1997
January 1997. Brrrrrr. Baby, it’s cold outside, and the London club scene is becoming hypothermic. Shivering under a shiny foil blanket it snivels uselessly into a well worn retro silk handkerchief. ‘I’m booored! There’s nowhere to goooo! And I’m so coooold!’.
January 1997 (only a bit later), and Trash is born kicking and screaming at Plastic People, a tiny subterranean nightspot on Oxford Street. ‘Now this is more like it’, say the clued up Tin Soldiers and Young Ones who had been freezing their bits off in the Britpop winter of discontent. Blood returns to their cheeks, and their feet start twitching. They turn to each other with fey, nonchalant glances and nod in acquiescence – it might be a bit parky outside, but, Baby, it’s cool inside.

Formed after Ade (who had a penchant for playing afro funk records) asks Erol Alkan to start running a Monday night club, and with an emphasis on putting the fun and glamour back into London clubbing, Trash (clearly a better choice of name than initial projected moniker ‘Hard As Nails’) sees Erol and James (who had been playing to packed houses in clubs like Club X) opting for a musical mix based around the new but still relatively unknown “new grave” scene and classics from Stax, Atlantic Records and Tamla Motown. Initial set lists see bands like Suede, Manic Street Preachers, Strangelove and Radiohead fighting for attention alongside Sam and Dave, The Supremes and Wilson Pickett. In short, it’s a home for the Odd and the Mod.

Early nights at Trash were not without incident, and cutting your teeth in public is sometimes a very painful experience, so let’s not talk too much about the chaos and (dis)organization of the first few. Let’s just say the DIY ethic was the rule of thumb, and any (ie, a complete) lack of knowledge in designing and printing flyers was swiftly overcome with the aid of Erol’s ex girlfriend’s word processor, the local newsagent’s photocopier and sheer bloody determination to just get it done. Even so, the second ever flyer still turned out God awful, looking like a glossy invitation to a very, very bad Dutch rave – techno, techno, techNO. Whoops.

And let’s not dwell too long on the fact that the first night heralded a great return of 60 people in a 180 capacity club, or that Ade forgot the keys to the club one night and our fearless club promoter had to jimmy the joint open,  or that one of our champion Djs dropped a beer bottle on the decks mid set (and oh yes, mid record) leaving them with no choice but to shamefacedly borrow one from the venue next door. Nor will mention be made that the CD players regularly gave up the ghost due to the stifling heat in the venue, often leaving puzzled early Trash attendees dancing to the sound of silence whilst Erol and James  played whole sets using one machine. Still, it’s nice to see panic in a DJ’s eyes, particularly when they’re often expected to run over to the bar and serve you the drinks as well.

Oh halcyon and chaotic days.

Despite early efforts to the contrary (like Shoegazing), things started looking up and 60 became 80, 80 became 100 and, well, you get the picture. The flyers (with Ade’s help initially) began to really take shape. Erol spent literally days learning to design and each one becomes his own baby – late nights not Djing become late nights in front of a computer - and the early psychedelic, trippy ones give way to shameless rip offs of the ‘Everything Must Go’ (Manics) and ‘Trash’ (Suede) record covers.

Trash quickly becomes known as one of the new places to go, and our heroes throw themselves into Djing, promoting, serving beer and just generally having the most fun in London. Some nights Erol stands outside (sometimes an hour after they were meant to have opened) waiting for Ade to turn up and let everyone in, watching the line grow and grow and grow.

Early converts to the club include a very puzzled John Squire, infamous indie fopsters Jack, arch legend Dickon Edwards (of Romo pioneers Orlando), Kenickie and the Verve’s ex manager (who personally brings down the first pressing of some tune called ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, telling the boys “you’re the only club who has this. It’s going to be massive, man”).

Subsequent flyers see more …ahem… “borrowed” art from the likes of The Stone Roses, Super Furry Animals, Blur, The Verve and The Sex Pistols and the club begins to gain notoriety, convincing Erol he might just be onto something - especially when London’s Evening Standard gives Trash its first of many glowing press reviews,  as well as the boys first interview quoting Erol (though it was really Ade) with the immortal line “We’d like to think of our baby as being the Viagra of current club nights - uplifting with hours of guaranteed pleasure”.

"Hip rather than trendy, stylish rather than fashionable, friendly rather than intimidating, human rather than heartless. Trash remains a valuable a source of instant joy for Londoners. I was there from the start, and I still go." - Dickon Edwards

Club faves for 1997:

‘Trash’ – Suede
‘Devil’s Haircut’ – Beck
‘Hey Bulldog’ – The Beatles     
'Carnival' - The Cardigans
'Thinking Single' - The Counts
'Still Ill' - The Smiths
'She's A Rainbow' - The Rolling Stones
'Tin Soldier' - Small Faces


1998
After a year of hard work, Mondays are getting busier and busier. Trash is now regularly packed to the gills each week with audiences who have come to hear Erol and James actually mixing records. ‘Blimey’, they said, ‘you don’t get this in Camden’. Indeed, it was a novel idea when most other indie clubs were rigidly adhering to the time honoured ‘play a record then play another one’ school of DJing, and rendered even more exciting by the fact that they clearly didn’t give two hoots for keeping the sets genre specific. Hence, DJ Shadow head-butted the Dandy Warhols and 150+ kids went ‘Woooaarrgh! That shouldn’t happen!’, but it did, and they loved it anyway.

