Pacha is quite simply the most famous nightclub in the world. You think of Pacha and you think style, glamour and David Guetta DJing to a dancefloor packed with A-list celebrities and the most beautiful people on the planet. This winter though there has been a massive shake up at the club; Danny Whittle has departed as has resident DJs such as Pete Tong, Luciano and Erick Morillo. There’s new life, new music and a new direction at Pacha towers. Dan Prince speaks exclusively to new Musical Director Steve Hulme about the biggest shake up at the club in years…
Hi Steve, welcome to DMCWORLD young man. I interviewed David Vincent from Sankeys last week, he of course ran the Ministry of Sound night at Pacha back in the 90s – and he loved it there. One of the things he remarked on was the whole ‘Pacha family vibe’ and that if you get a job at Pacha, more than likely, it’s for life. You have been on board for a number of years running Pacha Recordings after relocation from Subliminal in New York. Can you try and explain just how important the unity/closeness within the ranks is so important at the most famous nightclub in the world…
“Hi Dan, a pleasure to speak to DMCWORLD! The comment of “we are like a family” is often bandied about by people, and cynically I tended never to believe in that line of thinking. But when I was at Subliminal in New York it became a mantra we all bought into – “we are a family” where the team there were all close friends who shared great times together, had the occasional fist fight amongst ourselves, but usually kissed and made up quickly and stood united against any attacks from outside the Subliminal family. When I came to Ibiza and joined Pacha it was a different kind of family…a much bigger one, like a set of clans all joined together by the family linage of the family Urgell. It became pretty clear that there was a willingness inside Pacha to all be part of something, even if we sometimes have different ideas of what that “something” is. There is a general comradery amongst us all, all of us working towards goals as a team and that is one of our underlying strengths that gives us that sense of family bond and support.”
It hasn’t been an easy pre-season for you that’s for sure. We shall come to the comings and goings later on, but to begin with let’s discuss the now infamous piece in The New York Times from a few weeks ago where Pacha Director Piti Urgell came out all guns blazing. “The DJ’s wanted more money to play less. It was an abuse. We had to come up with a new plan because the old one was going to explode. Electronic music hasn’t evolved in 20 years and is for idiots.” What did you think of his comments in the article?
“I am on record as saying that I think the journalist is a smart writer, taking snippets and lines from multiple conversations and comments over a period of years and formats and cobbling something sensationalist around it: the comments were made – but when, where and in what context I don’t know. Taken as one liners they sound bad for sure Dan. But at the end of the day people should not forget that the Urgell family have invested millions into the House music scene…and they still do. They have provided our scene with some of the most amazing nights in living memory across more than 4 decades…and still do. If Piti was comparing the progress of say a one chord Blues song through to the operatics of a Queen song today, then maybe for him (a 65 year old DJ who spins Flower Power Classics all over the world and every Tuesday in the summer season at Pacha), his comments are possibly true. But for somebody like me who might compare early Alan Vega/Suicide tracks built on basic electronics, through to the magical moments of the Fritz Kalkbrenner’s technology based epics of today – well I would disagree with him and say Electronic music has progressed as much as rock-blues based music ever has. Piti and Ricardo should be judged on what they have given to the House scene rather than on a few snippet comments tagged together and built into a story on a topic they were not consciously or specifically interviewing about.”
Great answer Steve. Well the world sat up and took notice late last year when Danny Whittle left the club. Many names were banded about who would be coming into replace him, but in the end it seems like Tallyn who moved down the road from Privilige will be taking over more of the night time duties under Fransisco and yourself will be in charge of musical direction…?
“The core of what we are doing comes from Francisco and his team that includes Tallyn for the running of the club and to myself and my team, including my soldier girl Jessica Capaz, programming the music and dealing with the talents and the creative side. We are not alone however. The whole family is involved…from Hugo, Panchi and Iria Urgell, through to departments like design, TV multimedia, recordings, online and even accounts who all play their part to ensure we are all going in one direction.”
Another great ‘capture’ of the winter was the arrival of Solomun and his +1 concept on Sunday nights. He was the man of the summer down at Sankeys last summer and for a while it seemed possible he wouldn’t be there this year. Thankfully he is as the night worked so well for both parties in 2012. What is your stance on the situation in 2013 where big name DJs will be spinning at Pacha one night and a few nights later at Ushuaia. The days of exclusivity it seems are long gone…
“To be honest, apart from David Guetta and Solomun we don’t have too many of the key resident artists playing here and “there” – David Guetta is the biggest DJ talent on the planet, so the two dates between FMIF and David Guetta and Friends is a non issue. Solomun had a moral decision to make on Sankeys, which he took the right direction on and returned. It would have been ill had he not, it’s a great thank you from him to Dave Vincent and shows me a lot of what kind of guy Solomun and his whole team are…the very best kind of people. Outside of that, we don’t have many that are split and we have pretty good exclusivity. We want people that we invest in to invest in themselves with us – but we are not crazy, we have to put tangible things on the table to deliver a sermon that might dissuade a DJ from playing away.”
