Paul Oakenfold
Flash forward
a decade or so and the same Paul Oakenfold is sitting in the plush pool
bar at Pikes Hotel just off the
main road between
Ibiza Town and San Antonio (just a stone's throw from Amnesia in fact).
He's sipping on his freshly
squeezed and
reminiscing about the parties he went to at this very hotel: Freddie Mercury,
Grace Jones, the whole
champagne set
shenanigans.
These days Oakenfold
is a living legend. It's a crap term (generally used of clapped-out lounge
singers and ageing,
cosmetically
enhanced film stars) but in his case it happens to be appropriate. Just
check out the story of his ecstasy
conversion. Because
that's a legend if ever I heard one. But is it true?
"For me,
it's all about the music. The drugs just complement the music. I suppose
if you speak to
people
who aren't so into music then they'll tell you otherwise. But music and
drugs have always
gone hand
in hand; it's more a question of what was the drug of the generation; whether
it's
marijuana,
cocaine or E." Yeah. But is the story true?
"Sure it's true.
Before '87, I came here and just got off on Alfredo's music. Then I took
a pill and it
was, like, 'Oh
my God!' And then? Well. You're on a mission aren't you?" Mission is right.
Because
when the four
pioneers returned to London, they attacked the club scene with a missionary
zeal;
preaching the
Balearic gospel to anyone who'd listen. Danny opened the seminal Shoom
with his
girlfriend Jenni
and Nicky took the music to a more populist level with Trip at The Astoria.
But it
was Oakenfold
who really set himself a challenge when he negotiated a Monday night (Future)
at what was then
London's most
celebrated venue, Heaven. Within a month he was 12 grand in debt and was
beginning to wonder if
he'd made an
expensive mistake.
"I believed in
it though. Even at the time it felt significant and right. We didn't care
if we were making a statement but we
just felt that
we were on a better buzz than the people in London. Not even a drug buzz.
Just having a lot more fun. At
first we only
had that hardcore following that had been to Ibiza, the people who gave
out flyers and the bar workers, and
we were barely
breaking even. But slowly everyone brought someone who brought someone
who brought someone.
And it just got
going. Just like Ibiza itself."
This seems to
be a theme of Oakenfold's life; that word of mouth philosophy and his passion
for sharing the music.
And its a theme
that has taken him full circle; from his time on the Amnesia dancefloor
as one of the first proto-ravers
to tonight's
session at Cream's opening in Ibiza at - where else? - Amnesia. Though
these days the venue is
Brit-dominated,
and the stretching queue is strictly Anglo-file.