The club starts to gain its own identity proper, and soon the queues begin snaking down Oxford Street. The regulars really start to let them selves be known, feeling as much a part of the club as the promoters, and feeling as many parts of each other as possible. Lots of friendly, creative and charismatic people start coming out of the woodwork and the club starts to get really exciting. Every fire regulation is broken but people don’t care - they’re there for songs, snogs and insobriety.  

One Monday, Erol lets in a group of poncho wearing Italians who seem to enjoy themselves on the debut visit, in a curious way. Then they come back, and pretty soon they’re there every week, slowly but surely all turning from bemused language students into David Bowie looky likeys.  Another group of 7 boys came in who bore such a resemblance to the infamous Scotland supporting, mullet sporting, model consorting Mr. Stewart that they become known as “The Rods”. One “Rod” in particular (a 16 year called Phil) impresses many with his almost supernatural ability on the dance floor – mainly as his routines involve more than just jumping and elbows, which is pretty much where everyone else was at, booty shakin’ wise.

Another of the early regulars, Adrian, from Bristol, starts to introduce Erol to his favourite mod records and suddenly songs from the likes of The Prisoners, The Creation, The Sonics and assorted other freakbeaters become set staples. James unearths more and more forgotten soul gems and plays sets infused with more big beat and funk tunes. 

People begin to really notice the difference in Erol and James’ sets, yet seem to warm to both. There are lovely people there and some truly unforgettable faces; the atmosphere in the club is electric – everyone started to look like they were in their own film and there were gorgeous women everywhere, some serious drink intake and a genuinely hedonistic mood – meaning that memories of these times are few and far between for Erol and James, although James can remember once picking someone up by the ear.

Press attention was slight at this time, as most journalists claimed that rock music was dead and dance music was the way forward (as they are wont to do from time to time), foolishly overlooking what was really happening at Trash, where both rock and dance music were alive and well, kicking each other in the shins and occaisionally nipping off to the bogs for a frenchie.

New flyers are designed, but in a mistake straight out of Spinal Tap, the measurements are given to the printers in metric rather than imperial (centimeters rather than inches) so they are a tad on the small size to say the least, although unlike Spinal Tap no dwarves are hired to dance round a stack of said leaflets and further belittle them. Anyway, as it turns out, most of the women love these new designs, and they are hailed as mini masterpieces.

1998’s flyers increasingly echo the identity of the club and the theme of lifting and reusing well known images and covers – this time from the likes of St Etienne, Al Green and The Stone Roses - becomes well established.

"I remember heading down to T*R*A*S*H for the first time back in 1997, at Plastic People right by Tottenham Court Road tube. I was attracted by the fantastic list of names on the funky little bookmark-shaped flyers that started cropping up around central London, always with some iconic picture on the other side, such as a topless Iggy clasping his mic stand, or the chic limo from the Song 2 sleeve.It was a small little club, but I always loved the atmosphere there, and you could really let yourself go crazy on the dancefloor, in full view of the DJs, and whenever you looked across they were always going for it just as much as you were.

Erol especially was always happy to play any requests and I remember one time going over to ask him to play some Strangelove and Manics for me. Unfortunately, I was a bit the worse for wear by this point in the evening and as I leaned over to make myself heard over the music (the Nirvana cover of "The Man Who Sold The World") I overbalanced hopelessly and managed to crash forward into the decks and snap off part of the CD tray (which was of course open), while simultaneously plunging the entire club into complete silence, cutting Kurt off in mid-primal scream.

Fair play to Erol, though. After politely telling me to sod off as he desperately tried to get another tune on and I desperately tried to apologise, he still played "...Human Machines" and "Die in the Summertime" side by side, not half an hour later. As always, I danced my drunken little heart out. T*R*A*S*H is a special club and I hope I'll still be let in, even when I end up the wrong side of 30 (not far away now). Stay beautiful" - Lee Worth


Big movers in 1998:

‘Intergalactic’ – Beastie Boys
'Doin' Our Thang' - Eddie Bo
‘Love Fool’ – The Cardigans
'Whenever I'm Gone' - The Prisoners
'Archives Of Pain' Manic Street Preachers
'Living With The Human Machines' Strangelove
'The Hard One' The Beta Band


1999
Lemme tell ya somethin'
If U didn't come 2 party
Don't bother knockin' on my door
I got a lion in my pocket
And baby he's ready 2 roar – Prince ‘1999’


The purple funk midget may as well have been standing at the door of Trash yelling these words at the prospective clientele, for this year the club began to swell with people who didn’t just want to party hard – they wanted to party harder. The attendance officially rocketed past ‘unruly mob’ status and became a bona fide ‘crowd’; lions leapt out of many a pocket and roared shamelessly, shaking their fashionably  coiffured manes at each other.  
On another planet - having decided that rock music was not dead, and had in fact only been sleeping - journalists began to give Trash more press, whereupon they discovered that rock had not just been sleeping, but also sleeping around, soliciting naughty favours from any passing young genre, and turning previously mannered and bright eyed London teens into gibbering, rythmn infected art bastards. Yup, the regulars really took Trash to their hearts and partied like it was 1999 – mainly because it was.


