd

Cristoph 11:01 more.

Chris Williamson 11:01 Yeah. So there's a, a guy called James Smith who's a, a famous online PT now.

Cristoph 11:06 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 11:07 And he talks a lot about the fact that he cut his teeth doing like 10,000 hours of on-floor PT.

Cristoph 11:12 Right.

Chris Williamson 11:12 And he's now transitioned that and hi- his abilities that he's learned doing like the grunt work-

Cristoph 11:17 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 11:17 ... of just normal everyday stuff and now he's distilled that down. And it's kind of the same for yourself, right? Like-

Cristoph 11:22 Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Chris Williamson 11:23 ... I mean, if you can play to Tuk Tuk Palace on a Friday in the middle of December with 150 people in there-

Cristoph 11:28 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 11:28 ... like what's Creamfields' main stage?

Cristoph 11:30 (laughs) Yeah. You know?

Chris Williamson 11:31 You know, it's like-

Cristoph 11:32 That's some excuse made.

Chris Williamson 11:33 ... baptism of fire.

Cristoph 11:33 Yeah. (laughs) Right. It is.

Chris Williamson 11:35 So one of the things that you touched on there, which, uh, there's a few elements of your career that I absolutely love. And again, I've had this weird voyeuristic ability to see it so close up-

Cristoph 11:45 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 11:45 ... which is, which is rare. So I'm taking the opportunity to kind of-

Cristoph 11:48 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 11:48 ... to, to, uh, indulge myself a little bit. One of the things I really enjoyed, although it was a fucking nightmare for me at the time as a, as a promoter, is that you would never compromise your sets.

Cristoph 11:57 No.

Chris Williamson 11:58 And I don't want any DJs that are listening, if you don't play for me...... follow that way.

Cristoph 12:04 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 12:04 If you do play for me, do not fucking listen to him, please-

Cristoph 12:07 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 12:07 ... 'cause it's a nightmare. But one of my favorite stories of ours is when we played in Ibiza. So we took you out to Ibiza twice.

Cristoph 12:15 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 12:15 I think we actually gave your first ever gig in The Space. Do you remember? It was in the Terrace.

Cristoph 12:18 It was, yeah. It was, yeah.

Chris Williamson 12:19 So we did-

Cristoph 12:19 When I walked off.

Chris Williamson 12:20 You- (laughs) ...

Cristoph 12:21 Just down the terrace.

Chris Williamson 12:21 That was the second time.

Cristoph 12:22 Is that it? (laughs)

Chris Williamson 12:23 So, so the Terrace was when you, when you finished.

Cristoph 12:25 Oh, it was the first one, like that little small room?

Chris Williamson 12:27 Um, it was in Amnesia. Yeah, that was upstairs in the Turreta thing.

Cristoph 12:29 Yeah, yeah.

Chris Williamson 12:30 Um, and then the second time we played at, a big boat party and the after-party was in Amnesia's Terrace.

Cristoph 12:36 Yes.

Chris Williamson 12:36 In the main Terrace room.

Cristoph 12:37 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 12:37 But the way that it worked, like typically anyone who's ever been to Ibiza, 10 o'clock at night in Ibiza is a ghost town.

Cristoph 12:43 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 12:43 No one's there t- the, the cleaners and the, the, like roadie techs.

Cristoph 12:47 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 12:47 But what happened was you had these ten boats, each filled with like 200 people.

Cristoph 12:51 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 12:52 And they'd all been steaming from 6:00 PM, roll straight into the club and they'd just fill this room. So very bizarrely, your opening set was like a, a, a 2:00 AM, 3:00 AM-

Cristoph 13:01 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 13:01 ... 4:00 AM. It had to really be hard hitting straight away. And, uh, anyway, I was like, "Right, fine." Had you and someone else and someone else lined up to play this thing. And, um, this room starts filling up and filling up and I'm like, "Sweet, he's playing his vibe, that's cool." And one of the guys comes over, the promoter comes over and says, uh, "We're gonna have to get him to, to like step it up a bit."

Cristoph 13:18 Speed it up, yeah.

Chris Williamson 13:18 So I, I give, give him a nudge. And you were like, "Oh yeah, fine." Like the way that you do when you DJ, you're like, "Oh yeah, fine."

Cristoph 13:23 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 13:23 All right, cool. No, he's not. And I know how far I could push you as well after a couple of years of working. I was like, "Back off a bit."

Cristoph 13:30 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 13:30 And then sure enough, like three minutes later, 'cause they're expecting like, you know, big house.

Cristoph 13:35 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 13:35 This is 2012, they're expecting like Swedish House Mafia and stuff like that.

Cristoph 13:38 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 13:38 And they come over and it's like, "No, he, he, he's still not pushing it enough." And I was like, "Right, I come back over and nudge you again." Same thing happens. Nudge you a third time and you were just like, "Right, fuck it. The next guy can come on. I don't, I'm not bothered."

Cristoph 13:49 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 13:49 And I was like, that was probably first time in Amnesia, playing Amnesia as well.

Cristoph 13:53 Yeah, it was, yeah.

Chris Williamson 13:53 On the Terrace, 2,500 people losing their shit, they're all hammered, like perfect crowd. And rather than you delving, you create somewhere to pick out some bangers that you probably would've had floating around-

Cristoph 14:08 Yeah, yeah.

Chris Williamson 14:08 ... that you could've played from back in the day. Your thing was, "No, I'll just, I'll walk off."

Cristoph 14:12 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 14:13 And I just put someone else on.

Cristoph 14:14 Yep.

Chris Williamson 14:14 My

Chris Williamson 14:15 favorite story we got.

Cristoph 14:15 (laughs) Yeah. Me, like there's, it sounds stupid but there's always a reason for it. And I'm thinking of the future, I'm thinking of the bigger picture. Now them wanting to push it to, I don't know, say the BPM up to 132, I would've been at 122, 123. Do you know what I mean? So the jump up there, you got to remember that there's other DJs to come on who are the headliners of that club, who will be coming on from say 1:00, 2:00 in the morning. Now if them step into the booth and the kid who's on before them, this little unknown shit bag, is playing at 132, they're gonna be like, "What the fuck is going on here?"

Chris Williamson 14:51 Yeah.

Cristoph 14:51 Kick off, complain, and they're gonna come at you to tell you to slow it down. Do you know what I mean? And in my world those are the guys who I wanna meet. So if I was, if I've always like started on a bad foot with them and them remember me for the kid who was playing too fast and was playing a load of shit, instead of playing a warmup set for them, you're already gonna be someone who they don't really wanna associate with. Do you know what I mean? And it was a brand new world out there to me, what I was trying to get into. And I was just thinking, think about the, like the long run. This is just a, like a, a little warmup gig to a bunch of kids who are off the fucking head. Do you know what I mean? They're gonna remember you.

Chris Williamson 15:29 They're gonna remember you, yeah.

Cristoph 15:29 So I'm, I remember and the guy come across me at the bar and was just like, "Look, I'm sorry for saying..." I said, "Look, you've got a club to run but I've also got a career to start." And he bought me a shot and I said, "I guarantee I'll be back to headline your club." And I think it was maybe the l- year after, the year after that I done it with Defected, went back-

Chris Williamson 15:45 (laughs)

Cristoph 15:45 ... and he was still there. And I said, "I told you I'd be back." But I just like fully like believed that that's what I would do. Do you know what I mean? And it's kind of that, like the whole believing in yourself. And I knew that was like the big picture and I knew that was my aim and I knew what I was going to be doing. And I wouldn't jeopardize it by playing fucking Show Me Love or something like that, that-

Chris Williamson 16:06 Yeah.

Cristoph 16:06 It would've went off.

Chris Williamson 16:07 Yeah.

Cristoph 16:07 And I'm sure the kid who come on after us, that was his first song.

Chris Williamson 16:10 Yeah.

Cristoph 16:10 Like and the, the whole place went off and I... All right, I could've played that but at that, doing that could have also jeopardized whatever the whole plans were. Could've fucked

Cristoph 16:19 it up.

Chris Williamson 16:19 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 16:19 I think, uh, I think Nathan Williams actually played a Backstreet Boys remix at Deep House, uh, Big House Backstreet.

Chris Williamson 16:25 He did. (laughs) << Backstreet's back, all right >>

Cristoph 16:28 I think that's when I left him and went across the road to Privilege. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 16:32 << Dun, dun, dun, dun... >> Did you? Did you walk out? W- normally do you walk out of the booth? You walked out of the club.

Cristoph 16:34 Yeah. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 16:34 That's what happens when you play a Backstreet Boys remix, innit?

Cristoph 16:36 Yeah, (laughs) fucking hell.

Chris Williamson 16:37 But yeah, like so even going back like again, indulging myself further about some good memories. Do you remember when we went to Lane 7 for Michael's birthday and Pete Tong played your track on Radio One in the evening time-

Cristoph 16:49 Ah, yeah.

Chris Williamson 16:49 ... for the first time ever on radio in your old BM?

Cristoph 16:51 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 16:52 Man, like these sorts of things, like 'cause even then like was that, would that have been like maybe Pepsi or Big H or something like that? Would have that been even before that time, that sort of a track?

