A
andyallwood
Guest
Hi all,
Well it's been just over a month since I got back from the white isle, so I thought I'd give you a write up of it, also thanks to Kimajy for the 'Congratulations Andy Allwood' thread at the start of August, and to all the spotlighters for being so supportive.
I had an early flight on Friday 11th May (6am) so decided to stay at the Newcastle Airport hotel, just to be on the safe side as I live about an hours drive away and had visions of taxi's not turning up or I slept in. I arrived at approx 8pm, said goodbye to my flatmate, went up to my room and it was at that time everything became real, 10 hours away from take off and little over 12 hours before I started my first ever season working abroad. I got 30 minutes sleep that night, waking up about 2am, and too scared to fall back asleep in case I missed my flight, so stayed up drinking tea and making use of the free wifi, until I left the hotel at 4am, dashing across the car park in the pouring rain.
I touched down in Ibiza at about 10am, to lovely 28c weather, slight change to what I left in Newcastle, and got a taxi to the Algarb Hotel in PDB, I had booked to stay in La Noria, but got an email two days beforehand saying it wasn't open yet, so they switched me to this one, having changes less than 48 hours before arriving didn't help, but the hotel was fine.
I had been chatting to a girl on facebook called Heather, who was also in Ibiza for her first season, looking for DJ work, so we decided to meet up in PDB and go to the Bora Bora opening the afternoon I arrived, which we did, most bars and clubs were still closed, so didn't have much luck enquiring about jobs, but we did manage to get a look behind the scenes in Ushuaia as they were building the stage etc, which was interesting.
My plan was to find accommodation in PDB and spin soulful deep house at a beach bar all day, which didn't exactly go to plan. That evening we went to San An, where Heather was staying, and went to Viva, a workers bar at the top of the west end. Viva has an open decks policy, where you just book a 2 hour slot to DJ in, so that's what I did, booked my first gig for Tuesday (technically Wednesday) 12am-2am, and loved every second of it. 8)
I spent the next two weeks, while staying in PDB, looking for DJ work there, and spending the evenings in San An, also looking for work, during those two weeks I had FIVE blisters on my feet from all the walking around. While looking for work in San An Bay, I bumped in to a lad called Paul, better known as Se7en Ibiza, who I had been chatting to on facebook etc beforehand too, and he told me to pop down to the Pint Pot on Sunday afternoon where he hosts his Ibiza Is... parties where a lot of the DJ's from the west end come before heading across the bay to the west end at night, which I did. It was there that I met another lad called Matt, who had just been given a residency at Funky Flares and said I could cover his night off, and asked if I was any good with a mic and could play 70's/80's/90's music. That was not exactly what I wanted to play in Ibiza, but I was starting to worry about money coming in, so I said I would. Matt invited me up to do an hour a week later to see if I was OK, I hadn't used a mic for about six years, when I ran my own mobile disco, but decided just to go for it, which worked, he also let me use his CD's, as I had no music like that with me.
I moved to San An at the end of May as I knew all the work would be over there, that night, Saturday 26th I went up the west end again, and as no one was booked to play the last two hours at Viva (4am-6am) I did it.
Sunday lunch time I walked back to Kanya, where I had been told to speak to the resident DJ, by their PR manager a few days beforehand, when he started his season then. I met their resident, Josh Demello, gave him my mix cd, and chatted to him for a bit, he had recently got Serato, and was still figuring out all the details of it, so asked if I had my cd's with me, and when I said yes (I always carried my cd's and headphones) he asked if I would like to spin for an hour or so, obviously I said yes, and he was very impressed, saying my music style really suited the bar, so he took my number. Josh worked at Kanya every day and his mate covered any time he had off, so there wasn't really a vacancy going, but he would offer me the odd slot here and there, which he did.
I did DJ at another bar in San An, my first gig there being as I left Kanya and was walking around to San An Bay, but I had two run ins with management, which didn't end well, and I don't want to publicly slate anyone, so I'll just leave that part out. I know some of you know which bar it was, and may be even what happened, but I ask you not to state which or what happened here, thanks.
I spent most evenings in the west end with Heather, she was booked in to do a gig at Viva, on Thursday 31st May, which just so happened to be my 31st, and so she said I should do an hour of her slot, a group of girls I met via facebook were in and when they found out what day it was, started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to be in the middle of the bar, which wasn't all bad as I got free shots of Hierbas from the barman
Monday 4th June, my first gig at Funky Flares, which went well and was actually a really good laugh, not my kind of music, but I can't deny it wasn't fun
.