A fun time is being had by all, the club feels special, and there are often 200 or more people outside the 180 capacity venue, waiting (and hoping) to get in, even before the doors are open . Luckily, the cool security keep everyone entertained while they wait (often for hours) to get down the stairs. Entry is only £4 yet it seems like half of the club is being allowed in on London’s biggest club guest list, as everyone feels like a best friend, which they more often than not are.

Disaster is around the corner however when, after just having printed 30,000 flyers ( featuring David Bowie and The Beach Boys), Erol finds out that Plastic People is to close its doors for the last time in March. :

“I still believe it was one of the best London clubs ever. It felt like the end of an era. There was no way around it, the owners wanted to turn it into a store room. So with only a few weeks to go, we had to find a new venue, print new flyers and organise the final couple of parties”

March 22, 1999 is the final, and very emotional, Trash at Plastic People. 400 people turn up and it proves to be one of the most chaotic parties Erol has ever been involved in – people hanging off the decks, the ceilings, the floor, walls, bar, each other, literally everywhere. The place goes nuts, carnage ensues, law suits threaten to follow. Hell, if the club was going to be closed down, it was going to be closed down in style. And Hell, if it was going to be closed down in style, it would be closed down Trash style.

Erol and James capture the spirit of the occaision perfectly with the last two songs of the night – Leo Sayer’s “The Show Must Go On” and ‘Dancing Queen’ by Abba (the latter the last song ever played at Plastic People). Erol goes home and is so full of adrenaline that he aimlessly walks from his house in Archway all the way to Angel at 5 a.m, wondering what the future holds in store for Trash.

Finding a new venue for Trash proves difficult at first as Erol struggles to find a suitable space that has been well maintained and cared for. This is a bit of a mission, particularly as it has to be in the West End of London and it has to be on a Monday. The places they see just do not feel right. He know in his hearts that Trash has outgrown Plastic People and that maybe it had been a blessing that it closed down as it would lead to something better, but he just cannot find a venue.

The Velvet Rooms is crossed off the list, as is an upstairs space above an all night takeaway shop run by a Japanese man bearing a striking resemblance to Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid.

The best option finally comes from Adrian “the security guy” who suggested a new club opening in Dean Street, The Annex. Luckily, Chris, the owner, is aware of Trash and offers them a night. Trash has a new venue and a new beginning.

The Annex is a very peculiar venue, supposedly half chill out area, half dance floor in an opaque green hue, with a smattering of grey and brown Chesterfield couches. It had two bars (which would be a great hit with the initially insatiably thirsty and later completely inebriated Trash crowd), felt right and was in the perfect location. However, much work needed to be done to create the right vibe, maaan – after all, a house is not a home, as they say.

To this end, Erol decided to concentrate on the visual elements of Trash (he now had at his mercy a huge, lighting rig and video projection system) and started compiling films, band footage and music videos to be projected during the night. Even more importantly Erol changed all the green lighting to red - “green lighting makes people look ugly when they stand underneath it” he said from beneath a green light.

March 29, 1999, Erol is standing under a red light, looking a lot more attractive as a result, and the first Trash at the Annex is a resounding success. The place is packed with well wishers and a great crowd with just about everyone agreeing that, with a bit of luck and a lot of elbow grease, the transition had been a very smooth one. Erol shouts into the microphone “what do you think of our new home ?” and the response is deafeningly positive.

With a change of location, comes a slight change in musical direction – Erol starts playing Glam Rock (Bowie, Bolan, The Sweet) and 80’s new wave (Blondie, Television, Devo) whilst still championing new British guitar and more leftfield dance acts and the club starts putting on launch nights for new music and film releases, including a notably mad night for Jeepster Records to celebrate the re-release of Belle and Sebastian’s there-to-fore elusive ‘Tiger Milk’ album.

Word of mouth spreads and lots more student types start to come down. The nights are a complete mix of excitement, joy and vomit and we witness the first stirrings of the infamous ‘shagging in the toilets’ trend, a popular pass-time that meant, as Erol remembers, “you couldn’t even get anywhere near the cubicles”. And whilst Trash isn’t about elitism, so many people show up (some without realising what the queue is for !) that they need to draft in someone known to everyone to manage the door to make sure the long standing Trash comers can actually get in. Step forward Phil the “Rod” and his winning way with words and dismissive eyeballing.

