Carl Cox promises "raw, unadulterated techno and house" at his new party in Ibiza

Carl Cox has spoken out about his return to Ibiza this summer, saying it was never in question he would leave the island for good.

Last year he brought his 15-year residency at Space to a close after the legendary club didn’t get its lease renewed. Opening in May will be new club Hï, run by the Ushuaïa group in the same building as Space.

Cox’s prolonged goodbye as resident on the island had many thinking he wouldn’t return but earlier this year he announced he would be bringing his Pure parties to San Rafael’s Privilege club.

“For me, my spiritual home of the island has gone and I have to find a new spiritual home to continue me being back on the island. It was never a question of me leaving the island, it was always about what do I do next based on what I did myself to create a home for Carl Cox and my music,” Cox said.

“This is a new era now, we’re moving things forward. Ibiza is changing and it’s not changing for the bad, it’s changing for the good. Everyone is cleaning up their act. They want people in their clubs spending money. They want people walking away from Ibiza going 'you know what? This place is still on the map and it still rocks.'"

If the Pure parties go well, there could also be a third event in 2017 and more in the future.

Having debuted the events in Australia last year, Cox is promising something far from the world of VIP culture that Ibiza has become known for.

“As soon as people go to any of these clubs, the first thing they want is to be like 'where can we all sit?' What? Where can we all sit? No way, I don’t want anyone sitting down in my club, I want people up and on their toes and basically supporting the music and the scene and what we love.

“I really, really want to get people to understand at the end of the day that you don’t pull your phone out because there’s fireworks going off. You don’t pull your phone out because there are three DJs standing on top of the turntables or the CDJs or even their laptop and telling people to jump. We’re not doing any of that stuff. We’re stripping it down and getting people to hear raw, unadulterated techno and house music. If you’re not into it, I would just say 'don’t come down, don’t bother.'”

Privilege is officially the world’s biggest club and Cox is aware that comes with it’s own specifics. The main room is enormous and has revamped its soundsystem and the 54 year old says Ibiza clubs need that wow factor.

“It’s a big room, there’s no messing around at Privilege, you’ve got to give it to them. Go hard or go home. It’s no fancy night out.

“I’m a big DJ, I play big tunes, I smash the place. I’m not going in there to play 122bpm deep house music, I’m going in there to rip it up like I used to do, like I will do and continue to do soon to make that statement.

“I remember going to Ku years ago and I bought the t-shirt and the keyring before I even went into the club. I finally got myself up the doors and into the club and I’m stood there and I just went 'fucking hell look at this shit. This is awesome!' There’s a swimming pool, there’s bloody balconies and the DJs are looking over the place, there’s big bloody palm trees everywhere. I’d never seen anything like it. I was down the local pub in Sutton in a backroom with some shitty speakers and here I am in Ibiza at Ku like, 'wow!'"

As for the newcomer on the island Hi, Cox said he would rather have seen the building smashed down and something new created on top of it, but he did have some advice for club.

“The only advice I’d give to them is if there are any new nights, new DJs, new promoters going in with new ideas, support them. Don’t think that because it didn’t get the numbers, the night's not happening and then chuck them out because this does happen on the island quite a bit if things don’t go right.

“My night started off small and worked out to be one of the coveted nights on the island."

Louis Anderson-Rich is Mixmag's Digital Intern. Follow him on Twitter