All you need is glove. Ibiza get ready for Gerber’s pure Pacha magic…
Interview : Dan Prince
Hey Guy, welcome back to DMC. You are the talk of Ibiza right now thanks to the exciting news regarding your new residency Wisdom Of The Glove, a move announced in The New York Times when the newspaper interviewed Pacha owner Jose ‘Piti’ Urgell. You met with Iria Urgell in Miami last month to finalise the deal and she then sent an e mail to her father Ricardo exclaiming…”we have the best DJ in the world and a new sense of a family.” Wow! So, when did Pacha first approach you and what is the concept of this brand new white isle night…we are hearing ‘magic is returning to Ibiza’?
“Hi Dan. Well Pacha were interested in me playing there this summer, but I didn’t want to just play – I wanted my own night. I knew I could only do it if I had complete creative control . I didn’t have the concept yet when this idea started, but whilst at the Jungle Party in Mexico at the BPM Festival this year, I was walking around a party one night wearing a single glove, Michael Jackson style. I saw how wearing one single glove could put people in character and I really started to come up with the idea. When I came back from Mexico, Pacha were intrigued by the name. The original concept was to sell one single glove for 150,000 euros instead of merchandise – very Damian Hirst. This was meant to ridicule what had been going on on the island during the last decade. They liked the concept and from there it evolved into turning Pacha into a magical playground – with magicians, shadow puppeteers, surrealist art body mapped on dancers, and a Zoltar machine…it turned out that Pacha is the perfect setting for this…and working with the creative team on this has been an amazing artistic experience.”
Tell us about some of the guest DJs you are featuring at your night…
“Shaun Reeves, Bill Patrick, Maayan Nidam and Phil Weeks will all be residents of the glove – they are all artists I feel always challenge the crowd by playing unusual sets, and not just playing the tracks you hear everywhere else. They are really pushing the boundaries in electronic music at the moment – and I’m happy to have them on board. Some special guests will be John Talabot, Chromatics, Four Tet, Matthew Dear and more to come. I am also excited to debut my special live show collaboration with Mathew Jonson…”
How does it feel to be taking over the mighty Wednesday nights that Erick Morillo and Subliminal has been hosting for over a decade – is there any pressure on you?
“I would say it’s more of an inspiration than a pressure. Erick’s night was one of the most successful nights on the island for 13 years. I’m honored to be taking the night into a new direction and to bring in all my favorite artists and people I feel are really taking it to the next level. I am not sure how the island will react to this change, but the unknown is exciting.”
Great answer. Well, Ibiza changes a little every year. What are you bringing to the island with Wisdom Of The Glove?
“I don’t know if I will change things on the island with this night, but hopefully I will plant the seed in people’s minds that anything is possible. To bring back to the mystery and excitement to going out, the feeling that anything can happen in that moment and the feeling of freedom…”
You once claimed in an interview that you are always over thinking things and that you are the Larry David of the DJ world. Explain…
“After having a lot of conversations with other DJs, a lot of us think we are the Larry David’s of the DJ world. Being Larry David means feeling very uncomfortable with yourself and then trying to make it uncomfortable for everyone else, so it will be a little more comfortable for you. Also on a more serious note, taking the responsibility to point at things that you think are wrong, that most people think the same but they just wouldn’t say it. I’m the one that says it for everyone else.”
For many years everybody back home in Israel thought you were going to become a professional footballer, some of your friends took years to get over you dropping out of the game. What happened?
“The thing was I was getting too excited and nervous before the games. I had the potential and talent…but I was sure would never grow up to the expectations. Maybe I was too young, maybe it wasn’t for me – but its something that I know and when I discovered music, I was so bad at the beginning so I just dropped everything else until I could learn how to play the guitar. And that’s something that even though brought a lot of frustration to my life, I never ever ever regret it.”
A famous quote from you…”My art is about making people ask questions”…
“I think people live going through lives by sometimes either following trends or trying to satisfy their needs, or maybe just being lazy and just trying to do the right thing. My role is to put people in situations that are not exactly what they are used to. I’m a DJ, but I’m playing with a laptop – I know it’s not so cool – but still the party keeps on going. When I produce I don’t feel like the sound is that good, but I feel that some of the melodies are still attaching the people. So in that case the question is about the emotion. I don’t know the answer but at least it makes people think about that.”
Can you tell our readers the story of the incident with your art teacher at school and the washing up glove…
“I was in art school and I’m actually not that good at illustrating or painting. I can’t say I was really great at it. I wanted to be a graphic designer and the teacher was forcing me to do this piece that everyone had to do, she said I needed to recreate a part of the body. I was not into it because I was very bad at doing things by hand. But the teacher insisted. So just to protest keeping everything to the last minute, a few hours before the class I just took a nylon glove, put some water in it, put a stick, and then I put it in the freezer just to create a hand popsicle. And when I got to the class the thumb was already melting. When I entered the class I told the teacher ‘my art is against museums. It’s the most momentary art that will ever exists – it’s going to melt in the next 10 minutes. You have to watch it right here, right now.” My teacher hated it, but she had nothing to say!”
You have a home in Ibiza and love the whole spirituality of the island. If you have a day off, what would be the perfect day and night for you…
“A perfect day would be going fishing on a boat with my friends, I’ve never done this and I think it would be a perfect time. Since it takes so much patience, and that’s something that I’m definitely lacking, I think Ibiza is a great place to learn about patience. At night, honestly as much as it is a cliche, I always enjoy visiting the old town. There’s nothing so special about it, but it’s like the part of Ibiza that brings you back into some kind of reality – I just love it.”
What is coming up next for you studio wise…
“I just finished a cover mount CD for Pacha, it’s actually a new album because it’s only music that I’ve made in the past month. I’m going to give it for free. Besides that, I’m working on 3 different EPs. One is with Deniz Kurtel, one of my best friends and favorite artists. One is a new Guy Gerber EP and it’s something that I haven’t done in a while, something a little bit epic. I made it in New York and I finished it in Tel Aviv. And also, a remix I did for Chaim is for his EP called Blue Shadows. It’s a very summery track, and I’m trying to create the more after party version of it.”
Guy Gerber launches his Pacha residency ‘Wisdom of the Glove’ on Wednesday May 22nd with Midland, Shaun Reeves, Deniz Kurtel, DOP, Konrad Black & more…
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