Trash still had its characters. A special mention goes out to Lady Di (not that one) who used to come week in, week out and make everyone’s life a misery, and Blake - who became a well known gay icon, even though he’s straight (the red Stetson and tight pants might have had something to do with giving some people other ideas).

The only notable “famous” attendee of 1999 is Lemmy, who came down to show off his not-gay black Stetson, and hang around being Lemmy .

The final Trash of the 90’s is the “Fuck The Millennium” party where anyone but the actual Djs can have a go at spinning a disc or two. This pursuit is greatly assisted and fueled for the large part by the masses of free tequila being passed around on the night. Suddenly everyone is a DJ and chaos ensues…


Not much press again from a newly dance infatuated media, but the new Trash flyer reflects its spirit with a photo of Iggy Pop in his pomp circa the ‘Raw Power’ album, a statement of real intent for the club and its new home and direction.

"Well let's just say that from my last visit to London I came home with stories and most of them revolved around TRASH!!  I am from Vancouver Canada and man we've got nothin like that here!  The atmosphere is just electric...the people, the music...basically the sights, sounds and smells are what makes the night.  The music is infectious so dancing is impulsive...even if you don't want to dance your body starts instinctively moving and before you know it it is leading you in the direction of that beer bottle littered dance floor!  Put simply...TRASH is a night that you only thought existed in your dreams!!" - Mick Siemens

Club favourites:

‘No Scrubs’ – TLC
‘Rebel Rebel’ – David Bowie (US remix)
‘Raw Power” - Iggy & The Stooges
'Think' - Lyn Collins
'Da Da Da' - Trio
'12XU' - Wire
'Liar' - Royal Trux



2000
Having fucked the millennium good and proper, 2000 begins as 1999 had ended, the club is packed with people having a great time and the good word spreads like wildfire. The girls look amazing and the guys look threatening, but in a really great way.

Musically, anything goes and everything Erol and James play, no matter how disparate, is dance floor gold. “People just danced, it was so easy” said Erol, who
around this time starts experimenting with fusing records together in the club, most notably with his jungle mix of “Tender” by Blur and in his cut up of Britney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and Primal Scream’s “Loaded”. A style which was beginning to gain momentum, and goes on to clog up a million and one download sites.

In addition Trash opens its door to guest DJ appearances – amongst others, a really adventurous set from Suede’s then new-boy Neil Coddling, who was playing everything from Freddy Hubbard to Kraftwerk and Jimi Hendrix “still one of the most surprising sets”; Pete Voss (Campag Velocet) played a massively varied set that ranged from Motorhead to Whitney Houston and went down a storm, perfectly encapsulating the Trash ethos: Soulwax tear the roof off with a set that includes ‘Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor, ‘I Wish’ by Skee-lo and ‘Cannonball’ by The Breeders all cut together into what became a Trash classic.

Erol believes “that was a real turning point in the perception of the music. It took everyone by surprise and got us really excited. From that point on everything felt great”

The flyers feature Madonna (who encapsulated the new love of embracing pop music) and Johnny Rotten (who summed up the whole Trash aesthetic). With the world having failed to end on New Years Eve due to Millenium Buggery, journalists find themselves without anything to write about, and so go back to wondering if rock music is dead or not. It still isn’t, so they properly start taking notice of Trash:

The Big Issue write a glowing piece, Time Out use Trash as an example to highlight the growing importance of mid week specialist clubs over the more mainstream and boring and increasingly less populated weekend ones and compares Trash to the legendary 80’s dress up Leicester Square club, the Kit Kat and the seminal Smashing.

Glossy style mags The Face and Sleazenation are also favourable, citing Trash’s importance in a fast changing club and fashion scene.

With everything going so brilliantly it’s only going to be a matter of time until something was bound to go wrong…the day after Erol has 60,000 new flyers delivered to his flat he finds out that the Annex is to close.  Deja Bloody Vu! Trash has a month to move again.

The final night at the Annex is yet another strange and heady mix - being equal parts painful and absolutely uplifting. Erol ends up with a huge burn mark on his arm, following a lamp dance with Phil (don’t ask), and ends up on the floor trying to dance and  DJ at the same time. Yet again the finale is ‘Dancing Queen’ by Abba.

Erol becomes unsure if he can continue the spirit exemplified by the nights at Plastic People and the Annex and gives serious thought to putting Trash to bed and moving on. Unconvinced that he could ever find another venue in the West End that would suit, James and he have many serious conversations about the future of Trash. He doesn’t want to continue if it’s just for vanity’s sake, he wants to find a new venue that will make Trash even better still.

“We had built up something really special over the years and I didn’t want it just to limp along, to be a facsimile of its old self. It had to be special or I was just not going to do it at all”

After much soul searching he decided to give it a try. Whilst they are now being offered some fairly serious financial deals to take Trash out of the West End, he decides to dig his heels in and approaches a club he regularly attends himself, The End (which as any hippy will tell you, is just another beginning).

