Exclusive interview with one of the main men from We Love hanging up his disco boots
It’s known as the ultimate nightclubbing experience. The world’s number one club with over a decade of Sunday splendor under it’s belt which always features the world’s biggest artists…every single week during the Ibiza crazy summer; the Chemicals spoiling us with birthday madness, Norman Cook always having the time of his life, Tenaglia showing every other DJ how to create a party, Groove Armada dropping ‘Love Is In The Air’ to a sea of a thousand happy faces…Disclosure ensuring the biggest queue of the summer in 2013. This summer however has seen the Broadbent’s announce their retirement from ‘We Love…’a sad day in clubland but now a chance to look back, slap ‘em on their backs’ for their inspirational party making and wish them well in their new exciting venture.
Here, Dan Prince gets the world exclusive with Mark…one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet in the industry…
Mark welcome back to DMCWORLD and with it some gob smacking news that yourself and Sarah are hanging up your promoters boots and calling it a day in club world. Firstly can I say thank you on behalf of the million clubbers you have entertained for over a decade on the island, it must have been a very tough decision to make. When did the thought of leaving We Love…start to form in your minds?
“Thanks for the kind words Dan. We have been thinking about moving on and doing something else for some time as it goes but as with everything that you enjoy doing it’s hard to stop. I’ve been enjoying the job less than I have in the past for a few years now and I also kinda always had it in the back of my mind to finish up in clubs when I turned 45, and that’s next May. The final decision came to both of us last winter whilst on our travels in Burma. We were sat a million miles away from anything familiar in a place that defies description and we should have been having the time of our lives yet we were still thinking about our troubles and problems back home on Ibiza. In all the years we have spent traveling during the winter months after the summer season has finished we had never felt this way, this signaled to us that it was time to move on.”
What was Darren Hughes’s reaction when you first told him your thoughts, did he try and talk you out of it?
“I have been speaking to Darren about our next project for sometime so although he had no idea our leaving was imminent he knew that it was on the cards. We have worked very closely together for close on 18 years so it’s a big step for all of us to be honest and very emotional but credit to Darren he understands me and understands that we have other things we want to do whilst we still have the energy to do them.”
Has this season been especially tough knowing it was going to be your last?
“Not at all. It’s been an especially tough season but it’s had nothing to do with knowing that this will be our last working on a weekly party on Ibiza. In fact knowing that this will be our last summer running the Sunday has been a light at the end of the tunnel to be honest.”
How much of a factor has the sudden commercialization of Ibiza over the last three years been to your decision?
“It’s been a HUGE factor Dan. But not total. I have been unwilling to compromise my programming over this last three or four years and this may have resulted in less customers coming to We Love…than in the past, this could also of course be down to a few other factors including new nights (on a very similar tip to our own party) at the Space venue and the increased competition on the island in general. I have seen now what it is necessary to do to get the kind of numbers into We Love…in order to pay the (huge) bills and it’s not something I’m interested in doing anymore.”
What are you going to miss the most about running the mighty We Love…?
“Programming music over six rooms at the best venue in the world with the best acts it’s possible to find in their field. For starters.”
Ibiza is renowned as a place that often makes an artist. Who are some of the names that you are proud of helping to break over the years?
“There has been a huge amount of talented people pass through our doors this 15 years and to be honest most of the acts that we have booked have or had already broken through in their own scenes which is why they came to my attention in the first place. They may not have been a “name” on the island before but they were doing interesting things at home. There really are far, far too many people to mention that I’m both proud to have invited into the family and watched their popularity grow but if I were to pick out one person that I’m happy to have helped in some small way it would be James Zabiela who has been with us almost from the start playing his strange blend of scratchy beats and pieces. He is an artists that genuinely has his own style and I am yet to hear an imitator even half as good as he is. A very rare thing indeed.”
It is very rare in the music industry to find a husband and wife team who can live, play, love and work together. How do you two make it work, have you found it easy?
“We have been partners for 26 years and have pretty much spent every day of those 26 years together. Sarah went on holiday for a week with her family once when we first started going out but outside of that week yeah, we’ve not spent much time apart. It works, we are best friends as anybody who has spent time with us will testify to. We know each others peccadilloes and what the other wants to get from a situation. Trust, love and understanding make relationships easy and we have this in bundles.”
What would you say are yours and Sarah’s strongest qualities as promoters?
