We speak to Dom Townsend about his summer DJing at Plastik, strange DJing requests and how Ibiza has changed since he’s been on the island.
Hi Dom, how are you, how’s your summer been?
Hi mate, it’s been a long and busy summer but as always I’ve enjoyed every minute of it!
Good stuff! You’re resident at Plastik in San Antonio, how’s Plastik’s season gone?
Plastik is a great bar and it’s been my home from home for the past 5 years now. I love playing there as I feel, in my opinion, it’s one of the best bars on the island. It’s been another busy year in Plastik with having some top quality guest DJs in as well as the usual TV ‘celeb’ every now and again.
Where else have you DJ’d around the island this summer?
I’ve been around a few places this summer – Plastik 7 nights a week (!), Ocean Beach Club for Sin Sundays once a month, Hush every other Sunday for a night in there called ‘The Sunday Club’ (which I did with a mate of mine Tom Buck), Hed Kandi at Es Paradis a fair few times and few boat parties too!
Busy man! What kind of style have you been playing?
I play all kinds of house, from vocal, to tech house, to the deeper stuff and even the down tempo more ambient stuff. My favourite style is a lot of the Defected style house by the likes of Masters At Work, Tuccillo, Nic Fanciulli etc.
We love Defected also! We find your tweets funny about various outrageous track requests from punters. What’s been the best (worst!) requests this year?
Ha! I could go on for days about the requests I get, it’s to be expected though when working in a bar in San Antonio where we do get a fair few stag & hen parties and general holiday makers looking for a cheaper alternative to the big clubs. One of the best requests I had this year was from a girl who said to me really bluntly “hey you! We have got Ireland’s third best Irish dancer with us, put on Tell Me Ma or some Irish music or we’re leaving!” Obviously they left within a minute or two when their request didn’t get played. I love things that people come up and just shout in my face too, they always crack me up, things like “get me 2 Coronas!” and “Oi mate you’re shit!” It’s always nice to get a bit of feedback from the crowd.
Haha! When did you first visit the island? Did you fall in love with it instantly?
Yeah definitely, I first went to Ibiza 6 years ago and as soon as I went home I started to plan my next year trip immediately. As the years have gone on I’ve seen a lot more of the island itself and fallen in love even more with it, there is something about it that just keeps drawing you back there!
Absolutely! What is it about Ibiza you love?
Everything! The clubs, the parties, the music and (most of all) the people. There’s always a great vibe wherever you go whether it be in one of the bigger clubs or in an after party in somebody’s house. Everyone seems to be there purely to enjoy themselves which is great.
What’s your favourite part of the island?
One of the best things I did this summer was hire a car out and drive around the island to places that most workers and tourists would never get to see otherwise. Obviously San Antonio is where I live in Ibiza and with working 7 nights a week I rarely get to see outside of there. Me and a group of mates near the end of the summer had a few days off so drove to the likes of Es Vedra for Sunset and Sa Talia for sunrise, they were both amazing experiences, there really is some parts of the island where you just wouldn’t think you were in Ibiza.
Es Vedra is indeed amazing! What are some of your favourite Ibiza tunes of all time?
There are far too may to choose from! The classics never fail, especially when you least expect to hear them. I went to see Hot Since 82 when he played Ants at Ushuaia and he finished with Strings of Life after playing a set of his usual darker stuff so that went down really well. When playing somewhere, its always the classics like Ultra Nate, Sandy B etc that work well to end the night.
What tracks have been getting the best reactions in your sets this summer?
Again there are loads to choose from. All venue dependant though, in Plastik/Ocean Beach a lot of the MK tracks seem to work best, as well as the likes of Patrick Topping, Amine Edge, Gorgon City, Dusky, Bontan and Oliver $. But when doing our nights at Hush we would get away with a few darker bits from Cristoph, Audiojack, No Artificial Colours, Eats Everything and artists along those lines.
Do you get chance to check out other DJs and events outside of your work and if so, which DJs and parties have impressed you?
Yeah, but not as much as I would of liked to though with working every night. I seen The Martinez Brothers at DC10, they never fail to impress, Yousef at Space, Joris Voorn back to back with Nic Fanciulli at Ushuaia, which were all really good, but one of the best nights by far has got to be flower power at Pacha. If you have never been I can’t recommend it enough. Its just something completely different to any other night I have ever experienced in Ibiza and the atmosphere is one of the best you will get anywhere!
Cheers for the tip! How do you think Ibiza has evolved over the years?
Well the workers dress more and more daft as the seasons progress and everyone seems to have a new found love for ‘deep’ house recently. But apart from that it seems the music scene has taken a bit of a turn for the better too, the hype around all the ‘EDM’ looks like its slowly starting to die down and the more underground parties are becoming increasingly more popular. I suppose only time will tell if that’s a good or bad thing though for the underground scene as without commercial music there would be no underground!
Indeed. And finally, what do you feel is different on the island this year specifically, compared to previous years?
The 2014 season was definitely the quietest one I have seen in 5 years, still busy but just not as busy as previous years. Whether or not this has anything to do with the World Cup and the festivals being on I don’t know, or whether or not Ibiza is just becoming to expensive in general, but yeah definitely the quietest season I have seen in my time. There seems to be a lot more competition holiday wise too with people going to Vegas and Croatia this year for the party scenes there. I’m sure Ibiza will be busy as ever next year though, nothing compares to Ibiza for a party!
Absolutely! Cheers for your time Dom!