First of all, I think your new single is fantastic.
Oh thanks a lot!

Definitely right in step with the "stadium dance" thing you're interested in doing...
[laughs]

So were you a closet trance fan in high school or something?
You know, I was never into it at the time, particularly, but I am a big fan of melody, and a lot of the big trance records of the 90's, you know, the Ferry Corsten output and all that kind of stuff had really nice melodies to it.

That's why it got so big...
I guess so. I enjoyed it for that reason. What I'm really into is Faithless in the '90's, kind of '97, '98 Ibiza, Balearic, trance-y kind of things. That's what I really like. I've always listened to that, but as far as things that people have heard by me, they haven't referenced that too much, but this single does. It's one of the few things that's gonna sound like that on the new album. I'm not gonna say the whole new record is gonna sound like some old trance record. I tend to work more on a single by single basis than try to make every song fit together.

That's interesting that you say that, because I Created Disco has a very coherent, very cohesive feel to it. Is your new album going to be much more varied?
Definitely. I mean, the reason the last one sounded so linear is because of the equipment I was using and the circumstances under which it was produced. I had no option but to sound like that. It was all really lo-fi and not particularly developed either. Because if I wanted to develop anything further, I'd run out of sample space on my Akai. But now I've got a slightly different set-up, so I can do pretty much whatever I want, within reason and within my abilities.

That must be really exciting! You've been working as a producer now for nine, almost ten years..?
It's getting to be 11, actually, since I produced by first tune.

So it must be great to finally be able to work with a fully loaded tool kit.
It's great to get a proper crack at it, definitely: This is what I see, this, as...I wasn't entirely sure I was going to make another album for a major label and have that push, but luckily we shipped over 100,000 copies here, so it went gold, so that means they wanted another one, and see if I could do a bit better next time. I'm kind of grateful for that. I see it as my last shot, and if it doesn't sell those copies this time, then, I did my best. It's something I'm definitely proud of.

It sounds like you're saying that you view yourself as a producer for other people first, and as a solo artist second.
Yeah. That's kind of how I used to think of it, but I think it's important now to think of it as like, "I'm an artist, and I should stop putting myself down all the time," y'know? As long as I've got a record deal I've got to look at myself like a guy with a record deal who can release an album in his own right, y'know?

Speaking of that deal, you also got your own label, FlyEye, as part of the deal. That seemed, at least as someone who'd only ever heard "Acceptable in the 80's," like a lot of success very fast. Did it come as a surprise to you?
Yeah, it kind of did. It all came together really, really quickly. But luckily, I had a lot of people around who could advise me on what to do, and let them do a bunch of work for me so I could get on with making some songs.. So it wasn't that overwhelming, to be honest with you. And we haven't had anything out through the label so far...

Are you just waiting for the right person, or is there stuff in the pipeline, or...?
Yeah, we've got someone now, an artist named Mister Blink. He's done this amazing tune. That's gonna be coming out in the summertime.

Are you going to make it a singles house kind of thing, or is it eventually going to be like an artist development and albums kind of outfit?
I haven't thought about it that much. But for the amount of time I can dedicate to it, it's probably going to be singles for a while.

Describe your new record in three words.
Probably the easiest three words are "not finished yet." [laughs]

Are you still going to get it out by summertime?
I don't really know, to be honest. We've got the next two singles done, and a couple more tracks that are definitely gonna be on there...

So it's not like a situation where you're just waiting on the album art and/or waiting for the fever pitch to build up?
No. It's not done. I've been working on it for a long time. I could submit it now, but...

You want to be really happy with it.
Yeah! Exactly. I've got loads of backing tracks, but I wanna give some to other people, and there are others where they don't sound like what I want the album to sound like, whether they're not dance-y enough or whatever.

Moving on then, to your DJ tour, which starts in New York with us next Friday! What are we and your other audiences in for? Give us a sneak preview!
I play a few of my own songs, I don't play a lot of them. I tend to sort of bash it out a lot more than people would expect me to do. Some people would expect me to play a bunch of disco records or maybe more of a real eclectic thing, but it's not. I like to say, properly upfront, it's music that goes off. I like seeing a reaction from people, especially after playing live for a couple of years I wanted to play tunes that went off as well.

So it sounds like you've got your battle weapons pretty much decided on.
I'll vary it a bit, but it's kind of easy because no one's really expecting anything in particular from me, because they won't have seen it before. I could get away with playing two completely different sets.

So when you do that Playboy party at SXSW, are you just going to hit "play" on a prerecorded mix and then jump into the pool?
[laughs] I've not considered it, but I will now.

I wanted to get back to your production stuff. You've worked with some huge people: Dizzee, Kylie, Roisin. First of all, my boss wants to know: what is Kylie really like?
Great. She's one of those people you can talk to for hours and then walk away knowing nothing other than that she's a really nice person. She's got that sort of professional-but-incredibly-friendly thing down to a T. But she's great, she's really lovely. It's just one of those megastar things.

I was reading an interview you did with Popjustice, and I have to ask if Roisin Murphy ever paid you.
[laughs] Not that I know of, no. But it's all right now, because one of them was rerecorded by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, so I think one of them's coming out, so that's fine. My main problem was that they weren't ever going to come out.

Another thing you mentioned in that interview is that you had these backing tracks and you weren't sure about who was going to get to use them. Do you ever write with a particular artist in mind, or do you just concentrate on making something that bangs and assume that the rest will figure itself out?
I've done that in the past, but it never really works out that way. Usually, I'll sit and over a number of days, where someone will say they're interested in my music, and I'll send them a bunch of stuff, and if that's not what they're interested in, I send them a bunch of other stuff, and something works out. But the lesson there, I think, is just carry on making whatever you feel like making.

Do you have different levels of stuff? Like, if some smallish artist comes to you asking for stuff, he gets one folder's worth of tracks, but if Kanye calls you, he gets the Calvin Harris Private Stock Platinum Case?
[laughs] There's definitely some tracks I've got in the back of my mind the thought that it could be a big tune. I do hold some things back.

What's that feeling like? Say you're 80% of the way through something that's going really well, and you're just thinking, "Man, I'm almost done with a platinum-selling single!" Are you just floating on air for the rest of the week? Are you used to it?
I'm definitely not used to it. It puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day, definitely. Every day is a studio day at the moment, I'll spend all day in the studio and if I feel like I'm getting somewhere it puts me in a great mood for the rest of the day. But that's it. I don't suddenly think I'm amazing or anything. And if it goes badly, then I'm in a terrible mood, and that's kind of it. I've never come away from anything saying that it's going to be a massive hit. I need other people to tell me that.

Finally, you're apparently still in charge of your own Myspace page.
I am, but nobody uses Myspace anymore!

They don't?! Myspace is played out now?
I dunno. I long for the days when it was just Myspace. But now it's gotten all complicated, and there are all these different sites. I can't keep up with it. I joined Twitter. I like that.

Makes you feel old, dunnit.
Yeah, it definitely does! You feel a little bit older when you're talking about the good old days, and it's Myspace you're talking about.

So you're not getting mounds of dirty fan mail.
Oh, you can't even send me messages anymore. I've disabled that. I can't be wasting all day looking at myspace when I should be in the studio.

So how are your fans supposed to send you death threats and naked pictures of themselves?
Probably through Flickr or something like that. I'm not entirely sure. They can't personally send me any naked photographs. Which is for the best.

Calvin Harris's North American DJ tour begins this Friday, March 13, at Webster Hall (Tickets still available here). The tour's dates, which also includes stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto, are available at Calvin's antiquated Myspace page.