“Sarah has an unbelievable work ethic, she’s unstoppable, she never stops working and if you are like that at anything that you do during your working hours then your going to be very good at it. She is incredibly diplomatic and is able to deal with the kind of people we have to deal with on their terms whilst managing to get what she wants from them in the first place. Sarah genuinely enjoys spending time with people, she loves being the host. She needs to know what’s going on all the time. I call her nosey but it’s something I’m not great at that needs to be done and I am incredibly grateful for this quality in her. I am for the most part the total opposite of Sarah but I know about music. Neither one of us would be able to do this job alone without the other one, we work together as a team complimenting each other. We have in the past few years both at one point or another wanted to throw in the towel but have stayed strong for the other that wanted to keep going “for one more summer” knowing it would be impossible for them to continue alone.”
What is next for We Love…will Darren be bringing new people on board?
“Darren is currently in negotiations with another promotions company on the island and things are looking very promising. Things need to be changed with the We Love…business model and this will be far easier for Darren to do without us as part of the company. A new team in the background complimented with members of the old team front end are what is required for the changing face of Ibiza in my opinion. Part of the old guard that hopefully will be playing a bigger part in the ongoing development of the brand will be my Brother Andy Livesey who has worked for us based on the island the past five years. He has been looking after the tours and on island summer logistics during this time and shows a natural flare for the industry and lifestyle. He is about the same age as we were when we first started doing the job in earnest so he has the necessary energy required to be out five nights a week meeting people, talking and listening to the usual and unusual…”
The question on everybody’s lips, what’s next for the Broadbents? Where to now and will you be keeping any ties to the white isle?
“We are staying on the island and opening a guest house in the old town of Ibiza just outside of the city walls in an area called Sa Penya. This is an area that not too many tourists will have ever visited or even knew existed, the old fishing village of Ibiza more commonly known as the Gypsy Quarter. It’s where we live now and an area we fell in love with a long, long time ago. It really is the last “real” part of Ibiza left relatively undeveloped and we would like to play a part in opening this area up a little with careful development that is respectful of the area and it’s inhabitants.”
Well, an interview with two of the most important people in Ibiza over the past decade wouldn’t be complete without first taking a look back on the journey you took to get here. You hail from Huddersfield, a sleepy northern town that once upon a time had a cracking club and then rave scene. What do you remember about those early years where you earned your disco badges…?
“Purple Om’s, Strawberries and Speed. Great music and friends for life. All the tribes coming together under one banner. Hooligans stopping being hooligans. Away days to Manchester and Leeds that didn’t end up bloody. All the Acid House Cliches. I remember Jamie Fatneck, The Jam MC’s, Mike Pickering, Steve William’s and 808 State, Adamski, Fac51, M&S on acid with Paul Kime. Dancing in Piccadilly Records on a Saturday afternoon thinking I was in a club, getting to a club later that night and not being able to talk for the first time. Sarah meeting us on a Saturday night, we’re all cunted and she’s straight because she’s been working all day. 1/16ths, 1/8ths, 1/4ths and green Rizzlas being better than the orange ones. Afflecks Palace and The Stone Roses. Most of all, I remember it as being the best time in my life and the start of my new life…”
Sensing the clubbing scene had burnt out you both went travelling around India. How similar was the party scene in places likes Goa to some of the wild places you encountered in Ibiza in the early days. You must have recognised a lot of old faces in both locations?
“We got to Goa and Ibiza rather late in the grand scale of the development of the “scene” but we got stuck in and didn’t care what it must have been like back in the day. It was amazing then and if you’ve not experienced that kind of vibe it’s amazing now or whenever it is that you do first experience it. When we first came to Ibiza there were a lot of the same people here that we’d been seeing around Asia and they had the same attitude they had in Goa as they did on Ibiza. Sadly that attitude was more jaded than the feeling we were experiencing in both places. Old burnt out hippies complaining about everything being rubbish compared with what it used to be. I’ve felt myself becoming like this over the years and it is one of the main reasons I’ve wanted a change. Never trust a hippie.”
You were part of the whole Ron McCulloch Home saga, running the Sydney and London venues. Hand on heart Mark, did you ever think Leicester Square was ever going to work?
“Not once Fabric opened. Until then everybody was carried away with the promises (lies) that come with working in big business with big business men. I only ever went to the London venue once as I was running the Sydney show and I had very little personal knowledge of London as a city, but I did also go to Fabric that trip and knew it was the final nail in the coffin for Leicester Square.”
Ibiza came calling with Home and then We Love…From a promoters point of view, what have been the biggest changes you have experienced over the past decade?
“Dance (house) music becoming the mainstream high street soundtrack to the weekend. Drugs became the mainstream high-street weekend poison of choice.”
What do you think are some of the key factors in the We Love…success? How have you retained that 4k faithful that enables you to experiment with your line ups?
