Carl Cox. Retirement Is Still a Long Way Off

Why twenty-five? It is actually much more. I started DJing when I was eight years old, and my audience was twice my age.

I had very rowdy parents. They loved throwing parties, gathering lots of people, playing music loudly. Under those conditions sleeping was, of course, impossible. I would go out onto the stairs in my pyjamas and secretly watch my parents' friends dancing till they dropped. One day my father noticed me and said: "Either you go to bed right now, or I will find you something to do!". And at that moment the record ended, my father grumbled that nobody ever cares about the music, and I said I was ready to take it on. And true enough, nobody cared, so I put on what I liked, and I liked everything - from country to electric funk. Gradually my own tastes started to take shape, and then somehow, without noticing, I moved from home parties to big dance floors.

Now I am going to be immodest. When, around 1988, that form of dance culture we are talking about appeared, there were no nameless creators in it. This culture was built by specific individuals. One of them was Carl Cox. And people started coming to see a specific persona - Carl Cox. To keep some individuality for myself, I came up with certain rules that I still follow, for example, some tricks on the turntables, a particular sound. I tried, and still try, to play all the very newest records before anyone else, to arrive on time at events where I am billed, and not to stay there longer than decency requires.

20 years ago my audience was 26-30. Today those people are 50. I have outlived two generations on the dance floor, and in some cases three. Where would I be if something about them irritated me? I move along with them, I grow, I change, but I always remain Carl Cox. I do what I like, and I love what I do. You know what sets the new generation apart from the previous ones? They have a choice. There is room in the market both for old-school music and for any kind of experiment, and it is all a real market. People used to make music with live instruments; now we have learned to make music with a computer, and no one knows what other invention will change music again. I am not the type of guy who thinks real music can only exist on vinyl. I love experiments and I develop along with the technology. I am not planning to retire, you know...

It would be a real shame if I had spent 25 years doing everything I do and nobody knew me. I cannot sing or play guitar, but I can entertain a crowd, and I do it well. So of course I am glad when I see that this crowd, through a magazine, is saying thank you to you.

Honestly, it is absolutely unimportant to me - whether it is a top list or not a top list. I love what I do. If I were interested solely in my own commercial popularity, I would have stayed in the 80s. I never felt like a real celebrity - the kind who is always on the MTV screen and constantly stuck in tabloids and charts. On the contrary, I always tried to keep a low profile. How many people were there who shot up with one album and quickly faded into nowhere? But I am blessed. For so many years I have been doing what I love - setting dance floors alight and staying popular to some degree!

Ibiza is always full of surprises. Every year people say Ibiza is not what it used to be, that last year was better, and 10 years ago it was absolutely fabulous. We really are gradually changing the island. We do not want the sort of "music tourists" who are only interested in commercial music to come to us. That is why we are making Ibiza more underground. On the other hand, we make sure that all the most interesting and newest records definitely reach the island before anywhere else. Also, we no longer do "themed" nights. We try to play everything in one evening - drum'n'bass, progressive, happy house.

I do not think it will be renewed. It can only be extended. As I said, dance music culture is still new and built on personalities. So new figures will need another 25 years to get to where we are today. There can only be one Sasha, one Erick Morillo, one Carl Cox. Nobody expects Gershwin to replace Bach. And so it is in our case - the list will simply continue. People consider us masters of our craft, and they trust us. I have two record labels, my own radio show broadcast around the world, Tuesdays on Ibiza, and each of these activities has its own consumer, though the basis for the product is one and the same - music and good spirits. I have been lucky. I am an absolutely happy and professionally fulfilled man.

Exotic? You and I may have different notions of what is exotic. I live on a plane, so I do not pay attention to much anymore. Recently in Munich I got to play at a party they had set up inside an empty swimming pool. That is, they had drained the water, built a bar in the middle and made a dance floor. Now that was extremely unusual.

Any mention of that incident turns me into some kind of DJ for gangsters. And that is not the image I would want to have after 25 years of a successful career. I had a mass of questions about that party. Even before the club opened it was obvious that security was not just understaffed - it simply was not there. Those guys came to the club specifically for the people they killed, and then, out of an excess of emotion, started firing indiscriminately. Unfortunately, some random club-goers who had nothing to do with that feud also died. Even if someone did something bad to someone (I do not know how the victims and the attackers were connected), it should not have happened in a club at a party full of other people who suffered for nothing. But the lesson was learned. I really do now ask my agents to pay special attention to the security of the venue I am invited to. By the way, I have been to Venezuela again since then, and I got a lot of enjoyment out of those places.

Unfortunately, I never have time to enjoy the places I visit. But I know exactly what I will do in retirement - travel around the cities where I have been but only ever saw the clubs. But that will not be for a while yet.

I never plan a set in advance. I look at the mood on the dance floor, the energy, I take into account the audience's expectations, my own state of mind, and only then do I choose this or that record. And all these factors are a variable quantity.

I think it is a very important part of the impressions that dance-floor visitors carry away with them. It can distract you from what you are doing, but if a person wants to take something tangible away from the party, I have no right to refuse. And then, you know how it goes? One person takes an autograph, goes off to his friends - and 5 minutes later there is a queue of people with pens in front of you.

Do you know what multitasking is? Well, this is exactly that case. True, there is one more little trick - put on a longer track and free up a minute and a half. You can give out autographs, you can even nip to the toilet if you are desperate...

Playing: Carl Cox, Nigel Dawson, Daniel Davoli, Koreets, Grad, Kolya, Spirit, Volodya, Nuzhdin, Tina Charles, Fonar
Admission: in advance sale - 900-1200 rub.