Caught in the midst of a busy schedule (as are most DJs these days), Chris Lake called the offices of RDW unexpectedly and admittedly threw me off my game a little bit. Thank goodness Lake was charming and excited to chat with us, thus making the morning that much more pleasant. And through our befuddlement, Lake was able to offer candid insights into the world of DJing. Prepping for his show at Bleu Nightclub on 5/21, Lake revealed he's looking forward to his Detroit date, "I love playing the city, it's a hell of a lot of fun."

Okay, ready. So, what are you working on these days?

That's a good question. I've been working on all sorts. I've been doing a few remixes these past couple weeks. I just remixed Lady Gaga's "Judas," which has been pretty fun ... just did a remix for Beyoncé and Nicole Scherzinger. Been working on some originals as well. I've been working a lot on a track called "Sundown" that I'm hoping will be my summer single.

Do you get asked to do the remixes or do you just create 'em and give them away as free singles?

These are all commissioned remixes so the artist or the record label, or most likely than not, gets in contact with my management. That's what happened to those three that I mentioned ... sometimes you can do it the other way around but then it's called a bootleg, which basically means it's illegal. [Laughs]

It must feel good to get contacted by these huge artists to do remixes ...

I just have this approach that I have a lot of respect for these artists and what they do in their field. A lot of their music isn't quite what I like, but it's also a challenge to remix these songs into something I would play. These opportunities I find difficult to just turn them down because in 10, 15 years time I don't wanna look back and think "I turned down the chance to remix the biggest artists in the world." Ya know, this industry is quite fickle. I've got to live with my past for the rest of my life, I don't want to be turning down opportunities to remix a pop artist because a few people are like "what are you remixing that for?" (laughs) It'll be a nice thing to tell my grandkids when they're going to a Lady Gaga concert in 10 years calling her the grandmother of pop (laughs).

What's your favorite part of your job?

I suppose the best thing is I'm able to make decisions for myself. I don't have to do things I don't want to do. I get to meet so many great people while I'm traveling and so many different cultures as well, plus the food's pretty damn good too (laughs). I love creating music. It's what I've done with more than half my life now. I find it quiet an amazing outlet for me emotionally, it's just a great way for me to express myself and I've gone through times when I've said to myself, "I need to take a break. I need to take a break from music," like five years or something. I actually came out to America this year planning to have four months based in LA while I tour and I said I'm not going to do my studio work, and I just can't do it. It's very, very strange and it's very inspiring but my plan was I was going to take a break because I felt I needed it, but when it came time for that break I couldn't cope with it. So, I think I really do need to create music to keep sane or else I would be like a crack addict or something (laughs). | RDW