Speakerbox – the biggest urban night in Ibiza gets ready to roll
Interview : Dan Prince
Mr Dalton welcome back to DMCWORLD, where on planet dance are you today?
“On a plane on the way back from a gig in Greece! I should be sleeping as I only managed to get 3 hours last night but instead, here I am, laptop out, answering your lovely questions!!”
Well it’s that time of year again, Ibiza season!! Your very own Speakerbox is housed this year at the all new Gatecrasher club in San Antonio, the old Eden venue that Simon Raine and co. have taken over on a 10 year lease. It has to be said dude, your Thursday nighters are the strongest party of the week at the club. Let’s talk line ups…who stands out for you this summer at your night….?
“First off, thank you very much. Many months of actual blood, sweat and tears have been put into this season so to get that feedback is brilliant! To be honest there’s so many stand outs because we’ve programmed each week to feel like a moment plus I don’t want to cause a political storm by saying one particular act and not another!”
The island of Ibiza is overflowing with promoters; clubs, boats, caves, hotels, beaches – every scrap of space is being taken over by parties and their organisers with at least 10 good parties a day on. Why for you as the owner of Speakerbox, is Ibiza a must do every summer for the brand?
“It’s only our second summer in Ibiza properly – last year we held down El Salon at Space for Carl Cox’s Revolution: The Party Unites night which was an absolute honour and of course a great way to introduce the brand to Ibiza. When Gatecrasher approached us, pretty much out of the blue, in October and asked us to be on board with them for the launch of GC Ibiza, it felt like a no brainer to us as we’ve got something different to offer than a lot of other parties and nights on the island in our multi genre nature. Ibiza feels like the spiritual home of clubbing so for us to have such a large presence in what is essentially our second year on the island is a blessing to us.”
What song always reminds you of Ibiza?
“Either Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – Intro or Paul Johnson – Get Get Down. I remember watching Ibiza Uncovered as a kid and for some reason the Paul Johnson record has associated itself with that show in my mind. The Alan Braxe because I remember Sara Cox playing it heavily on her days on the Radio 1 breakfast show when she broadcast live from Ibiza which I’m going to be doing for the first time this year.”
You have booked every major star in the urban world for your parties over the years. Who always has the biggest rider?
“I don’t know if it’s the biggest but Breakage has to have one of the best riders. It’s got a flux capacitor on there ffs!”
What 1 artist are you still looking to book, who would be the dream artist at Speakerbox?
“I’d love to book a big American HipHop artist and put them on the same bill as a big UK House act. That would be amazing although they all seem to want an absolute shed load of money these days!”
If you had a night off, what would be the club and DJ you would be checking out?
“It would definitely be Club Bed with DJ Duvet and MC Pillow doing a 13 hour back to back uninterrupted set!”
You are a massive sneaker fan, your Air Max 95 Sunset Pack was on your feet yesterday. How many pairs do you own and which pair is the most special?
“I think I’ve got about 200 ish pairs. I’m literally driving my wife crazy! She’d banned me for 6 months from buying any in January and in the 2 days after my ban, I bought 4 pairs so she’s banned me again. To be fair, they are steadily taking over the spare room in our house…”
Away from Ibiza, where else can we find Speakerbox this summer?
“Keeping it with the Balearics, we’re returning to BCM in Mallorca for a Summer residency there for a third year running. Plus we’ve also got 2 stages at two of the biggest and best Dance music festivals Creamfields and SW4. Both stages have massive line ups and both are on the same day so that will be immense.”
Throw some names at us, some up and coming artists we should be looking out for this summer…
“As well as anyone I’m playing on my radio shows, you need to keep an eye out for the artists that we’re working with via Speakerbox such as Apexape, Wide Awake, Majestic, Secondcity, DECiBEL,Cable, BitR8 and Fusion.”
You got Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay in BBC World Cup sweepstakes. Hand on heart, who’s gonna win…?
“I think the best team will win this year…”
And finally, in a sentence, for anyone travelling to Ibiza this summer, why is Speakerbox a definite on their holiday?
“Because there’s nothing else quite like a Speakerbox party, especially in Ibiza.”