Saturday 9th June, my first gig at V Club at the bottom of the west end, spinning deep house, months later I found out that my set there influenced their resident DJ, another lad called Matt, to play less tech house and start spinning more deep house, their club music policy was then 'non commercial deep house' which I have to admit I was pretty touched by, although he did blame me for him spending £400 on beatport downloading deep house tracks.
Sunday 10th June, Josh from Kanya asked me to spin a couple of hours in the afternoon again, and I loved every minute, definitely one of the best bars I've ever played at.
Monday 11th June, I DJ'ed during sunset on the Itaca terrace, spinning the music I love, soulful deep house, dropping MAW's To Be In Love, when the sun went down. I can't even begin to describe the feeling of playing your favourite track during a sunset in Ibiza.
Wednesday 20th June, DJ'ed at the new PussyCat2 bar in San An Bay, enjoyed my set, as did management, but unfortunately the quiet season didn't help and they didn't really get going, at least not enough to pay a DJ every night.
Thursday 21st June, Heather had been given her own night at Hush in the west end and asked me to spin on her opening night, alongside herself, another lad we met in Ibiza called Ryan, and Space resident Marco Loco. To spin with a well known Space resident weeks into my first seaon was an amazing experience, the poster is now on my wall ha ha. Heather's night was a real success all throughout the season.
The end of June I was also offered more gigs at Funky Flares, going from 1 to 3 a week, which like I said, wasn't really what I wanted to play, but it paid for my rent, so was worth every spin of YMCA
Was good to also meet spotlighter Ikoda at the end of June, having a few drinks around the west end and later moving on to my hostel with various other peolpe, enough said about that there I think ha ha.
Wednesday 4th July, I played a set at Sofa King Good above The Highlander, the Scottish bar where Heather played, where I played house classics like Get Get Down, Blue Monday etc.
I had spent the whole time moving from hotel to hotel since I arrived in May, until I moved to Es Vedra, workers accommodation in San An, just behind the new Ocean Club, I moved in with a couple from Serbia, who tattooed for a living, and also who did my tattoo 8), and two lads, who did PR'ing. I met a lot of nice people in the two months I spent there, and it was a great laugh.
Wednesday July 11th, played my second gig at V Club, where I was offered to play every Wednesday night, which I did until September 12th.
Friday 27th July, my third gig at the brilliant Kanya
Sunday 5th August, played my 10th Venue, the Ibiza Live Bar, for Ibiza Is..., it was here where the manager offered to host my own club night, HomeSpun, which I run back home, every Sunday, spinning old skool house, which ran for 5 weeks from Sunday 12th August to the 9th September.
Saturday 11th August, this was the first time I went out clubbing properly, only taken me 93 days, I went to Defected at Pacha to see Frankie Knuckles & David Morales, which were both, as you can imagine brilliant.
The end of August spotlighter Hally came over, and we hit it hard as I had two days off, unfortunately I hit it too hard, and hadn't not been feeling to well for a week or so before that, I fell Ill, which lasted all weekend, and I even missed Sankeys with Hally, as we planned beforehand, typical for a rare Saturday night off.
At the start of September I moved out of Es Vedra and in with Heather and a few people she was staying with for a month, where we mostly sat and watched Family Guy together when we weren't DJ'ing down in the west end.
Friday 28th September, the Funky Flares closing party, I played the last 3 hours (3am-6am) as myself and Matt, as we planned in July, went back to back, had a few drinks and just had a right good laugh. It was sad seeing the place closed after that.
Thursday 4th October, my last Ibiza gig, spun a 3 hour set at Traffik, making that my 11th venue, and 86th gig in my first season, not bad going I don't think.
Saturday the 6th October, moved to Port Des Torrent with Se7en for my last week on the white isle, we had a great laugh together, going to various bars' closing parties including Linekers, where every drink was €1 and Donnegans Irish Bar, drinking jugs of cocktails. It's great chilling at the end of the season with all your mates you've made during the summer, definitely one of the best weeks there.
Thursday 11th October, moved in with Matt and his girlfriend, who were going to the airport the same time as I was, so I crashed on their couch the night before, so we could share a taxi together. I didn't get any sleep that night, as I was so used to sleeping all day and being awake all night. We all arrived at the airport the next morning and it was nice to share the last few hours with someone who ended up being a really good friend of mine.
Friday May 11th to Friday October 12th was the best summer I've had in 31 years. I can't count the amount of really nice people I've met along the way, all the amazing DJ's I've spun alongside, all the support I've had, all the crazy people who I've got very drunk with, and even though I struggled sometimes, I have learned a lot and wouldn't change a thing.
