People surrounding me all over this crazy, beautiful, magical and daunting dream island are feelin the burn that it’s now September and there’s closing parties comin’ at us like a big-old beat filled meteor shower that mark being close to the end of an absolutely unreal summer!! Ibiza is a place where everything can change in moments – all it takes is one second. And that’s how it feels now! But you know what, I’m not gonna be sad… I’m over the moon that I’ve had the chance to do it, to kick the arse out of every INCREDIBLE line-up that I could fit into my dancing schedule AND be the last one dancin’.
My ears may not love me like they did before but my brain does (believe it or not!) for the extra memories in there that I’ll cherish forever and millions more beats that send love to my music loving heart. I’m totally privileged (yes, I just did that) to have been a part of the Do Not Sleep parties at Vista Club, Privilege. The best new party on the island and collaboration between the three amigos Darius Syrossian, Sidney Charles and Sante bringing us a BELTER of a b2b2b every week with guest artists that are top of the game bad boys – the likes of Dennis Ferrer, Richy Ahmed, Jasper James, my BELOVED Dense + Pika and Marquis Hawkes, Paul Woolford and fresh new talents like the bloody brilliant Griff who has been a regular at the Do Not Sleep Ibiza events and will follow the guys elsewhere with Do Not Sleep from now on.
Darius with his passion for nothing but TRUE HOUSE + TECHNO music, Sidney with his sleek sounds as well as his sleek + sexy look and Sante with his beautiful basslines and hilarity behind the decks, shakin’ his bum to the beat at every opportunity are just perfect together. So before I trot along to the 9th party and the season’s finale of Do Not Sleep tonight, I managed to catch a cheeky wee chat with the guys to find out how they feel with their season on the bright White Isle 2015 (and I also asked Sante to marry me!). Here you go beat lovers…
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Hey Darius, Sidney and Sante!! Firstly I wanna thank you for your time answering my questions. It’s an absolute pleasure interviewing you guys! Do Not Sleep is by far one of my favourite new events on the island so I’m proper excited about chatting to you about it! Huge congratulations on Do Not Sleep! I’m a massive fan, I’ve had such wicked nights at every one so far and will follow you every single week! How’s your Ibiza season been so far?
Darius: It’s been great, couldn’t have wished for anything more really! This summer is proof that staying true to yourself, and being loyal to your friends pays off. I have always done everything in life from the heart and Do Not Sleep is a natural progression forward from what was happening, how it came together was very organic – it wasn’t forced. Me, Sidney and Sante said as mates… “OK, we are in this situation” 8 weeks before the summer starts, the Sankeys project was now not happening – “let’s stick together and make our own party!!” And it’s been amazing!
Sidney: I’m really happy with how everything has gone so far! It all came about super last minute this year. In June we had 3 shows at Space including the Space opening party. I enjoyed all of them and it was such a pleasure to play at this legendary venue. After we started our residency for Do Not Sleep in July, every party has been so special to me. The vibe there is just amazing and i just love people dancing and enjoying the music like there is no tomorrow! Our guests have not been disappointing with their performances either…
Sante: It’s been fantastic so far, has got better and better week after week. It’s so great to have an underground party going up against all the established Ibiza nights in all those legendary clubs. The great thing is, we play our kind of house and techno music and the crowd absolutely loves it!
You’ve been graced with some of the best line ups on the island – Dense + Pika, Marquis Hawkes, Dennis Ferrer – some of my favourite names in the beat world… What’s your most fun week been?
Sante: Yes it´s great, I am also a huge fan of Dense & Pika. Their productions are sick and when I saw them the first time at DNS they played a banging techno set which fit the room perfectly. Dennis is always a super DJ and great person, I have known him for a while. We had some good times when I spent one week at his place in NY.
Darius: To be honest, we keep having good ones and saying “OK, THAT was the best” but then the next week is good too hahaha but I think the one Richy Ahmed came down and played unannounced was great! You know what? The success is all down to the PEOPLE that have come and supported us, the crowd – THEY make the party – we provide the music and the vessel for the party to happen but the crowd has been AMAZING. You know because we are a fresh, new party we are ONLY getting people who are coming for the line-ups or coming for us and KNOW what the party is about! There is no holiday-makers going because the club is a famous place to go or because they have heard that everyone else goes! AND FOR THIS REASON, it’s been AMAZING!
