PIKES 2024

The Sun God said:
gotta link? or something you heard? I know that he gave IOW ressies discounted tix to Bestival and was big on the clean-up (but that's going back years so I don't know about Dorset)
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Just word of mouth from a friend who lives down that way- the oldies come out shaking their fists a bit when the traffic gets a bit funky, thats all
 
The Sun God said:
Aspects of Rob da Bank's personality would be well-suited to Pikes - certainly the wackier features of Bestival would be a laugh (the Miniscule of Sound, the Find Bez competition, the Women's Institute Tea Tent, the Inflatable Church). Not sure he has the best business brain though and is probably pretty scarred by the legal grief they had. Lovely guy though. Wish him all the best.
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Rob Da Bank must be a nice guy, if he travels all the way to Finland in the winter, to sauna and ice swimming. I appreciate it! 👌🏻
 
From the horse's mouth.


Obviously this could go in many directions. Should point out here that I LOVED the Blue Room and Bestival, which have a real emotional connection for me and were both gamechangers for me musically 20 years ago. See also the Sunday Best label and parties. So many great memories and proof that he totally gets it.

But equally the idea of having to endure the Cuban Brothers prancing around brings me out in a cold sweat.

We'll see...
 
mashednlovingit said:
@The Sun God could you post what he wrote please? The account blocked me some time ago f knows what I did :spank:
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I’ve had the great honour of being resident at a lot of clubs. I could argue few DJs have been a resident at so many for so many years. The most dubious pf these honours was Manumission. For no other reason than they just did not care about music. It was background. I felt very uncomfortable there but gladly it led me to meet a fantastic partner and a very springy platform that led to far greater things.

It was also highly hypocritical and deeply political. In essence torn between two factions and worse, between two brothers. Mike and Andy. Mike - tall, good looking, showman, ideas, bit unreliable and wobbly - then Andy - plain, dumpy, numbers, money. There was a constant waltz between the two of good cop bad cop.

Mike would grandly tell people Manumission is latin for ‘freedom from slavery’ while Andy would do everything possible not to pay anyone. Flyer teams in the boiling heat would work all day for nothing more than free entry. Actual modern slavery in all but name. DJs that literally cost tens of thousands would be offered mere hundreds, often far less than the costs involved in them appearing. In fact the only time I saw Andy happy was him launching himself madly around the venue telling anyone who’d listen “I’VE JUST PAID FATBOY SLIM 300 EUROS! AND HE TOOK IT!! HAHAHAHAHA” completely oblivious to be bragging this mainly to people he was also odiously underpaying. Bear in mind this is in the largest venue on planet earth. Well over 12,000 through the box office paying something like 35 euros each to get in, 50 euros later in its lifetime. Dozens of bars. VAST income with almost no outgoing relatively speaking.

I really liked Mike and particularly Claire, they had some class but if you appealed to them any way - very quickly it was ‘not our department, speak to Andy’ and of course Andy would send you back to them in an ever-dwindling circle of nonsense. Mike and Claire were pretty happy being left to fiddle about with their ‘show’ which had great aspirations to high art but was often not. It didn’t appeal to me much put it that way. I found all the ‘sexy’ very strained and silly. I remember being stuck in an argument between them and Mike crying “Andy, I could lose my house!” with Andy simply retorting “which one?”.

Eventually the sibling bickering became incredibly intense and without going too deep into it, a highly acrimonious split and what could be more hideous than family, blood, going to the wall over f***ing money?? Suffice to say it was quite a hostile place to work. I think many were actually relieved to see the back of it.

I often argue that Manumission was ground zero for EDM. Spectacle was definitely chosen over music. It was policy. The publicity rarely mentioned DJs and despite some grand claims was entirely about paying less for acts. The default deal was - if you are on the island Andy will pay you a pittance. In the heyday the notorious ‘Motel’ , which was genuinely a lot of fun, was entirely about not having to pay hotel bills for staff and acts. Many a time I woke up in there with sand in my mouth feeling like satan had personally shat in my head to realise there was no water, no room service, no staff and was in a traffic island on a motorway with the nearest shop a clueless distance away that might as well be in orbit around Uranus (insert gag here). I used to joke ; ‘Manumission, every expense spared’.

