The famous Playa d’en Bossa club’s construction of a new terrace has deflected attention away from the big pre-season issue – what will they do with the old one? Carl Cox knows the answer.
The shiniest head in techno has formulated an adventurous line up featuring big drum’n’bass names and a plan to ensconce a late night music appreciation society in the newly renovated and roofed zone.
Ronnie Size, DJ Vibe, Ashley Beedle, Marco Bailey, LTJ Bukem (right, who will play a 5 hour "musical influences" set on August 2) and his trusty MC Conrad, Francesco Farfa, John Digweed, CJ Mackintosh, Norman Cook, Michel de Hey, Josh Wink, Victor Calderone, Christian Smith, JL Magoya, Gilles Peterson and Cristian Varela have been booked for Carl Cox and the Late Night Sessions, plus a host of supporting djs
‘How did you decide who goes when?’ we asked him.
Carl Cox: That was an interesting conversation to be had by all. It really was. The thing is Space decided they wanted to expand. Ok fantastic, but now you want us to fill this room with music and love? They could have merengue or salsa in there if they really wanted to. It’s going to be more of a comfortable place. The music should be comfortable enough to listen to and enjoy a new moment is Space’s history. I’m gonna be playing in there also before one or two of these djs so I can set a precedent for music I would like in this room.”
The format of 2004 has been scrapped entirely. Previously there were a few hours of pumping terrace action followed by a high volume, fast-paced dash till dawn in the discoteca.
This year the club will again open at 8pm but the format has been inverted – Vibe, Bailey, Farfa, Diggers, the Fatboy, de Hey, Wink, Smith and Varela will all start inside at 11pm, followed by Cox who will take over at 3am. Size, Beedle, Bukem plus Conrad, Mackintosh, Peterson, Calderone and others will begin their more circuitous sonic journey at 2am on the outer. This forked strategy will be supplemented by further musical programs upstairs on the premier étage and in the Red Box.
Clearly the idea is to create a festival atmosphere, with fans of different styles of music to be catered for over the course of the entire evening. This eclectic approach is a product of Mr Cox’s globe-spanning gig schedule.
If travel broadens the mind then Carl’s outlook must be proportional to his immense girth. Carl’s been rocking the rockers at Australia’s Big Day Out, among other activities.
“I had guys like System of A Down checking me out, Slipknot, the Donnas. Going to see them as well was brilliant. By the end of the Big Day Out, you see them all as friends. It’s nice to work with such a bunch of people, the Hives as well, Grinspoon, the lot.”
What were SOAD like?
Carl Cox: Amazing. They’re heavy dudes man. They’ve got this wall of sound which is in your face, but they have melody as well. The difference between Slipknot and System of A Down is Slipknot is pure energy and to a certain extent noise but the rest of what they do is visual. You see them and you’re like ‘Oh my god, they’re gonna kill me!’. But System of A Down bring themselves out of their heaviness and into the light with their vocals and song arrangements. In front of them were 30,000 people going nuts. “
Carl’s been getting in on the live act himself.
Carl Cox: In April I got myself to the Europe for my first Carl Cox live show in Rotterdam at the Ahoy for 12,000 people. What I try to do now is do my live show in much bigger concert arenas, and throw a concert stroke theatre stroke dance party event. I choose the line up, I choose the live performances from my album that are best performed live on that stage, so people get to see something live from me instead of just my djing. It’s another step up. I’ve got 22 dates of which I’ve done about ten. I’ve got one in Czech Republic coming up, the Exit Festival in Serbia, I’ve got an American tour. I’ve got one at Heaven in London coming up as well. It’s everywhere. But it’s something that I’m not doing over my djing, it’s a thing I’m putting in addition to it. The best one I’ve done was in Paris to 10,000 people at an event called the Zenith, which is a music and we had probably the best production I’ve ever seen at any concert. If you go onto Carl Cox dot com and you got onto the gallery you can see some of the pictures which will give you an idea of what that looked like.
What do you mean by live?
Carl Cox: I’ve got vocalists girls that have done the tracks for me in my studio, I have drummers and bass players that was involved in making music in my studio. I rock Ableton Live on stage as well, with the band. So I’m kinda stepping out into a band-orientated unit, but what I do is I kinda introduce local hero djs at the event at any place and then I perform and have a good warm up dj as well. In and out of what I do musically, it’s all about what I do for people.
How do you feel right now? I read you almost died last year. Has that experience changed you?
Yes. I’ve gone as far as anyone can go, from my perspective as a dj. I work really, really hard, and I was partying really, really hard, for years. It got to a point where my body just said ‘No. And If you want to carry on doing what you’re doing, Mr Cox you’re gonna have to stop partying, you have to get focused.’ I want to see the rest of this through as long as it takes. I don’t know if I’m going to be doing this tomorrow, next year or the next ten years, but all I know is I want to healthy enough to give it that chance to see that. I really did stop everything.
