AMNESIA remains one of Ibiza’s crown jewels when it comes to partying on the island.
This season saw many changes to the music program at Amnesia which saw Sven Väth’s Cocoon leave the club after 18 years to move to Pacha and was replaced with a new concept, Pyramid which has hit the ground running and Cream who occupied Thursday nights at the club for the last two decades replaced by new kids on the block Do Not Sleep and Abode.
As the end of the season fast approaches and with so much change and reported challenges on the island this year we caught up with Amnesia’s Artistic Director and long term resident Martin Vega aka Mar-T to find out how the season has gone, what parties have stood out the most at Amnesia, why Ibiza needs to change, what music he has due for release and his label Wow! Recordings.
Mar-T recorded his set from Pyramid at Amnesia Ibiza on August 27th for The Night Bazaar Sessions which you can listen to below.
Can you talk us through the changes to Amnesia this season and how they have affected the club?
Let’s do it day by day: Monday was occupied by Cocoon for 18 years but this year they decided Amnesia was too big for them and that a venue with less capacity would be the best solution so they moved to Pacha. We decided to continue with techno and tech house but as a new project called Pyramid and it’s produced by people from the island included me. The results are very positive and we will continue working on it. Tuesdays are Together and there has been no change. Wednesday is Latin music mixed with mainstream house music. It’s good to keep the equilibrium as you can’t have a club open every night with too similar events. Then we have Thursdays which was occupied by Cream for more than 20 years but we believed that EDM and trance music are not in the market any more so we decided to move to a fresher concept with Abode and Do Not Sleep and it’s been great. Fridays are still Music On and Saturdays are Elrow, the two most popular parties at Amnesia. Amnesia has been closed on Sundays.
Pyramid taking over from Cocoon on Mondays was a big talking point at the start of the summer. How has that party going? The line ups have been amazing.
The party is doing well for its first year, it’s not sold out, some days are better than others but we’ve managed to have a very cool mix of clubbers from many nationalities and I’m super happy about this. Also the party’s atmosphere is super crazy, it really reminds me of the old Ibiza vibe and that’s exactly what we wanted. I’m happy you like the line ups!
How has the season been? There has been talk that the island is pricing a lot of younger people out of being able to visit or putting them off visiting altogether. What are your thoughts?
The season has been very strange. It’s not been a good season as island visitor numbers have been down but it’s good that this happens so prices go down. Ibiza is too expensive right now and this is going to change really fast. Supply and demand!! Hotels will lower fees and flights also!
Let’s talk about your music. You started the year with a release on Steve Lawler’s VIVa label and have had a few more out this summer on labels such as Glasgow Underground, ElRow Music and your own Wow! Recordings. How have these records worked out for you this summer and what else have you got in the pipeline for us?
I’m super excited about the releases of 2018, for me one of the best years. I have new releases with my production partner Luca Donzelli coming up labels like Roush and some others which are to be confirmed.
With your busy schedule each season at Amnesia how do you find the time to make music?
I can’t sleep at night so I produce music nearly every night. Right now I have around 8 new tracks, nearly all of them together with Luca because we always work together in the studio.
What have you got coming up on the label?
Wow! 101 is with Allan Nieves with Proudly People remix and Wow! 102 is with Tennan and remix from CAAL.
