Sun, sea and comedowns: How to stay sane in Ibiza

Ibiza is a playground. It offers all the delights a raver could desire, contained in the setting of a breathtakingly beautiful island, surrounded by inviting crystal seas. As a dance music destination it can’t be beat, and it’s no surprise that people return year after year in search of thrills. But by nature of being an isle packed full of temptation and vice, it can be easy to lose yourself.

“I love Ibiza but I'm also very scared of staying there for too long. It can drain you and take all your energy; there are too many temptations and parties,” says D’Julz, who has held a long-standing residency at DC10’s renowned Circoloco party. Stacey Pullen concurs: “You need to pace yourself. You want to do everything in a short amount of time and physically that's not possible, so you have to pick and choose and make sure that you have a plan.”

Taking the time to check yourself before you wreck yourself can ensure a trip to the White Isle doesn’t go awry, and you return in one piece ready for your next visit. This is especially pertinent for DJs who spend more time on the island than most. A few days in and out without sleep is draining enough and navigating a hectic season out on the White Isle while keeping your mental state intact is a hardier proposition.

Planning where to stay is the first step. Finding a spot away from the heaving hub of clubland can be a prime location for dividing your time between the chaos of the dancefloor and respite of relaxation. Joris Voorn recommends the middle to north area of the Island: “It's a bit more quiet, you can easily avoid the clubs, and there's some really nice restaurants as well,” he says. For the best view of Ibiza’s famous and revitalising sunsets each night, Enzo Siragusa asserts there’s no place like Cala Vadella on the west side. “I love having a nice sunset view. Watching that sunset chills me out and resets my mind. I always stay on that side of the island,” says the FUSE founder. Stacey Pullen prefers to be closer to the action, and favours the Old Town. ”It has a nice community feeling, and it's usually quiet during the day time as they have siestas. I hear the clink of restaurant plates and people talking than anything else,” he says.

Once settled into digs, getting into the zone to play to thousands of people can be an important pre-club activity, and many DJs have their rituals. For Richy Ahmed, it’s all about focus of the mind. “This might sound a bit cosmic but I do a little bit of visualisation before I go on, a bit of mantra. I visualise the scene, what the set might be like, the records I’m going to play and the people that will be surrounding me. I think of the positive energy I want to bring to the set and I do it every time before I play. It really settles me,” he says.

Enzo Siragusa overcomes sleep deprivation with the help of meditation, having learned how to induce trance-like states from a hypnotherapist friend. “If you get your body into a deep enough state, even 20 minutes can make you feel really rested,” he says. “You still need that sleep, it's not a substitute. You couldn't do a whole summer or you'd end up looking like Night Of The Living Dead. But it does help cope with sleep deprivation.”

Stacey Pullen and D’Julz overcome fatigue from travelling or recent shows with a dose of physical activity. “I'm sitting down on airplanes, sitting in the studio, sitting in taxis, sitting in hotels, airports. All I do man is sit down! So I have to sweat out all of those toxins and frustrating sitting moments,” Pullen says, who works out three to four days a week and makes easy access to a gym his number one priority in Ibiza. D’Julz prefers a dip in the Mediterranean. “One thing I love to do to put me in the mood before Circoloco is go to the beach for an hour and have a swim. It's very hard for me to go to Ibiza and not enjoy the ocean,” the Bass Culture boss says. “It removes the stress of the travelling and puts me in the right mood.”

Mar-T, who lives on the island in the summer months and is Amnesia’s longest serving resident, has a more chilled approach, “I normally drink a couple of beers and listen to music in my room with headphones”, while Andrea Oliva gets down for doors and soaks up the atmosphere: “I like to go to the club early and take in all the good vibes, that’s basically everything I need to get excited for my set.”

It can be harder to maintain discipline once inside the club, with a breadth of party supplies on offer and a weight of peer pressure from all angles. “When it’s a particularly busy period I always try not to party, but that’s easier said than done!” admits Patrick Topping. Speaking on the IMS Panel ‘Health Vs Hedonism’ Monki noted that DJing is “probably one of the only jobs in the world where you’re expected to drink - at least,” adding that “when you turn up and say ‘No it’s ok I’ll just have a bottle of water’, you can almost see the disappointment on peoples’ faces. I think that whole stigma of everyone having to be on it and drinking needs to be dropped.”

While it can be hard to not get carried away in the environment, one way artists can reduce the harm caused by partying is keeping stocked with some healthier provisions. We all know the benefits of a balanced diet, so why not a balanced rider? Even when good intentions slip this can help, as Enzo Siragusa notes: “I've got coconut water on there. I often end up sticking a load of vodka in there to be honest, but at least that's slightly more re-hydrating!”

