It’s impossible not to like Carl Cox. The electro music tycoon exudes such positive vibes that he could make a room full of people dance without even spinning a record. That’s why he’s been deeply involved with the annual Burn Residency competition, which helps pick the next bright star of the club world.

As for Cox himself, one of his biggest career staples — a 15-year-long residency at Space Ibiza club — comes to an end this summer, making it a perfect time to sit down and reminisce on the glory of the past and festive present of the renowned DJ. And that’s exactly what we did on a hot July day in Ibiza.
 

First of all, let’s get the numbers straight. Your t-shirt says “27”. Does it mean that you’ve been Space Ibiza resident for 27 years?

No, 27 years ago the Space actually started. And it’s kinda like a legendary year of things that were born and died. So my residency is going to die at 27.

Do you collect any memorabilia from your shows? Like posters?

Yeah. There’s quite a lot of stuff that I’ve had over the years. And a lot of awesome stuff, too! People have created great designs so it would be a shame to just throw them away. Sometimes I give it to the people or take it myself. I’m sure there’s gonna be a few things missing from the club tonight [laughs].

Going back to the early days, could you predict that electronic music would still be going strong all these decades later?

That’s been the biggest music movement of our lifetime. Bigger than punk, reggae, rock ’n’ roll, bigger than anything. And this has been so significant. In 21^st century I can connect with people worldwide and it made it stronger. Now when teacher at school asks you what you would like to do, you don’t say “I wanna be a doctor” or “I wanna be a dentist.” You go “I wanna be a DJ!”

So it’s always some profession with a D: dentist, doctor, DJ…

That’s a good connection! You can have a success story if you truly believe in the aspect of being involved in it. But it has to come from within. You can’t just decide to become a DJ. If you don’t have it, you won’t become it. So this is what’s so good about Burn Residency: if you have an element of an idea that you can be that person, this gives you an opportunity to do that. There has to be a reason why people are interested in you. It’s quite like being a ballet dancer or a football player or a Formula One driver. You don’t just jump into a Formula One car, you gotta start with a karting class. It’s like anything with any profession. If you stand out, people will take interest in you and will follow your path.

When I started getting involved with the music scene, there’s no way that I thought that we would get to this point. No way! I also didn’t know that I would become an ambassador for the scene. I was there for the very first house record that came out, back in 1986 it was “Time to Jack” by Chip E. It was the first acid house record that I bought and when I heard it I went “Wow, this is it! This is gonna make me who I am, this sound is music.” And everyone else around me was “Ah, he’s talking rubbish.” And they all fled when I played these records. Everyone thought I lost my mind. And eventually people that fled came back.

Now they probably ring you up to put them on a list, huh?

Haha, yeah. They used to hate my music, now they love it. It changed, everything changed. Social media and the way that the Internet has connected people. How it’s covered America, Japan, China, Russia. I never thought in my life that I’d ever play in Russia. For what reason? I had nothing to give expect for my music. And then we find out that Russia’s really into my music.

What scares or gets you nervous when you DJ these days?

Nothing really gets me nervous, ‘cause I’ve done it so many times. I do have an element of being nervous before I play because once you find that rhythm and a flow of your music, that’s when you can kinda get comfortable. But the beginning and the anticipation is always quite high. Everyone’s guessing what am I gonna play first. I see people all the time who’s like “My friends told me you’re good, so let’s see.” And that’s great: to not expect people to jump right in, not scream at every single mix or know your every single record. You have to work for it, you have to earn it. That’s what I do every time I play: I’m earning it.

I’ll put you on a spot: what’s the best club in the world? Okay, maybe three.

Space Ibiza, haha!

It’s literally written all over you, so that was easy. What’s a perfect Friday night looks like in your world?

I do miss my friends and my family. That’s one thing I miss by my success of being a DJ and traveling the world. The first part of weekend always used to be hanging with my mates and enjoying ourselves.

Now you can fly your friends here to Ibiza…

Yeah, up to a point [laughs].

When are we getting your memoir?

I don’t know. People have asked me about this many times. The stories I could put there are amazing, but I’m not sure I’d want anyone to know them, haha! There will be so much information in there. I have no desire to write a memoir, because my stories are my stories. I think it would be more interesting to hear other people’s stories about me. I get stories of a mom and dad to whom I played 25 years ago and I meet the son or the daughter. And they’d tell me: “The only reason we exist is because our parents had sex right in front of you while you were playing.” That’s nice, ha.

What’s the most outlandish thing on your rider?

For some reason I always end up with bars of chocolate. And I don’t really eat chocolate. It’s always on a rider as a joke. I think it’s to keep to color [laughs].