It's your first time playing for the KM faithful. Can you describe in 5 words what they can expect from a Chris Lake set?

Groovy, ass-shaking, ballsy, epic moments

We have admired your work for some time, even featuring your first major hit, 'Changes' on our first compilation album several years ago. What has been your biggest 'pinch me, I must be dreaming' moment since those earlier days?

Nobody believes me when I say this, but it's when I was walking through Aberdeen airport 4 years ago, and I saw Steve Davis (Snooker legend) walking through the terminal. I don't know what came over me, but I genuinely became starstruck when I saw him, and headed over to ask him how he'd done in a tournament he was playing in Asia that I was watching whilst touring China. I missed the semi final as I was travelling to Japan that day and I couldn't find the result on line. I must have looked crazy as he was edging away from me as I was asking him, then he replied that he got 'absolutely mullered'! End of conversation......

You rocked the main stage at SW4 this year, how do you find DJing at festivals and do you enjoy small, sweaty clubs as well as playing to ten's of thousands of people?

Basically, I love them both. Big crowds obviously get the big attention, and when it's going off, there's nothing like it, but the same can be said of a small club, when you have every single persons full attention, and the vibe is electric, having complete control of the crowd. Those shows are amazing!

You've recently brought out an Album, 'Cross The Line' with regular collaborator, Lys. For a house music producer, releasing a full artist album must be a proud moment? How did you find the whole process of getting an album together? Was it a more organic approach or did you have to force it sometimes?

No this one was organic, but at the same time a lot of hard work. We had basically put a few tracks together, and decided to put together an album, but we set ourselves a date to finish it, and we actually managed to meet it for once. We literally worked our asses off to finish it, but had so much fun in the process. I think you can hear it in the final results though, as I think it sounds very positive. I'm definitely massively proud of this album

You've worked with a couple of people who's surnames/names have begun with an L (Sebastien Leger and Lys), that keep up the catchy sounding 'Lake & L.....'. Can you give us another person you'd like to work with who's name begins with an L?

Haha, good point, I never even noticed that. Lauren Hill. What a voice, what an artist. Her killing me softly cover is one of my all time favourites

You are totally to blame for me (and probably countless others) humming and whistling the ridiculously infectious hook from La Tromba regularly, even to this day. When you created it, did the hook ingrain itself into your mind too?

Definitely. I wrote it, turned to Lys, and said this is going to really bug people. I then sent a working clip to some mates of mine, and they said it sounded like the Rocky theme tune. I nearly scrapped the record after that description!

I think it's safe to say that you’re a 'friend of the family' here at Kinky Malinki, rounding off a Hat Trick of appearances for us this year at Ministry of Sound. How important is it for you to strike up good working relationships with promotions and their crowds?

I think it’s very safe to say that and the family feeling is mutual. I like to think that a DJ can only try to make the best music and select a killer record bag. Besides that we are very independent on the promoter and especially the crowd. That’s why I like to come back to the parties that were really cool and where the crowd was friendly and into the music. You guys are definitely one of those promoters!

Here at KM HQ, the general consensus is that Funkerman epitomises the sound of Kinky Malinki in one DJ. How would you describe that sound?

I do not hold onto a certain sound, haha. I don’t want to be pigeon holed and always want to try and play according to feeling. One night the music should be a lot deeper and another might be more upfront. I think 75 % of the music I play is productions of my friends and I, so maybe that determines a lot of the sound I play. It’s a big pleasure to hear that you guys like it that much.

Quite a few DJ's have 'flown the roost' from their original countries they were born in, Eric Prydz and Kid Massive for instance, and have settled down in London. Would you ever consider a similar move and if not where would you think about moving to?

Maybe in a few years, when I’m able to afford a small apartment in Spain, I would like to have a second house to stay in the wintertime. But I will always stay in Holland for the main part. It has its ups and downs, but for me to stay in touch with my friends and family is really important.

You've recently brought out an Album, 'Cross The Line' with regular collaborator, Lys. For a house music producer, releasing a full artist album must be a proud moment? How did you find the whole process of getting an album together? Was it a more organic approach or did you have to force it sometimes?

No this one was organic, but at the same time a lot of hard work. We had basically put a few tracks together, and decided to put together an album, but we set ourselves a date to finish it, and we actually managed to meet it for once. We literally worked our asses off to finish it, but had so much fun in the process. I think you can hear it in the final results though, as I think it sounds very positive. I'm definitely massively proud of this album

Now that you've achieved what many house DJ's and Producers would dream of, releasing a full artist album, where do you go next? Another Long Player? Concentrate on more single releases? Maybe look to try some high profile collaborations?

