Calvin Harris grew “tired” of performing in Las Vegas because it zapped his “creative juices”.
The 39-year-old DJ is thought to have earned around $1 million a night for his Sin City residency, but he found it “too much” playing weekly Vegas shows and he couldn’t make any new songs for a year and a half.
He told Radio 2’s ‘Tracks Of My Years’: “I was there at least every week, playing. It got to the point where I was there a little too much. I got tired of it.”
Quizzed on whether it curbed his creativity, he said: “One million per cent. It was unreal. No tunes were being made.
“I didn’t make any tunes for a year or maybe a year and a half. I was growing carrots and that was great.”
While his music juices “weren’t flowing”, the Scottish-born star turned to gardening instead, and had some success.
He added: “I grew watermelons, which for a Scottish lad, I was buzzing when I grew my first watermelon.
“But the creative juices weren’t flowing.”
Looking back on his career, Calvin is still shocked his first album, 2007’s ‘I Created Disco’, was made, because he insists it is “not very good” and says his second album, 2009 record ‘Ready for the Weekend’, only had one hit – ‘I’m Not Alone’.
He added: “I still think it’s extraordinary that I managed to get that first album signed.
“It’s not very good. It’s a difficult listen.
“There’s some good tunes on there but I still think, ‘I don’t know how I did that’. I can’t sing.
“The second album, I got through by the skin of my teeth because I’m Not Alone did well. The rest … there’s no hits at all.”