Machine Funk Maestro Daniel Avery Is a Recovering Rocker

"He makes gimmick-free machine funk of the highest order."

According to the iconic Andrew Weatherall, that's all that needs to be said about London's own Daniel Avery. That quote is already two years old, from around the time when Daniel dedicated a track called "Drone Logic" to Weatherall's intimate dark and grimy club night, which represents entirely what Avery is all about. As the name might suggest, the single—which takes the same name as his new LP—paints a slow, narcotic techno pulse with the textures of My Bloody Valentine. As someone who fell in love with dance music rather late, the 28-year-old DJ / producer's life now revolves around making people dance to music that they're never quite ready for, and will never get used to. Counter-contemporary taste isn't typically a selling point in today's dance music market, but Avery's resistance against the sound of now is exactly why we find him refreshing.

Avery's full-length was recorded over the winter months inside a metal shipping container he converted into a studio. Without the comfort of any heating, he locked himself up with a few racks of analog synths and pumped out a collection of tracks best listened to in a consecutive sitting. Drone Logic as an album is sophisticated yet raw, leaving little space for chin-stroking critical distance; these tracks were made for your body to move to. And while Daniel didn't grow up on dance music in any way, that enrapturing sense release and euphoria made him a convert, and he eventually joined us on the dark side.

His alternative approach and astonishing work ethic were enough to win over Erol Alkan's rare seal of approval, making Daniel an essential addition to the Phantasy family. In the middle of displaying his eclectic taste at extended sets spanning from major festivals to dimly lit dive bars, Daniel Avery kindly spared a minute to tell us the tale of how his simple quiet life evolved into something very different.

Hey Dan, how are things?
Been good thanks!

So, let's begin by going back to the early days. You aren't originally from London are you?
I'm from a small town called Bournemouth, which is on the South Coast. It's about two hours from London and I've been in London for about seven years now.

Did you make that two-hour trip often when you were younger?
Yeah taking the train wasn't a big deal so I'd see a lot of bands in London as a teenager. When I turned 18, I would make this sort of pilgrimage to parties like Erol Akan's TRASH. It was a big deal for me.

I feel like I can relate to your musical background, as I didn't grow up on house music either. Tell me a bit about your first musical passions and the bands you'd see on your adventures to London.
Guitar music was definitely my first love and I would catch guys like Slint and Queens Of The Stone Age in concert… that sort of thing.

And how did you make the transition into dance music from there?
Basically I got into it through Erol Alkan and Andrew Weatherall because they were always involved in different guitar based projects and post-punk things. A night like TRASH made it easy for someone like me to appreciate music in a club.

The thing is, my hometown of Bournemouth is like the bachelor party capital of the UK, so most parties around there just generally played music for idiots [laughs]. So I had a bad taste for going out in that respect. But that's not to say I hated everything; the first gig I went to in Bournemouth was The Prodigy when I was eleven years old. But if you asked me as a teenager if I liked dance music, I would have definitely said no. Even though I liked acts such as Underworld and The Chemical Brothers, I didn't know that there was any dance music around me that was actually good.

After being a regular at TRASH I started going to Bugged Out…going to those nights opened my eyes and I learned that there were actually some cool underground parties happening, even in Bournemouth, and I was just too young and naive to realize these things existed. From then on I would get to see guys like Michael Mayer, Ewan Pearson, and Richard Fearless from Death In Vegas playing dance music that I loved. They would be playing crazy techno records and really mind-expanding electronic music. I remember thinking to myself "I guess I do like dance music, I just never knew it before." It was a very exciting time and I must have only been, like, 17 years old, about ten years ago.

But those DJs and parties you mentioned weren't your only sources of inspiration and good tunes though, as there was a particular radio show that you loved too, right?
Another big thing for me was a show on BBC Radio 1 called Breezeblock, which Mary Anne Hobbs presented on Monday nights. This is late night radio by the way—like 2AM or 3AM—and I would try to stay up long enough to record it all and then I would listen to them over and over. Breezeblock featured some really mind-expanding stuff especially around the time of Aphex Twin and XTRMNTR-era Primal Scream, Death In Vegas, and LFO. None of these artists lived in the same musical world, but they all shared something I just can't quite describe; a certain feeling and energy that totally appealed to me.

