Lemmy Ashton is a twenty year-old DJ, recently turned producer, hailing from south-east London. His credentials include residencies across the city from his own night DKHDS, to Snap, Crackle & Pop, Orlando Boom, White Heat and most recently DURRR. Add to all of that the growing number of remixes under his belt and a burgeoning live show and you have the start of something very special. Mint shared a few words with him and tried to get to the bottom of his success…

You recently started producing your own material, how was it making the transition from DJ to producer?

I had always been involved with music in some form or another, be it in bands when I was a teenager or more recently as a DJ, so it just felt natural to make the move from being a DJ to a producer.

I wanted to try and make the records which I felt were missing from my DJ bag, be it the more peaktime tracks or a real groove based disco record. Much like when I DJ, I definitely don’t have a style of house music which I want to persue, I’m always changing between different genres of house/disco and just trying to make something that I find interesting and want to dance to.

Tell us about your emergency tracks, the ones that are guaranteed to restoke a dwindling dancefloor

If a dancefloor starts dwindling I tend to move towards a more disco kind of sound, as I find that people are more inclinded to dance to that. But if I had to pick one track that I both love and know will always perk up a dancefloor instantly, its Armand Van Helden’s ‘U Don’t Know Me’. The track is over 12 years old and looked down on because of its and AVH’s chart sucess, but is still incredible record.

Who is your favourite DJ/producer at the moment?

In terms of who I think is really making great records, time and time again, its got to be Breakbot, he never releases a bad track or remix. Also, The Magician is definitely one of my favourites of the moment, we’re lucky enough to have him playing the next DURRR at the Nest of the 12th of August. His magic mixtapes are incredible, not to mention the remix of ‘I Follow Rivers’ which has got EVERYWHERE.

But as a DJ I think that it may be a popular answer, but its popular for a reason. Erol Alkan will never fail to put together an amazing, interesting and original set that always leaves you wishing he tracklisted it.

Who/what inspired you to start DJing?

I feel that people seem to look down on artists and DJs who took notice of the scene through the breakthrough of people like Justice and the whole Ed Banger crew, but I think that they did something really special, made some amazing (and still are) records and really inspired me in terms of DJ’ing and production. I remember watching a video of Justice DJing at I Love Techno in 2006 and being really motivated to start doing it myself.

What is your background in music that lead you to disco/house…?

I have my parents to thank for my disco twinge, they were really into collecting records and the disco/motown era that was around when they were growing up. It just comes from listening to these records in long car journeys with my parents and enjoying them. Then rediscovering them recently when I’ve been out hunting for interesting music to include in my sets.

You now work on the legendary DURRR club, how is it working on something with such history and do you feel responsible towards that history?

The thing with working with the people behind DURRR is that you are constantly being exposed to the most interesting and exciting music around at the moment, and that is by far the best part of the job.

I’m constantly learning about the history behind DURRR, because I’m so young, I never got to visit the legendary end club or witness the infamous parties that happened down there, so I feel that I’m always playing catch up with other people.

I knew the overall story behind DURRR and the influence it has had on both the London and British music scene, but its the little stories you hear about some of today’s huge artists when they were making their debut london or even UK shows that really gives me a sense of enormity and a realisation of just what a special group of people and night DURRR is.

The respect and admiration that people have for DURRR definitely changes the way you take on the job, as its more than just a position in a company. People have such high expectations of what DURRR is going to do next that you definitely work a lot harder to meet those demands.

Lemmy Ashton Mixtape Monday by Mint Magazine on Mixcloud

1. Minute of love – marble players
2. Beam me up (jaques renault remix) – midnight magic
3. Fantasy (jaque renault remix) – breakbot
4. Oh yeah – daft punk
5. Cocktail – lemmy ashton
6. The greeks (moonlight matters remix) – is tropical
7. Sexy results (mstrkrft remix) – DFA 1979
8. Gorilla (zombie disco squad remix) – idiotproof
9. Gare du nord – carte blanche
10. Strong love – the requesters
11. Sensation (obi blanche re-edit) – ron hardy
12. Walk 4 me – tronco traxxx
13. Thomas – puzique
14. Chicago – housquare
15. Percolator – cajmere
16. Egypt (hostage remix) – slap in the bass
17. Future (canblaster remix) – the count + sinden
18. Symphonies (hot city remix) – dan black
19. Dress you up (12 inch formal mix) – madonna

Bonus Track:
2 Good – Lemmy Ashton Remix by Lemmy Ashton

Words:

Marcus Harris

This entry was tagged as dkhds, durrr, lemmy ashton, mixtape monday, orlando boom, snap crackle and pop, white heat.