Between tours and festivals, including this month’s Big Reunion, Calvin Harris hasn’t even had enough time to finish off the tracks he started with Kylie. Luckily, Rajveer Kathwadia still manages to have a quick word with the Scottish synthsmith…

Hi Calvin, how’s it going?

I’m good thanks. Right now I’m travelling from Inverness to Dundee for the tour and it’s getting sunny.

Sunny? In November?! In Scotland?!?

Yeeeeeah I know! It’s still wet and pissing down with rain, but all of a sudden the sun’s come out.

So you’re in the tourbus I take it?

No I’m in a car actually. I do have a massive tourbus and a truck, but I’m not on either of those things cos I’m DJing a lot after the gigs. When I’m finished at 3am the bus is already gone so I stay at a hotel and drive to the next venue the next day, which is nice cos I don’t have to sleep on a fucking bus full of loads of stinking men.

Brilliant. So your current single Flashback is doing really quite well…

Yeah it is. For a start it’s the first video I’ve done that isn’t shit, which is amazing. I’m Not Alone is good actually, but the rest of ‘em are rubbish. But yeah the song itself is going down really well as well.

As well as the current tour, we’ve seen you perform at a truckload of events and we noticed you like to make the crowd ‘go off’ as you so eloquently put it.

I never invented it, but me and my mate noticed that people weren’t saying it that much and it’s such an amazing descriptive phrase, so I just thought ‘I’m gonna say that all the time mate.’ It’s always a good moment.

We’ve nearly died a couple of times when you’ve made it ‘go off’. How have you survived the crazy world of tours, gigs and festivals?

Well I don’t drink anymore. It’s no secret that I haven’t drunk for 14 months now, which is amazing so that helps a lot. I eat well, I don’t smoke, I take lots of vitamins, I do a show most nights which covers the exercise; there’s a lot of jumping about to be done. I take it easy and I don’t chat up girls or anything like that.

Is chatting up girls a safety hazard?

Yeah it is cos girls are full of germs and you’ve got to avoid them. I don’t get off with any groupies.

We love the live band element of your show. When did you decided to implement that into your gigs?

Since day one. It was the first decision I made once I got the record deal cos I wanted to make it more interesting and aim to be the new Faithless or Basement Jaxx or Groove Armada, and try and do it properly. It’s definitely not the way to make money though. DJing is a lot easier in terms on instant financial gain, but to be honest with you, it’s been so much fun and the shows have been so good that I’m glad that I did that.

Awww, so there’s a big lovey-dovey Calvin Harris family on tour?

(Laughs) I don’t know. For the first time ever we’ve got a girl travelling with us called Ayah Marar who sings on Flashback. She’s added a nice ‘mother hen’ dynamic to the group, making people tea and stuff, which is amazing.

Have you found time to help anyone else out with their records between shows? We assume you’re very in-demand.

Not really. We get some offers and there are some big things around at the moment that I could have been on, but there just wasn’t any time. I can’t do everything. I did three days in the studio with Kylie and Jake Shears and those tracks are sitting there on my laptop waiting to be looked at, which is no good to anyone. They might as well have spent those days with someone else.

Has Kylie been phoning, messaging or Twittering you to try and get the tracks?

(Laughs). Nah she’s not bothered cos she’s doing plenty of tunes with other people, but I wanna hear them as well actually.

Has Conor McNicolas’ departure from NME affected you in any way? We know you guys shared a deep bond.

In the end he started being nice to me so I was a bit gutted really.

Oh. It’s a bit like when you meet the school-bully when they’re older and they’ve turned out to be a nice person.

Yeah, but only cos they’re working in Autofit and they’re just having a nightmare of a life. But yeah it’s not a big deal anymore and not that many people read it anyway.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at The Big Reunion this month. Have you been to Skegness before?

I think I have, but it was when I was very young so I don’t remember anything about it, but I’ve heard a lot about The Big Reunion and I’m really looking forward to doing it. I’ve heard that it’s extremely messy in a scary way. Like the last big blowout before lots of people die… Not literally though. I might just do my set and leave.

So you’re not gonna stay in a fabulous Butlins chalet?

Ahhhhhh, now you’ve said that it’s quite tempting. I would love to stay in a little chalet. I’m gonna definitely reconsider now.

Tags: Calvin Harris, Electro, Interviews, Pop