It's funny how you went through this cycle without any intention of becoming a DJ later down the line.
No intention at all! The thought never even occurred to me at the time.

Although you had already been making music to some extent…
Kind of. I played bass guitar in my bedroom and made the odd bit here and there but I wouldn't even say I was making music. I was just messing about in my room. But what I did realize around this time in my life was the fact that I had become music obsessed. And I loved the idea of playing music for other people—you know, making mixtapes for friends and such. Staying up all night with friends playing music; I knew I enjoyed that feeling.

Once that feeling is realized, DJing is usually the next step.
Right. When I was 18 I walked into this record store in Bournemouth. The guy who ran it at the time also ran a small alternative club night called Project Mayhem and he would play all these records I was into. He would play ESG, New Order, Gang of Four, and all the early electroclash stuff, which sounded amazing. So anyway, I walked into the record store one day and he had a sign on the wall that said, "Warm up DJ wanted for Project Mayhem." I swear this is the truth, but until I read that sign, I had no intention of ever DJing. But I thought to myself "I would love to do that," and asked how good a DJ do you need to be. He told me "you just need to have good records." I thought I had good records so I went for it and got the job. I would only warm up for this guy for about an hour or so, but something clicked in my head the second I started doing it. It's not like I even had to build a dancefloor, people were just sat around drinking you know? The first time someone came up to me and asked for the name of a song I was playing, I just felt something I never felt before. It all made sense.

I feel like you're pretty lucky to have had such a fitting opening slot residency as your first job as a DJ. The art of opening is probably the most crucial thing for young DJs to learn and unfortunately a lot of people try to skip that step these days.
If it weren't for that I would have never gotten the residency at Fabric, as that began as a warm-up slot too. I didn't need to get the dancefloor going immediately. Nobody wants to walk into a club that's banging right from the beginning; that's just embarrassing. I feel really lucky to have started out as a warm-up DJ as it really forces you to find the best records you possibly can because you don't have the luxury of having a full dancefloor of people off their head at 3AM. I still love opening if I have the chance, or playing for a long time so that I can warm up myself. And especially now with my Rinse FM radio show, I get the same feeling. It's not all bangers; it would feel boring if that's all I did. I like the whole spectrum.

Was it shortly after Project Mayhem that you scored the Fabric slot and moved to London?
I moved to London as soon as I graduated university and got a job booking club nights and bands for events. I was lucky to have a job where I was exposed to new music all the time. Through my work I met these guys, Filthy Dukes, who ran a night called Kill 'Em All. The party happened once every two months at Fabric and they invited me to do the warm up sets, which were my first gigs there.

I assume those gigs are responsible for getting acquainted with Erol Alkan and the Phantasy label then…
Well I knew Erol just from going to TRASH as a fan and I had played with him a few times randomly. I just kind of knew him from being out and about.

Many years later though—last year to be exact—I'd say that I'd really found my sound and, when the record store I was working in shut down, I decided not to get another job and concentrate on making a go of it. Right around this time, I had the chance to hang with Erol in his studio. He was telling me his plans to expand Phantasy as a label, and encouraged me to make a few tracks to see what would happen. I spent a few days in the studio that week and made two tracks that went on to become "Taste" and "Need Electric." He liked them straight away and that's how it happened. We definitely come from similar musical backgrounds and share a lot of similarities in our tastes. I feel really at home at the label because he gets what I do.

It seems like a perfect fit, as Phantasy tends to take the ethics of the punk/rock background that both you and Erol grew up on and applies them to the electronic world. It's a very independent label.
Yeah, that's it. There's a reason Erol became the first DJ that I latched onto. He's always been the lone ranger figure. Everything he's done has been on his own terms. When I got the offer to sign with Phantasy I thought it'd be great because Erol puts out club records, but he also puts out amazing electronica and psychedelia. It all comes from the same place, but it's not just dance music. That's a big reason why Phantasy felt like such a good fit.

