Col Lawton is a product of the vibrant music scene of Newcastle Upon Tyne which sees all kinds of music sit comfortably alongside each other. This extended and related marriage of musical styles is clearly evident in the music he produces as he stretches the boundaries of what is possible in the House arena.

As a co-owner of Deep Fix Recordings along with Wez Hall and Robbie Robinson, he has crafted a career that demonstrates an evolving ability to produce music that is both authentic as well as incredibly addictive.

Interview with Col Lawton

Q1: Who is Col Lawton?

Hi I am a DJ/Producer from Newcastle upon tyne doing my thing in the house music scene, I have been around in the scene since the early 2000’s playing around the North East of England. My passion for all kinds of genres of music comes out in my productions of many styles I just love music and the feelings and joy music brings to people and personally to myself. Alongside the music i am a family man i work hard for a living and i work double hard with my music being a co-owner of deep fix recordings label as well as running a radio show on move ibiza radio deep fix presents: house music matters with my deep fix team.

I class myself as a self taught producer not scared to make mistakes as long as the passion and desire is there to make music i will keep going.  I am very old school believing in networking, making friends, helping others and connecting with good people through the love of house music.

Q2: Tell about your new release on House Music Matters?

Working with house music matters has been brilliant I have been able to express myself as an artist whilst producing the first half of a 2 part album. Loved the experience of making an album very different from producing music for labels with a certain genre doing this album has helped me grow as an artist.

Being my first album I wanted this to be a journey of my 20 year journey in the house scene pulling on all my influences to create something very listenable and enjoyable which I feel I have achieved.  The album is dedicated to my dad who died 10 years ago you can hear his voice on the intro and outro’s of the album it’s also dedicated to my family who have been a huge support to me and encourage me every day to keep going with music.

Special tracks on the album are deep Africa written with my label partner Wez BK we always make very good different styled sounds which I believe this track shows.  Deep down love written with frank H carter III and Casey Benjamin such a dream team to have on a track, I’m not scared is a message to everyone to not be scared of life and to just keep going. I wrote keep your head up for my dear friend and also part owner of deep fix recordings Robbie Robinson as he has gone through such a difficult 3 years in his life I wanted to pass a message to him through music a very positive message. I love operate, written for my 7 year old son Harry who suffers with many operations in and out of hospital for a condition he has and I wrote this when he went for a big operation last year and due to covid i was unable to be in the hospital so wrote this track to keep me positive and to take my mind away from the day and operate was born…. and what a great track just like my boy. Last for me is never forgotten written about never forgetting those you have lost so a big message going up to the clouds for my dad John just to say thank you to him.

TWENTY2.1 is the first of Col’s two part album (TWENTY2.2 is scheduled for October/November 2021). In the first part of this two part album he brings us a collection of Col’s influences and musical styles which creates a superb musical journey that will hold both the house music enthusiast and the general listener from the start to the finish. It is not only danceable but also very listener-able with beautiful melodic house music, vocal tracks and some great features including 2 time Grammy Winner Saxophonist Casey Benjamin. The focus track is a well crafted soulful but deep vocal track featuring the Defected Records singer/songwriter Liz Jai.

Currently working on the second part of the album so watch this space for a release date….

Q3: Who are your greatest influences?

Always hard to answer these kind of questions so many influences past and present over the years not only from house music but music from the 80’s & 90’s and pop culture. But if i focus on house music and them influences which made my ears stand up its common knowledge amongst my friends how much I loved and still love the naked music releases which back in the early 2000’s just blew my mind finding this deep house sound with amazing grooves and sounds it just hooked into me and has never left me. Influencer 1 is Miguel Migs I love this guy’s work i am so proud to be on his label Salted Music and I am very determined to keep working with Salted so i can one day meet Mr Migs and enjoy his company and to thank him for showing me the sound i love today Migs petalpusher remixes are just amazing and the track I would pick from Miguel is the remix he did for Aquanote.