Cristoph 17:00 I don't... Was it not Guffers or something?

Chris Williamson 17:02 Guffers probably was Guffers.

Cristoph 17:02 Guffers or Shelter or something like that.

Chris Williamson 17:04 Yeah. So what are-

Cristoph 17:04 They were the ones that started getting on the radio.

Chris Williamson 17:06 Probably your first, first real big track.

Cristoph 17:08 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 17:08 But this still at that stage you were still f- like essentially like a local level DJ.

Cristoph 17:14 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Chris Williamson 17:15 So how do you get from being a guy who once has Pete Tong play a track on a Friday, when, how... What happens between that point and flying around literally spending your life on planes, playing the biggest gigs on the planet?

Cristoph 17:30 Your guess is as good as mine. (laughs) I think a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time. And I do th- I do think that, uh, I mean...

Chris Williamson 17:39 With the, with the right sound as well.

Cristoph 17:40 Yes. I mean, like my sound has changed a lot since those days. But it, I've always known what I was doing and I was always making more of this progressive melodic sound. And...... and it wasn't really getting anywhere because it's such a niche market. So I realized that, right, what I've got to do was kind of delve into the more techier stuff, which is really bubbling. It's getting all the big crowds and what everyone's starting to play. Maybe make a few hits in that to create a base following, and then start going slowly back to melodic side-

Chris Williamson 18:12 Moving back on.

Cristoph 18:12 ... and bringing them in. That was the whole kind of business plan type of thing that I had in my head.

Chris Williamson 18:17 It worked really well, because there was a-

Cristoph 18:18 It did.

Chris Williamson 18:18 ... period where you were quite tight with Tidy with a Heart since '82, right?

Cristoph 18:20 It was, yeah, yeah. I mean, I was, I still am a huge fan of Daley and, uh, I ended up signing with, with the same manager as him and stuff like that. But again, they just didn't fully get the whole progressive vibe and that's fair enough, do you know what I mean? I don't know if they didn't enjoy it or, or what, I don't know, but it was kind of like all of a sudden, Eric stu- like, stumbled across Katzie and-

Chris Williamson 18:45 Is that the song?

Cristoph 18:45 Yeah, and that was, um, the last track on 8 Track, which I'd done for Daley, which is like this conceptual album project that we'd done.

Chris Williamson 18:52 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 18:53 And Eric had played that on his epic radio show. I was-

Chris Williamson 18:58 Oh, was that on his, was that on his podcast, was it?

Cristoph 18:59 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 19:00 Really?

Cristoph 19:00 And I'd seen it. Someone had said something, so I'd seen it and I was in America at the time, and I was actually meant to play LA. And on the flight on the way over, the gig got canceled because the week before there was a fight in the club. So I got there and the promoter said the gig's off, so I had a few drinks with the promoter then flew off and it was two and a half weeks later, I was still in America playing my last show in Chicago on the Saturday night, and Eric was actually doing two, like, charity shows for a guy called James Lilo, or Lillo, who passed away. Um, and he was doing them at the club I was meant to be playing in LA.

Chris Williamson 19:35 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 19:36 Now on the first one, by all accounts, the guy who was on before him played all Eric's tracks, which you just don't fucking do.

Chris Williamson 19:42 (laughs)

Cristoph 19:42 So he was pissed off about that. This guy who manages the club Sound in LA contacted my manager at the time, he said, "Look, does Chris want to fly back and warm up for Eric? We all know he's a big Eric fan." So they rang and they said, "Look, you've got to pay for your own flight across to LA from Chicago, then a new one home from LA. You've got to pay for your own accommodation, but you do get to warm up for your hero." I said, "Know what it is? I may never ever get that opportunity again." So went across, played, and I ended on Katzie, and he turned around to Rene, his tour manager and said, "For fuck's sake, I wanted to play this track." And Rene was like, "That's Chris."

Chris Williamson 20:19 (laughs) Fuck you.

Cristoph 20:20 And then, so me and Eric started talking. Eric was like, "Get my number off Rene, we've got things to discuss about." And then the next day they rang up and said, "Right, we want him to play Epic 5." And then it just went from fucking zero to 100, like, overnight.

Chris Williamson 20:33 Man.

Cristoph 20:33 And I was like, "What's going on?" So

Cristoph 20:35 like, I-

Chris Williamson 20:36 What does it feel like? So 'cause, uh, I don't, I don't think that we can really convey to the listeners just how big of a fan you were-

Cristoph 20:45 Oh, yeah.

Chris Williamson 20:45 ... of Eric Prydz.

Cristoph 20:46 Still am, yeah.

Chris Williamson 20:47 Like wasn't it that, like, you tell me a story like after parties, your mates would take the piss out of you for talking about how fanboy you were about Eric?

Cristoph 20:54 Yeah, oh yeah, completely. And back at those parties, I started saying things to wind them up, like saying, "Oh yeah, I'll play with Eric Prydz," do you know what I mean? Like, just to get them to bite-

Chris Williamson 21:03 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 21:03 ... when they were pissed, you know what I mean? Like, "You fucking shut up," and like, just like lad's banter type of thing. But yeah, mate, I remember once we were at a party and we sat there and I said, "Would anyone come to Creamfields?" And everyone was like, "Yeah, yeah." So I sat and bought four, uh, Creamfields tickets, said, "Right, you come to Creamfields tomorrow. Fucking we're going to watch Prydz, that's all we're doing." We're just driving down-

Chris Williamson 21:23 I remember that, you just saw him and then-

Cristoph 21:25 ... watching Prydz, yeah, watching Prydz.

Chris Williamson 21:26 ... that was it.

Cristoph 21:26 We just stood in his tent all day, watched Jeremy Olander, Joris Voorn, me heard Gene Coles.

Chris Williamson 21:31 Good lad.

Cristoph 21:31 Eric come on, finish, walk straight back to the car and drove straight back home. It was like the, the year that it got rained off on the Sunday, the whole campsite flooded, it was fucking pissing down then.

Chris Williamson 21:41 (laughs)

Cristoph 21:41 Freezing cold. We've got Ross Walton that drive, so he come down, had a few drinks and then-

Chris Williamson 21:47 Poor lad.

Cristoph 21:47 ... from about 5:00 or 6:00 in the night just stopped drinking-

Chris Williamson 21:49 Stopped drinking.

Cristoph 21:49 ... and just ate hot dogs all the way till it was like-

Chris Williamson 21:51 (laughs)

Cristoph 21:51 ... 11:00 at night and then we were like, "Right, we'll rough-

Chris Williamson 21:54 Bye Ross.

Cristoph 21:54 ... walk back home." Yeah, cheers mate. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 21:56 Time to drive back, hope you had a good night.

Cristoph 21:57 He's like, "Aye." But, uh, yeah, I mean, I would follow him everywhere, everywhere. Everywhere I could, I would go and see him, uh, and just constantly just lis- like listen to his music nonstop, like nonstop. Nothing else would ever, ever cross my ears.

Chris Williamson 22:11 Does it still now, so I mean, how long have you been working in collaboration with Eric now?

Cristoph 22:15 It's just over two years.

Chris Williamson 22:16 Okay.

Chris Williamson 22:18 When you get a text off him, 'cause I think we were in, we were somewhere in Newcastle and you were like, I think he texted you.

Cristoph 22:24 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 22:25 What happens when you see the name Eric Prydz pop up on your phone? Do you still go like, "Fuck."

Cristoph 22:30 Yeah, you get like a, it's a weird butterfly feeling and at one point I think, "Fuck me, he's just gonna go. Right, I've had enough, you're off." (laughs)

Chris Williamson 22:36 Oh the joke's over, mate. Actually your music's shit, see you later on.

Cristoph 22:39 Yeah, yeah, pretty much so. And then no, those, it's just like, "Fucking hell, aye, like-"

Chris Williamson 22:44 Actually happening?

Cristoph 22:45 Yeah, he's turned into one of my good friends type of thing, on top of, like, working alongside him. Uh, so it's, more often than not, it's just stupid banter between us.

Chris Williamson 22:56 Ugh.

Cristoph 22:57 Yeah, 'cause like, I mean, we've been touring a hell of a lot together this summer.

Chris Williamson 23:01 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 23:01 Uh, so he'll, like say for instance, we've just been up to Sweden, which was amazing to see him in his hometown with all his old friends-

Chris Williamson 23:09 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 23:09 ... and everything like that and-

Chris Williamson 23:10 How big was the club?

Cristoph 23:11 Mate, we put, uh, we played this place called F12, and I'd, he's actually done a track called F12 and I've seen interviews with him and he says like, if any, if, the last club you would ever want to play. And he always says F12, so I was thinking this is going to be a fucking mint, this club.

Chris Williamson 23:27 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 23:27 I expected it to be small, like underground, things like that. Mate, it's steps outside of a building, that's what it is, that's the club. It's the strangest fucking thing I've ever been in my life.

Chris Williamson 23:39 (laughs)

Cristoph 23:39 We had to come... So imagine like an old tr- like a government building.

Chris Williamson 23:44 Okay, yeah.

