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Danny Whittle Interview

How to organise the best weekly DJ line up in Ibiza (in fact the whole world!)

Anyone who has scanned the forthcoming parties in Ibiza this year will probably have found themselves pencilling in Pacha as the choice of venue for this or that night of the week, or maybe both. Most of us who have then stood back and reviewed that list have noticed that almost every night of the week - Pacha appear at the top of the list?

Somebody has to be responsible for this curiosity, so we sought out the most likely suspect and demanded an explanation.

Danny Whittle accepts his share of the blame, but apportioned the rest to the 'family' team that is Pacha. He first arrived 9 years ago with the Renaissance team from Nottingham - just a short canal boat ride from his home town of Stoke on Trent - to do Pacha. Next assignment was Ministry of Sound, again at Pacha, before being head-hunted by Darren Hughes of 'Home' fame. Danny organised the early Homelands festivals in the UK then accompanied them on their first mission to Ibiza. He wanted to install Home at Pacha, but Pacha declined - so Danny spoke instead to Space and the concept of the 22 hour 'Home @ Space' party came to fruition. Possibly the best known Ibiza party of recent years and certainly the most mourned following the demise of Home.

Danny's next move was to Bondai Beach (Oz) to do the millennium with Carl Cox which he describes as one of the greatest parties the planet has ever seen. Immediately afterwards his phone rang - It was Hugo Urgell (son of Ricardo - Pacha's founding father) asking Danny to take Pacha into the new millennium. He could have refused, but is there a bigger job in this field? is there another challenge to compare with this one?

Danny's allegiance has always been to Pacha. He justifies it on a number of different levels. The first of which was my original question. To attract a top DJ nowadays, a cheque book is simply not enough. The top players are jetting around the world playing different continents on a daily basis. Now and then when they arrive at another venue. it has been known for them to be knackered. Barely enough head space left to think about their set that evening. They need to be mollycoddled. A chauffeur driven from the airport to their villa. A chef in the kitchen and a bed freshly linen laid by an attentive maid to ensure that they have to deal with nothing more than their preparation for the nights work ahead. If you want to get the best out of your guest superstar DJ - make him feel at home and deliver to him a sound system that he'll find a pleasure to drive.

Pacha have an unfair advantage in this area though because their office and organisational staff work all year round on attention to detail. The club is under the paint brush every week of the year. Negotiations for villas, hotels, flights, limo's etc. are well underway before the rest of the clubs have even wiped the sleep from their eyes after the 6 month winter sabatical. This, however, is not just true of Ibiza. There are 23 worldwide Pacha franchises, all of whom attend policy making conferences to ensure that all were tuned in to the incredibly successful Pacha formula, which is based around a family attitude with the people with whom you are working and slow, organic, but controlled growth. It's hard to fault the formula - last year they had more than 2 million paying customers through their doors. To put that into perspective, this is significantly more than Manchester United and Barcelona football clubs combined!

Yes it's a long way removed from the original 'lets have a party' concept with which Pacha began, but Pacha have seamlessly re-invented themselves into the corporate world while the customers and DJs can still feel the original vibe.

Hidden away in various corners of the club are both a radio station and a TV studio delivering content via satellite and the internet to TV and radio stations worldwide. In the main room there are 7 cameras that could be sending pictures of you to almost anywhere else in the world at any one time - so behave yourself, or misbehave yourself depending upon the image that you want to project to your mother in law, or big brother? As if unsatisfied by this apparent global saturation, Pacha also have a road show doing 150 gigs worldwide this year (yes 3 a week!). They're taking local talent around the world as missionaries preaching the gospel of the Balearic vibe. Two of Danny's tips to keep an eye on for the future are Angel Linde and Sarah Main, but represent only the froth on the beer that is the Pacha stable of up and coming talent.

Sarah is Australian so it would appear the Balearic web of talent is bigger than the island. The latest tip is Andy B, the rising star of the Global Room blending hip hop with R&B with house in what is proving to be a very effective crossover. Last year Pache experimented with two hip hop/R&B nights - this year demand calls for six a week!

International music HQ has a lot to answer for and at the eventual global court case demanding explanations. Expect to find Danny and the 'family' putting a good case forward on behalf of Pacha and all of us who have had the good fortune to sail with her.