David Vincent

Exclusive interview with the owner of Sankeys – one of the biggest clubs in the world

This month saw the end of an era in clubland with the announcement that Sankeys in Manchester will be closing it’s doors on May 6th – “signing off for the summer” said the statement on Facebook. Who knows whether the doors of a venue once voted the best club in the world will ever open again? What’s for certain is 2013 is one of the most exciting in Sankeys history. Their club in Ibiza looks set for an incredible third year after firmly establishing itself as one of the best on the island whilst new venues in New York, Miami and London are on the horizon. Here, Dan Prince speaks to the main man controling the good ship Sankeys as the Ibiza season looms yet again… 


Good afternoon Mr Vincent – where in the world are you right now?

“Hi Dan. I am on juice retreat in Alicante trying to get a little healthier before the Ibiza season starts.”

Well your beloved Sankeys is in the news yet again – last week saw you announce to the world that May 6th will be see the flagship Manchester venue close for the summer, perhaps indefinitely. Was this down to numbers being low at the club at the moment?

“No not at all. It all comes down to the ability to being able to manage and own both venues effectively. I have learnt that it is impossible for one person to do this, especially with the geographical locations of the two clubs. Although I’m not referring to the current team of Joe, Jay and the two Dans as they have done the best with the situation they inherited from the previous promotions team, but as they say…whilst the cat’s away the mice will play – and it is no coincidence that certain things have happened in Manchester whilst I have been running Ibiza which were detrimental to the club and led to it not performing the way it did whilst I was there 2 years ago. I am a perfectionist and last summer the club was not running to my standards in promotions really. Also, and this is the main reason, I know Sankeys in Ibiza is going to explode this year so I need to be 100% focused on it”.

That surely will free up a lot of staff in Manchester?

“It certainly does. I think I have done pretty well with my resources building the team in Ibiza, but it would be even better with the team from the UK. So I am bringing them all out here.”

How many are we talking about?

“There’s about 25 in total coming over including bar staff, managers, sound and lighting engineers, door pickers – the lot. Everyone wants to be here and I don’t blame them, we have worked so hard over the winter on 2013 and there is a real good feeling in the camp right now.”

Surely there is a whole load of production back at the club In Manchester available?

“There is, we are not the richest club in the world and have had to rent all sorts of equipment over these last two years in Ibiza, I now have the opportunity to bring over everything from the sound, lighting, ice cannons, LED tricks…even our ticket machines!”

So hand in heart, do you feel we have seen the last of Sankeys in Manchester…well at this address at least?

(…long pause)

“I really don’t know Dan. It depends on various factors. And a lot of things would have to change. For now May 6th is our farewell. “

How quickly did the closing party take to sell out?

“It took under 4 hours, I was totally overwhelmed by the speed of it selling so quickly to be honest. So much so we are going to do our after party there now one straight after the first one closes so more people get the chance to say goodbye to the club. The club will close at 12 and then reopen ‘til as late as we can get away with. Also my good old friend Sasha will do a Saturday Involver session from 2.30-10.30 and the Hacienda will do a Sunday session again from 2.30-10.30 with Todd Terry, Graeme Park, State 808 and Peter Hook doing a New Order electronic set, to keep the original authentic Manchester vibe going. The thing is everyone I asked to play did which was amazing.”

You must have been besieged for tickets David…

“We were. The club has so much heritage and people have so many memories of the place, everyone wants to come. This has caught us by surprise a little, it even meant I couldn’t invite any friends or family. So, we have decided to put on The Aftermath featuring some great names such as Hot Since 82, Darius Syrossian, OD Muzique and Enzo Siragusa. We also had a lovely personal message from Leon and Pirupa who are paying for themselves to come over from Italy and play for free, that’s how much the clubs meant to them. I have total respect for them for that.”

A few years ago you said your dream was to have “7 Sankeys around the world”. We hear mutterings of New York and London are close to fruition…

“We are very close with New York and are hoping to open in late July. Also, we have our fingers crossed for Miami too, but that will be around New Years Eve time. We also have offers from places as far as Australia, Japan and South Africa, but there is only so much I can do”.

And what about London?

(David chuckles for a while…)

“Dan I am a cockney and have always wanted a club in London. We are speaking to a couple of people and we’ll see what happens.”

Who are you talking to?

“Fuck me you don’t give up do you, you’ll know their names is all I’m saying…”

Wait a minute, if you are closing Sankeys Manchester because it’s too much for you, what’s with the new venues opening up? A slight contradiction…

“The formula we are following is the same Pacha in Ibiza have done so wonderfully over the years – franchising to tried and tested people who will take care of the brand. The way we are putting New York together is how I want all of our new clubs to be created, a great team in a great city with a brilliant venue, but at the same time they manage the club and finance it”.

