Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

For Chris Lake, making people dance is more than a career: It’s an obsession. Over nearly two decades, the GRAMMY®-nominated artist has become one of house music’s most compelling figures. In that time he’s lived many lives as a producer, DJ, and label head, all connected by his ability to make big moments both onstage and in his music. Recent singles such as “Summertime Blues,” his brisk but breezy collaboration with Sammy Virji, and his songs with Aluna – the smoldering “Beggin’” and hypnotic “More Baby” – have yielded appearances on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Expertly occupying the middle ground between dance music’s underground and commercial realms, the British producer’s finely-tuned ear for club-forward basslines and catchy vocals plays a large role in his success. Ultimately, it’s the result of following his creative instincts. “I guess I primarily make stuff for me and what feels good for me,” he says, “but I try to give it my flair without taking it too seriously. I’m not scared of a song, I’m not scared of a melody, and I’m not scared of a moment. I just try to have fun with this stuff.”

After making his breakthrough with a string of No. 1 singles in the late 2000s, Lake moved from the UK to Los Angeles as dance music began bubbling up in America. Within a few years, he had signed a record deal, earned a GRAMMY nomination, and co-created a crossover hit. As his profile soared, he recognized that he no longer aligned with the path in front of him. “In a simplistic form, it was a case of stopping listening to anyone else and just following my own intuition, my own moral and musical compass,” he says. So Lake started over again, beginning with his reconnection to house music.

“Operator (Ring Ring)” ignited that second spark. The 2017 single, a dizzying tech-house team-up with Dances, premiered with the coveted label of BBC Radio 1’s “Hottest Record in the World” and snowballed from there, becoming the official anthem of HARD’s Holy Ship! festival. Co-curating Skrillex’s OWSLA house compilation, HOWSLA, offered another major career boost, followed by more singles like “Turn Off the Lights” and “Lose My Mind.” In 2018, Lake and FISHER headlined EDC Las Vegas’ main stage in a double coronation: of tech house as the new sound of popular dance music, and of both artists as its faces. The set spawned Under Construction, their B2B event series which has spread the tech-house gospel across the US, including a Hollywood Boulevard takeover in 2023 with over 12,000 fans. Two heavyweights touring together is a business no-brainer, but for Lake, it’s a venture of pure friendship. “There’s no work,” he says. “The best way I’ve ever described it is: Under Construction is a party with me, Fish and our friends and family, and we allow other people to watch it happen.” In another rare feat, he closed out Coachella two years in a row, including an electrifying 2024 performance on the Mojave stage as one-half of Anti Up with Chris Lorenzo.

In addition to DJing and producing, Lake is the founder of Black Book Records. Launched in 2017, it’s home to many of his biggest tracks in recent years, such as “A Drug From God,” his sky-scraping collaboration with Grimes’ AI girl group, NPC; the transcendent “I Remember”; and the long-awaited ID “In The Yuma” (ft. Aatig). Releases from heavyweights like Green Velvet, Armand Van Helden, and Kevin Saunderson prove its status as a coveted label for producers, but Lake has also undertaken Black Book Records as a developmental platform, helping launch newer names including Cloonee, Miane, and Mochakk. With his years of experience, he feels a responsibility to not just increase their exposure, but guide early-career artists in navigating the industry. Through special events like the recent Black Book Records On The Pier weekender and an exclusive collaboration with premier technology-enabled fashion brand MNTGE, the label’s reach is ever-expanding.

“We’re not just looking to put out big records and make lots of money,” Lake says. “We care about artists, we care about the scene, we care about events, and the bigger picture that’s relevant to the dance scene. Most labels struggle to put that all together and I feel very proud that we’ve managed to do that.”

In the midst of an ongoing tour, Lake pauses to think about what keeps him going almost twenty years on.

Perhaps more than making people dance, his specialty is leaving dance music’s people and culture better than he found it. “It gives me this increased love of the power of a single song and the effect that it can have on anyone’s life,” he finally replies. “I love the idea that I have this blessing to make a song and give one or more people that feeling. It’s just amazing, and I feel like as the years go on, I get better and better at doing it.”