Hit
the DecksWhen I chat to Kate Lawler she’s sat on her sofa downloading
pictures of her last few DJ gigs, and getting wound up with her laptop. “I’ve
got way too much on my hard drive. I need to get rid of some stuff. It’s
so slooow!” she says. The Big Brother winner (series three, if you’d
forgotten), TV presenter, model for Ann Summers and now increasingly sought-after
DJ talks fast, happy to let rip about just about anything. But before we get
on to stuff like, “Is Jade really that much of a cow?” and “Is
Ann Summers underwear really that great?”… I’m taking her
back, way back…
Kate has a twin sister. I wonder if they ever have those weird twin-experiences
where one can sense what the other’s doing. “Well not really,” laughs
Kate. “But she’s pregnant at the moment. When she got pregnant
I started getting really bad cravings for sweet foods and started to put on
weight. So I’m blaming it on her. That’s my excuse and I’m
sticking to it.” Are they identical though? “The doctor said we
were but my sister doesn’t look anything like me. She’s 5'11 and
I’m 5'6 and she has much bigger boobs than me.” Hmm. Kate Lawler
with bigger boobs. (There’s a pause whilst I find my place in my notes…)
But forget big breasts, let’s talk Big Brother. It was Kate’s sister
Karen who got her to apply. “She was going to apply,” says Kate. “She
couldn’t be bothered to fill out the form. She said, ‘Why don‘t
you do it.’ I just did it and thought what the heck. When she heard I’d
been selected she loved it. She got to go on Big Brother’s Little Brother
and met Dermot and Davina. She was so sure I was going to win...”
So was it worth it? Would she do it again - maybe have a crack at Celebrity
BB? “It was totally worth it,” Kate says. “But I wouldn’t
do it again. I did it for the nine weeks and had just the best time. I won
70 grand and put that towards buying a flat. And it gave me a lot of opportunities.
But I don’t see myself as a celebrity. I’d feel like a dick going
on Celebrity Big Brother. I’ve had so many people come up to me and say, ‘I
want to do Big Brother this year’. But since series four I don’t
recommend anyone to do it. If you’re not mentally stable - which most
people that go in there aren’t - it can really ruin your life.”
And the most recent Celebrity version when all hell was let loose kind of proves
the point, I suggest. Jade was a housemate with Kate in series three before
she materialised into a ‘celebrity’. What did Kate make of it all? “I
only watched a bit,” she says. “I saw one of those big arguments
between Jade and Shilpa. I remember thinking ‘she hasn’t changed
a bit’. She was just like that in my Big Brother. That’s why she
didn’t win. (People quite often think that Jade actually won Big Brother
3).”
Enough talk of TV though. Let’s talk about uh, underwear instead. I could
hardly help notice that Kate has been modelling for Ann Summers. “I’m
the face and body of Ann Summers, Jeremy! Get your facts right! And I have
been for ages!” she growls. I’m of course happy to be corrected.
But I don’t want to have some pervy conversation about ladies’ undies
- that’s just not what we do here at RedHanded. So seriously, what does
she think about the quality of her knickers? I stopped buying stuff for my
girlfriend from there because it all seemed so tacky. “Oh my God! You
should check out the new stuff, it’s brilliant,” she says. “Check
out the new Cherry Picker outfit. And City Slicker, that’s really cool.
I’m not really a fan of the all-in-ones so much but the bra and knicker
sets are amazing. I get them for free ’cos I work from them. They give
me loads of stuff - and like toys, which I give to my friends, obviously, as
I wouldn’t use them myself.” There’s just a hint of a smile
in her voice at this point and tempted though I am to dig a little deeper,
in the cause of serious journalism, I move on.
She might scrub up nicely for glamour pics, but Kate’s not all sugar
and spice. In fact having a sporty family, several sisters and a brother, she
was a bit of a tomboy. “I did all sports at school. Football, netball,
hockey. I even played cricket with my dad on Saturdays. And loved boxing as
well.” The love of boxing continues. She boxes regularly and even had
her own Boxercise DVD. I’d guessed it was just one of those gimmicky
stunts to make a quick buck. But absolutely not. She even took part in ITVs
Celebrity Wrestling. “If I’m at the gym and boxing I hit really
hard,” she says. “When I was wrestling I got really into it. I’m
just an aggressive kind of girl! I love that blood sport kind of stuff. I went
to Cage Rage on Sunday. We were talking about me doing the girl one. It’s
called a Cat Fight. I should do it! I love fighting!”
Blimey, she’s well’ard! I wonder if she’s ever been in any
fights on the mean streets of Beckenham. “Are you saying I’m a
pykey? Are you saying I’m a chav?” she challenges. “I’m
hard!” she laughs. (Hmm. Know what she means.)
We’ve spent so long on banter we’ve not got onto the real reason
we’re talking. Kate’s DJing talents are now attracting serious
interest. She’s also playing Escape Into The Park in Swansea this year. “I
was learning to DJ when I was younger,” she explains. “That was
what I wanted to do when I came out of the House. But there were other offers
on the table so I ended up doing those. But I’ve always loved House music.
So a couple of years ago I had time to learn and get on with it.”
So how did she learn to DJ. “I literally spent six months at home,” she
says. “I’d spend every day mixing and mixing until I got it right.
Then I did a few gigs and they went really well. Then my manager, Chris, approached
me and said he’d get me more gigs and it just went from there.” She
makes it sound easy. I’m guessing that - like it or not - the Big Brother
connection meant she got a foot in the door where others might not. But she’s
stood the test of time. She has a packed schedule this summer and a top DJ
residency for Sankey’s in Manchester.
It can’t be that straight forward though - half the world wants to be
a DJ. “You have to be able to beat match,” she says. “No
one likes a DJ mixing off-key and not being able to match one tune with another.
But it’s really all about playing the right tunes at the right time.
Being able to make people dance. I love dancing and love watching people dance.
So if I can make people have a really good night that’s my job done.”
She’s really looking forward to Escape. “When they said did I want
to do it, I said yeah! ’Cos it’s a festival and in the park. I
love that atmosphere! It will be full of people who are completely drunk and
who’ve been dancing all day. I’m going to be providing music for
their ears and that’s going to be good…
“
Oh and I love Wales! It’s full of lovely people!” Yeah, c’mon.
I can see a dodgy plug like that coming a mile away. She’s just saying
that isn’t she? “No! Wales is full of lovely people, I’ve
been there loads,” she laughs. “I’ve DJed in Cardiff and
Swansea twice! And my best friend is Welsh.” So where’s he from
then, this ‘best friend’, I ask. “His mum and dad live in
that really posh part that’s really beautiful in the bottom corner. What’s
it called? The Gower!
That’s it!”
Kate Lawler is playing Escape Into The Park, Saturday June 16, Singleton Park,
Swansea.
Tickets from £38. Available on-line at www.escapefestival.com or by calling
08700 42 44 42. For more about Kate see www.katelawler.net
Famous for winning Big Brother, lovely Kate Lawler has become one of the UK's hottest new DJs. Interview by Jeremy Head
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the Decks