I’m focussing on a new sound now. I deliberately do less bookings for the forthcoming months to have more time to do so. We have been fortunate enough to establish a sound that people like. On my label we had a few releases that went global in the most unexpected way. I’m very thankful for that and for me the most natural thing to do now, is try to take things to a next level.

We asked Chris Lake about the fact he produced some tracks with people who's name/surname began with an L (to create Lake & Lys and Lake & Leger). You've done the same but with an F  (Funkerman & Fedde Le Grand, of course). If you could work with someone else who's name/surname began with an F, who would you choose to work with?

Funkadelic!!!!! That’s one of the old time best Funk bands with George Clinton & Bootsy Collins. A dream!

You are part of what can only be described as a 'star studded line up' for Kinky Malinki at Ministry of Sound, alongside Chris Lake, Funkerman and Kid Massive. Do you think about upping your game or unleashing some 'secret weapons' when playing alongside such talent?

For sure. I think it is a great line up. The good thing is that all of us who play at the party have quite a different kind of sound, so I can unleash my bootleg-mashup set without having thoughts what to play. As I do a lot of edits every week I can be sure no one plays the tracks I play. Soundwise there will be something for everyone and it for sure won´t be boring!

Can you tell us what took place last year when you unfortunately couldn't make the Kinky Malinki birthday bash due to a bad injury? Was it something cool, like you fell off a BMX whilst trying to do some tricks, or something more innocuous like, you fell out of the shower?

Yeah, I was quite frustrated that this happened. I was really looking forward playing at your party. The evening before I hit my little toe on the TV-table. Just heard a crack and I knew something bad was going on. The next morning my toe looked like a big red cherry and after being to the hospital I realized it was broken. That´s the whole story..

Recently you held a studio/technical based Q&A with your followers on Twitter (twitter.com/eddiethoneick). Would you be open to throwing that wider to #askeddie about ANYTHING and what's the strangest thing you've been asked, either in an interview or by a fan?

I´m open to discuss about nearly everything with my fans. I think it´s important to show that I´m interested in them & they´re important to me. That´s also the reason I do a lot of competitions, giveaways & Q&A stuff. Without Fans there´s no popularity. I love touring the world and catching up with fans everytime I play, as they´re the reason I´m making music. There hasn´t been a too stupid question so far, but let´s see what happens in the near future…

I think it's safe to say that you're a fan of the occasional bootleg/mash up, having created a few big ones yourself, the Eurhythmics/Temper Trap and even your recent mash up of Nothing Better/Live Your Life, spring to mind. What's the best bootleg you've ever heard and please feel free to expose the worst?

The Bootleg I did of Temper Traps & Eurhythmic still is my icebreaker and it is kind of timeless (already 1year old now, but it never gets boring). As there isn´t an acapella of Sweet Dreams available anywhere this is one of a kind. I did that acapella myself with some studio tricks. The Live your Life/ Nothing Better Mashup fit perfectly into each other so I think it was time to share it with my friends. I´ve received a lot of Bootlegs via Soundcloud of my tracks. So far there hasn´t been a real good one. So people I´m still hopeing someone of you will have it done soon

You've teamed up with Erick Morillo of late. How did that come about and is he as energetic in the studio as he appears in the booth?

Erick was always a big supporter of my productions and we got in contact about 1 or 2 years ago personally. One day we were talking about our future productions and we came up with the idea doing something together, as we both love the same style of music. Finally then in October 2009 I started working on a track for us which ended up being “live your life”. I sent it over and Erick loved it from the very beginning, so he searched for a vocalist who can give the track the right feel, so he chose Shawnee Taylor. She wrote the Lyrics together with Duane Harden and the result was mindblowing. Studiowise of course one problem was the distance between Germany & Miami, but we sent the track way and back via Internet and I worked on it in my studio, changed some arrangement and finalized the version with vocals.
We did the Video of “Live Your Life” in Miami and we took the time to work on that P Diddy “Hello Good Morning” Bootleg. I brought my laptop-studio with me and we sat in his studio doing the brainstorming for it. He has a lot of great ideas and inputs. So The basis for a good musical releationship is build and we´re now working on new stuff.

What can the Kinky Malinki faithful expect from Eddie Thoneick next? What can we keep our eyes out for?

Mashup massacre of course. I´m working on 3 new Eddie Thoneick & Erick Morillo tracks with some fantastic vocalists. A new solo project is in progress and I´ll do a collab with Chuckie in the near future…So all is well planed!