One of the superstars of Ibiza 2013 looks back at a stunning summer and ahead to Sankeys at ADE
Interview : Dan Prince
Hey Darius, welcome to DMCWORLD. Where in the world are you right now?
“Hi Dan, in Ibiza at my villa in the hills of San Rafael chilling with wAFF and a few mates.”
What a summer you have had as resident at Sankeys! The Closing Party takes place on October 8th with special guests including Reboot and Andrea Oliva. David and the team have really stepped it up this year. What has been the main difference between Sankeys 2012 and 2013?
“Well not much really, last summer the club was also a great success. I think it only really suffered in its first year, but this summer has been like last summer with a bit of fine tuning. The sound system, the Lab room has been totally changed, and also the graffiti and street art on the walls of the club really give it that perfect underground look. David flew in two of the best graffiti artists from New York, and also one from Berlin and a Spanish street artist, they have all done a fantastic job.”
Anthem of the summer?
“Well for me there has been a few, slammers like ‘Massimi Girardi – 75/6’ on Little Helpers, a new one of mine that I haven’t signed to anyone yet but I have played every week called ‘Have Some Of This’, but one track that will always remind me of this summer is the track by Dusky, it’s more melodic and chilled than what people know me for playing in my sets. But it is a beautiful song…
Dusky – ‘Mr Man’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4P3yBlhRjw
You have been based on the island all summer, tell us what you love about Ibiza…
“There is a saying, the island either accepts you and loves you or it rejects you. I absolutely love it here, I live right out of the way up in the hills, behind the villa is a nature reserve and it is absolutely beautiful. The island is beautiful, it’s not just a place for clubbing and going out of your mind, but there is also great energy here. It’s the 3rd most magnetic place on earth after the North Pole and South Pole, and all people who have come in the past throughout history have all said the same thing about it being a place of good energy – from the Egyptians to the Romans and most lately the hippies who came.”
What has been your favourite night at Sankeys this summer?
“The night which was recorded live for my BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix was brilliant. All our VIVa Warriors parties have been busy and a success but this one in particular was just awesome. Doing the Essential Mix live from Ibiza was just a great feeling.”
What DJs have really stood out for you at the club, who has surprised you?
“Detlef doing warm up sets is just a genius. This guy sets it up so nicely, really low slung and deep but with balls. Not just some deep tech house tracks thrown together, this guy really gets a vibe going and sets it up perfectly for the others later on. Steve Lawler has played some incredible sets too.”
Have you checked out any other clubs and DJs this year on the white isle?
“Yes I have played for DJ Sneak at the ace Underground club, not a lot of DJs play there and some very big names haven’t even played there. It’s a great booking to have and the club is full of real music heads. It’s all word of mouth too so you don’t get the wrong types coming down. Also I have played at DC10 and was on the same bill as Dixon and Heidi, but I’ve been down a lot to DC10 and that place always has a great vibe too.”
A massive Studio 80 selection at Amsterdam’s ADE programme that you are part of. How important is ADE to the dance music world, it seems to have really expanded musically up this year…a real cross section of DJs…
“It’s a great place for a festival, Amsterdam is perfect for it, and Studio 80 is just an awesome venue! I’m really looking forward to playing at it this October.”
You are spinning over there on October 16th alongside Chicago house gangster DJ Sneak who you just mentioned. Sneak is one of the most outspoken DJs on the circuit, what do you make of the man and his sometimes wild comments on fellow DJs?
“Well Carlos (Sneak) is a good friend of mine and people need to remember when house music was going down one route with lots of cheesy piano anthems, he started a sound that became huge. He deserves respect for that no matter what you think of him. But I’m sure as he said it once, it’s all theatre and pantomime. He has the House Gangster brand and he’s playing up to it a bit hahaha, but his comments against Swedish House Mafia I totally agreed with. The other ones, I’m staying neutral. A lot of his points are valid and I just don’t think conflict is good. Maybe there is no room for gangsters in house music? Hahaha! But for those that don’t know him or haven’t met him, he is actually a very, very nice guy.”
Big new tune ‘Days Without You’ out now – tell us about the history of the tune…
“Well I wanted to make a track to start my sets with, something that has that heavy drums Darius groove, but is also quite deep so I can then take it to the next level later in my sets. So I made this, it starts off with some warm pads and a vocal and slams to the groove and it’s kind like, ‘ok my set has started here, lets go’.”
What is coming out next from you release wise?