The club must be buzzing at Solomun’s arrival on Sundays, how will his night be different from over at Sankeys?
“The party in Pacha is totally stripped back to the music. It is Solomun+1 Guests – after our house warm up Solomun’s guest plays a set, then Solomun and then they rock back to back. It’s simple but it gives real homage to the music and from Solomun, a real chance to share some insight into his music…what inspires him, what’s rocking his world and lets us all participate in that – a very cool night.”
Luciano is of course one of the most exciting DJs to explode in Ibiza in recent years. I understand he could only commit to 8 of the 15 Cadenza parties this summer…surely that was enough if it meant keeping hold of him and the brand?
“He is an incredible artist and a unique individual, but we have a 20 week season to fill. The maths didn’t make sense for an 8 week stand, it’s that simple. I wish it had been enough but it would have meant bad business being guided by the heartfelt love of music. The business of music is a tough business, loving music is something we can all do, “we all do”, but the business of music is something else, and in this case the head needed to rule the heart – we tried everything to convince his team to give him the reason, why he should play the full season, but it is what it is, we move on.”
One of the hardest things you must have gone through in recent months is the phone call to your great friend Erick Morillo to discuss his Subliminal residency. That must have been heartbreaking as he is a close friend. Was there no way it could be salvaged?
“I stayed on the phone with Erick for three nights solid and we went through every emotion. The reality is that we have been with each other one way or another for close to 15 years and have shared some unique moments together. He has always been my favourite DJ and still is today. I offered him 9 Saturday night guest sets in an attempt to keep him inside Pacha, but he was set on the Wednesday Subliminal Sessions continuing and didn’t want to accept the alternative. Pacha has to react to what is going on musically around us, we have to be part of what is now, we developed the nights this season across three deep-tech and three energetic solid house nights, with Flower Power in the middle of that split. For us the landscape was changing around us and we needed to be on top of the changes, we had to make hard choices. Erick would have absolutely smashed the hell out of a Saturday night in Pacha, his 9 Saturdays would have been as big as anything else on the island or in Pacha, but at the end of the day I had to accept that for Erick it was every Wednesday or nothing – if Erick called me today and asked me to play a Saturday gig I would bite his hand off to do it, I love Erick Morillo in the DJ booth, always have and always will.”
Let’s talk about Guy Gerber and his new Wisdom of The Glove residency that is taking over Erick’s famous Wednesday night slot. Had you already made your minds up to try and sign him by the time he took to the decks with David Squilacce at Delano in Miami last month? And what was Guy’s views on a residency at the most famous club in the world. A lot to consider – big shoes to step into…everyone’s eyes on him…
“We originally talked to Guy about playing with us on the Fridays along with John DIgweed and Fritz Kalkbrenner. Over the conversations though it became clear he was ready to bring more to the table than a DJ Set as a guest. We talked up the idea of WOTG but didn’t have a set night for it – first we spoke about it in the new Pacha Destino Resort, then in LIO and then as things took their course with the Wednesdays, the night became open for him. I want to make it perfectly here – we didn’t get Erick out to get Guy in. The actual night was going to be a Tuesday at one time, a Sunday at another but landed eventually on the Wednesday. He is another artist that has been making great music for a while and he was always popping up on the best line ups around the world – his time is now. When we were in Miami we stumbled into his show at The Wall where he was back to back with Seth Troxler and was super hot in that tiny space. Then we had him at our own party in Bamboo where he was the consummate professional, playing with Solomun, Sneak and Uner. Next we caught him at Delano where it was breathtaking for everybody in attendance and then he went at it with Art Department at Cafina. That week in Miami showed us a lot about Guy, his work ethic, his creativity and his desire to be with us – he came last week and played a free gig for the people of Ibiza, the room was packed and he went at it for over four hours. We love Guy Gerber in Pacha, he knows the eyes of the world are on him, but he has broader shoulders than people may expect, he is a tough cookie, mentally and creatively.”
There are always rumours of Privilige trying to sign David Guetta from you, but David and Cathy are great friends of the Pacha hierarchy – that must have been an easy night to sign off…?
“David and Cathy have been magnificent during this whole change period. As David said to me in Miami, “Pacha is Pacha and that’s that.”Cathy and David have offers every day, we are honored they feel at home in Pacha and trust in us to work their event to the standards we all want. David himself is the easiest of all to program the talent with, he has some ideas, he accepts ideas from me, and we communicate very easy – I have known him quite a while so there was no shock to his system when I was suddenly online with him.”
Friday nights are another exciting new night, a real tech-House treat starring the likes of John Digweed, Umek and Fritz Kalkbrenner. Surely though you must have offered to re-house Tongy elsewhere inside Pacha rather than see him elsewhere on the island?