Cristoph 23:44 So we were inside, there's a bar inside and a little club downstairs, but the DJ booth in there is like at the end of the bar. So I'm trying to think of a club in town which used to, would have had that kind of same setup. Like it's just a pair of decks at the end of a bar.

Chris Williamson 24:00 (laughs)

Cristoph 24:00 So we were outside and literally honestly mate-There was a window there, and there's some stairs leading up, and you had to climb out. And you climbed out, and you were in between people's legs, who were dancing on a windowsill. You had to tap them out the way, climb out of there, edge along the windowsill, and jump into the DJ booth to play. And there was just two sets of stairs coming up, and two sets of sides, uh, stairs either side, and there was bars at the top of the end, and just-

Chris Williamson 24:22 How big is it?

Cristoph 24:23 Mate, I would have probably said, I thought it was about 200 people, right? But there were just like, nah, there was about 400 or 500 there-

Chris Williamson 24:31 (laughs)

Cristoph 24:31 But I was like, "Fu-" there must have been a canny few stood on that windowsill, 'cause I was-

Chris Williamson 24:34 (laughs) Looking inside, yeah.

Cristoph 24:35 Mate, oh, just people just standing there dancing on the stairs, it was strange.

Chris Williamson 24:38 Two-stepping, laterally two-stepping.

Cristoph 24:39 But, uh, mate, the atmosphere was unreal. So he got hammered there-

Chris Williamson 24:43 (laughs)

Cristoph 24:43 ... then I flew back to London to play London, and then flew back to Gothenburg, Metten in Gothenburg, and he just liked drinking.

Chris Williamson 24:49 Kept going.

Cristoph 24:50 And, uh, so we played Gothenburg and had a great laugh there. And he woke up the next day, and I think he was a bit hungover, and he took a picture of the bar, and he's going, "Can't stop," what was it? "Can't Stop Won't Stop" or something like that. And then he was like (imitates record scratching) and then he took a picture of the bar.

Chris Williamson 25:05 (laughs)

Cristoph 25:05 And I was just in hysterics, and he just keeps on ... 'Cause I was laughing at him, he keeps on doing it whenever we've been playing a few gigs, he'll take a picture and he's like, "Mate, I need a, like, hair of the dog-"

Chris Williamson 25:13 Yeah.

Cristoph 25:13 "... type of thing."

Chris Williamson 25:14 And he wants to go again.

Cristoph 25:15 Yeah. And he's, he's ... just cracks me up. And he's a funny bastard, mate, he really is.

Chris Williamson 25:19 That's awesome, man.

Cristoph 25:20 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 25:20 I mean, again, like, (clears throat) to see someone that I care about get to live their dream out with ... You know, it's such a perfect storm-

Cristoph 25:27 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 25:27 ... it seems to me. Like, I remember that, uh, In White Rooms bootleg that you did-

Cristoph 25:33 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 25:33 ... a decade ago.

Cristoph 25:34 Uh-huh.

Chris Williamson 25:35 And, like, it was mint, but, you know, like, to go from that, from, like, just fucking about with stems and remixing-

Cristoph 25:41 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 25:41 ... tracks to this is a real, a real testament to the way you were. And again, to kind of ... For DJs or artists that are listening, one of the things that I think I- I've noticed that defines what you've done, is you've always stuck to your guns with regards to what r- um, route you've been going in, you haven't compromised on that. And then the other thing has been your work rate.

Cristoph 26:04 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 26:04 Like, I remember an obsessive level of sort of work, even back in the day.

Cristoph 26:09 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 26:09 Like when you'd have gone to an after-party and then woken up the next day and if it was at yours, everyone would still be downstairs partying but you'd be upstairs just-

Cristoph 26:16 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 26:17 ... cracking, cracking on making tracks.

Cristoph 26:18 Still, still exactly the same, is it?

Chris Williamson 26:19 Is it?

Cristoph 26:19 Yeah. I try and do at least one track a week. And if I don't, or something with a track, if I don't actually do a full track-

Chris Williamson 26:27 Edit or remix.

Cristoph 26:28 Do you know what I mean? Exactly, yeah. And if I don't, I really get at myself and, like say to meself, like, "You're throwing a huge opportunity away, you're being lazy type of thing." Which I don't think is maybe the healthiest of attitudes to have.

Chris Williamson 26:44 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 26:44 But it works for me, and it gives us a kick up the arse.

Chris Williamson 26:46 Gets the tracks out.

Cristoph 26:47 Yeah, it kick- it gives us a kick up the arse. Some of them are shite, and I'll just be like, "Oh right, it's thrown in the bin." But I don't dwell on something for too long.

Chris Williamson 26:54 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 26:55 I know a lot of producers out there, and I ... Like, I get sent a hell of a lot of music, and I reply to every single person who sends us a track, which is also very time-consuming.

Chris Williamson 27:05 (laughs)

Cristoph 27:05 And-

Chris Williamson 27:06 But you also have got quite a bit of time on-

Cristoph 27:07 Oh, mate, that's what, that's what I say to them.

Chris Williamson 27:09 ... planes and in airports and stuff like that.

Cristoph 27:09 Like, I say, "Look, make sure it's a streamable link, because when I'm sat in an airport, I've got nothing else to do." I travel on my own.

Chris Williamson 27:16 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 27:16 Haven't got a tour manager, I do everything on my own, so what else am I gonna do? Do you know what I mean? Sit there and do fuck all, do you know what I mean?

Chris Williamson 27:23 Tinder. Tell them.

Cristoph 27:24 (laughs) Ti- Tinder in the airport.

Chris Williamson 27:26 You could, you could obviously, you could have-

Cristoph 27:27 You could be an ambassador for Tinder or something, you know, like ... (laughs)

Chris Williamson 27:29 You could have Tinder everywhere around you.

Cristoph 27:30 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 27:30 And then once you've been everywhere once, when you go back, and it's like in your area again, you can see your matches, it'll be great.

Cristoph 27:35 I've got absolutely no idea how Tinder works.

Chris Williamson 27:38 (laughs) That's fine.

Cristoph 27:38 But I'll taught you after this. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 27:39 That's fine. We'll do, we'll do a tutorial after this one.

Cristoph 27:41 (laughs) Yeah, that's sweet, but no, I'm ... Yeah, so I get, I get sent a lot, mate, and I go through everything and, you know, like, I try and tell everyone, like ... 'Cause a lot of them are, "What would you change? What would you do?" And I say, like, uh, "If I'm telling you what I would do, it then starts becoming my track."

Chris Williamson 27:57 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 27:57 Do you know what I mean? It's ... You've gotta believe in yourself and you've gotta do what you do, and don't sit there, because what ends up happening that just ... Throw the kitchen sink, "I don't mind," it's just you put too much into it and it's that old saying, less is more.

Chris Williamson 28:10 Definitely a,

Chris Williamson 28:11 definitely a character- characterization of, of your music, I think.

Cristoph 28:14 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 28:14 Um, and certainly that more melodic sound, which you're right, there was, there was that period where you had a little bit more sort of driving stuff-

Cristoph 28:22 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 28:22 ... I guess you'd be able to say.

Cristoph 28:24 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 28:24 Um, and ... But I knew there was always that bit in the back of your mind that was like you just wanted to get straight back into the, the melodies-

Cristoph 28:31 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 28:31 ... and, and those-

Cristoph 28:31 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 28:31 ... kind of like really ethereal, kind of epic-

Cristoph 28:34 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 28:35 ... like Hans Zimmer sounds.

Cristoph 28:35 Well, what I'm trying to do at this moment is bridge them together. So I've got the drive, and 'cause I find some progressive too floaty.

Chris Williamson 28:43 Yeah.

Cristoph 28:44 And it's just standing there and I know for a fact it's not what people are wanting at 2:00 in the morning. You know what I mean? It's just kinda like-

Chris Williamson 28:51 It's great for a pool party at 3:00 in the afternoon or something. (laughs)

Cristoph 28:52 Oh, yeah, exactly, like through the day and stuff like that, I love it.

Chris Williamson 28:55 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 28:55 Drive around listening to it all the time if I haven't got Hot 80s or something like that on. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 29:00 Is that what you listen to? (laughs)

Cristoph 29:00 Mate, massive fan, mate. Love it.

Chris Williamson 29:03 (laughs) Oh, God.

Cristoph 29:04 But if I haven't got that on, you know, but ... Like when I'm in a club, I wanna hear something like pumping music.

Chris Williamson 29:10 Makes you move.

Cristoph 29:10 I like definitely, mate, heads down. And the, the melodic side of it is what k- like captures the emotion.

Chris Williamson 29:17 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 29:18 So when people are stood there and the breakdown's all this euphoric thing, you know what I mean? That's what's ... And you'll start seeing them with their eyes closed and all, it's like that's what you're aiming to get. And that's why people leave and they remember those records type of thing. They're not gonna remember something which has just got a sub boom base, like a sub ... A base, like written in sub boom base or a sub base type of thing-

Chris Williamson 29:40 Yeah.

Cristoph 29:40 ... with a f- two-minute snare hold. Do you know what I mean? They're not gonna remember that.

