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There aren't many DJs with the longevity of Roger Sanchez. Master of the 6 hour set and man at the helm of both Release Yourself and the record label Stealth, this is the 10^th year of his residency in Ibiza, albeit at two wildly different venues.

Release Yourself moved last year from it's original home of Pacha onto the newly refurbished terrace of Amnesia and last week saw Roger also launch a series of 3 Stealth beach parties at the incredibly luxurious Playa D'en Bossa venue La Plage.

I Voice sat down with him over a bite of sushi to find out just where he's at this summer, and to pick up some island tips after spending so many summers here...

So there was a lot of hoohar last year about the moving of Release Yourself from Pacha after all those years..and how things would work out etc. One year on, it's all going great, but what has been the real differences in the night and the change of venue?
Well, the biggest difference is that the room itself is such a different type of room. It's a room that allows me the ability to try different things when it comes to decoration and production. And I think that's been a fantastic thing to do. I luuurve being able to look out and see my whole crowd in front of me, the booth is a very comfortable booth. It's a different system, working with Amnesia instead of Pacha, so there are challenges there..(laughs) but I think the crowd have been incredibly supportive and they've been following us and really getting into the vibe of the room. It reminds me now more of the parties I used to go to when I first came to Ibiza. And that's all that we wanted to do really...

And how involved do you actually get with production and design of the night...
I'm very involved, I come up with the theme every year, and I actually design a lot of the décor that gets put up. We work with a company called MadeUp, from the UK, who have done our logo and the giant headphones in the booth, the futuristic elements from a concept that I came up with. Amnesia get involved bringing in some of the acrobats that we have, but I'm very much involved with the concept and creating my vision in the room itself...and it's important (to transform the room every night) because it keeps people interested in coming back. Especially with so many multiple nights, which all the clubs have, and everybody is vying for the same customers, so you gotta do what you gotta do to make your night different.

You really have to work hard in Pacha to change the look of that main room. It's a challenge. I took it on every year and at the end of the season I was always scratching my head, thinking, now what the hell am I gonna do next year? I've always been a music lover & enthusiast. It doesn't mean I jump on every trend. But it means that I allow new sounds to influence my set. I always have a particular vibe, but the records that make up my set vary widely...

How flexible can you be musically once you get to the level that you're now at?
I think for me personally I've always managed to be flexible. There are points depending on the crowd, like in Ibiza in certain places, they lean more to one aspect of my sound than others, like if I'm playing in Miami, or Toronto or Montreal, they're used to me playing a bit darker and a little bit more underground. Whereas where I'm used to playing in Ibiza, its a much bigger room, bigger vocal sound. But it doesn't perturb me, you understand what I'm saying, those are aspects of my sound. I've got a broad spectrum in terms of what I play, I don't just play deep house, I don't just play vocal house, I don't just play tribal house, I play a gammet of all of those, and I tailor my set depending on what room I'm in. There are always variables, an undercurrent that is still my sound.

I like the fact that the genres are blurring. I have a big issue with the fact that one synth sound will immediately make a track unplayable for a DJ - "oh I don't play that stuff...." I like the fact that now you're seeing trance mix into house, house mix into trance, techno into house, and it's interesting because I play a bit of all of it.

I've always been a music lover and enthusiast. It doesn't mean I jump on every trend. But it means that I allow new sounds to influence my set. I always have a particular vibe, but the records that make up my set vary widely. My Release Yourself compilations are different every year, when I go to look back at them, I can hear, "oh that's where my head was at that year" and it changes and I allow that to happen because it's important. I get renew my sound and grow. A lot of DJs that started out when I did just aren't relevant any more, a lot of big names that are not present, you just don't see them.

How do you keep on top of new music then, with the deluge of new labels and productions out there?
I do a radio show of course, so I get a lot, and I mean a lot of tracks sent me. But I'll also go on Beatport, and I go on Traxsource, and lots of different websites. Record shopping of course isn't what it used to be. But I'm very fortunate to be that visible, I get a lot of record producers sending me stuff directly, and people know, oh Roger will like this. But, I still do my research, it's easy I think to get lazy. But that's not me. I've never been a lazy bugger.

Tell me about the Grammys - it seems to be a mark now for DJs breaking it in the US. Guetta has one, and it changed his career certainly.  Denis Ferrer is nominated for one....but you were first no? how much difference does it really make?
The Grammy story is very interesting. Because as a remixer, more than anything it's recognition for the work that you have done, and it kind of gives you a stamp of viability on the industry side. (ie Madonna comes knocking...)

As an artist, where it really makes a difference, is if you have a Grammy for an album that you've produced. Because if you get that, then people view you differently, as in OK, I've got to go and purchase this artist album. I think dance is finally starting to get to the level in the US where it's competing with pop in terms of viablility, and with rap and with everything else. Prior to that it just wasn't quite there.

Currently I've just done a remix for a Latin Pop artist called Miguel Bose, and I'm doing one for Brandon Flowers from The Killers, which is one of my favourite bands. I just done something for Robbie Williams.

