I Am Calvin Harris...
Growing up in Dumfries, it was at the tender age of 15 that Calvin Harris began recording demos in his bedroom. Ten years later and now he is somewhat of a household name, known for his production skills, catchy lyrics, danceable beats and often eccentric choice of eyewear! He’s worked with some of the finest names in pop - from Kylie Minogue to Dizzee Rascal – and his new single, Ready For The Weekend, is out now.
heat: Who have been the most influential people in your life?
Calvin: I think Jay Kay from Jamiroquai. Maybe that’s where it ends; just Jay Kay!
heat: Was there anyone who you looked up to when you were growing up?
Calvin: I didn’t talk much as a boy. I didn’t talk to many people, I wasn’t a talker! I didn’t really have anyone where I was like, “I have a problem I need to sort out. Will you help me?”
heat: How did you first start making music?
Calvin: Well, my big brother was responsible for any music I listened to until the age of about 14. He’d make me play Nirvana bass lines whilst he played the drums. He left for university [and] he left behind this Amiga computer, which was big in the early 90s and it had music creation software on it. Really basic, primitive stuff. I just started using that and that’s where it all began for me.
heat: So you’d say he was quite a big influence on you?
Calvin: Yeah, definitely. He was this big virtuoso piano player. He went and did Young Musician Of The Year; he was amazing at piano. But he decided to be a computer programmer instead!
heat: Did you have any idea that you’d be this successful when younger?
Calvin: When I was 15, I thought I was amazing, I thought I was the best thing in the world. I sent out a load of demo CDs and I’d get a couple of replies back. Then maybe I got to 20 and I thought I can’t be that good cos I’m getting absolutely nowhere. That’s when the heavy cynicism set in and all that quirkiness disappeared, that was gone by the time I got a record deal.
heat: Can we play a track which reminds you of your childhood?
Calvin: Well, there are a lot of songs I can think of which would encourage people to turn off – like The Bluebells Young At Heart - the first CD I bought. I loved that! I was passionate about it as an 8 year old. I was obsessed.
heat: What about as a teenager - what music did you listen to?
Calvin: I was heavily into Jamiroquai. Everything about them, specifically their bass lines. And I was also bizarrely heavily into the Spin Doctors who are only known for their one hit Two Princes in the mid-nineties. For some reason I decided they were my new favourite band and bought all their albums. Most people say, “What do you mean? They only have one album.” But they didn’t – they had four albums and a live album! I’ve got them all.
heat: Have you ever met Jay Kay?
Calvin: No, I haven’t, but I have met Stuart Zender [bass player] who’s my main hero. He’s a massive influence on everything. It was awesome. It’s hard to say, “Dude I loved you as a tiny little boy.” It’s a bit odd! So I kept that to myself. He knew I was a fan, I made that known.
heat: You’ve recently moved down to London from Glasgow – what do you miss the most?
Calvin: I miss the space. In London you can get the same space but for loads, loads more money. I don’t have that kind of money! That’s why I like Glasgow better because you could earn money in London and then take it back to somewhere that’s cheaper and live a better quality of life.
heat: Were you quite family-orientated?
Calvin: Yeah, I guess so. My mum and dad, my brother and sister - in a house in Dumfries. It was a nice town; we were on the safe side of the town. Over the river where the junkies were, we didn’t really hang out with them. It was all just very pleasant, but as a teenager that’s the most boring thing on earth. It was either music or heavy drinking. I did the odd bit of drinking - not much, it didn’t really agree with me. I didn’t find it enjoyable so I tended not to go out at the weekends; just sit in my room being incredibly anti-social, which is what I’ve carried through most of my life.
heat: Did you have a lot of friends at school?
Calvin: Nah, I had a small selection of people. I was one of the geek crew, not a particularly prominent member though. I was just somebody who wasn’t very good at football; I wasn’t part of the sporty lot. They were the leaders; we were much the left-field of school popularity.
heat: Is there anything your mum and dad used to play?
Calvin: My mum is heavily into Cliff Richard! This is probably turning into the worst selection of music you’ve ever had on this show!
heat: Ok, what should we play?
Calvin: Summer Holiday!
heat: You didn’t go to university – did that feel like that was a big risk?
Calvin: Yeah, it certainly felt like it at the time. Literally everyone, being part of the geek squad of course, they’re going to go to university. So that was all my friends gone different ways; it was like starting again. I got my first job at a fish factory, I was there for a year. Every job paid for a certain bit of equipment. So I know that in the fish factory I made exactly £1000 over the eight months or whatever, and I bought a mixer with it. Then I got a job in Safeway in the bakery…
heat: I worked in Safeway before…
Calvin: It’s amazing; it was a lovely place to work. I didn’t have to wear a hat, which was great, and they’d let me knead some rolls. And that was great, and it paid for a couple of FX units and keyboards.
heat: Were your parents quite supportive in that?