Chris Williamson 29:43 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 29:44 Not at all, because everything just sounds the same, so you've gotta kind of like make this really catchy melody or this huge breakdown which-

Chris Williamson 29:51 And that's what gives the experience to people as well, yeah.

Cristoph 29:53 Exactly, mate, like ... And that's what I wanna hear when I'm on the dance floor, so-

Chris Williamson 29:56 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 29:56 I kind of like-

Chris Williamson 29:56 You play for yourself.

Cristoph 29:57 Exactly. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 29:57 Quite selfishly

Chris Williamson 29:58 I suppose.

Cristoph 29:59 But it's-

Chris Williamson 29:59 It's just as well that you're not into, like, like, ska punk or something like that-

Cristoph 30:03 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 30:03 Or you'd be playing some really terrible music.

Cristoph 30:05 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 30:06 Um-Out of all of the tracks that you've seen played-

Cristoph 30:09 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 30:09 ... live, what's the one that's made people get the most emotional, yours or someone else's?

Cristoph 30:16 Hmm.

Chris Williamson 30:16 Any memories that come to mind in particular of periods where people have fully lost their shit?

Cristoph 30:22 (exhales) I've t- I dropped, um, Spectra's remix of, uh, what's Mystery... Mystery Land, which is on Kevin & Perry.

Chris Williamson 30:33 (laughs)

Cristoph 30:34 And it's like an old trance track.

Chris Williamson 30:35 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 30:35 It's stunning, mate, and this is like a proper techno version of it. And I've seen some people like, "Fuck," 'cause I think it just reme- reminds them of Kevin & Perry type of thing.

Chris Williamson 30:44 Yeah, okay, okay.

Cristoph 30:44 That's always the one which hits home. Um-

Chris Williamson 30:48 Opus must do-

Cristoph 30:49 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 30:50 ... do, do bits live.

Cristoph 30:51 I, it, it does, mate. It really does. You see some pe- I've seen someone actually get down and, and get engaged that Creamfields place. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 30:57 (laughs) Oh, my God.

Cristoph 30:58 Fucking serious, mate. I was like (laughs) , "D- I don't know if it's hit us that hard," like... (laughs)

Chris Williamson 31:02 (laughs)

Cristoph 31:03 But, uh- I, I, I- (exhales) I don't know, mate. Maceo does some, like, some crackers. Do you know what I mean? Like that, uh, Under the Sheets, that always gets people going when you just drop that last track of the, uh, uh, last track of the night.

Chris Williamson 31:19 Yeah.

Cristoph 31:19 But I think that's more aimed towards the couples, as if do they, like, get home, it's a-

Chris Williamson 31:22 (laughs)

Cristoph 31:22 ... like, just, like, sex in a track really, innit?

Chris Williamson 31:25 (laughs)

Cristoph 31:25 It's unbelievable, that record, man.

Chris Williamson 31:27 Quality. So you mentioned that you don't have a tour manager.

Cristoph 31:30 No.

Chris Williamson 31:30 Actually, what, what's the reason for that?

Cristoph 31:32 Um, I'm not in desperate need for one. Well, I haven't been-

Chris Williamson 31:35 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 31:35 ... till recently.

Chris Williamson 31:36 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 31:37 And now the longer they are, the more you actually need that human interaction

Cristoph 31:42 because-

Chris Williamson 31:43 How much is a, how much is a tour manager a friend that's just there with you? Is that a significant part of the role-

Cristoph 31:49 Um-

Chris Williamson 31:49 ... just to be contact?

Cristoph 31:49 Yeah, I mean, the whole idea of a tour manager is someone who deals, uh, they'll deal with your flights, they'll deal with any complications with the flights, delays, um, like, cancellations, anything like that. They'll deal with the driver picking you up. They'll drive, like, they'll deal with all the hotels, like checking in, checking out, things like that. They'll deal with the promoters. So you are just fully in the music game. That's all you're just thinking of, about your set, what you're gonna play, and things like that. And even when you get to the club, your tour manager will go up to the decks and queue everything up with your USB. You don't tell them what track you're gonna start with. That's what I've seen them do type of thing. So that's what I'm guessing is their job, but it's not something I've really looked into. I've got a bunch of friends who wanna do it. Trusting them to do it is a completely-

Chris Williamson 32:35 Sounds like, sounds like a good-

Cristoph 32:36 ... different question.

Chris Williamson 32:36 I was gonna say, I know-

Cristoph 32:37 Um-

Chris Williamson 32:37 ... some of your friends, mate, and I, uh-

Cristoph 32:39 Exactly, I mean-

Chris Williamson 32:39 ... I don't know if they'd be there.

Cristoph 32:41 One of the whole issues is I don't know how much I would trust us two together. Do you know what I mean?

Chris Williamson 32:47 So by not having them-

Cristoph 32:48 It would just be, like, I, I'd be-

Chris Williamson 32:49 ... there, you're insulating yourself.

Cristoph 32:50 I would be employing, like, someone to come party with us. That's what I would essentially be doing, 'cause none of them are, like, massively clued up in the music world, which is fair enough. I don't expect them to be.

Chris Williamson 33:01 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 33:01 It would be the company that I'm paying for.

Chris Williamson 33:03 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 33:03 Now, that's, when you're asking how much, that is just something between you and them.

Chris Williamson 33:07 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 33:07 I guess you can set up and give them a salary.

Chris Williamson 33:10 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 33:10 And out of that, them have got to get their own travel.

Chris Williamson 33:12 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 33:13 Or you give them certain amount per tour, and you just employ them per tours. I, I think there's a lot of different ways you can work with a tour manager. I've seen people just use them for certain areas of the world. Like Patrick's got Morgan, Morgan Bennett, uh, and I think he actually started off just, like, the long ones, the, the ones over in America. But by all accounts, I'm sure he's doing the lot of them with him now.

Chris Williamson 33:35 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 33:35 You've got to be with someone who you get on with, because you're basically living in each other's pockets, apart from when you're in the hotel room. Now, that's another reason why I won't wanna sit in a hotel room on my own. It's like a real issue of going out and getting out. And if you've been partying and you've been drinking and you've got late nights, it becomes harder to leave the room, even if it's just to go to the gym or downstairs to the restaurant.

Chris Williamson 33:56 Why?

Cristoph 33:56 So it's just kind of, I've got this thing, and I've always had it, where it's like a self-confidence thing, which is quite strange in the job that I do. But you think that everyone's staring at you, and, like, you're sitting down on your own, and you think that everyone's talking about you, and you're going to the gym on your own, and you think, so you go out shopping and things like that. So if it gets to a point where I'm not feeling mentally strong, I'll just use, like, room service-

Chris Williamson 34:21 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 34:21 ... and just sit in the room, and I'll-

Chris Williamson 34:22 You can be insulated.

Cristoph 34:23 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 34:23 Uh-huh.

Cristoph 34:23 And then once you've done that for two days, and you're just locked in the, the, like, essentially those walls, and then you're going through security in an airport and onto a plane and then back to another hotel. And then the only time you're leaving it is to go and get pissed while you're DJing type of thing. It then becomes a, a really weird, like, like, situation type of thing. And if, if you were with someone, you'd be like, "Oh, let's go out, and we'll go, go to Manchester shops, or we'll go out for some food," or something like that. And you've got each other to, to vibe off, and you don't realize your surroundings as much.

Chris Williamson 34:55 One thing I've been thinking of recently, so I spend a lot of time on my own as well.

Cristoph 34:58 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 34:59 Um, and I think that as humans, we desire conversation. We desire, not conversation, we desire a dialogue-

Cristoph 35:07 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 35:07 ... with, an, and interaction with other people, other things. Um, and one of the things that I've thought of recently is if you're not around other people, I think the dialogue begins to just continue inside of your own head.

Cristoph 35:19 Yeah, oh, yeah.

Chris Williamson 35:20 And I certainly feel when I spend too much time in solitude, that that, um, inner dialogue starts to turn up.

Cristoph 35:29 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 35:29 Like, the loudness starts to turn up a little bit.

Cristoph 35:30 Oh, yeah, completely, completely. I mean, I've, I've, I've always talked to myself, to be honest with you mate. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 35:36 Right.

Cristoph 35:36 Uh, but I know exactly what you mean. I live alone. I travel alone. So it is a lonely life out there, and I don't think people realize that side of it, 'cause they'll just look on, and they'll think, "Oh, he's flying around the world. He gets to see everywhere." You see nothing 'cause you're getting somewhere, and you'll get some food. You'll try and get an hour's sleep because you know you're gonna be DJing till 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. More than likely, you're going to have to party and DJ in there till 9:00, 10:00 in the morning. Then you think, "Shit, I've got a flight in an hour or two." So you've got to get back to the hotel.... pack your suitcase, straight on. So no sleep. You'll grab an hour on the flight, you'll get into somewhere, you'll meet the promoter, you'll organize your name, you'll get another hour in bed. You've got to get up, you sort your music, and then you're on to the next one. And when that's four, five days in a row, mate, it's hard to keep control of your- of your mind and your thoughts and stuff like that. And it's just, uh, it can get away from you. But it's not all as glamorous as everyone thinks it is. Do you know what I mean? But you- you, there'll be people out there who'll be like, "Well, you don't need to go to an after-party." My mom says that all the time, "You don't need to go there. You don't need to..." But when you're in there and the adrenaline's rushing and you've had such a good gig and you look out and so many people have bought a ticket to come and see you and they wanna meet you and they wanna come and party with you and they wanna get to know you, and you get interested inside of their lives and what it's like where you are, you know? Like in Argentina or Chile or Brazil or Colombia or whatever like that, it's a completely different way of life down there and it's- it is interesting to see how they're going. And down, especially down that side of the world, like music is their release from their life type of thing.

