In the third and final preview of the London crews heading to Croatia for Stop Making Sense, we catch up with the charming Dan Beaumont, the man behind the well-loved and ever notorious east-end haunt, Dalston Superstore.
Setting up in a restaurant in the heart of Dalston, Dan Beaumont opened Dalston Superstore in 2009, primarily to provide his mates with a place to drink and listen to great music. Little did he know, it would be his stamp on London night life and ultimately, contribute to the resurgence of disco in the city. Tearing up dance floors with a unique blend of raw disco, spaced-out italo, old house bangers and proto-techno beats, Mr Superstore keeps East end revellers well-fed and dancing till the early hours.
Enjoy Dan’s SMS warm- up mix, ‘A Journey to the Light’; in his words it’s been crafted purely for “optimum beach dancing”, and if this and the grey weather have tipped you over the edge, the last few tickets available for Stop Making Sense can be found here. Get down on it.
Dalston Superstore has something of a cult following in London, tell us about your history with the place and how you have managed to capture and maintain such a unique party atmosphere? It had been empty for two years when we got hold of it (almost four years ago now!), it was a total mess. We opened Dalston Superstore to give our friends somewhere to drink. Our mission is always to be a queer space with the best music imaginable. We are incredibly lucky to have such a loyal following so we try to return the favour by booking the best DJs from around the world, not to mention offering great food and drink.
What excites you about the music scene in London at the moment and what do you have up your sleeve for Stop Making Sense? It seems to be an exciting time for house music at the moment, there are just so many amazing records getting released from all over the world; it’s never been better as a DJ to be able to play brand new 12″s alongside the vintage jams that inspired them. Labels like Rawax, Novel Sounds, Workshop, Clone Jack For Daze, FIXHE and Rush Hour, are continually moving things forward with a respectful nod to the past. Locally, the fact that a brilliant record shop – Kristina Records – has just celebrated its first birthday and is enjoying roaring trade, is definitely a good musical sign. As for SMS I’m looking forward to playing sunshine music on the beach with the crew – you can probably expect a load of new and old house pumpers plus the inevitable disco screamers from me.
Does the Superstore have any exciting summer plans? We collaborated on a couple of areas with our friends at Lovebox a few weeks back which was a blast, and obviously we have SMS to look forward to, which is going to be incredible. This is our second year at the festival and the line-up and locations are both stunning. There are a few superstore-related developments in the year ahead but you’ll have to watch this space for more…
What is the artist or track you cannot stop playing at the moment? My current obsession is Italo Johnson number 5 – a brilliant vinyl-only project out of Berlin full of raw analogue house thump.
Can you imagine ever leaving Dalston? Yes! Dalston is endlessly inspiring but there is plenty going on elsewhere. I would happily move to New York, Berlin or wherever life took me.
Finally, tell us about the mix you’ve created for i-D online and how it best sums up what you are all about? I recorded this mix on vinyl in the dark basement at Superstore but was thinking of Croatian sunshine the whole time. It’s an SMS warm-up, so with that in mind I included lots of disco and synthed-out chuggers for optimum beach dancing. Lately I’ve made loads of banging house mixes so I thought it might be nice to do something different – I’ve thrown down a few Disco Bloodbath classics for good measure.
Fire by Terry Farley and Dan Beaumont is out soon in Batty Bass Records. Rhythm Connection is fortnightly on NTS Live.
Text: Laura Hinson
Photography: Mari Sarai