Do you still have a wish list for people you'd like to remix?
More than remix, it's write with, because I'm more of a writer. I'm doing remixes again, because I think its important to remind people that besides writing I can do this. And its also a way to open doors to artists that I'd like to write with. I would love to work with Bjork, and I'd love to work with Sade, they're two that have always been on my wish list that I've never got to work with. La Plage is amazing, they're very understated & sexy, I like the way they've done things there, the food is amazing & the vibe is really nice. I'm all about the vibe of a place, it's got to speak to me...

Do you have tracks that you re-edit into your set...
Yes. I've started doing that a lot more now. I've done some stuff with Coldplay that I use, and one with Bulletproof, La Roux, and some of the boys on my label have been doing some mashes that I play with, Chris Moody has one with Justice, I love doing it.

What's your DJ set up? How do you transport your music around, and find it all simply?
I play with CDJ2000's. But I've switched to USB's now, and I'm going to try SD cards. It makes so much more sense now. I try to compile stuff, I haven't been using Record Box, but I'm trying to move over to that. I file tracks with folders, with weird names, that give me a general view of styles of sounds, and then I date everything so I can see the most recent tracks first. It's a challenge...

I've been used to looking at my CDs, so I'm now trying out some apps with my iPad, so that I do a tile with  my CDs on my iPad and then go to my USB, I haven't quite cracked it, but I'll get there.

What your production process? Your latest track 2Gether has a little snippet from B52s  in it...do you generally start with a sample?
No. That actually was really by accident, I was working in the studio with a friend of mine, he had the string loop, those chords, and I was like, 'hey I like that' then I started writing the beats and basslines around it, and then I was trying to get a vibe for a vocal, going through my acapellas, cos sometimes I get a vibe off an accapella that I've got, and go from there, or if I have a melody, I'll sing that first and later call somebody in, but that particular day, I saw the B52s thing....and I said to him, look go with me on this..you're not gonna believe me when I pull it up, but its B52s, and I didn't take the main hook. I love that you know the voice, but if I'm gonna take a sample, I'm gonna take something, that you'll recognise the voice, but you won't recognise the sample right away. Unless it's that evocative, like when I did Another Chance, people didn't know where the hell that came from, but they knew the sound of it. And it was the same with this one, 'we can get together' what it says it more evocative than the actual sample itself, and I looped that little vocal and put it together and it worked for me.

So it's 10 years now, of Release Yourself and all those years of coming to Ibiza. Where do you like to go to get away from it all on the island? Where do you go to hang out?
Well when my family is here I've really started to get into going to Playa D'en Bossa, I love La Plage, it's really cool. And I love Talamanca. It's not that there's so much going on here, its just NICE. It's really chilled and sometimes you just want to get away from eveything, its a total disconnect. I like Marina Botafoch, and I go all around the island really.

Where I go to sunbathe? I won't tell anybody that. To be honest with you...there are a lot of little nook and crannies on the island, and yeah, I've got my little spot that I like.

Food wise - Trattoria Del Mar is one of my favourites on the island. And I actually am incredibly impressed with the quality of Kama Sushi, because I am a big Japanese food lover...there are a lot of sushi places on the island and I'm quite disappointed with them, I mean I'm from New York! But I am very impressed with the food here.

One of the little secrets on the island is there's this place called Es Cuco, which does the best rotisserie chicken on the island its in Cala Bassa. And what used to be my favourite restaurant, isn't open anymore, was Cana Joana, they were amazing...they had the best truffle potato thing....I am a real foodie.

So tell me about the parties at La Plage.

Right, that is actually a Stealth party, I decided to keep Stealth a little bit seperate from my main party, same as I do at Winter Music, so I'm not playing at these parties, I actually get a chance to chill. And my boys can play at these parties, not so much of a pressure as a club set up. We had a lot of VIPs coming down, but at the same time you can relax and people coming off the beach and it's a free party, so we can keep it controlled without getting shut down! But to create a free party vibe. And La Plage is amazing, they're very understated, and sexy, I like the way they've done things there, the food is amazing and the vibe is really nice. I'm all about the vibe of a place, it's got to speak to me.

Do you have a favourite Ibiza moment?
It's always had to pick that all defining Ibiza moment, but there was one particular sunset session that I played at Mambo. And I had this one time where the record ended just as the sun went away, and everyone clapped, and that for me was soo Ibiza. Very not what people can normally do, and that was a really defining moment.... and I think Lenny Bizzarre had played right before it, and it was really amazing thing to do, to actually time the record ending with the sun going down. Perfect.

***

Release Yourself is every Tuesday on the Terrace at Amnesia.

Stealth hits La Plage twice more this summer
August 16th - Martijn ten Velden | Prok & Fitch
September 20th - Lex da Funk | Tom Stephan

www.rogersanchez.com | www.myspace.com/rogersanchez | www.stealth-records.com