Chris Williamson 37:11 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 37:12 You know what I mean? It's- it's- it, the abs- the- they come in their thousands to gigs and everything's sold out and they're just complet-, they're the maddest crowd in the world.

Chris Williamson 37:21 (laughs)

Cristoph 37:21 It's unbelievable down there. Honestly, like I keep on coming back and convincing myself that I'm gonna end up buying somewhere in Argentina and just having a house down there. But when you get there-

Chris Williamson 37:31 (laughs)

Cristoph 37:31 ... and you're playing in the winter down there, you're going, "Fucking hell, it's absolutely freezing down here."

Chris Williamson 37:35 (coughs) Well, you'd be used to it from being up here.

Cristoph 37:36 Yeah.

Cristoph 37:37 Oh, aye.

Chris Williamson 37:38 So you- you've- you've touched on there the fact that DJing's maybe not as glamorous as- as everyone thinks.

Cristoph 37:43 Uh-huh.

Chris Williamson 37:43 It's mi- maybe not quite as rosy.

Cristoph 37:45 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 37:45 Obviously, was it last year that we had Tim Berg, Avicii, pass away?

Cristoph 37:49 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 37:49 Or was it the year before?

Cristoph 37:50 Last year, wasn't it?

Chris Williamson 37:51 Yeah.

Cristoph 37:51 Yeah. I think it's been his one-year anniversary this year. Or was it his two? I don't know.

Chris Williamson 37:55 Uh, I think-

Cristoph 37:55 No. It was last year, I'm sure. 'Cause, um, like my tour manager, well, not tour manager, my itinerary guy, Renny's tour, uh, Eric's tour manager, Renny, he's worked with Tim in the past and I know Eric's, was good, was good friends with him and stuff like that, and I'm sure I rang them last s- last year it was, to see if they had seen type of thing.

Chris Williamson 38:14 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 38:15 Um, so

Cristoph 38:16 yeah.

Chris Williamson 38:17 I think when people saw the Avicii, um, aftermath, one of the main things that came out was the same one as when Robin Williams passed away.

Cristoph 38:27 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 38:27 Which is you have someone who appears to have everything going on.

Cristoph 38:31 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 38:31 They have their shit together, they have a life that most people dream of, et cetera, et cetera. But look, this is what can happen.

Cristoph 38:38 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 38:38 And as tragic as it is, one thing that I do think is a- a positive that can be taken from those situations is that normal people who deal with levels of anxiety or depression or dark- dark days and- and dark thoughts, they get re-centered on the fact, "Well, hang on, if this guy who's a world-famous DJ, who's making millions, selling millions of records, known around the world, all this stuff, if he can feel depressed in his situation, in that life-"

Cristoph 39:08 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 39:08 "... like it makes you feel more justified-"

Cristoph 39:10 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 39:10 "... a little bit-"

Cristoph 39:11 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 39:11 "... in the way that you feel."

Cristoph 39:12 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 39:12 So do you think in- in the DJ community that depression and mental health is something that is, should be looked after a little bit more?

Cristoph 39:20 Yeah, completely. Yeah. I mean, um, I don't know that much on the matter and I've never watched the whole documentary, but by all accounts, Tim's manager was meant to be a bit of a- a pushy guy type.

Chris Williamson 39:35 I've never seen it.

Cristoph 39:36 No. Well, I mean, um, just what I've seen and stuff like that. So I can't really comment on that, but-

Chris Williamson 39:41 Okay.

Cristoph 39:41 ... I do think the whole mental health, and I do think it's now, like coming to, like the front of things. You see a lot of articles, I mean, DJ Mag, Mixmag have- have done a lot of spreads on- on the whole mental health issues within the industry. I know Luciano was really bad, Marilo was really bad. I mean, even at the start of the year, wasn't that I'd hit some sort of depression or anything like that, but I felt like I was losing my mind because I'd came back from tour and I just couldn't adjust back to normality. It wasn't like normal life, I just couldn't get round the jet lag, and I do suffer quite bad with it. So you're talking three, four days with absolutely no sleep whatsoever. And I remember (laughs) I was sat there watching, like the shopping channel, 'cause that's all that's on at 5:00 in the morning.

Chris Williamson 40:30 (laughs)

Cristoph 40:30 And so I'm sat there and there's just different things coming on and I'm sat there going, "The gel that I use on my hair is shit." Right?

Chris Williamson 40:38 (laughs)

Cristoph 40:38 So I'm like, "Right, okay." And I'm sat ordering things off eBay that are popping up, like different, like f- feather dusters and all that for the house, right?

Chris Williamson 40:46 (laughs)

Cristoph 40:46 And honestly, right, I go through it all. And I went out of the house because the, my gel was shit, right?

Chris Williamson 40:54 (laughs)

Cristoph 40:54 And I went to ASDA, this is at like 5:00 in the morning, sat on the floor in ASDA in the hair product aisle trying out every fucking... Honestly, mate, me hair was claggy as fuck, right?

Chris Williamson 41:05 (laughs)

Cristoph 41:05 And so then I fucking got up, walked off, didn't know why I was there. Went and picked up 84 dishwasher tablets-

Chris Williamson 41:11 (laughs)

Cristoph 41:11 ... and a massive, like big bit of, uh, broccoli and checked out, right? So if any of the staff had have been watching me, they must have thought, "He is out his mind." Right?

Chris Williamson 41:20 He's a looney.

Cristoph 41:21 So then I got out and I was like, "What the fuck am I doing with this?" So I go home, I was telling, and all the lads were like in hysterics. I started ordering dream catchers and stuff like that. I'm like-

Chris Williamson 41:30 (laughs)

Cristoph 41:30 ... not into that shit whatsoever. And I remember speaking with, uh, one of the lads, Mali, and you know when you order off eBay it comes onto your calendar on your iPhone-

Chris Williamson 41:37 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 41:37 ... all the products which are coming? And he scrolled down, there was over 100 stuff on order coming. And honestly, mate, the, like my porch area in my house was just full of stuff getting posted through from eBay. And I was like, "What the fuck am I ordering here?"

Chris Williamson 41:49 (laughs)

Cristoph 41:49 I was ordering, like T-shirts and stuff. Like that was the most normal stuff. But I must have just been guessing sizes because they were like proper boob tubes and everything like that, man.

Chris Williamson 41:58 (laughs)

Cristoph 41:58 (laughs) It was mad. So I was like starting to lose it a bit.And I was going on, like, nighttime drives, and, like, this voice in my head started coming more and more. And it was kind of like, "The only way you're gonna go to sleep is by smashing your ... car into that lorry across there," or things like that. And that's when I started thinking, "Fucking hell. Like, there's something wrong." So I spoke to my mum, went to the doctor's, and the doctors had said like, "Look, what's kind of ... The sleep deprivation is kind of making you go a bit delusional type of thing."

Chris Williamson 42:26 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 42:27 So they put me on some sleeping tablets, which actually had an antidepressant built into it.

Chris Williamson 42:31 Okay.

Cristoph 42:31 And that makes you crash before it brings you back up. So I was feeling loads up. And then, uh, had like some antipsychotic drug as well to try and condense the voices.

Chris Williamson 42:41 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 42:42 Uh, and I was on them for a couple of month. And then, I remember I was in Miami in March, and you're still trying to take them when you're on tour because your body's kind of become used to them.

Chris Williamson 42:51 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 42:52 And on, on tour you hit that many different timezones, like, you don't know if you've taken one, one day or not type of thing. And I just remember I was up in Miami, and I was like, "I don't need them whatsoever." And I've just trained my mind to, "Look, you're, you're jet lagged." You know what I mean? "Just sit and deal with it. Get some sleep when you can sleep." And, like, Renny and all them coached me through that. "You've got to learn to sleep when your body's telling you to sleep type of thing." If you're up all night, then you're up all night. You don't ... 'Cause you know what it's like if you can't sleep, innit? You're sitting there and you're telling yourself, "Oh, I've only got an hour before I start work." You're not gonna sleep in that hour-

Chris Williamson 43:26 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 43:27 ... because you're gonna tell yourself for that whole hour-

Chris Williamson 43:29 (laughs)

Cristoph 43:29 ... that you've got to go to sleep in the hour.

