Steve Lawler takes time out from his residency at Hï to tell us about his first game changing pill on the island, his favorite Ibizan hideaway and the moment, at one of his infamous after-parties, when Rocky from Diesel got the shock of a lifetime.
The moment the penny dropped:
Steve Lawler: I came to Ibiza in 1990 with my parents. I was 16 at the time. My parents stayed way out in Es Caná so I wasn’t around the club side of the island. But I knew about the island’s clubbing scene as I was already deep into my raving years throwing even my own illegal parties back at home.
I met two other lads at the hotel we were staying at and we decided to sneak out one night. My parents thought I was asleep in the next room but I was long gone and on my way to Ku (now known as Privilege). We got in (that was the first buzz!), we scored some ecstasy tablets (that was the 2nd buzz!) swallowed the pills and went deep down the rabbit hole of balearic house.
The experience was not of this world for me I had never been anywhere like this in my life; a club with a pool and palm trees and it was massive. I had never heard music like this before. I knew of house and techno, but there was something different about what I was hearing in ibiza.
We ended up sitting on the rocks at Cafe Del Mar at 7am watching the sun slowly rise along with hundreds of other [ravers]. The feeling was like we were all together and knew one another yet I was amongst complete strangers. I felt love. Ibiza has been firmly in my heart ever since. I have been here every year since that time and changed my life.
The record I most associate with the island:
‘Autumn Leaves’ by Coldcut is Ibiza to me is. This type of ambient music was born in the Balearics and belongs there as much as the sun, sea and sand. Ibiza wouldn’t be complete without music like this.
My own private hideaway:
I like to go out into the middle of the island on my bike, where I’m surrounded by nothing but open landscape, dusky roads cliffs and mountains. You can hear, smell and feel Ibiza in its original form here, with nothing but orange and rosemary trees and little finca homes.
Most people that come here on holiday would never see this part (unless you get lost trying to find a villa party!). But I think it’s a must to fully experience what’s made this island so special for so many years
The afterparty I’ll never forget:
One occasion stands out amongst the many at one of my infamous villa parties in around 2002/2003.
There was an all-star cast of friends all hanging out getting high, playing music and talking rubbish. Rocky – one of the members of X-Press-2 – was wandering around aimlessly, and for some reason, I think because he was wet and had just got out the pool fully dressed, he stuck his finger in a hole in my wall which to all of our surprise was an open electric point (typical of Spanish built fincas!).
It gave him an almighty shock and thrust him across the room. I can still see the shock on his face and I’m laughing as I write this. He hadn’t got a clue what had happened. We shouldn’t really have been laughing as it could have killed him, but he was alive – very ‘live’ in fact!
The restaurant I can’t get enough of:
Sa Caleta. Its an amazing and simple Spanish sea restaurant with incredible fish. They sell Fidua, a special Ibiza paella and it’s been owned by the same family for over 50 years. The menu has never changed so I think they have got the hang of how to cook everything on there! Hence why everything is done to perfection. It’s not fancy, it’s not expensive but it’s beautiful and amazing food. And it’s still exactly the same as it always has been. It’s very Ibiza.