BUT

I had some legendary times there, usually thanks to Mike and Claire and my good mate Johnny The Dwarf - I’d be here all day and night with the stories if I started. The reason you may detect a sour note in all this is that despite the dreadful split and an airtight contract for neither to use the name - Andy is essentially doing ‘Manumission’ at Pikes soon. He’s weaselled the wording so it is his ‘name’ with ‘Andy’ in small type and MANUMISSION writ large, for the first time I’ve heard of he is paying to fly DJs in, former Manumission DJs who, let’s be honest, desperately need the work. He’s hated me for a looong time for obvious reasons so this time he is even throwing in the small petty larceny of my trademark screen in front of the DJ booth and grandly proclaiming his ‘mission’ to undermine the cult of the DJ by making them less of a feature - which does not fool anyone at all. He wants to pay DJs bugger-all as usual. He might argue that was my trick! The difference is that I am a thin cat of tiny proportions. I have nothing. He has vast resources.

And this was my ‘beef’ with Pikes from day dot. Andy bought Pikes from Tony a while back. It was Andy McKay who was not paying DJs, expecting them to pay out huge amounts for flights, hotels and taxis. I never held anything against the good folks who work there. It’s the grasping multi-millionaire behind it all that makes the idea of any ’balearic’ credentials such a sham. And is also extremely unfair to those working for Pikes trying so hard to do something cool and legit. Oh righto, thanks for making my place so cool, I’m taking over now. Yeah I do Ibiza Rocks too. This is mine, always was. Mondays are now my fake Australian Manumission tribute act. No Mike and Claire won’t be involved! Why would they? It’s not ACTUALLY called Manumission. Etc ad nauseam.

Andy has put me on a blacklist. I am never to appear at his venues. He even freaked out when I reviewed his restaurant (favourably!) as I apparently have it in for him. Well, actually until recently I never gave him a moment’s thought. I just started to notice this slightly hysterical tone whenever he mentioned me. One of the things I noticed is that he called me a ‘propagandist’ for revealing he was behind a psychotic campaign during COVID, which included professional press and PR, that he termed - “Ibiza is Open” when not only was it very much closed, as we are thankfully governed by adults, it was also literally mortally dangerous to travel. Both his venues being technically hotels opened as early as was humanly possible and were unquestionably superspreader nodes and indeed someone actually died in Ibiza Rocks hotel around that time too. I am deadly serious about policing my industry, mainly cos no one else will. To me this kind of reckless disregard for human life, a choice made over money, is utterly abhorrent. Truly awful. Say what you like about silly discos, this sort of shit cannot stand. It is life and death.

Look, what more can I say other than one simple word? -AVOID

Pikes on Sundays remains legit. Go then instead.
 
eclipse15 said:
I’ve had the great honour of being resident at a lot of clubs. I could argue few DJs have been a resident at so many for so many years. The most dubious pf these honours was Manumission. For no other reason than they just did not care about music. It was background. I felt very uncomfortable there but gladly it led me to meet a fantastic partner and a very springy platform that led to far greater things.

It was also highly hypocritical and deeply political. In essence torn between two factions and worse, between two brothers. Mike and Andy. Mike - tall, good looking, showman, ideas, bit unreliable and wobbly - then Andy - plain, dumpy, numbers, money. There was a constant waltz between the two of good cop bad cop.

Mike would grandly tell people Manumission is latin for ‘freedom from slavery’ while Andy would do everything possible not to pay anyone. Flyer teams in the boiling heat would work all day for nothing more than free entry. Actual modern slavery in all but name. DJs that literally cost tens of thousands would be offered mere hundreds, often far less than the costs involved in them appearing. In fact the only time I saw Andy happy was him launching himself madly around the venue telling anyone who’d listen “I’VE JUST PAID FATBOY SLIM 300 EUROS! AND HE TOOK IT!! HAHAHAHAHA” completely oblivious to be bragging this mainly to people he was also odiously underpaying. Bear in mind this is in the largest venue on planet earth. Well over 12,000 through the box office paying something like 35 euros each to get in, 50 euros later in its lifetime. Dozens of bars. VAST income with almost no outgoing relatively speaking.

I really liked Mike and particularly Claire, they had some class but if you appealed to them any way - very quickly it was ‘not our department, speak to Andy’ and of course Andy would send you back to them in an ever-dwindling circle of nonsense. Mike and Claire were pretty happy being left to fiddle about with their ‘show’ which had great aspirations to high art but was often not. It didn’t appeal to me much put it that way. I found all the ‘sexy’ very strained and silly. I remember being stuck in an argument between them and Mike crying “Andy, I could lose my house!” with Andy simply retorting “which one?”.