Nicole Moudaber is able to abstain, and gets all her highs from the experience and sounds alone. “There’s nothing more powerful than the music. I don’t drink or do drugs when I’m on the road or working,” the Mood/RAW honcho says. “Once I start playing, I transform into another person. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s just a feeling.”

Even in front of the famously rapturous crowds of Ibiza, however, sets don’t always go to plan, and finding a way to power through and recover from a dodgy gig is vital for keeping spirits and motivation up across the tiring summer months.

For most DJs it’s about overcoming the mental block that can strike in the booth. “The question is more like “is it in your head?” or “Is it really happening in the crowd?”, because I think sometimes you kind of go inside your head and start asking these questions of yourself, which isn’t good,” says Davide Squillace. “My advice is to explore different sub-genres of music from hard-techno and deep house to more trippy stuff; you just need to find the right range of music that you like to share with the people.”

Artists also take these experiences as a learning curve and channel them into positive growth. “Every DJ has had that happen to them before and I too know how terrible that can make you feel. Playing a lot of shows definitely helps in improving your ability to read a crowd and adjusting your set,” says Oliver Heldens.

Enzo Siragusa is more instantly pragmatic: “I deal with it by finding a great track, sticking it on and then they go off. That's pretty much it mate!” he laughs. Joris Voorn and Andrea Oliva also keep positive. “I try not to get too stressed: one or two not so great gigs in the whole summer is usually not so bad,” says Voorn. “The rest is all really good so I try to think about the other gigs that I've been doing and just play the tracks that I know will usually work. If they don't work then I stop caring as well, then I know at least it's not because of me!”

“Of course not everybody enjoys your music, especially in our scene,” says Oliva matter of factly. “You have the super mega cool people who are there to judge every record you play, you have the party animals who just want it harder, you have people who just go with the flow and then you have your fans who usually like almost everything you do. I love them! You can’t please everyone really.”

“It's always frustrating,” says D’Julz, “but I know I'm not a jukebox or a machine, I really try to go with the flow every time I play and be as spontaneous as I can so there's a risk when you do this that sometimes you don't click with the crowd. But I prefer to take that chance than just be a robot and have this pre-recorded set that I do everywhere that I know will work, but with no magic happening.”

If the night goes well and celebrations get out of hand, then a different kind of recovery will be on the agenda the next day. Steve Lawler and D’Julz both find luxuriating at the Gran Hotel’s spa has them feeling fighting fit. “I sweat it out in the sauna, then jump in the ice bath, and just keeping repeating this until I feel refreshed. It’s the quickest way to feel human again,” explains Lawler. “The spa is the best possible way to relax after a party,” says D’Julz. “Sleeping is also a good thing to do - which I do sometimes.”

Andrea Oliva takes a more spartan approach. “As insane as it sounds I try to do sport no matter how hungover I might be,” says the Swiss-Italian artist. “The sun in Ibiza also helps to charge your batteries very quickly.” Mar-T has to soldier through and pretend all is well to shake off lingering ill-effects: “I try to continue like nothing happen because this is what helps me to recover faster, if I stay at home I feel sick!” he says, adding “going for a long walk always helps, from Botafoch to Sa Punta is nice.”

Finding the places that help you relax and recharge your batteries is essential for spending extended periods amid the mania of the island, and even Ibiza lifers Mambo Brothers still find surprises. “Ibiza is a magic place, we were born here and we are still discovering this small but really big island,” say the Hï Ibiza residents. “We like to go to the north of the island as much as we can, driving our Mehari through the cliffs of Ibiza, not rushing is one of the better feelings in life!”

The sibling duo also “love going out on our small speed boat to have a swim and do some wake boarding”. Nicole Moudaber shares this passion for the open sea. “I love my boats. When I want to chill, I just go out in the sea and spend all day there. I normally go to Formentera in Ibiza and the islands around like Illetes, Espalmador, Tagomago. You just roam around the islands and absorb the amazing energy. It’s a great place to meditate or pray or what you want to call it; it’s that kind of vibe. It’s transcendental in many ways,” she says.

“I really recommend [boating] to every visitor to the island,” Moudaber continues, “see Ibiza from the other side and don’t get stuck in clubs because that’s bloody boring after a while. And then you end up heading home pale, embarrassed, and people asking 'if you have seen the sun?' and then you need another holiday after that!”

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Staff Writer, follow him on Twitter