SONIC VISTA INSIGHTS him £100 for the gig, and he gave £20 to his backing singer, and he says to me, ‘you do know who my backing singer was?’ it was Adele! What is the mission and ethos of Ibiza Rocks? Andy: It’s very much about youth, being disruptive, the power of change, the element of surprise, but I really believe what we really do is create energy, maximising the energy in a space. We have a ‘triple A’ philosophy: Attitude, Atmosphere, Authenticity. How has your audience evolved over the years? Dawn: It’s expanded, and has become a lot more far-reaching. We’ve gone from a niche product to something that is now more all-encompassing. The world’s relationship with music has changed so much, so I think the product we were 10 years ago and the product we are now is a very different thing. Andy: We always tried to stay focused on youth, and since the iPod when Steve Jobs said you can fit 1,000 songs in your pocket, people now have 10,000 songs in their pockets! The audience has now become more eclectic, they listen to a lot of types of music, and it’s been great for us. We are fundamentally youth in focus, but we’re still able to put on bands like Madness, New Order, or The Specials - and these are the most successful shows we do in terms of ticket sales. So the audience does change depending on the band we book. What was the most memorable concert in the last 10 years? Dawn: I really enjoyed the Mark Ronson concert at the Ibiza Rocks Bar, and discovering Rudimental, of course. Andy: Having Arctic Monkeys was a very special moment in that bar. Back then they were one of the coolest things on the whole planet, whereas now they’re bigger, but they’re not cooler. So that moment was totally incredible. In what major ways has Ibiza Rocks changed the island? Dawn: Ibiza Rocks Hotel has 10 HEADLINER
paved the way for hotels like Ushuaia, Hard Rock Hotel, and Destino. We were the first ones to throw an event outdoors before midnight, which opened it up to more people who wanted to leave at a reasonable time and enjoy themselves during the daytime. Andy: I think the biggest thing Ibiza Rocks did for the island is introduce concert culture. The most successful events now in Ibiza are concerts. The way people point and stare at a DJ in a club now is more like a concert than a dance music environment. What are the most challenging aspects of the day-to-day tasks for Ibiza Rocks? Andy: Keeping up with the
political changes on the island. The great thing about having such a big team (300-400 in peak season) is that the problems you are concerned about involve the future instead of the day-in, day-out. For example, when a six-month project for a new hotel doesn’t happen, it gets really frustrating, and those are the kinds of issues we have to deal with. Some very important pop artists today held their first shows at your venue. Has Ibiza Rocks helped develop those artists to become the international stars they are today? Andy: Well, we gave Mika his first show, and he brought his whole family down to see his
performance. We were the first people to book Ed Sheeran in Spain. We got Ellie Goulding when we could afford her, which was good. We had Lion Babe and Tinie Tempah as support acts, now they’ve blown up massively. The warm up DJs for our W.A.R parties were Disclosure and Rudimental. We gave them their Ibiza debuts. It’s quite amazing when you look at it in hindsight. What has 10 years in this game taught you about music, yourself, and your team? Andy: I think it’s more difficult to do something that’s obvious, sensible, and easy if you’re not into it, than it is to do something that’s incredibly difficult, nearly impossible, but you’re passionate about it. If you love something, you’re generally better off going for the passion project than the obvious one. So what happens next..? Dawn: DJ Harvey is going to come back, bigger and better for more weeks next year; and Craig David’s TS5 pool party is happening at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel, which is a huge coup. I’m also starting this new project called ‘Mother of Lost Boys’ where we’ll take old objects from the past and develop a new line of merchandise, get visual artists involved, and give them the opportunity to showcase their work. Andy: And we’ll do all we can to keep the island young. It’s not all about super-yachts and buying bottles of champagne in the VIP; we want to keep the disruptive generation coming to Ibiza, and that’s the people around 25 years of age. It’s important to have them, because if you don’t, the disruption will happen somewhere else. Dawn: And it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, or how much money you earn, as long as you have a great philosophy on life, you can make it. Ibiza is a great playground and building ground for that. www.ibizarocks.com www.sonicvistastudios.com