Calvin: Well I said, “This is a couple of years out, bear with me; I reckon it might just all work out.” And they were like, “Ok, that’s fine.” They didn’t charge me any rent or whatever. They were very supportive, though my dad did mention a couple of times that perhaps I may want to learn a trade, be a plumber or a builder, work with cement, and I didn’t.
heat: Did you used to play them the tracks you produced?
Calvin: No never, that’s what made it worse - they never heard anything I ever did! My dad listens to classical guitar music. If I play him to house music what’s he going to say? He’s going to say this is terrible!
heat: Did you get quite depressed when you had to move back home after being in London?
Calvin: Oh yeah. The whole move to London was amazing, it was going to be class and then it didn’t happen. I was there for about a year and then moving back to Dumfries, back to my mum and dad’s house was like, “This is awful. I’m 20 years old.” So I gave up and just decided I was going to be like other people, get a job, get my driving licence, have a nice car and try and get a girlfriend.
heat: What did you do with all your equipment? Did you cover it all up?
Calvin: No, it was just sat in my room. I started making the odd tune again just for fun, for my own entertainment. I joined MySpace because I saw a lot of people were joining it and it was something to do in an evening. I uploaded the tracks and I thought I’d try and add people who I thought might work for record labels or who might be associated in the industry. So I added a bunch of people, and I added this guy called Felix Howard, whose name I recognised from a Sugababes song – Overload - their best song - which is a fact! That’s not an opinion. He sent an email saying he liked my tunes and he’d just started working for EMI Publishing and can you send me a big CD with everything you’ve ever done on.
heat: Which track are you most proud of?
Calvin: To date, and I’m not just saying this because it’s my new single, but I am quite proud of Ready For The Weekend. It’s the most work I’ve ever put into a song, to make it how I want it to sound in my head.
heat: Do you have anyone whose opinion you value the most, or do you do everything yourself?
Calvin: I do everything, so if it’s rubbish, it’s all my fault, but if it’s good it’s also all my fault. My main A&R guy, Mike Pickering, happens to know what he’s talking about, unlike a lot of them. He’s amazing, he knows exactly what he’s talking about and he sometimes likes it and sometimes doesn’t.
heat: What was it like working with Kylie – did it bother you working with such a superstar?
Calvin: Kylie bothered me a lot! Not in the sense of her personally getting at me but the prospect of being in the same room as Kylie Minogue did unsettle my nerves. I felt cautious and scared that I might offend her.
heat: What was it like when you met her for the first time?
Calvin: It was one of those weird scenarios. It was great and she calmed me down. Well not calmed me down, it wasn’t like I was an excitable school boy but she was aware that I would be nervous. It must be from years of meeting excitable fans which means she has a manner which puts you at ease. So that’s what she did to me without my asking her.
heat: Do you text each other?
Calvin: Nah, not really. We exchanged emails occasionally, but I haven’t heard anything from her for about a year.
heat: Have you ever had a bad show?
Calvin: Of course – there’s been so many! We haven’t had a bad one though for a long time, thank goodness. But I’m glad we played them because it made me ever more grateful and taught me how to react to bad audience reaction.
heat: Is there anyone you remember seeing live that you’ve been completely blown away by?
Calvin: Watching Dizzee on stage helps a lot. He always goes down really well; he’s always given me little pointers as we’ve met up at different festivals. Don’t put your bottle of water behind yourself; always put it in front, so you never turn away from the audience. It’s a psychological thing; if you look like it should be going off then they’ll be thinking ,oh right maybe we ought to be going off. Then once other people see others going mental, it’s a bit knock on effect and it turns into a mental gig.
heat: Is there a significant other in your life?
Calvin: Yes.
heat: How easy it to maintain a relationship in your life?
Calvin: Well it’s tricky, because you’re not home that much and when I am home I tend to be in the studio a lot. But it’s worthwhile.
heat: I’d like to ask you about your trademark eyewear, where do your glasses come from?
Calvin: The original prototype was born out of watching an episode of The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC Two when they were re-running them. T-Rex was on and the keyboard player was wearing these huge, what looked like my fly glasses. I thought they were amazing and I had to find a pair. I trawled the internet, round Camden Market thinking they must be there. I held this in my brain for a while – I had a lot of time on my hands. I got home to Dumfries and I created this pair out of cardboard, bubble wrap, silver paint and a bit of glitter. The fly glasses were born. I never wore them out in public, they looked ridiculous! Then they became intrinsic to my album artwork and I wore them in my video. When the second album came around I thought that I’m going to have to update them as I’ve updated everything else musically. I bought a pair of glasses which you could see through and I just added little shiny crystal things. I made them myself again.
heat: It’s like Blue Peter!
Calvin: It is! The results are incredible!