“I made a very nervous call to the general manager, Liam, to explain our situation and why we felt that The End was the only club we could bring Trash to. Thankfully he knew about Trash and was keen to have us on board. It was because Liam was aware of what the club was that they were able to adapt all the elements of the club to what Trash needed. They allowed us to set reasonable entry prices and really helped us a great deal to set up the night”

“Just because it was an indie club it didn’t mean that it shouldn’t deserve the best. If Trash worked at The End, we had a real chance of putting together something really special and unique”

Taking over the Monday night slot, Erol makes the best of the two rooms by inviting Rory to join them in the second room to play interesting and obscure music unburdened by the need to have people dance. “People could hear great music in one room and then move on to the main room and dance their hearts out if they so wished”. Which they did and do.  

For the first time in Trash’s history the host DJ line up changes – Rory plays for the first two hours in the lounge, James plays in the main room, Erol plays, followed by James again and then Erol finishes the night.

Phil becomes a fixture on the door to oversee the dress code, an important factor in why the club had done so well in the past, and Rory's room becomes a resounding success.
James' sets develop into a fusion of hip hop and US indie. The only permanent fixture in the dj booth is an armless and bald but busty mannequin, now lost, but which really should have never been there in the first place and whose presence hasn’t been explained to this day.

The first night is, unsurprisingly, a huge success chez The End with 600 new devotees turning up.

“It felt different, really exciting again but as if we had to raise our game tenfold. From that point a felt a responsibility. It was no longer a case of turn up and get drunk. It felt like we had a voice”.

The second night is even better, the return of Soulwax djing again. Many celebrities started to turn up, mainly consisting of famous good looking boys, including Jude Law and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Other Dj guests in 2000 include Jacques lu Cont, Ladytron, and an amazing set by Justine Frischman playing the Christmas party. From what Erol can remember it was great fun and finished the year perfectly. 

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth (out of respect for what Rory was doing) and Peter Hook of New Order (as Erol is playing 'Blue Monday' almost every Monday night) appear on the flyers, which were fast becoming a collectable alternative to wallpaper in many of Londons squats, digs, flats halls and boho bolt holes.

"Ok. viva" - Rafael Ricardo Baron Hernandez


Club faves:
‘Bugga Boo’ – Destiny’s Child
‘Music’ – Madonna
‘Bon Chin Bon Genre’ – Campag Velocet
‘The Greatest Hit’ – Annie
‘Kick Out The Jams’ – MC5
‘Rock The Kasbah (K Rock Mix) - The Clash
'Wish Eye Was A Tiger' - Soulwax



2001
The Space Oddity continued, as monkey Trash threw it’s bone into the air and watched it turn into a fully evolved shiny disco rocket. Trash's fourth birthday kicked off in style with another new development, the first ever live appearance from Zoot Woman after frontman Jacques Lu Cont, aka Stuart Price, had loved djing the club the previous year.

Everyone is nervous as they had never thought of putting on bands before and aren’t sure that it will work. The band, though, more than prove otherwise and go down a storm, convincing the guys that they could invite new bands they were getting into to come and to play live or DJ at the club. Despite the extra cost and hassle involved the guys are bitten by the bug and it seems to be one of the final missing pieces of the jigsaw.

Ikara Colt, who were friends, and whose songs are being played in the club, are next to play, followed by Peaches (whose records had been getting under everyone's skin on the dance floor and a natural choice to play) which proved to be phenomenal, yet also an absolute disaster. 

Erol admits to putting her on far too late in the evening, resulting in 700 people trying to get into a room that only fits 250. She rocks though, and cements her reputation in London right then and there leaving Erol a tad embarrassed but knowing that Trash has taken a big leap forward.

Guests throughout the year include an amazing Stereo Total set and one of Erol's personal favourites, Gonzales, makes his debut there - the only artist that has been invited and played the club three times now (a ‘Chilly G trilogy’, as the man himself put it).

The notoriety continues, as do the randy toilet shenanigans, which eventually make their way onto the dance floors of both rooms, before going up the side of the speaker stacks and down the back of the sofas as well – mmm, sticky. The Trash Radio show is created (and now reaches out to over 10 000 listeners worldwide via the World Wide Web) and the club starts being seen as the London base for the best new electronic music, and the spiritual home of a new fangled fusion of styles named bastard pop, although they personally refuse to take any credit for any of this music.  

They notice that by playing less rock, mainstream pop and indie music (though they love the Strokes, believing them to be one of the most exciting guitar bands to come out at the time) and focusing more on US, European and British electronic music and bastard pop records they alienate some of their older crowd at first, but gradually the less adventurous come around and the club even attracts more fans from other clubs who would not have dreamt of attending Trash before.

Although Erol admits they came under a lot of criticism for changing the music so quickly (“as overnight it seemed like it was out with the Britney Spears and AC/DC music and in with the Felix Da Housecat”) he knew that this is where his attention was being drawn.

