Mike and Claire Manumission – The King & Queen of Ibiza
Mike and Claire – without doubt two of the most legendary figures ever to hit the island of Ibiza. The new night ‘MINIMISSION’ – obviously a more intimate party but still retaining everything that the debauched Manumission is all about. What are your plans for the night, this is the first time since the chaos of The Motel that you have hosted such a party…?
“Hi Dan, Claire here! MINIMISSION is a concept we created to have a bit of fun in more intimate surroundings in beautiful venues around the world, retaining the feeling of everyone comes – and anything goes. We had a mannequin dressed as a nun at the front door of the club in London a few weeks ago with her hand on a copy of Howard Marks’ book Mr Nice. Everyone who entered the venue had to swear on Howard’s book not to repeat anything they saw in MINIMISSION that night. We like things to happen and people to feel like they can come and let their hair down. Everyone was dressed for the event. The dress code was 40’s, Fetish and fiendish and just about everyone embraced it. We have never been afraid of taking chances in front of a huge crowd as you well know! We ALWAYS take our audience and the size of the venue into consideration. It is funny to think that we got away with the most illegal things in the biggest club in the world, it is like one of those perfect crimes. You would not think it was possible really. With a small venue we can really take advantage of the freedom you get musically, for example, we had Howard Marks and Jon McClure (The Reverend) sing ‘Raw Hide’ whilst I rode a bucking bronco dressed as a cat surrounded by the Manumission girls dressed in miniscule outfits complete with Minnie Mouse ears. Mike introduced the number and it was just wonderful. Jon sang the Belushi part ‘Rollin, Rollin, Rollin’ and Howard finished it off nicely by singing ‘Spliff’. Actually we did get into a spot of trouble with the London security. What with Baby Pin Up and her acrobatic vagina and Howard and Jon smoking spliffs when ever they got the chance, the spirit of Ibiza was well and truly with us that night…”
Where can we expect to enjoy ‘Minimission’ around the world, June 6th should be interesting?
“Moscow will be amazing on June 6th – it will be something special. The following weekend we will be in Romania, which is exciting, then we are looking at Bali and Jakarta mid summer and then back to the UK late August for Gatecrasher in Birmingham and there is the possibility of another event in London. If we do London again there will definitely be a ‘Carry On’ after party. We ended up on the streets of Soho with Jodie Harsh last time desperately trying to find an after party – to no avail…”
‘MINIMISSION’ – what DJs can we expect at your new night?
“Jodie Harsh, Kissy Sell Out, DJ Paulette from Paris and Lottie. We are also going to bring in some live music with A Human and other guests like we did in London.”
Tell us about the Screenplay you are writing…
“It is a true story and it is set in a strip bar/night club at the turn of the 20th century. We are simultaneously working on the screenplay and the soundtrack. Andy Taylor from Duran Duran is a good friend of ours and we are working on the project together. You can expect to see lots of recognizable faces from our time in the film. We would love to say more but do not want to let la chatte out of the sac… as they say in France…”
How was Ibiza 2008 for you and how do you think 2009 will be? Is there a good vibe over there at the moment – there seems to have been a lot of DJ movement/new venues opening up?
“We had some great parties in 2008, Norman Cook and 2 many DJs were fantastic, we love Norman and ended up forming a marching band together and lumbered over the hills of San Juan as the sun came up after the party. That was fun. Dizzy Rascal was also great, we got a few tips off of him for our show. He has a great intro. Naomi Campbell came to the party and loved our films, Jade Jagger was hosting our VIP and brought lots of gorgeous friends with her like Kate Moss and Marc Jacobs. Lots of good times, but it felt that it was time to move on. The film and smaller events feel like the way forward for us. Ibiza is just heaven on earth, we are enjoying not being on the rollercoaster for the first time in 15 years. All of our friends are madly busy and Mike has actually got a sun tan. This time of year we are usually working 18 hour days, Manumission did not happen by chance, we worked night and day on Manumission.”
So you two are obviously responsible for the insanely unique artwork/themes/creativity behind Manumission. What do you think has been the best Summer’s theme you have brought us over the years – what was the naughtiest and the one you are most proud of?
“Mike is an artist and studied architecture at university and is a firm believer in restrictions being the key to good design. Every year we would start planning the next concept two weeks after the season was over. We travelled the world absorbing everything and then we would lock ourselves in our farm-house and create it all. Sometimes we would not leave the farm for three weeks at a time, totally happy in our own world, thinking, reading, and writing our shows. ‘Manumission The Movie’ was a great concept. We actually flew to New York, Paris, Los Angeles and London to find directors and music producers to make the movie. It was 24 hours in the life of Manumission and we took 14 film directors and 14 music producers and gave each of them a different 20th century icon for inspiration and a different section of the 24 hours to cover. Each of them had 1 hour 42 minutes, 51 and a half seconds of time to represent. Mike cold-called Norman (Fat Boy Slim) and asked him if he would make the music to go with the first party entitled ‘Elvis in Las Vegas’, Norm said yes and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. We found ourselves in Ridley Scott’s offices in LA. It was just great, we might finish it off and re-release it one day.