You started your Ibizan working life working for Ministry Of Sound at Pacha in the 90s. What was life in the Ibiza royal offices like back then…

“The beauty at that time was how innocent Pacha was. Even though they had been established a long time, it was still so non corporate – they had absolutely no idea what a brand actually was. It was such a family orientated business back then, to some extent it still is. They’d show me all of their photos from the 70s…all of these really important club owners back in the day dancing in the beach completely naked surrounded by glamorous girls. They were so sad when the powers that be told them they had to start a club as they weren’t allowed to do beach parties any more. The thing about the Pacha regime which I am really astonished and in awe of, is that if you work for Pacha the job is yours for life. I could go to Pacha this weekend and I’ll be greeted by the same doormen, see the same guys out the back painting the production, see important people like Francisco who has been there decades. It’s astonishing.”

I remember working alongside you back then, I was doing the Mixmag nights at the club and what I was impressed by was how you went about your business with no fuss or bother whilst other promoters couldn’t handle the pressure – the club and it’s staff seemed to love you…

“Our night at Pacha was the busiest the club had had in over 25 years, so they should have loved me! The funny thing was, the more I worked there, the more I became Pacha than Ministry of Sound…”

That’s no bad thing David!

“No I suppose not. Well anyway, at the end of the season I sort of fell out with Ministry and Pacha wanted me to stay on. We had talks but nothing came of it. I could have stayed and done Danny Whittle’s job perhaps, who knows. I was certainly the golden boy at the time and they treated me very well.”

Danny did an incredible job at Pacha though, he brought the club into the 21st century if they liked it or not…

“Yes he did. He has created his own legacy and made Pacha a global brand. I am sure his new Bomba! club will work perfectly well and he has my full support.”

Ah I was going to ask you about that, the new kid on the block located in the building that has had it’s fair share of problems over the years. You think it’ll work?

“Well of course it will work, it has serious money behind it. Even when things go wrong, money can turn things around. Not that Danny needs any help, he is one of the best around. I’ve taught him everything…I’m joking here Dan! The funny thing is, before I took on the Playa D’en Bossa venue I was talking about re-opening that venue with Danny with Pacha as a Sankeys club.”

Pacha has of course been in the news these last couple of weeks with the Urgells family claiming they had basically had enough of paying DJs 100,000 euros and still not getting exclusivity out of them. Piti also claimed that “electronic music hasn’t evolved in 20 years and is for idiots.” What is your take on the stance Pacha is taking this summer?

“I don’t think things have changed at Pacha that much really, the wage structure will have come down but they still have some big nights in there like David Guetta and Solomun. They have just changed the brand a little, refreshed the club if you like. In terms of their long term residencies who have left, I was surprised by Luciano and Morillo leaving. When Danny Whittle left last year I heard they were going completely back to the nights they used to have years ago, more of their Flower Power and Black & White events and no big DJs. But they didn’t. Will it be as successful as under the Whittle regime? I am not sure about that, but I do wish them all the best…”

It is no secret you fought tooth and nail to keep Solomun at the venue over the winter. He has taken on another residency at Pacha with his Solomun Plus 1 Sunday nighter, did you have to raise his fees as well as allowing him to do 2 nights on the island in 2013?

“Yeah of course we had to raise his fees. In year one he did an amazing deal for us, he practically did it for nothing and we will never forget that. He deserves the better deal we gave him.”

 

In an interview last year you admitted that although you are promoting a lot of new talent at the club it is inevitable that “they may build a career here and go onto play the big clubs” Twelve months later, has your stance on that subject changed? Surely you are a big club now?

“We are a smaller underground club with big club ambitions. No one left Sankeys over the winter and more big names came on board – that says it all.”

One of the biggest coups of the season is confirming man of the moment Claude Von Stroke and his dirtybird label for a Thursday night residency. Why did you make him one of your targets for the summer?

“He wasn’t one of our targets to be honest Dan. Claude coming on board all started when we failed with one of our targets who was Eats Everything. We felt we could potentially build a night around him but Eats thought it was too early for him. Through the grapevine we heard that Claude was looking to do some dirtybird showcases outside of what he was doing. I contacted his agent who told me all about the great things he was about to do including the new album and front cover of Mixmag and I told them that a summer residency would raise the bar even more.”

So you didn’t need to much of the famous Vincent persuasion tactics then?

“I just did what I did with Solomun. Told them he was hot, we were hot and that Sankeys is the right home for him. Claude came down at the DiYnamic Closing party and you could see the look in his eyes. He could see the vibe in there and obviously wanted to be part of it.”

