MAGAZINE
MichelCleis Name. Michel Cleis. Where are you originally from? I’m from Lugano, the Italian part of Switzerland. It’s a very nice place during summer – meeting friends, nature at its finest, a nice lake, good food, interesting music festivals. You can forget winter there though. Relationship with Ibiza I just got married on the Island – and it’s a secret. I have some really good friends living in Ibiza. I received a DJ award in 2009, which was quite important for what happened after. I have a soft spot for the island. When did you start DJing? I started at 20 in Lausanne. I was there to do my University studies and play basketball. I wasn’t supposed to play music for people, but I had a big record collection: Soul, funk, jazz, disco, Brazilian music and other Latin stuff. So one night in the early nineties my friend Juice invited me to play with him in a club called Dolce Vita. We were big fans of Gilles Peterson’s sound and of his radio show, and we still are!! We had lot of fun that night so I continued playing. How did you join Cadenza and become part of this family? It came through Aminata, a friend of mine who was Luciano’s manager some years ago. She gave my music to Luciano, and we got in touch. A year later I had my first release on Cadenza and joined the agency. Now I have friends there, people I really appreciate. Being part of this team has been really important and a nice experience.
54 • IBIZA
The beat goes on. An artist who inspires you Only one? If we’re talking about music it could range from Lucio Battisti to John Coltrane, Radiohead or Stevie Wonder, Nick Drake, The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone, Angelo Badalamenti and many more. What hardware/software do you usually use to create music? Pro-tools - Logic - Live Vintage Minimoog Wurlitzer Minimoog voyager DP 4 Biscuit EMU6400 Juno 106 And more... Your favourite club in the world Ibiza is a big club and I love it! I can’t single out one but this year I’ve lot of fun in Glow Club, London. Bob Beaman in Munich has a great sound system. Womb in Tokyo is awesome... I love to play in Puglia and Napoli where people party hard
and where I could go crazy dining on raw fish and in nice restaurants. Your best gig so far Somewhere in Italy. Plans for this summer? A collaboration with Basement Jaxx for something that will be on their new album. An EP on a nice label... Some new tracks and work on my lost album. Playing in Ibiza: Ushuaia, La Bomba, Blue Marlin, and meeting friends there! What do you think about N&D Magazine? Nice one! You’re really cool guys. –––––– Nombre. Michel Cleis. ¿De dónde eres? Soy de Lugano, en la parte italiana de Suiza. Es un lugar muy bonito durante el verano, ideal para reunirse con amigos en plena naturaleza, con un bonito lago, buena comida, festivales interesantes... pero en invierno, olvídate. Relación con Ibiza. Me acabo de casar en la isla... y es un secreto. Tengo un muy buen amigo que vive en Ibiza. Recibí un premio de DJ en el 2009, que fue muy importante por lo que pasó después. ¿Cuándo empezaste a pinchar? Empecé a los 20 y fue en Lausana, donde estudiaba en la universidad y jugaba a baloncesto. En principio no tocaba música para el público, pero tenía una gran recopilación de discos: soul, funk, jazz, disco, música brasileña y otras cosas