Erol :

“All of a sudden it felt like there had been this whole new element of music that came to mind and it felt so exciting. A lot of people just couldn't get their heads around it. The club literally changed overnight and for the better. The year culminated in Felix da Housecat being a guest dj and by us playing Adult., ESG, and  A Certain Ratio, for example. Big songs included 'Silver screen shower scene' by Felix, every song by the Strokes, 'Bohemian like you' by the Dandy Warhols and the 'Dreadlock Holiday' bootleg by Soulwax . In a sense we began to discover ourselves and different music that really excited us. Our basic approach becomes just about playing the most exciting music that we can find, mostly electronic music and quirky records that would mix well together.”

In the lounge, Rory is picking up on loads of brilliant bands which were increasingly being played in the main room. This almost completely switched the identity of the club from the months before. Gone was the pop element. 

“All of a sudden there were great new bands and the retro music we were playing embodied all of this. Around the same time we began pursuing the more electronic side of music, noticing that there was a lot of exciting electronic music in Europe and the States. The most notable act which exemplified this new movement was Felix da House cat's album, which I was fortunate enough to get a few months in advance. 'Silver screen shower scene', had crept up and turned into a Trash anthem”.

The press starts to really begin to roll in. Attitude magazine run a brilliant piece, as do Class magazine, Seven Magazine and the Independent on Sunday. Sleazenation and the Face make the DJs a constant fixture in 2001, and Trash is voted the UK club of the year by the Face. But it is favourable press in Jockey Slut, who start covering Trash that is a major turning point, as the serious dance press start taking an interest in what they are doing.

Whilst there is a flyer consisting of a very cool picture of Mick Jagger around this point, they decide to stop making fliers and stop publicizing the club completely. 
The club is thriving every monday, with 700 people showing up on a good night and 700 on a bad night. 

Trash is a success, and has branched out into a new club, the radio and live gigs. It also helped that suddenly there were a whole bunch of thrilling new records to play.  
It feels like the first fruit of all the effort put into the club's rebirth, and a triumphant end of the year. 

"Stepping into the airy smoky room at the height of electroclash, my first experience of Trash dropped my proverbial jaw to the floor. I have so many fond memories..... drinking too many shots, gettng yelled at by the toilet attendant every single week, Rory always looking slightly bemused by our dancing in the bar, trying to stop puking because goddam! Erols playing your favourite song and you race out to the dancefloor giving your face a quick check in the mirror to wipe away the excess puke, debate music with total strangers, argue and then make up about how much you love their shoes and then, just before three, dance to the smiths and grudgingly go home....." - Jack Luvian

Club faves:

‘Silver Screen Shower Scene’ – Felix da Housecat
'Last Night' - The Strokes
‘Bohemian Like You’ – Dandy Warhols
‘Dreadlock Holiday’ - Soulwax
' Hand To Phone' - Adult
''Emerge' - Fisherspooner
'Missy Queen Gonna Die' - Tok Tok
'Danger! High Voltage' - The Wildbunch


2002
After taking the decision to stop producing flyers and advertising, Erol and co. decide to let word of mouth and the internet do the talking for them. 

They had been collecting email addresses since the Annex and use this mailing list to contact everyone about upcoming djs, live acts etc. Even after they make a conscious decision to stop talking to the press and doing interviews, interest still sky rockets. The press wouldn't stop writing about Trash anyway. The week to week promotions stopped but they are busier and getting more attention than ever before.


Erol :

“Electroclash was in full swing. Everyone was dressed impeccably. The whole night just flowed very naturally. It didn't seem like a club anymore, instead a party that everyone turned up to !”

Trash release a companion album which comprises a collection of live highlights and some songs Erol, James and Rory like. 

The album is viewed as commercial suicide, but is meant to be a companion piece for those already coming to the club not a source of making money or attracting more people to the club. 

Soulwax pop in and play out again to rapturous reception. Trevor Jackson and James Murphy are guest djs. Bands that played included: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gold Chains, The Rapture, Suicide, Scissor Sisters, Electric 6 and LCD Soundsystem. Rory's contribution to the club becomes greater than ever, with his sets garnering a reputation as some kind of 5-month-in-advance taste barometer.

Erol: “It felt it had so much of a purpose as well. This was the first year of the legendary mailing list party, which was a free party thrown for our mailing lists and regulars. We hosted the night in the lounge, mixed in with homemade ridiculous giant punches, which resulted in everyone getting completely pissed, making it the best trash of the year. Phil had become a legend in his own right on the door and in the dj booth. 2002 personally ranks amongst one of the most exciting times in my life.”

"First night I ever went to Trash - 1am, jumping around like a nutter to Peaches and The Rapture, flashing lights ago-go, hair all over the shop. Got accosted by some random drunk bloke who liked my pink fishnets. We're getting married next January... I blame you lot" - Diana Best

Fave tracks:

'Bang' - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
'House Of Jealous Lovers' - The Rapture
'Losing My Edge' - LCD Soundsystem



2003
2003 just seems to be 2002 under a different name. The club goes from strength to extra-strength and there are live performances from the likes of Mocky, Numbers, Zongamin (who are still responsible for one of the greatest ever live shows at Trash), Erase Errata, Adult., Mu, Relaxed Muscle and Patrick Wolf (who was incredible at the Christmas party). 