Aquanote – True Love (Mig’s petalpusher love dub)

Huge fan of the Miguel Migs and Lisa Shaw partnership i am a sucker for vocals and Lisa hits the spot every time for me just a great combo.

Next producer DJ is Mark Farina, love love love watching Mark DJ i have seen so many videos watched him play I do play like Mark and love how he has gone through the years with his sound from the mushroom jazz sound which again opened my ears to the world of jazz coming into house music which i love and i try my best to add this style into my work and then into OM Records amazing label with such unique sounds to the present with the work he does on Moulton Music i just love this guy and again i hope to meet Mark on day.

The track i would like to pick from Mark is Dream Machine feat Sean Hayes (Downtempo mix) this track is so influential for the love I have for chilled beached downtempo sounds amazing vocal has a great hook bumpy baseline I have lost myself listening to this track many times …. chilled to the max.

To finish off with influencers Martin Iveson aka Atjazz what an amazing producer another who has been with me from the start listening and enjoying his sound looking at his label Atjazz Record Company and dreaming one day could i be good enough to get on ARCo and guess what… I am now an ARCo artist but the best thing is to say I am now friends with Martin what a great person he has offered advice and guidance and is always there when I need help which in mind blowing I have so much respect for Martin not only for his music but for the good person he is.
Again I discovered Atjazz through Naked Music and the track that I love is the work Atjazz did on Midnight Stack Volume one ‘ Everything’ such a beautiful track production is out of this world for me has all the emotions and vibes you want in a track…check it out.

Q4: Can you let us about scene in Newcastle?

Music scene like most cities change with what is popular i come from the days of the old foundation ‘shindig’ which was just an amazing venue this is where I fell in love with music and where i made the best friends.

This little club in Newcastle managed to bring the super star DJ’s to our world which is a vital part of Newcastle culture to hear new music and to be inspired.

Currently the house music scene is waiting like everyone else in the UK to re-open but knowing the people of Newcastle and how we like to party it won’t be long until the clubs are back their feet you have many different club scenes from the super club digital to the cool deep house swanky clubs like Tokyo’s so you can always have a diverse music night out in Newcastle.  I have spent most of my DJ years playing in and around Newcastle and the crowds and people are always the best friendly and up for a good night.

If i have to pick what parties and scene in Newcastle had the biggest influence it’s the years from 2001 to around 2008 going to Shindig religiously every weekend watching amazing DJs week in and week out what a great platform to watch and learn from the best to then go out and try and carve your own music pathway.

Q5: How have you been keeping busy during lockdown?

Lockdown has been busy lost count of the amount of remixes I have completed but somehow I have managed to work with amazing producers through lockdown likes the originator of house music Jesse Saunders to name one. Live streams have been of plenty and then meeting house music matters and working on my album has really kept me busy but also i have had time to reach out more through social media I have managed to do lots of collaborating with great producers which i love as you always learn something working with other producers and i have continued to learn and get better with my productions and through covid I had my biggest release to date with my dream label Salted Music so you could say lockdown has been very productive for me not so good for gigs but very good for music production. But i am now ready to get back out there and play!!

Q6: What else can we expect from you over the next year?

You can expect more and more music got some big releases coming with Atjazz Record Company, Quantize Recordings more on my own label Deep Fix Recordings as well tracks on Nurvous Records more on Salted Music and not forgetting the second part of my album TWENTY2.2.

Hoping over the next 12 months if the world goes back to some normality i have support in Europe with my music so will be good to get out and play more abroad, plans are forming for a mini tour to America with deep fix recordings in 2022 so that’s exciting. It’s festival time in the UK so got a festival gig coming up I just want to get out and get playing again so I can spin my new music and watch people enjoy my sound.

For more info please check:

-Col Lawton

Artist: Col Lawton
Title: Gratitude
Label: House Music Matters
Release Date: 2021-06-25

Turn it up & enjoy!

DuBeats