The Motel was an amazing concept too. ‘Murder at the Manumission Motel’ was the title and we were not going to do it unless we actually had The Motel as a center piece. Mike’s brother said we were crazy (as with the movie) and refused to have anything to do with it, so we did it alone. 7 days and 7 nights transforming this ex brothel into The Manumission Motel complete with The Pink Pussy Strip Joint, it was rock and roll heaven, truly wild, 24/7, the fun just never ended – well not until the police taped up the decks and kicked us out after we had lived there for six months straight. Well actually we were never straight – nobody was straight in The Motel. We moved in the day we opened it, Carl Cox was staying but found it all too insane. We lived with The Pink Pussys who were five Puerta Rican and New York strippers, Otter -The Naked MC and The Manumission DJs – Stuart Price, Groove Armada, Derek Dahlarge and Norman Jay.
The ‘Phantasmagorical Manumission Mystery’ was a very strong concept. We took all of the world’s problems and gave them a quasi sexual twist (for example one of the mysteries was ‘wide spread hole in hot bed of vice’ – we were actually talking about the hole in the ozone and the political corruption around it) and blamed them all on our villain – a man we called Vile Tificciapolae 2nd. It was actually an anagram for Evil 2 faced politician. We shot Hitchcock style movies in Terry Tomas’ house here in Ibiza and the stage set looked like it was out of a 1930’s musical. We did a casting in Cuba for the dancers. It was pretty spectacular. Our last year in Privilege was stylistically the most complete and it was the most well written/produced show we ever did. ‘CineManumissionStudios – The Rise of The Bionic Dictator’. It was heavily autobiographical. One day we will make a film out of the story.”
Claire, truthfully, do you miss the large scale of putting on nights at Privilege?
“Manumission in Privilege was a moment in time. Something that will never be repeated. It has given us the confidence to take on huge projects, we enjoy a challenge and we are really looking forward to making big films with gorgeous sets, we adored Manumission.”
Are you surprised that no other club night over the past decade or so has not tried to take you on with originality – or do you think you’re just too good at what you do and people are scared off?
“As Mike says, the amount of work and love that went into Manumission was not something that you could pay for. Something operating on a business premise could never match what we did.”
How has Ibiza changed since you landed on the island all those years ago?
“It is still a beautiful island and our favourite place in the world but we must admit, there are not as many colourful characters as there were. This could be remedied, something we were constantly trying to do ourselves. There are some amazing people here – they just don’t go out so much. “
What is your favourite Ibiza…
Restaurant – “La Paloma/Bambuddha
Club – It was always Manumission…
Bar – The Rock Bar
Beach – Aguas Blancas
Best sunset location – Cala Conta”
Who was the best live act on at ‘Ibiza Rocks’ last year?
“Reverend and The Makers without a doubt, before that though The Kaiser Chiefs and Babyshambles in Manumission were amazing, absolutely amazing…”
We come back to Mike and Claire’s after a night out, what sort of ‘Back To Mine tunes would you play us?
“You could hear anything from and including Blondie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Middleton, SKA – you would always hear some ska with Mike. I love all of the old 80’s stuff – Chaka Khan, Grandmaster Flash, The Police, Prince. Mike always plays Moby’s ‘Go’. If it got late enough you might get some Miles Davis or some Bowie or even Dean Martin depending on the mood we are in.”
What music did you both listen to growing up?
“Hi Dan, Mike here. Since I started listening to music, I was into a really wide range. I got into Opera through the sex scenes in movies. Public Enemy, The Smiths, Frank Sinatra, I loved Elvis.”
“As for me Dan, Madonna, Duran Duran, but before that I listened to my Dad’s music – Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, The Big Bopper – I recently sang ‘Chantilly Lace’ on stage with Andy Taylor!”
How did you two first meet?
“We met in Ibiza in ’94. We first kissed on the dance floor of Space.”
Claire, were you a wild child at school?
“I wasn’t a wild child at school, I was a wild child when I was not at school. Being tall I could get into night clubs at the age of 13. So me and my best friend Jacqui would sneak out at night and go to clubs way younger than we should have done.”
Mike, what did you really think of that fella you used to have on at the club back in the day who could suck his own todger?
“Fernando Leon, The Prince of Darkness is a nice guy. He did a good show. One night he tried to suck one of our heterosexual friend’s dick while he was sleeping.”
What has been the best ever Manumission party you’ve thrown, both at the club and at the Motel?
“The Motel was one continuous party and it is quite difficult to differentiate one night from another. If someone looked at their watch in there and it said 9 o’clock we really would not know if it was 9 in the morning or 9 at night. We truly loved all of our Manumission parties… too many good ones to pick a favourite.”
Best ever DJ you’ve ever put on?
“Norman when he is rocking is breathtaking. Grandmaster Flash opened his set with three Madonna records in a row. We also changed the sound of Space at ‘Carry On’ by bringing the Wall of Sound DJs over. We remember when they wouldn’t let Norman in to Space because they didn’t know who he was. Oh and Alfredo can be heavenly.”
Tell us about ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’ appearing/hosting Minimission
“MINIMISSION was actually inspired by Johnny The Dwarf.”
The Manumission Girls who will be appearing as The Minionettes at Minimission – obviously drop dead gorgeous, where do you find them…?
“In Ibiza, we are drawn to each other…”
Will Howard Marks be appearing at ‘Minimission’ again?
“Most definitely, among other interesting outlaw friends and thinkers of our time.”
Thanks love x
