As we see the dust finally settle over our beloved dance-floor, from the trials to the tribulations our plumb red cherries, battered, bruised and headline news, but after a few weeks away we can safely say we’re BACK to our Best! And what better way to celebrate than with our the capitals BIGGEST Friday night Maximal for a nice slice of all things House, Electro & Techno! Maximalism is all about bringing the hottest underground DJ’s from the Capital coolest cult clubs all under one epic roof for a night in celebration of the all things deep down and dirty! This is a straight up party vibe, no nonsense, and no weird mustachios from Berlin that you’ve never heard of, just the hottest and most innovative forward thinking DJ’s in London right now, one of these being Max Cooper..

A highly technical DJ who works his 3 decks with a mix of tricks, scratches and awesome tunes, Max is heading for Pacha to rock the roof off of Maximalism. A highly established and much resppected career has seen him play alongside some of the biggest DJ's to date including Justice, Digitalism and Slam. His own mix of slamming beats and his massive skill are ever present in his incredible DJ sets and this is surely not one to miss. We caught up with Max ahead of the gig to get the lowdown....

How was 2008 been for you? What do you still have left to fit into the year?

It’s been a big year for me actually. I’ve been putting some serious hours into my productions over the last few years and have been releasing a lot of material. This year it’s all fallen into place with signings to some amazing German labels that are as well suited to my style and direction as I could ask for –Traum Schallplatten (aka Trapez & MBF) – Cologne, and Autist – Berlin. Left for the year is working on my music video for my January release on Traum and getting remixes finished for Moonbeam and Extrawelt (check their new album on Cocoon - big)!

What or who first inspired you to start DJing? How do you get your first big break?

It was all about the turntablists, DJ Craze, DJ Noise, Babu and Tony Vegas, they’re the ones that made me want to work every hour of the day on DJing anyway. Now it’s all changed, you gotta be a producer as well these days, which is a shame, because there’s fewer and fewer turntablists and technical DJ’s about. My first break would probably have been getting spotted playing at the legendary Bomb in Nottingham – By Fergie’s manager (Craig) of all people. That opened the door to the Mixmag stuff, Radio 1 gig, management etc – I won’t bore you with it! Much respect to Craig though, who sadly isn’t with us any more.

Your technical style differs to other DJ’s in that you use 3 turntables, allowing more scope for different sounds, if you had to put yourself in one genre though what would it be?

Yeah I like to use as much stuff as I can fit in the booth, just to make me look good ye know. I just stick on my ‘best dance bangers of 1995’ cd and wave my hands in the air. Ideally it’s 5 decks and 2 mixers – 2 turntables and a CDJ in a scratch mixer for scratching and juggling, and 2 CDJs in a normal mixer just for mixing. One genre would probably be techno, which doesn’t really help narrow anything down for you seeing as ‘techno’ means about a million different things to different people! Mine’s the more musical, minimal, not too fast sort of techno. Not too slow or dull either tho….Aaaargh, it’s like trying to describe a reverse park to a woman!.....check the mixes below!

What records, if any, are you still playing now that you had in your first record bag?

Hmmm, good question….Blue Monday by New Order can still make a surprise appearance on special occasions, and Join the Chant by Nitzer Ebb!! – Came across that beauty on the weekend! Afro-left by Leftfield sometime still sneaks in as well, and some old Prodigy classics of course! When I play at Firefly in Nottingham I often play the last slot along with Jeet under the name ‘Thrash Jelly’, we have a bit of a tradition of bringing out some old classic for the last track at 6, Garnier’s ‘man with the red face’ was the last effort!

What records do you get out for afterparties? And what do you listen to when you’re lounging about in your pyjamas?

My favourite after hours material is stuff like Stephan Bodzin and Extrawelt, properly intricate and amazing production that can still smash a dancefloor. But if I’m at home relaxing then it’s down a notch again, still keeping the lush electronic production theme with artists like Craig Armstrong, Nathan Fake, Blamstrain, Ochre, Clark, Boards of Canada etc.

You’ve had the chance to play alongside some amazing DJ’s over the years? Who has really stood out along the way and inspired/impressed you?

Fergie. He’s done an amazing job over the years DJing different styles of music as well as reinventing himself from a Radio 1 act to an established producer in an entirely new scene, that’s not easy to do. And Dave Clarke, who’s always had an amazing DJing style that’s won him so many fans. I respect the people that have obviously put a lot of work in over the years. Phil Kieran too, his productions have paved the way for a lot of others. Take skyhook, how many long pitching up replicas have their been since that!! I would say Skyhook started it’s own long building genre within minimal techno!

You’re playing at the upcoming maximal gig at Pacha, what do you have in store for this?

I’m going to be playing a lot of my own material, I’m getting more and more into this now, it’s more rewarding playing your own stuff I think. I spose I’ll have to do a live show next, but I enjoy mixing and scratching too much, so I won’t hurry into that. Plenty of bangers included!

You’ve played gigs in some really different areas of the club scene, what do you have planned that we might not expect or have heard of?

As well as writing music and DJing, I do research in Genetics. It’s computer programming, making mathematical models of how biological molecules (like DNA) interact to give rise to life. It sounds completely unconnected from music, but it’s not, I’m actually working on a project to connect the music production, and genetic algorithm work. This project will be part art installation, part performance, and hopefully won’t be something you were expecting!

What do you have in store for the next year, where do you see your releases going and where do you want to play?

Next year is all ahead with my first Traum EP on the 5th of January, along with an Ito remix and Kanio remix (two of my favourite producers, their mixes are ace)! I will also be working with the Traum/Trapez/MBF booking agency, so I am looking forward to pushing my sound further in Europe next year. Where do I see my releases going?....Hopefully I’ll knock Westlife off the top slot and get to go on tv and pretend to DJ while my track gets played on some terrible chart show. Of course I’ll have some crap dancers to make it look more like something is actually happening, or maybe people running! I’ll wear my headphones and pretend to cue up a record. Ha. Which reminds me, I was asked to DJ on Blue Peter, do some scratching for them, I was told it would generate a lot of good press for me…..How many 13 year olds listen to minimal techno I asked?....maybe next time.

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