Guest DJ sets come from Tiga, Richard X, James de la Cruz (of the Avalanches); as well as lesser known but equally entertaining names who fill in for Rory (while he has a stint in New York), like Melanie Houston, Strange Fruit and Wheels instead of Hooves.

They continue with their policy of no promotion other than good will and word of mouth and their own via email and the internet. But try as they might, you can hardly pick up a magazine without reading about Trash. This makes the three of them feel uncomfortable. They feel that the club exists in its own right, rather than being media hype and vow to do even less to create anything that might be construed as hype.

One of the more noted, and surprising, attendees is Grace Jones, who turned up unannounced and made everyone go ‘bloody hell it’s Grace Jones’,  and the club rocks out with the addition of a new resident dj, Mavs, a regular who gave Erol his mix mini disc to see what his thoughts were. 

After listening to it, Erol realises that Mavs is doing something brand new and very interesting. He calls him up on the spot and asks Mavs to join the happy crew, something the delighted Mavs had never considered he would be asked to do. 

James now moves over to DJ in the lounge after Rory (and is thereby given free range to play whatever he wishes) and Mavs plays in the main room before Erol, providing an excellent curve from ‘it’s early – sit back and relax!’ style lounge and soul into ‘Ok, it’s gone midnight, let’s see you off your arses and jumping like nutters!’ club tunes. 

Mavs quickly starts to carve out his own identity at the club and brings in something as new and as exciting as Rory had first brought to the club. Within a few weeks he has added a whole new dimension to the club, which he has since continued to do so.

The four of them (Erol, James, Rory and Mavs, keep up) now have a new and unified purpose (making it through til 3am) and finish the year with great anticipation for 2004.

"I've only ever been to Trash once but seeing so may people dancing to 'Isolation' will fill me with joy for the rest of my life!" - Steven Belfridge

Club faves:

'The Controller (Thin White Duke Mix)' - The Faint
'Burning Down' - Tiga
'Make It Happen (Zongamin Mix)' - Playgroup
'It's No Game (Part 1)' - David Bowie



2004
The year kicks off with the riotous 7th birthday party and proceeds with great live shows from Selfish Cunt, Ulrich Schnauss, The Duke Spirit, Mylo, Campag Velocet, Phoenix, Bloc Party, Riton, Whitey, Death From Above 1979 and Les Georges Leningrad (who performed the most insane live show Trash has ever witnessed).

Guest dj sets came from the Glimmer Twins and 2manydjs a.k.a. Soulwax (who return to Trash after taking over the world with their 'As heard on radio soulwax' album).  

A special shout goes to Gonzales who performs a 45 minute piano show in front of 400 people sitting down and observing his captivating live show in complete silence. Erol believes that ranks as one of the best 3 nights ever in the history of Trash.
The end of the year saw a freaky festive knees up, and was followed by a fine display of charridee as Trash hosted a fundraiser for Cancer causes – played by Paul Epworth a.k.a Phones, Pete Voss, Jagz Kooner. Riton, The Duke Spirit and A Matter Of Civilisation as well as Erol, Mavs, James and Rory – which raised a stunning £4000.
For the really hardcore, the Mailing List party came along a couple of days later and whaddayaknow? – everyone got really pissed on homemade punch. Again.

Due to the sheer number of live shows they are putting on, they decide to make the legendary flyers again, this time taking in luminaries such as Brian Eno, Bob Dylan, Nico and Paul McCartney, which can be arranged so as to make it appear as if there is a big A-list Rocker argument going on, with Macca and Eno looking really huffy whilst Dylan despairs.

'NY Excuse' - Soulwax
'Giddy Stratospheres' - The Long Blondes
'Darts Of Pleasure' - Franz Ferdinand
'Troubled Mind' - Buff Medways
'Crawdaddy Simone' - The Syndicats
'Save My Soul' - Wimple Winch
'Banquet' - Bloc Party
'Rocker (Erol Alkan's Deaf Disco Re-Edit)



2005

To kick off the new year we saw top notch live entertainment from Bib, who did their grumpy Pet Shop Boys thing for us, gigs from The Kills and The Blood Arm, and a massively attended (no, really, where did you all come from?) Valentine’s day DJ Set from James Murphy. Then there was the utterly insane impromptu gig from Coachwhips - who just arrived and then played for ages at the back off the lounge, ending their garage rock marathon by initiating a massive playground style 'bundle' of audience and band - into which Rory was spotted doing a WWF style elbow drop. The excellent Cazals, fronted by long-standing Trash regulars Phil and Dan, ripped the roof off, Matt and Russell from Bloc Party returned as Kings Of Boyz to DJ the main room, Tom Vek and Who Made Who shared a bill and sent everyone away smiling, whilst a dj set from Zilla and gigs from White Rose Movement, The Long Blondes, and the return to trash of the mighty Les Georges Leningrad for a double-header with Clor saw us surreally through the first half of the year. 