Chris Williamson 43:30 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 43:30 And then, like, you're shutting your eyes and you're like, "Oh, yeah, I'm gonna sleep in for work." And it all just gets on top of you, but on top of that, in the DJ world, I mean, everyone out there knows how much drugs is kicking about in the DJ world and how many DJs are actually involved in it and stuff like that. And s- if that's what they wanna do, then l- let them do it type of thing. But, of course, that whole come down area is gonna mess with people's mind. Alcohol's a depressant as it is. There's so much free alcohol, uh, when you DJ at every single party, whether even you're playing them or not. You know what I mean? I could go and see a DJ, for instance, like on Saturday, Danny's playing Cosmic. I'm already speaking on, uh, o- like, o- o- on Twitter earlier on, I might pop down and see him. Ben Nicky's up next, uh, next week. Who's ... He ... I don't even ... Like, I'm not into his music. Not that I don't like it; it's just not my thing.

Chris Williamson 44:20 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 44:20 He's already, right, we're gonna get absolutely hammered and stuff like that.

Chris Williamson 44:23 I was gonna say, he's, he's got a reputation, yeah.

Cristoph 44:24 Yeah. Oh, he's ... He loves them. He's a great kid, but, like, you'll go to their gigs and it's all free alcohol there, so you're gonna guzzle it all because it's free. You know what I mean? So once it gets on that and then you're rolling into days, your mind just starts going, and it's good to see that people are picking up on the, the fact that these young kids are involved in a world, in the thrust from basically nothing into playing i- in millions across the year. You know what I mean? With loads of money, loads of free things, and they just get thrown around. And, of course that they're gonna get involved in this world that is essentially gonna really mess with their heads type of thing. You know what I mean? And e- even going to a gig and playing in front of ... Even if you play in front of a few hundred people, going back to your hotel room on your own, you crash, mate, like massively.

Chris Williamson 45:15 Why?

Cristoph 45:15 Because you've been so high. Everyone's been there loving it. You're doing your thing, you're loving the music that you're playing. Everyone out there is really enjoying the night. You, you leave so happy, that you want to sit there and talk about it, and, and then you go back to a lonely hotel room and it's just pitch black with no music on, and it takes a while ... I mean, even after just working in bars, people who work behind the bar will take an hour or two to shut down when they get in if the music's been blasting all night. Just the br- the ... It needs that time for the brain to switch off. So when you've been like the one who's creating that atmosphere, you're, you're so happy, but then you've got no one to talk about it. And you're just like, "Oh, I'm back on my own again." You know what I mean? And then you've got to pick yourself up to go out the next day to be like, "Oh, this is gonna be amazing." And it's just constant peaks and troughs, and it, it's just hard to, to keep on top of at times. You know what I mean? And I think, like, the whole Luciano thing, he was saying that he got massively involved in drugs and things like that, and that's probably the, the main antagonist of it all.

Chris Williamson 46:13 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 46:13 Um, but yeah, mate, I'm glad to see that it is like really ... Like, there's a lot of attention getting paid on it. But I don't think it just needs to be spoke about within the DJ world. I think it's the world over type of thing. People need to, to understand that this is ... It- it's, it's a major thing going on in, in, in e- e- everybody. Do you know what

Cristoph 46:37 I mean?

Chris Williamson 46:38 Well, even though other people might not be doing flights around the world and playing a DJ gig and then coming back to be on their own-

Cristoph 46:45 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 46:45 ... there's people who might live with a partner that the relationship's degenerating.

Cristoph 46:51 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 46:51 Or, they might be in a, you know, someone ... A, a young person who doesn't get on with their parents or has a dysfunctional household-

Cristoph 46:57 Yep.

Chris Williamson 46:57 ... or someone who does live on their own. The same mechanism that you're talking about-

Cristoph 47:04 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 47:04 ... which is impacting on DJs, which is maybe being catalyzed by higher highs and then some substances and other things as well. It's that same mechanism.

Cristoph 47:13 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 47:13 It's that same module in the back of our minds. Humans desire connection-

Cristoph 47:17 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 47:18 ... to have health, wealth, and happiness.

Cristoph 47:19 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 47:19 And without all of those things working in harmony, you end up with a dysfunctional human.

Cristoph 47:25 Oh, without a doubt, mate. And I think ... Like, I, I speak to a lot of people and they're all like ... You know, like, some of the lads and things like that, and they'll go like, "Oh, you've got a mint life and, and I'm in an unhappy job," and stuff like that. And I try and encourage them just like, "If you're unhappy in life, then leave it." Do you know what I mean? You can't put a price on happiness, so if you're ... Like, not leave life, like (laughs) leave your job type of thing or something like that, you know. Like, you've, you've got to figure out what it is bring- bringing you down, whether it's a relationship that you're in, your job, or whatever like that, the, the area that you're living in. Do you know what I mean? It can all be sorted if you just sit there and kind of figure out a plan of w- of what you're gonna do. But a lot of people just ... They don't ...... that don't want to, like, challenge it. I mean, uh, that's talking from experience from my friends type of thing. They just wanna ... And they'd rather sit back and, and accept what's going on. And I'm just like, "You're gonna look back and, and regret it." Do you know what I mean? "You really are." But I mean, there's nothing that can't be solved and I'm a true believer in that. Like, if they come and speak to me and things like that, you know, like, w- we can sit there and we can talk about it and we can get through everything that i- is causing an issue with them. Uh, a- and, you know, like, it ... A lot of it is just, like, the jobs, the lives, and things like that, but ...

Chris Williamson 48:41 (laughs)

Cristoph 48:41 I also tell them that what you're looking at when I'm posting things on Instagram, uh, Twitter, or whatever like that, is a load of fucking shit.

Chris Williamson 48:50 (laughs)

Cristoph 48:50 Do you know what I mean? It's to give off that you are living this amazing life and y- you're not. And I'll ... I, I'm, like, on the phone to yous all the time saying, "I'm bored out my mind in," like as I say, "Columbia or Orlando or LA" or something like that. Do you know what I mean? Waiting to be picked up, you know, I'm sat here on my own type of thing. It's not like, "Look at me, I'm playing in front of this amount of people," type of thing. That's just two hours of that one day type of thing. But they don't-

Chris Williamson 49:15 Never a selfie of you on your own in the hotel room-

Cristoph 49:18 You're not getting a se- (laughs)

Chris Williamson 49:19 ... in the dark, right? Yeah.

Cristoph 49:19 (laughs) You're not getting a selfie of me anywhere, mate.

Narrator 49:20 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 49:20 That's true.

Cristoph 49:21 (laughs) You're not going-

Chris Williamson 49:21 You're not a selfie guy, are you?

Cristoph 49:22 But, like, that's ... And I think that is ... It's a major thing with the whole of society, that they do believe that what these people are posting on social media is their actual life and it's not.

Chris Williamson 49:33 Well, the problem

Chris Williamson 49:34 is that there's an asymmetry between what we see of other people and what we know of ourselves.

Cristoph 49:38 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 49:38 Right? So I get to see the best of everybody else's life while I watch mine unfold-

Cristoph 49:44 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 49:45 ... from a front row seat that gets to see all of my blunders.

Cristoph 49:48 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 49:49 All of them. The ... That time that you tried to chat up the waitress and you looked silly.

Cristoph 49:54 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 49:54 And that time that you, uh, like, didn't think that you looked very, like, cool when you stepped out of the door, or that time where you didn't feel very confident when whatever. Like, all of those things, everybody that is listening has a front row seat to. You watch it through your own eyes.

Cristoph 50:10 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 50:10 Whether you want to or not.

Cristoph 50:11 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 50:12 However, everybody else, you get this curated, very polished, very embellished-

Cristoph 50:16 Yes.

Chris Williamson 50:16 ... social media feed.

Cristoph 50:17 Uh-huh.

Chris Williamson 50:17 And the problem is that we forget that everybody else is just as idiotic and just as stupid and just as insecure as we are.

Cristoph 50:29 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 50:30 Everybody is. Everyone is ... Alain de Botton calls it, everybody is eternally flawed.

Cristoph 50:34 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 50:35 And that is human nature. It is a ... It is the beautiful part of human nature because it is the one thing that makes us all the same.

Cristoph 50:45 Yes.

Chris Williamson 50:45 It's the fact that all of us are fairly messed up in one way or another. We all have our demons that we need to bear. Some people have some that are really bad and some people, uh, you know, fortunately haven't. But everyone should be ... Everyone should be sympathetic and empathetic to the rest of humanity because we w- we're all carrying these sorts of curses, right?

Cristoph 51:08 Yeah, fully agree. Yeah.

Chris Williamson 51:11 I don't know. I think, I think it's interesting to hear the stories of someone who is in, who is in this world and from the outside looking in, obviously it's such a aspiration. This is what thousands, probably tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of DJs around the world.

Cristoph 51:28 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 51:28 That's what they want.

Cristoph 51:29 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 51:29 They want that life on the road.

Cristoph 51:31 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Of course.

Chris Williamson 51:32 But if they saw the reality of what they-

Cristoph 51:34 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 51:34 ... what it actually consists of-

Cristoph 51:35 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris Williamson 51:35 ... is that what they want?