That signing only happened about a year ago, right? A lot has happened since then. Was that right when you dropped the Stopmakingme moniker and go with your real name?
I decided to start using my real name a little while before the signing, but it definitely helped me get there. The first things I did under my name after dropping the moniker were pretty helpful in this situation. I was doing a lot of remixes that I feel really happy with. I did ones for Headman and Jokers Of The Scene, and some people I respect seemed to like them.

I also made a tape called "Divided Love," which was intended to show that I was a DJ before anything else; I was also keen to have something physical with my name on it. I only made a hundred copies of this cassette and it was split into two parts. The A-side was clubby with a lot of my remixes, and the B-side was almost ambient, very psychedelic and just something else entirely. I feel as if both my warm-up roots and my peak time sets are both equally important to me and I wanted to push that. The tape sold out straight away, which was cool. Right after that, Andrew Weatherall chose me as his "one to watch" for Time Out London that year. I got ballsy when he said that and I asked him to do a remix for my release on Throne of Blood, and he did it.

While Stopmakingme was more of an experiment, was there a certain point where your true sound clicked and you knew it was time to fully back it up by switching to your real name?
I think the real turning point for that was when I started using guitar pedals in the studio. I just wanted to try it out. I ran a bunch of my synths through the pedals and treated the sounds differently and it immediately created something I felt sounded like me. Guitar pedals and things like tape delay and Space Echo—things that bands would usually use in their world. It felt right. And at no point would I ever say that I would want to do a rock meets rave thing—that's not what I am. But it worked out when I tried to do something differently.

Your laste two EPs came together very fast, was the creative process composing those songs different from what you've worked on in the past?
Yes, that's another thing. It all naturally came about quite quickly. It just felt right and I felt I was onto something. This whole time I was DJing a lot, and I had a few settings in mind for each track. For example, I had Weatherall's party called A Love From Outer Space in mind when I was making the "Drone Logic" track. I made it really quickly. I played it for Erol and he said it was cool, but suggested some female vocals. So I hit up my friend Kelly who was in the area, and told her to say this line, and she did it and it worked. I gave it to Andrew on a CD for him to try. He played it over the weekend and called me on the Monday saying it was the biggest track of the night!

From making music at this steadier pace, did you realize you may have been overthinking your process? Some say working without too many self-set goals is the healthiest way.
I don't think I thought too much during the process of making a track, but maybe a little bit before starting one. You need to learn to let that go. I think a lot of people have this mindset where they say, "well if so and so aren't going to play my song out, then what's the point?" Even though I made "Drone Logic" with Weatherall's party in mind, it was still a joyful experience and something that I felt represented where I was coming from. It's not productive at all to start making songs with some sort of business or careerist scheme in mind, assuming certain people will play it, which might get you certain gigs or tours or chart placements.

Well that culture is the opposite of what you came up on.
Exactly, it is. Making the track "Drone Logic" was just an enjoyable time in the studio. I remember we were playing a loop of it during the recording process and my engineer and I found ourselves getting out of our chairs and kind of dancing around without knowing it.

The next step for you was to finally achieve your goal of creating a full album, which comes out soon as Drone Logic.
That is correct. I wanted it to be a full album rather than a collection of dance tracks. I wanted something you could sit down and listen to from start to finish and kind of travel some distance with. An album has to be a trip, something you can get locked into. All of my favorite records are like that.

It's like going on a journey through another person's taste.
Exactly. I mean that word has been dirtied in the past, but I think it is a good way to put it. You go the distance because you trust someone. And that was the whole idea with the LP. I knew with a track like "Drone Logic" that I had a good anchor and named the album after it because it sums up everything.

Was this all recorded at your home studio or what?
The majority of the record was made in a very beautiful setting actually. Right down by the river in East London, we rented this tiny metal shipping container that was converted into a studio. There are a bunch of those down there—mostly artists use them. My engineer and I spent the winter recording in there and it was freezing cold with no heat! But you could see the entire city over the water there and catch some amazing sunsets. It was just a good environment in which to be creating.

That sounds amazing. On the topic of recording and the gear you use, are there any similar artists around you credit as direct influences?
Not really in terms of methods or anything. But I definitely think there's been a lot of cool music around here that's inspired me. The band Factory Floor—we feel this sort of mutual appreciation of each other. Seeing them live is always extremely intense, their show is probably the best live experience I've had since I first started making trips to London ten years ago to see bands and I'm not just saying that.

