PACO OSUNA: “I THINK LATELY THE CLUBBING SCENE HAS NEGLECTED THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC AND THE PASSION FOR MIXING”.

Paco Osuna’s NOW HERE continues to be a massive success, just as it was last summer. NOW HERE opened on June 13 and will continue every Tuesday through to October 3 at Hï’s Club Room, alongside The Martinez Brothers at The Theatre.

With a really powerful line-up of more than 27 artists on a total of 16 nights, Paco Osuna’s NOW HERE has a very defined vision: to be a celebration of summer nights in which music is lived with passion and enjoyed collectively, to live the present moment to the fullest.

In addition and teaming up with the SKY Experience crew, on Thursday October 19th NOW HERE & Paco Osuna will travel to Amsterdam to deliver a massive event at the iconic A’DAM Tower in Amsterdam, for the collaboration event during ADE. This will be the way to welcome the fall season, NOW HERE style, in a magnificent venue that will have the cosmopolitan city of Amsterdam as its main stage, bringing together some of the iconic artists that have set the mood for unforgettable summer nights in Ibiza. Tickets available here

As Ibiza is Paco’s headquarters for the summer, we had the opportunity to do an in-depth interview with him along with NOW HERE guest artists Melanie Ribbe, Blackchild, Iglesias and Manu Gonzalez, who have been part of the project since the beginning.

Hi Paco, it’s a pleasure chatting with you, your NOW HERE concept is a vindication of the present, but to know how to appreciate the present you have to know the past, that past that has made you one of the most important national artists of all time. We are going to start with something that very few people may know, is it true that at the end of the nineties a tape with your music came into the hands of a person in Ibiza and that made you start on the island?

Yes it’s correct! At that time I was living and studying my degree in Valencia, and through a person who was a friend of my family and worked at Amnesia, I sent
that music tape to Martín Ferrer from Amnesia. A short time later, Martín called me in person to tell me to come to Ibiza to form part of the crew of DJs.

Many people affirm that the first season in Ibiza is the one that marks you the most,how was that first season? What surprised you the most?

Well, to tell you the truth, it was very hard and even frustrating at times. Since at that time the DJs, or at least for Amnesia, were the last thing to be valued. I remember that in the opening I was only able to play the last 20-30 minutes of the session, I didn’t expect that, although it was also true that I was the last DJ to form part of the team. But I had a very bad time since all my friends from Valencia and Barcelona had come to see my debut, (laughs). Then little by little I began to understand my role in the club and little by little I reverted it, at the end of that first season I was already the first resident in the main room (which at that time was the Club Room and not The Terrace).

In positive terms, what surprised me the most was the freedom that you felt on the island and the energy there was in each party. I came from very different places (Barcelona & Valencia) and they had nothing to do with what I experienced in Ibiza that year. I remember that it was extremely hard because I would get to Amnesia at 11 at night and leave when the club closed – in those days they did not have a fixed closing time – and I worked every day without having a single day off, at the end of the season I was exhausted (laughs).

It is one thing to be a DJ and quite another to be a professional DJ. Were your years in Amnesia the ones that taught you the profession?

Not entirely, but it did have a great impact on my vision of music and the way I understand a DJ session. In those years being a resident DJ – or at least my role at Amnesia – was to open the session and be in the booth all night in case the guest DJ had a problem or needed something, in fact at the beginning of the season they made me sign a paper to say that I was in charge of the booth if something was missing or broken, I basically had to be a watchman all night (laughs). However, the musical level enriched me a lot and taught me to be able to manage a dance floor in any context. I could do the opening for Sven Väth, for Tiësto or Erick Morillo, or I had to play commercial music during the foam party, that gave me a great musical diversity and the ability to function in any situation or environment. So it was like a school of learning, which has helped me throughout my career.

Cocoon, ENTER, Music On, you have been involved in the best parties in the history of Ibiza, what did you learn in those years and from working with such important brands?

What I learned was a lot, both musically and technically. I still remember the first time I saw Richie Hawtin play with an AKAI sampler, the 909, a delay module and I said to myself: how much you still have to learn! So that’s what I always tried to do, learn, learn from the best and apply it to my way of DJing.

I have always believed that the day I think I know everything and stop being interested in continuing to learn will be the first day of the end of my career. Obviously I also carry with me all those experiences, the great people I have met and the great friends I have made. Marco Carola is one of my best friends, with Richie Hawtin I have grown a lot in terms of creativity when mixing (which is something lost today) and Sven Väth helped me a lot in my beginnings in Ibiza musically, for example, Sven would give me his repeated promos on Mondays when he arrived at Amnesia. I can only speak so highly of those parties and I have possibly the best memories of those times.

Now we are talking about the present. What is your assessment of your residency – NOW HERE – last year at Hï Ibiza? Did it meet your expectations?