Cristoph 51:37 I always say it, like, to a lot of the lads that there's no chance that them could do it. Couple of them have came away for a weekend and turned around and said, "There's absolutely no chance I could do your job. Like, none whatsoever." You tell them the routing and you tell them, as I was saying earlier, when I flew from Columbia and I got up on the Thursday morning, I knew from the Thursday morning that I wasn't getting to bed until I got ... Like, like, asleep at night in a proper bed. When I say get in a bed, obviously you're picking up a couple hours-

Chris Williamson 52:04 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 52:04 ... on a six-hour flight around South America, but you weren't getting to bed properly overnight until the Monday night in Ibiza. So I know them-

Chris Williamson 52:14 On the first day.

Cristoph 52:14 ... they're behind time, but that's from the Thursday morning stepping out of bed, that that was the last time you were sleeping overnight in a bed comfortable until the Monday night. And you tell that to your mates-

Chris Williamson 52:23 (laughs)

Cristoph 52:24 ... and they're just like, "No chance."

Chris Williamson 52:25 Yeah, fun. (laughs)

Cristoph 52:26 "You can keep your job, mate."

Chris Williamson 52:27 "I need my nine hours."

Cristoph 52:28 Yeah. Exactly, mate. So

Cristoph 52:30 I mean, people don't see that. People just honestly just see you playing in front of X amount of people, a track that you've released doing well or whatever like that. And it ... They look at that side of things, you know what I mean? And a lot of people, a- and I don't even like the word, it's like they look at like the fame side of things. Do you know what I mean? And I don't like it because this isn't what I ... Like, that's not what I do the job for. I don't class myself as famous. Never once thought I, I am and never ever will type of thing. I just ... I'm a daft lad from Newcastle who's been lucky enough to, to follow his dream and is living out his dream type of thing and does a job that he wants to do. And I keep telling myself that because 99% of the population doesn't get to do that. You know what I mean? They're stuck in a job that they don't wanna do.

Chris Williamson 53:20 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 53:20 You know what I mean? And I- I've just been lucky enough to do what I want to do and it's just, it's allowing me to see the world, it's allowing me to do this. But the people who want to do that don't un- actually understand, like, the hard work that goes into it. Like my nephew, he's really talented when it comes to music and he's like, "Oh, I want to do this, I want to ..." And I said, "I'll teach you how to DJ, it's not a problem, mate." Do you know what I mean? But the, the, the part that you can't teach is, like, being strong to, to make sure you get up for the flight in the morning.

Chris Williamson 53:52 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 53:53 To make sure you're not missing it. To make sure that you are hitting every single gig and smashing them type of thing.

Chris Williamson 53:59 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 53:59 To make sure you are on point to everyone, you're not coming across as ignorant or arrogant or anything like that when really it is you're just a bit tired or you're a bit down or something like that because ...... you've been away from your family and friends for the past six weeks type of thing.

Chris Williamson 54:14 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 54:14 And no one sees that side of it. And I don't think you can teach people that either. The only thing that you can actually do is probably take them on tour with you, which is just gonna cost money and-

Chris Williamson 54:24 Yeah.

Cristoph 54:24 ... I'm fucking greedy with money.

Chris Williamson 54:25 (laughs)

Cristoph 54:25 So I'm not being... (laughs)

Chris Williamson 54:27 Yeah. Do you think that there is a balanced way to do DJ tour life?

Cristoph 54:33 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 54:33 Do you think that-

Cristoph 54:34 Without a doubt.

Chris Williamson 54:34 ... there is?

Cristoph 54:35 Yeah, without a doubt.

Chris Williamson 54:35 So it's not a lost cause?

Cristoph 54:36 No.

Chris Williamson 54:37 Okay.

Cristoph 54:37 Not at all. Not at all. I mean, I know a lot of DJs, Patrick goes teetotal for a while, Camelphat go teetotal for a while, Eric goes teetotal for a while, um, Luciano does, Marilla, like they're all... And I think what you need is you needs maybes that one time where you just completely are, like, ran down into the ground.

Chris Williamson 54:59 Do you think that your hair products and broccoli story might be that?

Cristoph 55:03 Maybe, but it hasn't stopped-

Chris Williamson 55:04 If it gets worse than that-

Cristoph 55:05 Yeah. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 55:05 ... if it, if there's a lower low than sat in the middle of ASDA with broccoli and hair products-

Cristoph 55:10 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 55:10 ... I, I really, (laughs) I've a fear for you.

Cristoph 55:13 I, I... The thing is, though, (sniffs) I don't know if I could ever go teetotal. Not because I love the drink too much. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 55:19 Yeah.

Cristoph 55:19 Uh, I need drink to get on-

Chris Williamson 55:22 In the vibe.

Cristoph 55:23 Yeah. To, no, to get on stage, to get in that booth.

Chris Williamson 55:25 Okay.

Cristoph 55:26 I need a drink because I do suffer really badly with nerves.

Chris Williamson 55:29 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 55:30 So I need that and it's a bit of Dutch courage. Like, sometimes I've played gigs and, like, I'm bin sick, like, seconds before going on stage type of thing-

Chris Williamson 55:40 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 55:40 ... because of the nerves are too much. And if you

Cristoph 55:43 watch, like, there's, uh, anyone who's close to me, like, will understand what I'm saying, if you, if you could see my hand, I'm like that trying to put the USB in.

Chris Williamson 55:51 (laughs)

Cristoph 55:52 And then I'll stand there and I'll cough. Never ever get a cough, I don't smoke, never had a cigarette in me life. So, like, for me to have a cough or anything, I've gotta have to have a cold or a flu which is, uh, I only get them after tours type of thing. So I'm stood there and I start coughing mid-gig and things like that because I'm s- like, I'm nervous. And you'll see us looking around and, and, like, my ex-girlfriend was saying that she would always look and you could... She said, "I knew when you were getting nervous, I knew when you started to panic." Because you look around the crowd, and I look for someone who I know just to look back and give me some sort of, like, reassurance. And I was always looking for her. She said I used to be like, "He needs to see you." So there she was.

Chris Williamson 56:31 Waving.

Cristoph 56:31 She was, she was just a little daft like that-

Chris Williamson 56:33 (laughs)

Cristoph 56:33 ... like, waving about to see you type of thing. And she was right, yeah, you do need that. Um, and that, that's why I don't think I could ever stop fully drinking. But yeah, there is, there is that area where you can just do, just drink moderately.

Chris Williamson 56:47 There's a balance.

Cristoph 56:47 Yeah. Maybe have a month off and a, a few weeks on type of thing. Time off is perfect. It's perfect. I mean, nearly every DJ produces now, so they need that time off to write the music. In that time off, like, what I do is hammer the gym so I get in a routine. I find the gym is great for my mentality and it's great for the produ- uh, like, productivity type of thing. And, um, it just makes me, it just... I, I don't know, you know about w- a lot more than me, it releases all the endorphins and stuff like that.

Chris Williamson 57:18 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 57:18 It just makes me feel really good about myself type of thing. Dragging yourself there is the hardest thing.

Chris Williamson 57:23 That makes sense, yeah.

Cristoph 57:24 I mean, at the start of this week, it's gonna be my first week in six weeks, and I was just like, "Ugh, I don't wanna go."

Chris Williamson 57:28 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 57:28 But luckily enough, I, I train with one of my best mates, and so we go and he was like, "Just come along. Even if it's just for something light-"

Chris Williamson 57:37 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 57:37 "... it'll get you back in the routine of it." And I'm just fully in the routine type of thing now. So when you're off, if you do that, you eat well, if you constantly eat shit, it's gonna bring you down type of thing, and you're still in that rut as such.

Chris Williamson 57:50 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 57:50 And then you bring this, and you just be the healthiest version that you can be, and you go away on, uh, uh, like, on tour. And I mean, if I run myself into the ground, I run myself into the ground. Sven Vath's, like, by all accounts, I've never met Sven, but he's meant to, like, hammer it for 11 months, and then for one month or two months at the start of the year, he goes away to Switzerland to a retreat, sits on a drip-

Chris Williamson 58:11 He can get transfusion or something.

Cristoph 58:12 Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 58:12 An entire blood transfusion.

Cristoph 58:13 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 58:13 And gets all his blood cleaned.

Cristoph 58:15 Yeah. I would say Solomon does it 'cause that bloke is a machine.

Chris Williamson 58:18 Is he a savage?

Cristoph 58:19 Mate.

Chris Williamson 58:19 Who's, who's the hardest part here in all the DJing?

Cristoph 58:22 Um... (laughs)

Chris Williamson 58:24 Other than Christophe?

Cristoph 58:26 (laughs) I've just been, I've just been laughing with Dave from Camelphat just before I came in here, where, uh, about Barlow, from James Barlow from Solaro.

Chris Williamson 58:34 Okay.

Cristoph 58:34 He, he hits it hard. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 58:36 (laughs)

Cristoph 58:36 He's just funny as owt. Almost looks like, uh, Paul Fisher does, but-

Chris Williamson 58:42 Oh my God.

Cristoph 58:42 ... he, he's quite... He's switched on, mate.

Chris Williamson 58:44 He's a clever, he's a clever guy.

Cristoph 58:45 Yeah, he switched on. He's too-

Chris Williamson 58:45 Uh, anyone who is not following Fisher on Instagram-

Cristoph 58:48 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 58:48 ... or Snapchat, I don't know if he does Snapchat as well, his Instagram Stories...