“Whatever Pete does we wish him well and in fact we did ask him if he wanted to sign off with four Saturdays – but you know Pete, he is always looking at new challenges and faces things head on and that’s why everybody loves him. For us, we wanted to streamline the music towards a real authentic sound, using artists that are embedded in the funky-tech-house sounds. Fritz Kalkbrenner is somebody we are thrilled to have on board – his vocals are something else. And John Digweed was a dream to finally grab for a resident slot, others like Mi¡onika Kruse, Sneak, Umek, Terry Francis, H.O.S.H and Uner among lots of others are the real deal and will deliver music on another level.”
The Saturdays have up until recently been about a big, fun based sing along house party. Def Mix and early Defected saw to that, I guess Defected’s Deep Tech sound last year didn’t do them any favours? So what can we expect on Saturdays this year…?
“You hit it right on the head with that outline Dan. Defected came in as the best funky house label for Saturday night clubbing and in the last year have changed into a very cool and good Deep Tech label. As good as they are it’s not what we wanted Saturdays to be. We have Hardwell, Martin Solveig, Armand Van Helden, Bob Sinclar and lots of others bringing their peak hour anthem sound to Pacha…it’s Saturday night clubbing at the very top of the scale.”
Flower Power going weekly seems like such an obvious thing to do, many have wondered why it has taken so long? So, why has it Steve?
“Piti is a unique and wonderful individual and it took him 40 years to finally agree to go weekly with his hippie blissed out rock n roll party.”
In a recent interview when asked about Bomba, you said truthfully that you just didn’t know whether the club opening was going to be a good or a bad thing for Pacha. Has your opinion changed now?
“I can’t say it has changed, it might be great for the area and for Ibiza overall? But in reality I haven’t a clue how it will work or what it’s effect on Pacha will be…good, bad or none? For Pacha we simply go about doing what we need to do, that is to program and promote Pacha as best we can for our own requirements.”
A question many people have often wondered about the Danny Whittle era at Pacha. Were the decisions to spend 100,000 euros a night on superstar DJs, let them dictate moving the DJ booth and basically become bigger than the club all discussed between everyone at Pacha before deals were signed off?
“Danny did what was needed to be done during his tenure, he had the trust of the owners to generate budgets and deliver results.”
With everything that has been going on, have you had any time to be concentrating on Pacha Recordings? What is coming out next?
“I have a great team around me in Recordings – Dee Dinar and Guy Woodhams. They have been with me for years and we are like a military unit in efficiency now. This year it’s all about the 40 year anniversary CDs and the Pure Pacha Summer 2013 CDs, we have label deals all over the world and we release about 100 digital tracks a year, so there is no letting up. People who know me know I have been in this business of house music for over 20 years, I work almost 24/7 and work is just a way of life…so time is not an issue. With a great team in Recordings and also inside the Club Talent Programming team, I am able to do all that is required and more.”
Have there been any structural changes to the club over the winter, there were rumours that the DJ booth was being moved to it’s original position?
“The booth is back where it’s supposed to be. But now it’s bigger, more comfortable and we have a green room for the DJs close by so it’s a better experience for them and their friends. Also we have improved sound, lights and effects, the trial nights we have been doing with Solomun, Guy Gerber and so on have been packed and the changes, though subtle, have been well received.”
What can you tell us about the new Pacha hotel/beach resort Destino set to open in 2013?
“It’s set to open June 14th. It’s breathtaking, absolutely amazing, the space is so well preserved in pure Ibiza and Urgell tradition…elegent, real – truly it could only be a Pacha, Urgell vision in Ibiza.”
Going back to the article in The New York Times, Danny Whittle said something interesting…“I told them two years ago not to look at Ushuaïa as competition, look at Vegas. The question is, ‘What is attracting people away from Ibiza?’ and that is Vegas.” Do you agree with that statement?
“It’s an opinion. But right or wrong I don’t share it myself. The thing is, if DJs are being paid a fortune to be in Vegas then some DJs will go there and not play in Ibiza – but that doesn’t mean that the public will automatically stop coming to Ibiza in favor of Vegas. It’s great that Vegas is cooking, and DJs who decide not to be here get replaced by the ones that want to be here. The people want to party, sometimes to big name DJs, sometimes in a concept party with unknown DJs as today’s warm up is tomorrow’s headliner. One thing is for sure – when DJs ignore Ibiza or a period of time they find it hard to be accepted by the public en masse when they want to come back in. The idea that people are not coming to Ibiza is also a little flakey, the numbers are always pretty constant year on year, and the idea that big DJs are not coming to Ibiza is also flakey. I see the names of almost every major hitter already being promoted across the island…I don’t see the argument or what the point of the argument is trying to achieve? Are we supposed to pay Vegas Casino budgets to DJs? Is that the moral of the argument?”
And finally. Part 1 of the transformation is complete. Now it’s time to enjoy the summer. What nights are you really looking forward to savouring this year?