Just over 25 weeks to go before I do it all again 8)
Well it's been just over a month since I got back from the white isle, so I thought I'd give you a write up of it, also thanks to Kimajy for the 'Congratulations Andy Allwood' thread at the start of August, and to all the spotlighters for being so supportive.
I had an early flight on Friday 11th May (6am) so decided to stay at the Newcastle Airport hotel, just to be on the safe side as I live about an hours drive away and had visions of taxi's not turning up or I slept in. I arrived at approx 8pm, said goodbye to my flatmate, went up to my room and it was at that time everything became real, 10 hours away from take off and little over 12 hours before I started my first ever season working abroad. I got 30 minutes sleep that night, waking up about 2am, and too scared to fall back asleep in case I missed my flight, so stayed up drinking tea and making use of the free wifi, until I left the hotel at 4am, dashing across the car park in the pouring rain.
I touched down in Ibiza at about 10am, to lovely 28c weather, slight change to what I left in Newcastle, and got a taxi to the Algarb Hotel in PDB, I had booked to stay in La Noria, but got an email two days beforehand saying it wasn't open yet, so they switched me to this one, having changes less than 48 hours before arriving didn't help, but the hotel was fine.
I had been chatting to a girl on facebook called Heather, who was also in Ibiza for her first season, looking for DJ work, so we decided to meet up in PDB and go to the Bora Bora opening the afternoon I arrived, which we did, most bars and clubs were still closed, so didn't have much luck enquiring about jobs, but we did manage to get a look behind the scenes in Ushuaia as they were building the stage etc, which was interesting.
My plan was to find accommodation in PDB and spin soulful deep house at a beach bar all day, which didn't exactly go to plan. That evening we went to San An, where Heather was staying, and went to Viva, a workers bar at the top of the west end. Viva has an open decks policy, where you just book a 2 hour slot to DJ in, so that's what I did, booked my first gig for Tuesday (technically Wednesday) 12am-2am, and loved every second of it. 8)
I spent the next two weeks, while staying in PDB, looking for DJ work there, and spending the evenings in San An, also looking for work, during those two weeks I had FIVE blisters on my feet from all the walking around. While looking for work in San An Bay, I bumped in to a lad called Paul, better known as Se7en Ibiza, who I had been chatting to on facebook etc beforehand too, and he told me to pop down to the Pint Pot on Sunday afternoon where he hosts his Ibiza Is... parties where a lot of the DJ's from the west end come before heading across the bay to the west end at night, which I did. It was there that I met another lad called Matt, who had just been given a residency at Funky Flares and said I could cover his night off, and asked if I was any good with a mic and could play 70's/80's/90's music. That was not exactly what I wanted to play in Ibiza, but I was starting to worry about money coming in, so I said I would. Matt invited me up to do an hour a week later to see if I was OK, I hadn't used a mic for about six years, when I ran my own mobile disco, but decided just to go for it, which worked, he also let me use his CD's, as I had no music like that with me.
I moved to San An at the end of May as I knew all the work would be over there, that night, Saturday 26th I went up the west end again, and as no one was booked to play the last two hours at Viva (4am-6am) I did it.
Sunday lunch time I walked back to Kanya, where I had been told to speak to the resident DJ, by their PR manager a few days beforehand, when he started his season then. I met their resident, Josh Demello, gave him my mix cd, and chatted to him for a bit, he had recently got Serato, and was still figuring out all the details of it, so asked if I had my cd's with me, and when I said yes (I always carried my cd's and headphones) he asked if I would like to spin for an hour or so, obviously I said yes, and he was very impressed, saying my music style really suited the bar, so he took my number. Josh worked at Kanya every day and his mate covered any time he had off, so there wasn't really a vacancy going, but he would offer me the odd slot here and there, which he did.
I did DJ at another bar in San An, my first gig there being as I left Kanya and was walking around to San An Bay, but I had two run ins with management, which didn't end well, and I don't want to publicly slate anyone, so I'll just leave that part out. I know some of you know which bar it was, and may be even what happened, but I ask you not to state which or what happened here, thanks.
I spent most evenings in the west end with Heather, she was booked in to do a gig at Viva, on Thursday 31st May, which just so happened to be my 31st, and so she said I should do an hour of her slot, a group of girls I met via facebook were in and when they found out what day it was, started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to be in the middle of the bar, which wasn't all bad as I got free shots of Hierbas from the barman
Monday 4th June, my first gig at Funky Flares, which went well and was actually a really good laugh, not my kind of music, but I can't deny it wasn't fun
.Saturday 9th June, my first gig at V Club at the bottom of the west end, spinning deep house, months later I found out that my set there influenced their resident DJ, another lad called Matt, to play less tech house and start spinning more deep house, their club music policy was then 'non commercial deep house' which I have to admit I was pretty touched by, although he did blame me for him spending £400 on beatport downloading deep house tracks
.Sunday 10th June, Josh from Kanya asked me to spin a couple of hours in the afternoon again, and I loved every minute, definitely one of the best bars I've ever played at.
