

In the face of adversity, he’d become a household name in South Africa but he hadn’t broken internationally. Soon after, he realized he needed to reassess. I first became aware of Black Coffee through Elliot Shaw who showed me video footage and I couldn’t quite see how it could translate: the first week he played at Circo Loco, he really hadn’t done his homework and his idea of Ibiza was big party classics. How did you first become aware of Black Coffee? So I put together a really cool and varied lineup of friends and artists and that’s kept me on my toes.
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It was open at 6 AM at that time and I was in the bottom of that poster for a couple of years before making my way to the middle! Ibiza has always been an opportunity for growth and change and when Black Coffee offered me the weekly residency, my first reaction was “how do I break the news to CircoLoco?” And the second was “can I do 21 weeks?” I was concerned! From experience, I asked friends how to keep things exciting for 21 weeks.

Now? I love it more than ever! In 2002, I played CircoLoco for the first time and was introduced to Antonio and Andrea by Rosanna.
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You don’t get much more full circle than that. I would love to know who was opening that morning but I got away with that for an hour! Cut to 25 years later, and I now have a residency in the same room. The following morning we went to Carry On at Space and I was sat on the old top tier on a Tuesday morning and there was no music and people were asking why is there no music?! I was sat there with my record box so totally uninvited, I decided to start playing. But I packed specifically drum ‘n’ bass and electronic records. The second time I was doing PM Scientists at Smithfields in Farringdon and our good friends Derren and Rosanna were doing the Cocoloco at Privilege and at that time I was playing a fusion of house, techno and d ‘n’ b. After that we found some shit hash from someone in the port and went back to Jet Apartments, where seven of us were crammed into one room with spare mattresses on the floor.

Once I joined them and got them a deal, it came about that we were invited to play Café Del Mar’s 25rh anniversary and the band played hovering on the sea and I DJed and threw in odd sound effects to add into this beautiful string soundscape. So they did things like “Little Fluffy Clouds” within that context.

I want to say 1997? I was managing and playing alongside an act called Instrumental, who had an album out called Acoustic, which was twelve covers of techno records. My first trips to Ibiza were extremely hilarious. Damian is now a husband and a father, but that dedication to being a dance music wizard will never leave him.Ĭan you remember your first forays into Ibiza? Damian’s book is also a brilliant retrospective through two decades of a label and a life in electronic music. This latest piece looks forward as much as it looks back but starts all the way in Ibiza in ‘97 and slowly makes its way through East London and then across the world to Tulum and finally to Italy, where he now lives. In addition, cool and astute collaborations have always been explored, including a link-up with Diplo and Jungle in the summer of 2021 for “ Don’t Be Afraid.” I started writing this new feature two days after Damian Lazarus made a serious splash in London with his new book and a twentieth-anniversary party at fabric straight after where Damian celebrated two decades at the very forefront of dance music with special guests Clive Henry, Mathew Jonson, Yulia Niko and Tibi Dado.įrom Get Lost in Miami to Crosstown Rebels parties from London to Ibiza and Day Zero in Tulum, Damian has always had his ears to the ground and his CDJs set to stun so he’s someone I’ve always enjoyed conversing with.