Eventually the sibling bickering became incredibly intense and without going too deep into it, a highly acrimonious split and what could be more hideous than family, blood, going to the wall over f***ing money?? Suffice to say it was quite a hostile place to work. I think many were actually relieved to see the back of it.

I often argue that Manumission was ground zero for EDM. Spectacle was definitely chosen over music. It was policy. The publicity rarely mentioned DJs and despite some grand claims was entirely about paying less for acts. The default deal was - if you are on the island Andy will pay you a pittance. In the heyday the notorious ‘Motel’ , which was genuinely a lot of fun, was entirely about not having to pay hotel bills for staff and acts. Many a time I woke up in there with sand in my mouth feeling like satan had personally shat in my head to realise there was no water, no room service, no staff and was in a traffic island on a motorway with the nearest shop a clueless distance away that might as well be in orbit around Uranus (insert gag here). I used to joke ; ‘Manumission, every expense spared’.

BUT

I had some legendary times there, usually thanks to Mike and Claire and my good mate Johnny The Dwarf - I’d be here all day and night with the stories if I started. The reason you may detect a sour note in all this is that despite the dreadful split and an airtight contract for neither to use the name - Andy is essentially doing ‘Manumission’ at Pikes soon. He’s weaselled the wording so it is his ‘name’ with ‘Andy’ in small type and MANUMISSION writ large, for the first time I’ve heard of he is paying to fly DJs in, former Manumission DJs who, let’s be honest, desperately need the work. He’s hated me for a looong time for obvious reasons so this time he is even throwing in the small petty larceny of my trademark screen in front of the DJ booth and grandly proclaiming his ‘mission’ to undermine the cult of the DJ by making them less of a feature - which does not fool anyone at all. He wants to pay DJs bugger-all as usual. He might argue that was my trick! The difference is that I am a thin cat of tiny proportions. I have nothing. He has vast resources.

And this was my ‘beef’ with Pikes from day dot. Andy bought Pikes from Tony a while back. It was Andy McKay who was not paying DJs, expecting them to pay out huge amounts for flights, hotels and taxis. I never held anything against the good folks who work there. It’s the grasping multi-millionaire behind it all that makes the idea of any ’balearic’ credentials such a sham. And is also extremely unfair to those working for Pikes trying so hard to do something cool and legit. Oh righto, thanks for making my place so cool, I’m taking over now. Yeah I do Ibiza Rocks too. This is mine, always was. Mondays are now my fake Australian Manumission tribute act. No Mike and Claire won’t be involved! Why would they? It’s not ACTUALLY called Manumission. Etc ad nauseam.

Andy has put me on a blacklist. I am never to appear at his venues. He even freaked out when I reviewed his restaurant (favourably!) as I apparently have it in for him. Well, actually until recently I never gave him a moment’s thought. I just started to notice this slightly hysterical tone whenever he mentioned me. One of the things I noticed is that he called me a ‘propagandist’ for revealing he was behind a psychotic campaign during COVID, which included professional press and PR, that he termed - “Ibiza is Open” when not only was it very much closed, as we are thankfully governed by adults, it was also literally mortally dangerous to travel. Both his venues being technically hotels opened as early as was humanly possible and were unquestionably superspreader nodes and indeed someone actually died in Ibiza Rocks hotel around that time too. I am deadly serious about policing my industry, mainly cos no one else will. To me this kind of reckless disregard for human life, a choice made over money, is utterly abhorrent. Truly awful. Say what you like about silly discos, this sort of shit cannot stand. It is life and death.

Look, what more can I say other than one simple word? -AVOID

Pikes on Sundays remains legit. Go then instead.
Click to expand...
I'm very keen to see how these Mondays at Pikes go...I am on the island 24-28 May and torn between the Saturday House Party and Monday. No availability in the restaurant for Saturday currently so booked in for Monday...and the plan is to carry on after that at 'Manumission'. This could change if the Saturday line-up looks more interesting....

I wonder if they will stick to the policy of never announcing line-ups before the night (for Manumission)? Next few weeks will be interesting....
 
Been reading a few threads across the socials following the SDJ’s post above (same post on twitter and FB). Mark Broadbent replied on FB for anyone interested.

If I’ve got this right Plaza Mayor is where you had dinner. Pamela’s I think it was called last year? That’s now going to be its own ‘room’ as it were? So, packing more people into the venue I fear (good luck getting a spot on the floor in Freddie’s if so!)