We have had people from all over the world and some stay at the end to tell us where they have come from – Italians, Spanish, Germans, Canadians, Argentinians, we had a big group even from Uruguay! There is of course the big contingent from UK but wherever they are from, it’s such a good crowd who know their music & what we’re trying to do and it’s no wonder DJs like Breach aka Ben Westbeech have tweeted saying it’s the best Ibiza experience he has had DJing on the island! Marquis Hawkes saying the same, Dennis Ferrer saying he can’t wait to play for us again and Richy Ahmed – the absolute legend – he even came down on his night off and got in the crowd to dance! Haha!!
Sidney: I’d say the night I enjoyed the most musically was the one with Dennis Ferrer. The musical flow was perfect and everything seemed to work out perfectly. The energy was incessant! Dennis did a great job and he built the room up nicely and never lost the vibe during his set. It’s just amazing to look into the crowd and see everyone losing control… When the sun came up and the night came to an end the room was still packed and that made me smile!
I love it here in Vista Club – one of my most magical moments of the season has been the sunrise over Do Not Sleep opening. I will never forget how amazing it was. Are you happy now your new venture in Privilege is going great?
Darius: So happy! Really really happy! But again, we have some minor issues we have to iron out. The thing is, the venue owners have been great, when first asked to use the club they let us in to look at the space when we wanted to see if it was right for what we want to do – we didn’t want all the fancy stuff most other Ibiza clubs have like loads of bright glitzy lighting, ice cannons, dancing podium & VIP tables in the dance area and so on. We took all that out but Privilege is one of the most prestigious Ibiza venues – look up its history! In the 90’s it was the biggest and people’s fave venue, for them they are used to having huge commercial parties, but we are exactly the opposite to that in what we want to do. So far they are listening to us and as long as they do it’s great, we can move forward. DO NOT SLEEP is about the music and the crowd, it can happen anywhere, but Vista is good and at the moment works well for us.
Sante: At the moment it´s perfect! We will see what happens in the future, because you never know…
Sidney: Oh yes, supper happy! When we announced the residency at Vista club most people didn’t believe that we could make it a successful night because the competition is so hard on a Sunday with Solomun at Pacha, Viva Warriors at Sankeys and also Vaganbundos/Detroit at Space. And also a lot of people didn’t even know about this smaller side room of Privilege. In the end, we took this situation to our advantage as we were now able to prove that we have a strong following and that people come for our music. Doesn’t matter which venue we are playing in. So I guess we surprised a lot of people by filling it up every time so far.
What’s your most cherished spot in Ibiza – for anything, dancing, chilling the view?
Sidney: My favourite secret beach is Es Portixol. It’s a small fishing entrance for boats in the North of the island. You can’t go there by car. At one point you just have to leave the car and walk for about 40-60 min. but you will be very surprised by the view you will get on arrival!
Sante: No spot in particular – but the nightlife is superb. Massive line-ups every week, amazing locations. It´s a super place to connect or meet old friends and colleges. When you don’t want to go out you can experience beautiful sunsets on relaxing beaches… the place has it all.
Darius: There is so much to the island that people don’t see, Ibiza is such a beautiful place, it’s not all about the parties. Last few seasons I’ve had a villa up in the hills in the middle of nowhere and the view is breathtaking. This summer my villa is in a different location but I’m very much a view person. A good day out is finding secluded beaches with my crew – one of the best things to do on the island.
I love seeing you three play together – you bounce off each other like no one else does! You all keep me laughing while I’m dancin’! How did this threesome come about, where did you first meet or play together?
Darius: Well we have played on the same line up for years and I’ve always respected the guys as artists, musically but also as PEOPLE, very respectful honest stand up guys Sidney and Santé are. Then in Jan 2014 Sankeys, Manchester had re-opened after closing down for a while and I was the main resident – it was January and i told them i want to spin with Sidney Charles & asked could we book him? They agreed and it was his first ever Sankeys, Manchester show. We did a 5 hour back2back set – it was an absolutely INCREDIBLE NIGHT!!! You can see some footage of it here
Then I wanted to do the same with Santé. After this I would always try make regular parties happen where we all spin together.
There are a lot of DJs in the industry who are great, but when you do this with close friends it’s a whole different ball game! Nobody is trying to be better than the next guy, we are working as a team to make a party, like 2 or 3 friends would mixing together in their bedroom It’s no different to that except we are bringing it out there to the people…. It’s funny, we have DO NOT SLEEP tonight and I see another famous Sunday night party has copied us saying tonight they are doing a 3 way back2back2back, hahah ;) Well that’s cool, we’re not the first to do it either but the point is, we are just not DJ friends, we are personal friends and that’s what makes it that extra bit special – we trust each other fully.
