JOCKEY JOURNAL: GUY GERBER

One thing Guy Gerber is known for is style. Chic, slick, dapper... call him what you will. More important is this guy’s ability to make masterful music.

Whether with last year’s ‘Fabric Live’ mix to his recent production alongside Clarian (‘Claire’) for Visionquest, listening to Guy Gerber’s techno is more like lying in a flower bed than a muscular work-out.

Either live or within a DJ set, the Israeli’s cosmic touch is elegant to say the least, and with his new residency at Pacha Ibiza lined up for the summer — bizarrely titled Wisdom of the Glove — the trajectory of his profile is only going to rise. Hence, we wanted to hear about his year so far...

“This party was probably the best I had this year. The BPM Festival this year was amazing, and this was the highlight for me. We were waiting to go to another party, and there were only six of us in the most beautiful villa I’ve ever seen. The view on one side was a lagoon, and on the other, the Caribbean. I got a little bored of waiting so I started playing, and sometimes I would put a long track on and go out to the terrace to watch the sunrise with everyone. Slowly more and more people heard about it. Six turned into 20, 20 turned into 50, 50 people turned into 120. I ended up playing for four hours, and probably played the best set I ever had.”

LIL CHARLIE’S, NYC

“This was a Monday night in NY, a last-minute thing. I played for Verboten that Friday and was in town. I have many friends in NY, but a lot of them were at a wedding so they missed the show. I wanted to make it up to them, since I couldn’t attend the wedding either, and my friend at Lil Charlies asked me to play. The rumour spread really fast, and when I got there it was totally packed. People were partying like it was Friday night — a lot of people said they had never seen such total mayhem on a Monday night. I played a really long set and it was a lot of fun.”

“We always do our party in Miami — this time the line-up was the biggest we’ve ever had, with people like tINI, Bill Patrick, Davide Squillace, Dyed Soundorom and many, many more... it was an extremely classy environment and it was very refreshing to have a party in such a beautiful set-up with a great soundsystem, and lots of friends. It was a great experience to do something a little different, and I am pretty sure it was the only party without guys with no shirts on...”

“It’s hard to describe in such a short paragraph how complicated the relationship between Israel and Turkey is these days, but still I accepted this gig with a lot of hope that music goes beyond all the political aspects. I played at this really cute club called Babylon, and there were so many people that were giving me a lot of love, putting my name on their iPhones and waving them at me. It was a very special moment. I played a little different, since this place is more for live shows, and I just loved the whole night. People were great, a lot of beautiful girls. Honestly, it had the most beautiful girls of anywhere I’ve played this year!”

PAN MINIFEST TEL AVIV, ISRAEL

“This was the first time I did a big party in my own country, 4000 Israeli people on Independence Day, and I was very very proud to headline this event. The line-up was me, Art Department, Damian Lazarus, Subb-an and Umek playing, huge. It was a real rave. The party was great and I’m still amazed to see how much support I’m getting in my own country.”

“This was a free party that I did in order to prepare for the season, for all island residents. It was the first time I met all of the crew that work with Pacha. I was amazed to see how beautiful the relationship was between each of them. Was also great to come to Ibiza so early. It gave me a taste of what I’m going to have this season, and honestly I just can’t wait for it to start. Pacha is such a labyrinth of an environment, and it fits perfectly with our weird and creepy concept.”