Who else are you excited about seeing in 2013 at the club, I know capturing Finnebassen went down well at the club…

“Yeah, that was a great deal. I am excited about Enzo Siragusa regular weekly residency coming in, William Kouam Djoko and Eats Everything getting his teeth into a few nights over the summer, who knows where that will lead in 2014. There are loads of new faces.”

 

Have you been busy inside the venue in the winter months…

“We have installed a new acoustically treated system into the L.A.B. – I want it to feel like a futuristic Hacienda in there. We have had some famous graffiti artists in the club doing their things, Spektrum has had a make over…look, I don’t want to say too much, I want people to come and see for themselves.”

How hard was that opening Ibiza season two years ago. Rumours were circulating about Sankeys owing DJs thousands of pounds and workers not getting paid. Was it that bad in year one?

“Yes it was that bad in year one. Much worse that you can imagine. I hadn’t got through June and I was already waking up wondering whether we would survive the next twenty four hours. We had an investor who was bringing one million quid to the project and with days to go he pulled out so he was more like a Phantom investor and full of shit. I had to rape Manchester’s takings every week to survive. I borrowed off friends and family, did all my credit cards and somehow got through it. We are just about clearing our debts from back then only now.”

How dark did it get?

“How dark? Panic attacks every day, times when I couldn’t see a way out. In the end it was our American franchise partners Antonio, Paulie and Rob who stepped in and saved the day and I thank them very much for this. They thought it was hugely detrimental for the Sankeys brand not to have Ibiza as a success so came in with the money. They were very testing times for us Dan, we were competing with the biggest, richest clubs in the world – a real David and Goliath tussle. Sankeys Ibiza was obviously just meant to be…”

You quite openly stated when you began the Sankeys Ibiza adventure that you were not going there to take on any clubs or ruffle any feathers…you were just doing your thing. Be honest now, how many dirty tricks still goes on between the clubs battling for the tourists euros?

“We have never got involved with any dirty tricks. One particular club which will remain nameless apparently have clauses in their contracts (whether it is in writing or verbally) that if a DJ plays for Sankeys, they can’t play for them” 

DC10 right?

“I’m not saying who it is Dan. At the end of the day, it’s fine. We must be doing something right and we take it is a compliment. It’s just a bit of a shame as some of their DJs are really close friends of Sankeys, but they are scared they could lose there careers with this club which is crazy. People should be allowed to play for who they want to without being bullied”.

How would you react if another underground club opened up in Ibiza?

“If a new club opens we will support them, I would like to think the bullying stops right here with Sankeys. Sometimes it’s good to be bullied, it has made us stronger, it has given us new energy and not let us get lazy. No one in Ibiza is bringing so much new talent to Ibiza as we are this year. Nearly all of our brands we have in the weekly line up have never been seen on the island before.”

 

What was your highlight of Sankeys Ibiza 2012 – did anywhere come close to the moment you cried on the microphone after Danny Tenaglia had finished his first 12 hour set in Manchester…?

“Bloody hell how did you know about that? Well the first one was when Sneak and Cajmere played at the Radio One broadcast from Carnival and watching Cajmere sing Camera’s Ready Prepare To Flash. Then there was a moment when Danny Tenaglia played in Ibiza and I looked across and he was standing in the DJ booth with Todd Terry and Kerri Chandler beside him. That was a real spine tingling moment, so emotional for me after everything that has had happened to see the three forefathers of house in my DJ box together. Then there was the Closing Party when Solomun was playing. I found myself looking around the club and feeling so much energy in the room, similar to watching Enzo Siragusa and Tini at Fuse and realizing just how big these guys are going to be. That was the night the whole club came together and I knew we’d cracked it.”

What are your thoughts on the state of play of Ibiza in 2013? More money is piling in with the likes of Ushuaia, Bomba! and Pacha opening up new ventures, 2012 saw a huge increase in American clubbers making the pilgrimage to the island – has the place got a healthy future?

“I think it is all good at the end of the day. New things bring new energy and no one can deny that Sankeys hasn’t brought new energy to Ibiza.  The more clubs there are the more competitive it gets, maybe it’ll even drive down door prices?

The island has certainly gone through a renaissance in recent years…

“Yes it has. Four years ago you knew exactly what Ibiza was all about. It took DC10 to reopen, it took Sankeys and Ushuaia to come along and now bookings are higher than ever. Will the clubs all be packed? Probably not, there will be some losers for sure. Back in 1997 each club had one big night each, now every club has a brilliant night on every night of the week. We can’t wait for our Opening Party to rock out as we feel this season it really could be our year…

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