Monday 11th June, I DJ'ed during sunset on the Itaca terrace, spinning the music I love, soulful deep house, dropping MAW's To Be In Love, when the sun went down. I can't even begin to describe the feeling of playing your favourite track during a sunset in Ibiza.
Wednesday 20th June, DJ'ed at the new PussyCat2 bar in San An Bay, enjoyed my set, as did management, but unfortunately the quiet season didn't help and they didn't really get going, at least not enough to pay a DJ every night.
Thursday 21st June, Heather had been given her own night at Hush in the west end and asked me to spin on her opening night, alongside herself, another lad we met in Ibiza called Ryan, and Space resident Marco Loco. To spin with a well known Space resident weeks into my first seaon was an amazing experience, the poster is now on my wall ha ha. Heather's night was a real success all throughout the season.
The end of June I was also offered more gigs at Funky Flares, going from 1 to 3 a week, which like I said, wasn't really what I wanted to play, but it paid for my rent, so was worth every spin of YMCA
Was good to also meet spotlighter Ikoda at the end of June, having a few drinks around the west end and later moving on to my hostel with various other peolpe, enough said about that there I think ha ha.
Wednesday 4th July, I played a set at Sofa King Good above The Highlander, the Scottish bar where Heather played, where I played house classics like Get Get Down, Blue Monday etc.
I had spent the whole time moving from hotel to hotel since I arrived in May, until I moved to Es Vedra, workers accommodation in San An, just behind the new Ocean Club, I moved in with a couple from Serbia, who tattooed for a living, and also who did my tattoo 8), and two lads, who did PR'ing. I met a lot of nice people in the two months I spent there, and it was a great laugh.
Wednesday July 11th, played my second gig at V Club, where I was offered to play every Wednesday night, which I did until September 12th.
Friday 27th July, my third gig at the brilliant Kanya
Sunday 5th August, played my 10th Venue, the Ibiza Live Bar, for Ibiza Is..., it was here where the manager offered to host my own club night, HomeSpun, which I run back home, every Sunday, spinning old skool house, which ran for 5 weeks from Sunday 12th August to the 9th September.
Saturday 11th August, this was the first time I went out clubbing properly, only taken me 93 days, I went to Defected at Pacha to see Frankie Knuckles & David Morales, which were both, as you can imagine brilliant.
The end of August spotlighter Hally came over, and we hit it hard as I had two days off, unfortunately I hit it too hard, and hadn't not been feeling to well for a week or so before that, I fell Ill, which lasted all weekend, and I even missed Sankeys with Hally, as we planned beforehand, typical for a rare Saturday night off.
At the start of September I moved out of Es Vedra and in with Heather and a few people she was staying with for a month, where we mostly sat and watched Family Guy together when we weren't DJ'ing down in the west end.
Friday 28th September, the Funky Flares closing party, I played the last 3 hours (3am-6am) as myself and Matt, as we planned in July, went back to back, had a few drinks
and just had a right good laugh. It was sad seeing the place closed after that.Thursday 4th October, my last Ibiza gig, spun a 3 hour set at Traffik, making that my 11th venue, and 86th gig in my first season, not bad going I don't think
.Saturday the 6th October, moved to Port Des Torrent with Se7en for my last week on the white isle, we had a great laugh together, going to various bars' closing parties including Linekers, where every drink was €1 and Donnegans Irish Bar, drinking jugs of cocktails. It's great chilling at the end of the season with all your mates you've made during the summer, definitely one of the best weeks there.
Thursday 11th October, moved in with Matt and his girlfriend, who were going to the airport the same time as I was, so I crashed on their couch the night before, so we could share a taxi together. I didn't get any sleep that night, as I was so used to sleeping all day and being awake all night. We all arrived at the airport the next morning and it was nice to share the last few hours with someone who ended up being a really good friend of mine.
Friday May 11th to Friday October 12th was the best summer I've had in 31 years. I can't count the amount of really nice people I've met along the way, all the amazing DJ's I've spun alongside, all the support I've had, all the crazy people who I've got very drunk with, and even though I struggled sometimes, I have learned a lot and wouldn't change a thing.
Just over 25 weeks to go before I do it all again 8)