We were also joined this year by The Lovely JonJo, who started DJing in the main room, playing his own inimitable blend of pop, punk and pleasure, and Deaf Matt, who turned his charms upon the queue outside for that extra special trash welcome! Also, at some point someone pointed out that for a good few months now Rory had started sneakily - brace yourselves - mixing records together at the same speed. Like a proper DJ. Oh. My. God. Whatever next? 

One other advancement made by the club in 2005 was that trashclub.co.uk, this very website, was finally revamped after years of promising, from a message board with news items into the animal prowling your browser right now! Properly hooked up to the 21st century, we could now expose whole different sides to the club's personality with videos of live guests, interviews, podcasts and an archive of all the Internet radio shows, and quickly had to get a load more bandwidth to cope with the amount of people who wanted a look-see and a listen-hear to all of our trash goings on.

Big tunes at the club this year included 'Giddy Stratospheres' - The Long Blondes, Do You Want To? (Erol Alkan's Glam Racket) - Franz Ferdinand, 'Kidnapped By Neptune' - Scout Niblett, 'Don't Give Up' - Noisettes, 'Blood On Our Hands' (Justice Mix) - DFA 1979, 'Poor Innocent Boys' - Cazals, 'Slow Hands' - Interpol, 'On My Feet' - Mystery Jets, 'Fake Tales Of San Francisco' - Arctic Monkeys, 'Krack' (nite version) - Soulwax, 'Oh Marie' - Ladyfuzz, 'Dare' (DFA Mix) - Gorillaz, 'Over And Over' - Hot Chip, 'Banquet' - Bloc Party, 'Bongo Song' - Zongamin and 'Smalltown Girl' - Good Shoes. Loads of others too, but those are the ones we went REALLY bonkers for.........

Summer rolled in with more live action from Ladyfuzz and their kit smashing antics; Cut Copy, Battant and Vincent Vincent and The Villains turned in fine performances and then we were hit with three of the most amazing gigs in a row the club has ever seen: The Mystery Jets had our jaws dropping, Noisettes rocked so hard rivers of sweat ran from everyone in the room, and our old friends Soulwax made their (loud and boiling hot) live debut at the club with a Nite Versions show that basically brought the house down. Panico came all the way from Chile, and then another night to end all nights arrived on Halloween. With a packed club of people decked out as bloody nurses, ghosts, edwardian spectres and assorted urchins, Moonus scared everyone half to death with his bonkers poetry before Zongamin took to our stage for the third time, only this time dressed as mexican zombie skelletons, check out the pictures for proof! Guest DJs Justice rocked the decks, as did Paul Epworth and Tiga, and the year rolled to a close with appearances from Metronomy, a secret last minute gig from Juan Maclean who had EVERYONE dancing, and Hot Chip, who played the Christmas party. 

Inevitably, we also had our fair share of randomness and wha...? moments - foremost among which was our good friend Emiliano losing his trousers whilst hanging off a lighting rig wire dancing to Suede (don't ask), and of course, anything that happened to anyone at the mailing list party, where once again the vat of home-made punch put paid to any sense of objective reality, leaving people free to bug out to the 'eclectic' selection provided by the Trash DJ duos struggling with two play buttons and a crossfader. Tsk, some people never learn....

2006
Well, it's only just got here, but already it's off to a flying start. Unbelievably, Trash celebrated it's 9th birthday on the 2nd Jan this year, and to help us party the night away we were led a merry dance by Paul Epworth, Stephan Dewaele from Soulwax and Nancy Wang from LCD Soundsystem, who all came down to DJ the party. Our first live guests of the year are Comanechi, and we have shows from Numbers, Good Shoes, Simian Mobile Disco and Shychild amongst others on the cards.....

For the last 5 years Trash has ended on the exact same two last songs in sequence. You will always hear 'There is a light that never goes out' by the Smiths at approximately 2:50 am and that will always be followed by 'Rock and roll suicide' by Bowie. You will always hear those last two songs because Erol believes they are the two songs that best reflect club culture, it’s people and places, highs and lows and bring people together. And as long as Trash is around, he can guarantee it will never change. 

The final song is reflective of the week. If it's your birthday he will play your favourite song, how uncool is that? Almost as if it's a totally different club to the tone which had been set by Plastic People and the Annexe. Trash has changed massively in the time it’s been running and continues to be as successful as ever before. A club for the people by the people, to paraphrase a very wise man.

The End has become Trash’s spiritual home and now it seems almost absurd to imagine it anywhere else. Live acts and special secret and not so secret Djs are being booked with increasing regularity.  Here’s hoping that this year at Trash continues to be every bit as compelling, exciting and just plain fun as it has been over the last few..