Seeing shows and other DJs still gets you going then…
Oh yeah. Whenever I'm feeling stuck or uninspired, seeing some of my favorite DJs always works. I could go out and see people like Dixon or Ivan Smagghe and feel like making music again.

But really, another good bit of timing was me getting the Rinse FM residency during the recording of the album. It forced me to seek out a load of interesting new records…there's nothing more inspiring than hearing something that blows your mind.

So again you would say a lot of inspiration comes from real albums rather than individual tracks?
Both, but I definitely resorted to listening to LPs for inspiration. I was listening to stuff from guys like Caribou and Four Tet as their records have a lot of life to them—

Songs, not tracks.
Yes, exactly. And I think Four Tet does a great job with that, as you can listen to his stuff as songs but they also work in the club. And to go back into my record collection with a new perspective and listen to My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3 was really great. Again, I really don't want "Drone Logic" to be seen as a rock meets rave record. I just want beautiful noise with a pulse underneath it.

The record sounds very you, especially after hearing about what went into it.
Yeah I think so, I feel very happy in that respect. It feels like me, and the past year of my life. During that whole period of making the tracks, I was playing out every weekend either at home or across the world and each gig played a role in the development. I remember I did a show in Lithuania and I never expected it to be good, but it was one of the most memorable parties and the idea for the track "All I Need" was formed because of that amazing experience.

That's a great point. After all the travels so far, are you able to decide what your favorite gig environment is? Do you really enjoy the festivals?
Festivals aren't really what I enjoy the most, but some are cool.

I just have this idea that most aspiring DJs assume the festival circuit would be the best thing ever and dream of it, when in reality the intimate settings are usually the most fun.
That's an interesting point; I can see that. The large shows definitely aren't always for me. In fact, I played a gig in Amsterdam last week and it wasn't very big—maybe like 200-300 people. The club had incredible sound, a cool atmosphere without asshole bouncers everywhere, and people dancing all around the booth. It was a great time. Intimacy is a massive part of it for me. The idea of having a connection with the crowd and what you do affecting the room, of whatever size, is what matters the most and it can be hard to achieve at a festival. I don't really make music for that kind of setting. I don't get on the mic and I don't throw cake into the crowd [laughs]. I have nothing against these people but it's just not for me. Whenever I can, I still love going to clubs as a fan and it's a great thing to be right next to a DJ just to see and feel the energy. Those gigs are the best for me.

Unlike being separated from the crowd 50 feet between a metal barricade.
Right, exactly! A funny thing about some dance festival gigs is that it seems the first few rows in the crowd are just waiting for some hits.

Just watching you, not dancing…
Yeah, standing there waiting for something. As much as I love bands, I am not a band… a DJ should never be seen as one. They are two totally different things. It's another weird thing that's happening in the mainstream world where kids are just waiting for a song they recognize to go crazy to. That's boring. I can't relate with that and this goes back to what we spoke about earlier with wanting to hear DJs play stuff you've never heard.

Do you think that a lot of these kids in the mainstream scene are going to start questioning what's being fed to them at these festivals though? Maybe they'll eventually start digging a bit deeper?
Sure, of course. There will definitely be a trickle-down effect. I mean, I hope so. It's not the first time dance music has been big; we've had many cycles before. You're gong to get kids who want to dig a bit deeper and that can only be a good thing. Again, I have nothing against this mainstream world; I just have no affinity to it. I don't have any of the same reference points so it's just not my thing.

Looking toward the near future, what do you have coming up next? Do you think that another LP is something you want to do again?
Absolutely another album, I'm already thinking about it. I really enjoyed the whole experience and will definitely do it again. I've only just started working on new tracks. Right now I'm just DJing a lot. This was all a distant dream as a youngster and now it's become something I absolutely love doing full time. Playing music out and seeing people react to it is a very beautiful thing, and I only want more of that. Some cool people are doing remixes for the album and I'll be releasing a few twelve-inches of them over the next few months but, for the moment, all eyes on the album.

Congratulations!
Thanks man, appreciate it. I'm just working on tour dates at the moment so hopefully I'll be back out in the States soon enough.