Sante: We planned our tour to Ibiza this year and we wanted to promote it in the best way possible. So we decided to play b2b2b to make it more interesting and people loved it, so it evolved more or less on it’s own. it´s great to play together as we have time to build the feeling of a night and get the crowd into the groove.
Sidney: We met last year all together in Manchester for a Tribal Sessions gig. We had a really nice dinner together before the gig and the vibe was nice. At the gig later on we realized that we are all focussing on the same kind of energy in our sets. Last year I was already playing a lot with Darius together because of Tribal Sessions. Santé was playing for Warriors back then. This year the actual plan was to join forces and play all together for Tribal Sessions. But things panned out differently and our path led us to a new adventure. After Darius and Sankeys cancelled all the relations we decided to follow our friend and create something brand new together.
How do you find doing your own thing – your albums and constant releases as well as working together, are you focussing more on one or the other or balancing everything nicely?
Sidney: I don’t think that working together is creating a contrast to working alone. It actually does give me a lot of inspiration and I get a lot of new creative energy that I channel into my solo work.
Sante: We are individual artists in our own right and the b2b2b is a bonus on top, as it was not planned it just happened. Everyone has enough time to do his own thing, which is also very important I guess to keep the b2b2b spicy!
Darius: It’s all balanced, I personally am a workaholic! FULL ON WORKAHOLIC! I’m crazy and this music thing is my medication hahahaha that’s how i see it, i cannot do without having time to produce music so that has to happen regularly but me & the boys are going to be releasing a 3 track EP together and this is a collaboration where all three tracks are from all three of us! Here is a pic from when we were discussing ideas before we actually went into the studio…
You’re travelling all over Europe this summer, who is the biggest mischief maker on your travels (I definitely think it’s Sante!!!)?
Sante: Maybe me… I like to joke around, traveling is boring anyways so a few jokes here & there are definitely needed.
Darius: Hahaha no comment, but I am defo the one who gets the least sleep because I’m too hyper active… But you are correct, Santé is a bit of a dark horse when it comes to this side of things. When you’re on tour though everyone has days where they are either the crazy one or the chilled out one. The last time we were on the road with each other for a good number of days non-stop was on the road to Ibiza tour before we arrived into Ibiza
Sidney: Ahh yes, Sante always is happy to bring some fun into the group! We all have a similar taste of humour… That makes travelling together even nicer ☺
I’ve been listening to loads of Avotre releases right now, Tell me about Avotre and where you’re heading with it?
Sidney: We are staying to true to our musical journey so our main focus is to release energetic and groovy house and techno with a special character. We are listening to a lot of demos and actually we don’t look so much on the artists. If a track is wicked and we think the sound fits, we are gonna release it.
Sante: We are constantly looking for new talent and want to give our close friends a platform for their art and music. This is the reason why we also want to do more parties and events like the Festival Stage at Ceremony Festival or the Warehouse event at ADE in Amsterdam. Music wise it´s always been a mixture between house and techno.
What are your record bag favourites at the moment?
Darius: So much good stuff! Phil Weeks has just done an incredible EP – such an underrated producer. Some really awesome music from Francesco Tristano as well. There are artists like Nathan Barato, Mirko Di Florio, Italobros, that i always look out for.
Sidney: Onno – Some Mo (Martin Landsky Remix) – UPON YOU
Sante – Acid Rain – AVOTRE
Rich Wakely – Shuffle Truffle – LOST RECORDS
Sante: Russ Yallop & Cera Alba – Format (Audiojack Remix)
Yade – Guilty Pleasure
Mood II Swing – Closer (Acid Mondays Remix)
Here’s one for Sidney and Sante – What were you thinking about when you created the monster track that is Butthead? It’s one of my favourite tracks ever!!
Sante: It just went down! it was a great vibe in the studio and we wanted to have a more techno B side for Blow. When we sent them to Dubfire he liked them both a lot.
Sidney: We were not thinking at all. We just experimented with different sounds in the studio and we were just jamming. I think this the best way to create something when you don’t think of something specific and you just let your creativity flow and create something not so ordinary.
photos by phrank photographics