Also - I’ve not seen Harvey booked for any other Ibiza nights in September other than a Glitterbox or two which was announced before Mark and Sarah and the team departed Pikes. In previous years Harvey was booked for several events as well as Glitterbox. I know the Mondays from end of August were ‘left blank’, but does anyone know if Mercury Rising is definitely happening in Pikes this summer???

If not, then with no Artwork either, I think I’ll be done with it. I was just about to book a September weekend around MR at Pikes, but holding off for a bit now!
 
I was at Pikes tonight, and the vibe was decent!

Plaza Mayor (I really hope they paint it back to the old colour) was a really great starting point for the night. DJ booth next to Room 12, sound was decent and you couldn’t hear it from sunset or down the front (so fingers crossed for no noise complaints this year!)

This means they’re using both levels of the restaurant for service now as only room for dancing in Plaza Mayor now!

Considering this, sunset and Freddie’s didn’t open until 11pm, and according to the Melon Bomb guys, there were 1k+ on the guestlist for tonight. This does mean if you have a ‘headliner’ during the summer then Freddie’s is going to be absolutely disgusting.

The guys who have now been brought in for Sundays have had it thrown on them quite quickly by the sounds of things, and they’ve obviously filled the spot but they aren’t the ones that pushed the others out of course. Will be interesting to see how it pans out.

I also know it’s super boring, but there have been a few upgrades to the venue that people might want to know about. There’s a bar almost finished out the front (they’ve got rid of the Jacuzzi pool and now have the airstream where Peach has set up shop). The not-so-secret bathroom in Freddie’s is now 3 toilets. A non alcoholic gin and tonic STILL costs €17! But the Club Tropicana rumours are true.
 
ok, so there's a lot to disentangle here but if I may, here goes.

1. TSDJ. Now he has set himself up as Ibiza's last if not only punk, a perpetual thorn in the side of the system, ready to take on the industry, a David v Goliath saga which inevitably polarises people into diehard fans and mortal enemies. I don't know TSDJ. We have spoken on the phone and he did me a kind favour once and has always been friendly and courteous to me online. I can understand why others may take a different view. In an era of arse-covering press releases and career-saving statements, where even mild criticism is taken as incendiary trolling then he performs a valuable service as a whistleblower exposing wrongdoing. Maybe he has his own agenda, and likes the sound of his typeface too much (there is an undeniable ego), but it's not for me to psychoanalyse his intentions. He usually gets a debate going and that imo is healthy.

2. His allegations. Again it's not for me to comment. Some of this stuff may be down to personal gripes. There may be a historical feud. There's a lot here we're not privy to. I do however know 3 other DJs (2 are personal mates of mine) who have independently moaned about how were they treated by Pikes in the past. I won't name them but I can confirm they're 100% kosher. Mark Broadbent went public too supporting TSDJ. He is generally seen as one of the good guys who 'gets' the balearic ethos, and the general fear is his loss will be HUGE.

3. Manumission in its heyday was of course world famous for its spectacle but who could remember a single record ever played there? It was well suited therefore to a huge space which was as much theatre/cabaret as disco. If they're keeping the name (but not the sex show!) then is TSDJ right and this is basically a smokescreen for getting DJs to play anonymously on the cheap? And that sets off alarm bells because much as music people hate the cult of dj billboards, similarly they want assurances serious people will be playing and not novelty merchants playing Club Tropicana to ironic cheers from people lying on inflatable crocodiles.

4. Pikes as an institution. I read an awful lot of muttering in my extended circle yesterday about the future of Pikes as somewhere people still gravitate to. The thing to remember about music people is they want to be around other music people. It's a family, a community I've been loosely involved in for over 20 years. A lot of these people are appalled at what feels like a coup d'etat nobody can quite understand. I think the mistake they often make is still fetishising the place as some escapist 80s fantasy when it is ultimately a business which has to cater for thousands of tourists, not all of whom share the same music or values. That said, there is nowhere else I know in Europe (let alone Spain) like Pikes so that explains why people thousands of miles away are emotionally invested in its future.

5. The future. My guess is in the short term the new people will throw out a few meaty bones to keep some of the old crowd happy. Maybe RdB will be the link man? But equally it will be a numbers game and capacity will get stretched as Tiffany alluded to above. I think that unless we're all badly wrong, a lot of my crowd will gradually relocate elsewhere, the obvious alternatives being Malanga, Paradise Lost and Akasha depending on the mood.
 
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