Normally I don’t like to have expectations, my father raised me telling me this: if you don’t have expectations you don’t have disappointments, what you have to do is to work hard constantly to achieve your goals in life. That is precisely what I did last season at Hï Ibiza!! Since we announced the residency everyone told me – it was about time, you’re going to make it big! – to which I responded: the only thing I know is that I’m going to give everything to make the night work, so you have to work, and work, and I will not relax and just think that it will go well.

At the end of the season, the satisfaction I had was incredible! I couldn’t believe what we had achieved on Tuesdays in the Club Room, not only in terms of capacity, but also in terms of atmosphere and the family we had created. Then I saw what Yann wrote about me at the end of the season on social media and the truth is that he moved me a lot. I would not like to say that the season met my expectations, rather I would say that at the end of the season I was very happy and very satisfied with what we had achieved.

How did this first residency and Paco’s own party in Ibiza come about? What are the main fears that an artist faces when faced with the challenge of developing his own concept?

Well, to be honest, we had the project prepared for 2020 in another room, but Covid appeared and everything changed. When we were able to plan the season again, we got the option to do it at Hï Ibiza! And honestly it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. The team and how they made me feel – so loved from the beginning – for me it was the real success of the season, without feeling that love from all of them I could not have had the same results. I have always said that when you feel loved is when you give your best, it is the greatest motivation.

And yes, you obviously have fears, fear of failure, fear of not being able to connect with the public. But as I’ve been DJing in Ibiza since 1999, even though I was afraid, I was also very sure of what I had to do and how I had to do it.

What can we expect from NOW HERE in 2023? What things would you improve from last year? What’s new?

I think lately the clubbing scene has neglected the importance of music and the passion for mixing. Today there are other factors that the public likes, the DJ’s interaction with them, the visual show, etc. It’s like the music isn’t the main thing. And we want to give priority to that again, to innovation in music and DJing. I could never understand going to a club just to see the show of the visuals or the show of the DJ interacting with the audience.

I grew up visiting clubs to learn from the DJ, both the technique and the music and that is what we at NOW HERE want to promote. I’m not interested in big names that sell tickets, I’m interested in artists that contribute something to music and the world of DJing. Therefore, in terms of what is new, we have new artists that I think will bring more musical richness to the Club Room.

What have you based on when choosing the artists to accompany you? What can you tell us about them?

As I mentioned before, everything is based on the music and the DJ as an artist. All the DJs, both from last season and this one, have been part of NOW HERE because I have personally seen them play live and I know their work. Not a single one of them is in the line-up due to status or because they sell tickets, I am 95% sure
that they will all do very well from minute one, so that the people have fun and enjoy the music. As our motto says: WE CARE ABOUT MUSIC.

How many people work for NOW HERE? It’s crucial to have a great team behind it for a party like this to work, right?

The truth is that we have a great team. It is not so much the quantity but rather that everyone involved in the project believes in it and feels it is their own. When, whatever the job, you feel that it is yours and that you are part of the project, that is when you get more involved and give more of yourself.

Going to play at a club as a guest is not the same as going to play at a party where you feel part of the team and identified, that’s why I want the guests to feel NOW HERE as part of them. This isn’t just Paco Osuna’s party, it’s the party of a group of DJs who have – more or less – the same vision and idea of what a club night is.

Do you think NOW HERE has come to build its own sound? How would you define it?

Completely! If you look at the line- up, all the artists have the same musical identity: fresh and happy sounds that invite you to dance from the first beat. I have always thought that people go to a club to have fun, to have a good time and to forget about their problems, so I try to make the music like that: fun sounds that invite you to dance and which evoke emotions in you. I would define NOW HERE’s sound as groovy and fresh.

The competition in Ibiza is brutal, in your opinion what differentiates NOW HERE from the rest of the offer?

We do not want to compete with anyone, we are clear about our identity, our path and our goals, regardless of what others do!! I don’t look at what anyone does, I look at what I do. When you are very aware of what others do – or compare yourself with others – you are already distracted from your goals. So, as my father would say: Us, like donkeys: all the time, looking forward, without looking to the sides!

What does a club like Hï Ibiza bring you? What do you like most about your room?

I like EVERYTHING, but above all I like the team!! Their professionalism and dedication. Last year was my first season and I have the feeling that I have spent a lifetime with them. It would have been absolutely impossible to have created what we have done if it had not been for the human team at Hï!! I am a person who has always been moved by feelings, money or fame have never motivated me; my family motivates me, that’s why I never thought in the past – especially when I was at ENTER or Music On – of having my own party, because I was part of a family and a project.

Today my family is Hï Ibiza!! And I will do my best for them, because they have made me feel loved like never before in my almost 30-year career.

If you were to travel back in time and meet that young Paco Osuna on his first day in Ibiza, what advice would you give him?

(Laughs) “ufff!” If I could do that, I would give you a thousand and one pieces of advice but I think it would be the same thing that I say to everyone who asks me for advice: Enjoy the moment to the fullest and always be you without changing your personality, whatever your status and position in life.