Back in 2008 I interviewed London DJ extraordinaire Erol Alkan for FADER 58. He told me one of the things he is most proud of is all of the bands and creative ventures that began on the dancefloor at his seminal club night Trash. Did Daniel Avery aka Stopmakingme go to Trash? The verve and swagger in his music suggests it’s in his DNA somewhere. He is second, maybe third generation Trash. Avery is part of the Kill 'Em All gang, who put on excellent parties and you might've read our praise for his recent remix for Hercules & Love Affair. That remix and many others appear on this amazing 78-minute mix he made for us. I spoke to him about the Pure Groove legacy and bad habits.
Download: Stopmakingme FADER Mix
Your Hercules & Love Affair features some excellent scatting.
It's from the original and was just too good/weird to ignore. I generally hate scatting, though. Unless you can count the middle section of Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen which is just about the best breakdown of any record ever made.
Do you make music with DJing in mind?
I definitely make music with the club in mind, I'm really interested in the way certain records can grab your attention in that atmosphere and at that volume. I don't come from the house world at all, I'm an indie boy at heart, so I think I take influence from anything that stands out on a dancefloor, wherever it may come from. Watching Erol Alkan play bands like The Kills and Numbers with the intensity of a techno DJ at Trash definitely planted a powerful seed as I was growing up.
What is your favourite song to play out at the moment?
It has been great to play a lot of of my own productions recently, it's taken me a while to get stuff together but I'm glad I waited for it to be right. Other than that, my current favourite club track which isn't on the mix is Moon by Das Moth, a beautiful modern disco record which everyone needs in their life. Favourite club track ever? Geht's Noch by Roman Flugel comes a very, very close second to Once In A Lifetime.
You used to work at Pure Groove with Gold Panda and the guys from Transparent. You've all gone on to have careers in music. It's like the beginning of an epic novel. A Dance To The Music Of Time, but with more limited edition vinyl.
I have such a huge amount of love for Pure Groove. It was my safe haven when I moved to London and an amazing family to be a part of. I got introduced to so much fantastic music during that period, everyone there was so passionate and keen to share it with others. That is precisely why so many went on to have careers: it's a genuine trait which can't be faked. I wish I had some embarrassing stories to tell other than that I definitely signed a couple of records to our label which sold about four copies worldwide - most of them did really well, though. They were all good records!
What music are you making at the moment? Are you working on an album?
I have a couple more remixes to finish then it's straight to work on an album. I love artists like The Chemical Brothers, New Order, Death In Vegas, Whitey, Black Devil Disco Club, Joakim and so on who can make complete albums full of different ideas but every single track still sounds amazing in a club. I'm not for a second comparing myself to these masters but I'm prepared to take a running jump at the high bar I've set for myself.
Tell us a bit about the mix you've made.
It works a little more like a mixtape in that the first section is very much what I'm playing in clubs peak time right now and the second half slows right down and gets a bit darker. I've spent years playing warm up sets where it's important to dig out some of those interesting, oddball records which can really put energy into the beginning of a night. My favourite DJs are people like Andrew Weatherall, Soulwax, Optimo, Erol, The Glimmers, Tiga; DJs who wear their broad influences on their sleeves but really know how to work a club because every record they play is exciting and sounds huge. I find that idea very inspiring. I'm also fascinated by stories of early club culture. Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage, the Hacienda in Manchester. A time when there literally wasn't enough 'house' music to fill an entire night so DJs played stuff from all over the place and mixed it in a way to keep people dancing.
What is it we should stop making you do? Is it some nasty habit?
The name began as a joke and now I'm stuck with it! We were all choosing silly DJ names for a night we were putting on and I was listening to NY Excuse by Soulwax just as Nancy Whang shouts "well, stop making me then." It was literally the first thing I heard. I've just about learnt to live with it now. Bad habit? If someone can help me tear myself away from my fucking laptop once in a while that would be great.
Stopmakingme FADER Mix:
- Remute - Cowbell Mania Pt.1 [Remute]
- Stopmakingme - Rattle [Bang Gang]
- Tribute - We Love Debbie [Tribute]
- Shit Robot - Take Em Up (Marcus Marr Remix) [DFA]
- Scenic - This Can't Be (Get A Room! Remix) [Tigersushi]
- Hercules & Love Affair - My House (Stopmakingme Remix) [Moshi Moshi]
- In Flagranti - Peculiar Protagonist (Stopmakingme Remix) [Codek]
- Stopmakingme - Smint (In Flagranti Remix) [Bang Gang]
- Virgo - Mechanically Replayed [White]
- Discodeine - Ring Mutilation [D*I*R*T*Y]
- Tiga - Pleasure From The Bass [Different]
- Telephones - Kanal (Prins Thomas Remix) [Full Pupp]
- Tevo Howard - Foreigner [Permanent Vacation]
- Bag Raiders - Sunlight (Stopmakingme Remix) [Modular]
- Dekker - Stop (demo) [unreleased]
- Lost In Paris interlude
- Lykke Li - Get Some (Beck Remix) [Warners]
- Electronicat - Savage Cat [Disko B]
- Naum Gabo - Spessivtseva [Dissident]
- Prince - Sign O' The Times [Warners]
- Headman - Blue Girls (Richard D. Clouston Remix) [Relish]
- Ono - Give Peace A Chance (Richard Fearless Remix) [Mind Train]
- Stopmakingme & The Deadstock 33s - Gravity [unreleased]
Look out for Stopmakingme's Rattle EP on Bang Gang in February, Battery Life/Machinist (with The Deadstock 33s) on Southern Fried in March and his Toothpaste EP on Remute later this Spring.
