Coyu Catch Up

After a successful debut summer in Ibiza, Suara is enjoying its second season on the White Isle, for which they found a new home. The infamous ‘Kitties wanna dance’ themed party is taking place at Sankeys Ibiza every Friday from June 26 till September 25, bringing its trademark vigorous sound to the highly acclaimed nightlife institution of Playa d’en Bossa. While the Basement is ruled by the brand new Shelter concept created by the Ibiza Rocks and Sankeys teams, Suara is taking over the Lab – the new crystal clear soundsystem of the room is just perfect for showcasing the releases of Resident Advisor’s No.1 most charted label and Beatport’s second highest selling non-EDM imprint. With such names on the bill as Mark Knight, Umek, Jay Lumen, Carlo Lio, Dosem, Edu Imbernon, Pleasurekraft and many others, this party arrived more than ready for very tough competition on Friday, one of the busiest nights in Ibiza. To mark the peak of the new successful season, we had a chance to talk with Coyu, the mastermind of Suara and the weekly resident of the party, about his approach to programming, the benefits of collaborating with Sankeys and Shelter, and the lessons learnt from the debut year…

Tell us please of your emotions regarding the Ibiza season!
From the very beginning I was and still am very excited about the launch of weekly Suara parties at Sankeys! It is our second season on the island and the first season of working with this club. Last year was our debut, so we learnt a lot about what we did. It was a big challenge, and we coped with it quite well. This year we have moved to a bigger club, with a bigger opportunity to keep growing up and keep doing cool things in Ibiza.

What is the most important thing that you learnt from last year?
In the beginning of last season nobody involved in Suara had any experience of working in Ibiza before. It was a big deal and a big challenge for us. To be honest, we didn’t know that it would be so tricky with some things, and we managed to get a proper and precious experience. On this island you have to work really hard, because the competition is extremely huge – not only with the music, but also with almost everything. New problems come up every day: with printing posters, or with the promotion, or with the police… Until you come here, you simply don’t know of them. Trying to run a party here is quite an adventure.

Why did you choose Friday night for this summer? Do you expect some friends to fly over from mainland Spain?
Hopefully! Last summer we were doing Wednesday night at Booom, and it was very different. We chose Friday with the hope that more Spaniards would come to our party indeed, because people are more used to go out during weekends, Friday or Saturday night. Sankeys so far has been a pretty much English club for English people. But we also realised from the very beginning that it will be quite tough because of the huge competition on Fridays with Music On at Amnesia, Insane at Pacha, Glitterbox at Space… We knew it would be hard, but we were ready!

You have teamed up with Shelter, the new party at Sankeys. Which benefits do you get from this collaboration?
I think we are a good match of parties going on at the same time under one roof. Shelter is an English brand created by Ibiza Rocks crew. At Suara, we like sexy techy music, and Shelter are about UK garage and house. So I think there is a good mix between us, and it works really well.

What are the highlights of your bookings for this summer?
We don’t have a big budget, so we won’t have huge headliners. For sure, we have Mark Knight, Umek and a few others, but our focus this season is on quality, even though not extremely well-known artists. Check the line-up, and you will see that all the artists booked for Suara are working extremely well on house and techno scene – not only as DJs but also as producers, they are releasing impressive music on top labels. So I think the quality of a DJ is more important for us than quantity. Probably last year we had more headliners, but this year our line-ups are very strong as well, with 3-4 top guys every night.

What are your impressions of the season so far?
It’s been a hard summer for everyone, because the competition is really tough. Probably there are not enough people for all the parties that are going on in Ibiza right now. Moreover, for each party there are after-parties, there are daytime and nighttime events… As for us, we are quite happy to have a lot of people in Sankeys on Fridays, and the combination with Shelter is going quite well. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season!

Which of the nights among those that you already had at Sankeys was the most successful one?
We are just in the middle of the season, we started quite late at the end of June. So I believe the best party is yet to come! My back-to-back with Umek was obviously bound to be one of the highlights of the season. Next week it will be my birthday with a lot of friends coming, so I think it’s going to be a great night too.

What was the biggest surprise that this season offered you?
Sankeys is a British club, 90% of the crowd here is British, so for us it has been a new chance to play for a British crowd. People from the UK are quite different from those coming from Germany or Spain or France. They like and are used to a very specific sound, and that’s why sometimes I’m playing at the beginning of the night – just to deliver that vibe that they want. You can’t ask the headliner to play such a specific sound, because he will tell you: “Yeah, but I’m playing techno, or I’m playing deep house, or I’m playing such and such”. So, for example, last weekend I was the first DJ to play for almost three hours at the beginning of the night, I opted for the kind of the UK house that the Sankeys crowd loves, and it turned out to be quite successful.

What are your expectations till the end of the season?
We will try to keep doing nice things, keep bringing to Sankeys a different musical point of view, keep filling the Lab with a lot of people and keep making cool parties! We have learnt a lot from the previous season, and we are getting better and better every night.