PIKES BOOK 2017

Paul
Oakenfold
O N C E I N A G E N E R A T I O N
It’s a well-told story that in 1987, I took
three friends on holiday to Ibiza and that
was the year that everything changed…
for us and for dance music. We went back
to London and everyone started looking at
the DJ, everyone started focusing on the
music and can you believe it, 30 years later
everyone’s still doing the same fucking thing
– I’m busier than ever!
I had actually been to Ibiza prior to that
famous trip in 1987, as I worked for an
independent promotions company called
Rush Release. They had signed the infamous
transvestite artist Divine and he’d been
booked by the equally infamous Ku Club to
do a show and I took him and his manager
Bernie from London out to Ibiza back in
1984. We passed by Pikes on that trip, but
we didn’t stay. Divine was so well connected
and had organised a drinks party after his
show there – that was the first time I became
aware of the hotel. I’ll always remember
that trip because Divine came out on stage
at the Ku Club on a baby elephant. It was an
amazing performance, watching this big guy
appear on stage, riding on the back of a baby
elephant. In normal life he was a bald, fat
man who wore a suit. He was softly spoken
and a very kind man, and then he’d put this
wig and dress on and would run around the
stage. You wouldn’t believe it was the
same person.
During my time at Rush Release I was
working with bands and artists like Duran
Duran, Spandau Ballet, Boy George, Sade
and Wham! – I was the kid who was running
around nightclubs in Britain promoting
those records. I always remember walking
into the reception at Pikes, seeing all the
pictures on the walls and thinking, “hang on?
I’ve promoted a lot of these people!” I didn’t
know Tony back then, but I thought Pikes
was amazing because to me it was where the
rich and the famous would stay.
Pikes has seen its cycles of people and it’s
also gone through cycles in terms of genres
of music; it is a tremendous place because
it has so much musical history. You’ve got
the obvious Freddie Mercury, Wham!, Bon
Jovi, Julio Inglesias and Grace Jones stuff,
but there’s a whole electronic thing too,
that people don’t always realise. I didn’t
start visiting the hotel properly until the
whole DJ thing kicked in much later – the
time when DJs became the new stars. We
would all go up there and it became a DJ and
promoter hang out. I remember meeting up
with the likes of Erick Morillo, David Beer
and Charlie Chester – everyone would hang
out there.
I remember putting on a big party back
in 1996/1997 with my record label Perfecto,
which became infamous on the island. We
held it in the hills in the northern part of
the island and I remember that we all met
at Pikes to plan it and discuss how on earth
we were going to do a party in that part of
the island without the police knowing. My
buddy Ian came up with the idea to paint
the rocks on the way to where we were
having it. So people would drive up these
dirt tracks at night and see the fluoro arrows
we’d painted on the rocks pointing you in the
right direction. We got photocopied maps
done to give out – proper rave style. We all
sat at the bar at Pikes and planned the whole
party right there by the pool… I’d forgotten
all about that ’til I started thinking about this
piece – unbelievable!
After that I did a residency at Cream for the
summer and made sure I stayed at Pikes – I
think I was the first international resident
in Ibiza, outside of Alfredo and Pepe. For
the following years I decided that I should
really hire a house! I had all my friends and
family with me and if you went up to Pikes it
would always turn into a fucking afterparty
– you’d stay up all night and then have to go
straight to the airport! I always stay at Pikes
when I play in Ibiza now; Tony has become
a friend and Andy and Dawn who are great
friends and great people, have stepped in and
rebooted the hotel. Everyone there – all the
staff have done a really good job.
Wherever I am around the world, if people
tell me that they’re going to Ibiza I always
tell them to go to Pikes. I even said to Ian
Shrager, who invented Studio 54, then the
first boutique hotel, that the first boutique
hotel was Pikes. If you really think about it,
Pikes always has been one, but that phrase
wasn’t coined when Tony built and opened
it. It’s always had the same essence and
soul that Ian developed with his brand.
I actually got a bunch of people together
to buy Pikes about 10 years ago – I thought
we could partner it with Soho House or
something but when you dig deep into
the infrastructure you find that it’s really
difficult to run a hotel!
I love the place, Pikes is a special place for
me. Tony’s part of the furniture – he’s more
than that – he’s an iconic piece of furniture
on the island and Andy and Dawn have
brought fresh ideas and opened another
chapter to the Pikes story. They’ve put in
a whole new sound system and lighting
rig for this summer and Freddies has had
a bit of renovation too. All through August
what you’ve got is me hosting and playing
my night on Wednesday’s and Harvey’s
Mercury Rising on Monday’s. We’re going
to be bringing back some of those wonderful
moments that Ibiza has played host to
through music. We’ve got lots of different
people passing through, lots of friends from
around the world. It’s gonna be fun!
Harvey will be doing his thing, he’s a friend.
Harvey’s what I call a DJ’s DJ, Harvey’s a
lovely, lovely man and a great fucking DJ.
If I’m in Ibiza on any Monday this summer,
I will be bringing people up to hear him, of
course! That’s the only place I would go on a
Monday. You’ll see me. I know Harvey likes
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