In the world of dance music two years is a very, very long time. Seemingly all conquering dance music labels can die inglorious deaths. Genres can lose favour and go from media darlings to whipping boys. What’s more, whole genres can be invented (or reinvented), have their fifteen minutes of fame, and disappear from the public’s consciousness just as quickly. Musically speaking, it has been a busy couple of years for Christopher Lawrence since I interviewed him last. He has leapt twenty five positions since last year to be No 35 in the DJmag Top 100 DJ Poll. This is significant as it’s the highest position ever for an American trance DJ and puts him among the top 10 trance DJs in the world. He released his latest compilation CD titled "Exposure IV", acclaimed by many as his best mix to date. He also collaborated with BK to put out a track called "Acid People" on Nukleuz and he has his first Two Tribes tour coming up in March.

However, the biggest changes to his life have been of the non-musical variety. When I last spoke to Lawrence it was briefly before the January 2002 Australian Godskitchen tour and his wife was unable to make the journey as she was pregnant. “We’ve now got a baby boy,” announces a proud Lawrence. His name is Damien, and he’s 15 months old now.” Fatherhood has perhaps changed Lawrence’s outlook and while a year ago his view on the United States in both a dance music and political sense could best be described as cautiously optimistic, it obvious that this attitude has soured slightly and the optimism is tempered by realism. “With regards to the US, it has waned a bit which is really disappointing,” admits Lawrence. “The federal government just keeps chipping away at peoples rights in general and also infringing on the electronic music scene as well. Every three months they pass some new law and then come up with another one that’s even stricter. It’s gotten to the point where events like Two Tribes at the Melbourne tennis centre can’t happen in the US because there’s no venue that’s willing to lend itself to an electronic music festival. The laws are such that the venue owner can be arrested and put into jail for twenty years if there are people that are on drugs there. So, if you owned the tennis centre would go you rent it out and risk this if just one person had a joint in the parking lot? Its frustrating because you can’t control everyone no matter how strong security is as you can’t control the lives of individuals. As a result of this everything has had to move into clubs. The clubs are over 21 which just completely alienates adults under this age.”

In part because of this, Lawrence has made basing himself permanently in Australia a long term goal. He has an affinity with Australia not only because he loves the place, but also because his wife is from Melbourne and his father lives on the Sunshine Coast. “I’ve already got an apartment and home studio in Melbourne and we’re going to officially move when Damien starts school,” confirms Lawrence. “Just right now it’s more convenient to be based in Los Angeles. Flights to the rest of the world are much shorter.”

Setting up his Australia studio only affirmed his desire to leave the United States. This had nothing to do with the weather, the dance music scene or the people in Australia but instead an incident that occurred when Christopher Lawrence was leaving LA Airport en route to Australia. The entire airport was evacuated when authorities found traces of explosives on a box of music equipment that was being sent over to Australia to construct his studio. “I was interviewed by the transportation authority, bomb squad, federal security and the FBI,” says Lawrence of the ordeal which he is now able to look back on with a sense of humor. “I think I spoke to around thirty officials in total before I was released. It wasn’t all that long ago that DJs were only stopped at customs on suspicion of carrying drugs but now they think I’m carry explosive. It’s not easy being a DJ,” he says with a chuckle.

Yet Lawrence is by nature an optimist and while radio may not have gotten behind dance music in the U.S., he sees a brighter future as a result of the internet. “Internet is saving the electronic music scene in the North America,” he declares. “Because you have dance music on the radio in Australia and Europe and all ages events, you don’t have to rely on the internet so much as you have it really good. In America there is a thriving electronic music scene online. There are electronic radio stations on the web, online record shopping and forums. Fortunately most people have high speed internet connections. In a sense its kind of neat because it keeps it underground, but it just will not cross over to the mainstream like it has in Australia or Europe. Another reason why the Australian scene is so strong is due to the content of the free press in Australia being superior to the magazines you pay for in the UK and USA. It’s much more immediate as it’s weekly and far more in touch with what’s happening than a monthly magazine that a lot of content is coming from Europe anyway.”

Lawrence himself is far from out of touch and, as previously mentioned, he was rewarded for all his tireless work in the industry by achieving his best ever placing at the DJMag Top 100 Poll in 2003. When asked how he became the highest ranked American trance DJ, Lawrence modestly replies, “I think its just years of playing consistently good sets. I hope that’s what it’s from. I just have some very aggressively supportive fans out there that I’ve acquired over the years. I think part of the reason is that I am lucky enough to play in Europe more than a lot of other U.S. DJs. I’ve been to some of the festivals over there this year like Global Gathering in the UK and the Extreme festival in Holland. I don’t just have North America as my normal circuit of playing, but also Europe and Asia and of course Australia.

While much has changed for Lawrence in the last two years, one thing that hasn’t is that his, at the time, much anticipated artist album is still, well, much anticipated. “My long overdue artist album is definitely coming out in April this year,” he promises with a slightly embarrassed laugh. “It’s a saga of Sasha-like proportions. I remember how long everyone was waiting for him to release his artist album. The delay was due to my touring schedule but also because Hook Records were meant to release it and they have gone under. It finally has a home though as Moonshine in North America will be putting it out and I can’t wait.”

Christopher Lawrence plays Two Tribes on Sunday 7th of March in Melbourne.