Cristoph 58:52 Uh, creased me.

Chris Williamson 58:53 Oh my God.

Cristoph 58:54 But I would probably say people that hit it hard, uh, Solomon Hasnain, man.

Chris Williamson 59:00 Why?

Cristoph 59:01 Mate, he goes forever at after parties.

Chris Williamson 59:04 (laughs)

Cristoph 59:04 Have not seen that video of him DJing on someone's ironing board in the middle of a kitchen in Melbourne?

Chris Williamson 59:09 No. (laughs)

Cristoph 59:10 Mate, he's there for like 11 or 12 hours, man. Just-

Chris Williamson 59:12 On this ironing board?

Cristoph 59:13 Aye, mate. Like-

Chris Williamson 59:14 (laughs)

Cristoph 59:15 ... it's just mental, man. Like, crazy.

Chris Williamson 59:17 What about the... What about those, like, Italian DJs, like Danny Tinaglia and people like that, like, that play, like, f- 15-hour sets?

Cristoph 59:22 Like monster sets?

Chris Williamson 59:24 And stuff.

Cristoph 59:24 I'm sure Capriotti's just broke the record for it over in, uh, in Romania. I think it was at that Sunrise Festival.

Chris Williamson 59:30 Right.

Cristoph 59:30 Um, which is...

Chris Williamson 59:31 He plays some ridi- savage, days-long sets or something.

Cristoph 59:34 I think it's, um, 36 or something. Or, or was it 28? Or something like that.

Chris Williamson 59:37 Oh my God.

Cristoph 59:37 So it's, like, for a solo set, something ridiculous.

Chris Williamson 59:40 What a savage.

Cristoph 59:40 But by all accounts, he's stood there and he's eating pasta while he's DJing.

Chris Williamson 59:44 (laughs) Yeah.

Cristoph 59:44 Uh, just eating on. And I know, like, when, uh, Martinez Brothers and all that, them do a massive monster thing in, in Miami every year, and them get pizza delivered to the club and stuff like that. So they're stood in the DJ booth eating pizza and stuff like that.

Chris Williamson 59:57 That's awesome.

Cristoph 59:57 Which is good crack, I think, right?

Chris Williamson 59:59 That's funny.

Cristoph 59:59 Yeah, it's good. But the, the... It's, I don't know. I, I'm, like, really into all that. Like, I follow, like, people who do massive long sets-

Chris Williamson 1:00:07 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 1:00:07 ... 'cause I know for... Well, you've been back at mine.

Chris Williamson 1:00:11 Mm-hmm.

Cristoph 1:00:11 I've probably broke some of them sat, like, some of their records-

Chris Williamson 1:00:14 I was gonna say. There you go.

Cristoph 1:00:15 ... have sat in my studio DJing till-

Chris Williamson 1:00:16 I know, you tell...

Cristoph 1:00:17 ... didn't I? It's Sunday from the Friday or (laughs) something like that. But I just don't realize what day it is when I shut the curtains. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 1:00:23 Yeah.

Cristoph 1:00:23 So I'm all right.

Chris Williamson 1:00:24 You're just cracking on.

Cristoph 1:00:25 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:00:25 Interesting what you said about the fact that the, the balance that you can get comes from some very basic things, right?

Cristoph 1:00:31 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:00:31 So you were talking about making sure your sleep's right, your nutrition-

Cristoph 1:00:35 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:00:35 ... having some sort of exercise, having some sort of routine, having some sort of sleep and wake cycle.

Cristoph 1:00:39 Yep.

Chris Williamson 1:00:40 Um, and I was discussing this in Dusseldorf yesterday with a big group of people in the sales floor, and they've got this really highly charged sales floor, very, very high pressure. A lot of them were saying they struggle to turn off when they go home. And downstream from that, some of them were maybe feeling a little bit down and they had some, some twinges of depression and anxiety and stuff like that. And I was like, "You would be so surprised to find out how the strongest, most capable people on the planet can get absolutely annihilated by bad diet, messed up sleep, and not enough sunlight."

Cristoph 1:01:15 Yeah. Oh, aye.

Chris Williamson 1:01:15 Like, i- i- it's not... I think because of the way that, um, social media... uh, that mental health originally was a little bit stigmatized, now there is this It's Okay To Talk Campaign and stuff like that which is going on, which half of me likes. Half of me likes the fact that there is a social campaign which encourages people to dis- to openly discuss mental health problems. The other half of me feels like y- campaigns like that draw attention to it in a way which still highlights that it is a stigma.

Cristoph 1:01:51 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:01:51 Like, that by saying "It's okay to talk," it's like-

Cristoph 1:01:54 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:01:54 ... kind of just t- like, I ask you what you had for breakfast. You don't think, "Oh, should I talk about what I actually had for breakfast-"

Cristoph 1:01:59 Ugh.

Chris Williamson 1:02:00 "... or should I say that I had summat else?"

Cristoph 1:02:01 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:02:02 Part of... uh, and obviously it's a lot more difficult for us to mandate the fact that... Like, how do you say, "Everybody just be cool with the fact that some people have down, like, periods where they feel a bit sad"? That's quite difficult to actually advertise, right?

Cristoph 1:02:13 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:02:13 So the It's Okay To Talk thing, uh, uh, I do get and it do make sense. But if the strongest people, the best performers on the planet can get taken down by poor food, poor sleep, poor training, poor nutrition, of course you can as well. And what happens is you manage to simulate or bring on some sort of psychosis-

Cristoph 1:02:37 Yeah. (laughs)

Chris Williamson 1:02:37 ... through jet, jet lag-

Cristoph 1:02:39 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:02:40 ... a- and some South American food-

Cristoph 1:02:41 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:02:41 ... a- and a bit, a bit of DJing, like, and a, and, and some beers.

Cristoph 1:02:45 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 1:02:45 Like, if that's happening to you, like, uh, you know, look at someone who's n- not managed to get themselves out of bed or have a good sleep and wake cycle for a couple of months-

Cristoph 1:02:54 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:02:55 ... and doesn't have any friends, doesn't have any real sort of connection and things like that, like, of course that's gonna take them down.

Cristoph 1:03:00 Of course, mate.

Chris Williamson 1:03:01 But the, the thing that I think is liberating about this discussion... And there's a great book which is called, um, it's by a guy called Johann Hari called Lost Connections.

Cristoph 1:03:10 Right.

Chris Williamson 1:03:11 And, uh, Johann's gonna come on eventually. I've said this to the listeners at home, I have said this for 18 months, but I promise you I'm gonna get him. He is still in my Instagram inbox. Uh, Lost Connections, and he identifies a whole bunch of different, um, causes of depression, right, that are environmental, not biological. And in those, so many of them are fixable. It's like make sure that you get some sunlight, make sure that you see some nature, make sure that you've got someone to talk to, make sure you've got some work that's meaningful, that you eat right, that you, um, deal with any childhood trauma. I c- a- and you're like, none of these... I thought it was this problem that was mine to bear-

Cristoph 1:03:46 Mm-hmm.

Chris Williamson 1:03:46 ... that it's like this very unique curse that was bestowed on me and it's this problem which only I have. And then you look back and you're like, "Hang on a second, I had fast food for a week and I, I, I got four hours sleep at a time maximum."

Cristoph 1:03:59 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:04:01 Might have been that.

Cristoph 1:04:02 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:04:02 Might not have been, "I'm weird, there's something dysfunctional-

Cristoph 1:04:06 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:04:06 ... or wrong with me." It might just be that I'm not giving myself the foundation to then have a, a normal, productive, functional life off the top of.

Cristoph 1:04:16 Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:04:16 And it sounds like DJing on the road is a little bit like the perfect storm-

Cristoph 1:04:21 Yeah.

Chris Williamson 1:04:22 ... to create that.

Cristoph 1:04:23 Completely, mate. Completely, mate. It really, really is. Really is. I mean, as I say, traveling on your own is not gonna help whatsoever. You know what I mean? Like, (laughs) just, even just going through security day after day in airports, you're like-

Chris Williamson 1:04:38 Are you sick of it?

Cristoph 1:04:38 ... "Oh, my God." It's just like-

Chris Williamson 1:04:40 Do you ever sometimes think that you might not go through the, the scanner so that they'll do a rectal exam just so you get a bit of human contact?

Cristoph 1:04:47 (laughs)

Chris Williamson 1:04:49 (laughs)

Cristoph 1:04:49 I don't know, I think I've just got a face which sends it through anyway.

Chris Williamson 1:04:52 (laughs)

Cristoph 1:04:52 You know what I mean?

Chris Williamson 1:04:53 Yeah.

Cristoph 1:04:53 It's, uh, I've got a, like, a waiver on m- uh, on my visa for America, so I've gotta go through secondary immigration there, which takes ages getting into the country. And then you're sat there and they all dead sound, they're all really sound. And some of them want to go through your suitcase, so they pull everything out, then they just leave it for you to pack it. And it's kind of like, if that person isn't friendly, whether you're going through security or through secondary