“Caring about and loving what we do. Remaining interested in every part of what we do from the developments in technology (we were arguably the first people to bring moving head lights and great sound systems to the island) to traveling the world checking out what’s going on in different scenes, keeping a hands on approach to the design and development of the brand artistically and not being afraid to be wrong. Trying out new musical styles and pushing what we believe in, even if at first it looks like it might not be working out too well. We have gained the trust of the party faithful, the people who are out every weekend representing, the people who bought decks to play at home after the clubs, who still buy vinyl, people who have crap jobs and want to escape the day today, people with great jobs who like an adventure on the outside. Gain the trust of these people and they will stay with you for a long time.”
We Love…is always heralded as the most forward thinking night on the island. Your line ups are always diverse, forward thinking and often head scratching! What is the criteria and selection method for the artists you book?
“Do I like what they do? Can I afford to book them? Are they available? Do they want to get on board?
How does it feel bringing in a new artist for the first time, We Love…can be a very daunting place to play?
“It depends on the artist. Aphex for example is not a traditional “Ibiza” booking but I knew no matter what he played he would bring a certain amount of his crowd with him – and although lots of people would be stunned, shocked, horrified and scared there would still be a good solid dancefloor in front of him…so I wasn’t so worried (I feel for the artist rather than myself). And then you bring out somebody, let’s say Shackleton, and although the music is coming from a similar place, he is a lot less well known so I’m stood behind or in front of him shitting myself thinking “Christ, what they going to make of this!”…and they must be thinking the same! For the most part however and including the Shackleton show, things work out well as I generally make these kind of bookings when I know the club will be super busy so we all have a better chance of it working. There is nothing more satisfying than pulling off a show like that. For both parties I would think!”
One of the key elements of the We Love…success is the Ibiza residents. Who are the key figures and what do they bring to the table?
“Our shows are all about variety and our resident DJs have helped shape the way I look at music myself. They can all pretty much play across the board musically and then we have specialists in a certain field for when the going gets tough. Alferdo (Alfredo) Jason Bye (our longest serving resident, knows his Terry’s from his June’s) Mr Doris (world music) Jem Haynes (can fill an empty room in minutes, recognises the groove and locks on) Ryan O Gorman (tastes in the deeper sounds of the “underground”) Andy Carroll (been around since god was a boy, was God that put us on to him as it goes. Knows music) Ian Blevins (amazing hair, so soft, fantastic DJ who’s not in a rush) David Philips (likes the same music as me) Jonathan Ulysses (original “Space Terrace” rocker) really really hope I’ve not forgotten anybody!”
Looking at the island you have helped to mould over the last decade or so, are you leaving it in a better or worse state?
“I really don’t think I’ve had anything to do with the moulding of the scene on the island as it currently stands, the public do that by making their choices or big business ala Ushuaia can do that with their “take no prisoners” approach to what we do – morons – I feel I may have tempted people to have a look at something they never thought they would have liked with my crafty networking and marketing skills and I think I will leave this business having not left too great a scare by the approach we took. The club “scene” on the island (and I risk sounding like the people I disliked in Goa here) is in a worse state, but that’s not got a lot to do with me….hopefully!”
Aside from Sundays at Space, where have been some of your favourite clubs to hang out at over the years?
“The Coach House (first nightclub I ever visited. Goth, Punk & Hooligan hangout), Rooftop Gardens (Wakefield high-street club famous for loose women and fights), The Changing Lights (Huddersfield “indi” disco), The Microwave (Huddersfield rave institution), Konspiracy (scary Madchester vibes but easier to get into than the following), Hac (fac51), Follies (was The Changing Lights as previously mentioned but now with added “dance”), Variose Trance Parties in and around Goa held in places called “Bamboo Forest” “Disco Valley” “Hill Top”, Amnesia (we used to run the Cream shows out here for Darren around 97-99), Pacha (used to be ace and still is on certain nights, this year’s Wisdom Of The Glove being a particular highlight in my opinion) and many more that were so good I’ve forgotten what they were called or when I went to them!”
A question I have always wondered when I wander past your house, when We Love… closes, do you lot rock on ’til Monday afternoon and beyond or are those days long gone?
“We party during the summer months but not as hard as we once did. Thank fuck. I can still be tempted to carry on if the companies interesting, the musics of a non 4/4 variety and the pills are pink!”
And finally, what do you think the girl in the queue you overheard saying “we love Sundays at Space” would say now if you told her this whole We Love…Space party was named after her casual but now immortal words…?
“Knowing how most people think nowadays, I’d think she’d want some money from us! Aaarrrrggghhh being cynical again. It really is a long interview this! Sorry, no. I think she would be over the moon that she helped create a fantastic marketing strategy for a group of people who also loved Space back then – and still do. We Love Sundays At Space.”