“A remix of Fabio Gianelli on Get Physical, also the original from me that featured on my Essential Mix ‘Have Some Of This’, I’m negotiating right now with a couple of big labels as to who to give it to, a couple more remixes and also an EP for VIVa MUSiC.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/dariussyrossian/top10
How much fun was the Café Mambo charity party where you pulled pints alongside Guy Gerber, Kevin Saunderson and Felix Da Housecat?
“It was great, apparently I’m a natural behind the bar hahaha! I was serving with MK on our bar, the place was heaving and it was great to see how much we made for charity, so thanks to everyone who took part and came.”
Where can we find you chilling in Ibiza?
“My villa is perfect for it, haha – we have no neighbours anywhere near. It is a villa right on top of the highest hill in San Rafael and the view is incredible. But out and about Kumharas beach bar is beautiful, I prefer the sunset view there than the Cafe Mambo one even.”
Interesting thing you said after spinning at Magazzini Generali in Milan last week…”Italy and Ireland are the two friendliest crowds I play to”. What is it about these places you love?
“I think the people in both those places are very, very passionate people. I always feel really welcome by them. Also in Milan the other night at the end they were all chanting in Italian, we wont leave until we have one more tune. There was police outside but I played a few one more tracks, hahaha it was great.”
You hail from one of the biggest clubbing cities ever – Leeds. Where did you earn your clubbing stripes on the dancefloor back in the day…?
“Well I always used to go to Manchester back in the day. I went to the Hacienda quite a lot and the early days of Basics in Leeds, but Hard Times was a great night back in the mid 90’s and to see a lot of the US masters play there was awesome, like Masters at Work and so on.”
Early DJ heroes?
“Derrick Carter, Derrick May, Deep Dish, Tenaglia, Junior Vasquez – mostly the US house DJs who played more of that tough deep house music I preferred, rather than all the European stuff at the time which was a bit more cheesy and song based. I wasn’t really a big fan of all that piano anthem stuff.”
Helsinki a few weeks back…a nightmare getting home eh?
“Well, it was a crazy week. I played DC10 on the Wednesday, I had another gig on the Thursday, then two flights on Friday to get to Manchester for a gig, then two flights over on Saturday to play Helsinki and I was exhausted but had to get to Ibiza on the Sunday for my VIVa Warriors gig. My first flight from Helsinki to Ibiza was cancelled, so they put me on the next one to Ibiza via London Gatwick. Then even THAT had a serious delay which meant I would miss my connection. My agent said OK the only option you now have to be able to be in Ibiza tonight is get from Helsinki to Nice in France and then connect there to the last flight to Ibiza. I had 22 minutes to board that from the moment I was told. I made it by the skin of my teeth, and now thinking OK after this 4 hour flight, I just wait for a few hours and catch the Ibiza flight, but then when I arrived in France, the Ibiza flight was delayed as well! Haha it was just pure crazy bad luck. Anyway the airport was deserted at this point due to Nice being a smaller airport and not many flights happening at night, so it was now 1am and still no news of the plane will arrive to take me. But then I got chatting to this pilot who was the only other person in the deserted airport. He was flying an ex private jet that Iberia use to shuttle pilots about if a flight that was meant to take a pilot doesn’t arrive, such as ours. He offered to take me and I flew there to Ibiza whilst sat in the cockpit with him. It was one of the most surreal things ever, I arrived into Ibiza at 3.30am, and made it just in time to do the closing set.”
Now that is a story! Okay let’s find what rocks Darius’s musical world…
The record that always makes you cry?
“Sabres of Paradise – ‘Smoke Belch I’I (Beatless mix). More like tears of joy, it’s such a beautiful record. There was a storm in Ibiza one night in August and from our villa the view was crazy, the lightning filled all the sky and we had this record on, it was a great moment.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGQ3iZZXaJM
The record you always do at karaoke?
“I have never done karaoke in my life, is that sad? Haha!”
The record you wish you’d have written?
“Ah this is a good question. I was talking about this the other day actually, ORBITAL – CHIME, or maybe CARL CRAIG, Paperclip People /Throw..”
And finally…the record you are most proud to have created…?
“For me, ‘Who’s The Douche’, I know there are loads of other ones that were a big hit and people like them, but for me persobnally, my favourite is ‘Who’s the Douche’…”
EVENT: Sankeys at ADE
DATE: Friday 18th October 2013
VENUE: Barkode
LOCATION: Wagenstraat 3-71017 C2 Amsterdam, Netherlands
DOORS: 2300 – 0500
COST: €15 + BF – http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?506959
WEB:
http://www.sankeysibiza.info
http://www.barkodeamsterdam.nl
Sankeys owner David Vincent will speak at the ‘Building Global Club Brands’ panel at ADE on Friday 18th October
