The Martinez Brothers: "Performing in Ibiza is special, you can feel it as soon as you step foot on the island"

No strangers to the Ibiza clubland scene, The Martinez Brothers, Steve and Chris from the Bronx, New York have been renowned for over 15 years. Since 2020, the family duo have teamed up with W Ibiza and Splice on a new project unlike any other that they have done before. The brothers have been searching the world for the next big name in electronic music and have finally chosen their winner.

With an endless list of Ibiza-based gigs from times playing with Dennis Ferrer, at the about-to-launch Ushuaïa back in 2011 to their latest 2022 residency at Hï alongside Paco Osuna.You can’t say you’ve been to the White Isle without seeing them. This expertise and broad experience in the music industry is what makes them the perfect artists to choose the winner of the W Hotels and Splice competition. The handpicked winner - named Any Loida Sanson — a sound engineer and music producer - has won a once in a lifetime opportunity to remix a previously unreleased track by The Martinez Brothers as well as a trip to Ibiza. Any’s win with her track ‘Tócame’ was announced at an exclusive event which followed with an afterparty at the latest after hours club Below. Prior to the event, Steve and Chris said: “We’re excited to welcome Any Loida to Ibiza too for her first time and to introduce our collaboration”.

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W Ibiza is located on the beachfront of the boho Santa Eulalia town, and will be host to many events from music gigs to wellness experiences and much, much more. The brothers say that: “Ibiza is a second home to us at this point and we’re truly blessed to be able to come back here year after year and do what we love. It’s been great to partner with W Ibiza - working with a brand that shares our love of music and truly supports it, is unique.”

Mixmag caught up with the brothers to hear all about their thoughts on returning to Ibiza and get a sneak peak into what's next.

2022 is the first year with a full-fledged festival season since the pandemic began - What are you looking forward to most this summer?

Ibiza is a second home to us and we’re so proud to be a part of the culture here.

As Ibiza mainstays, have you missed playing on the White Isle over the past few years? Is it exciting to be back?

It’s so exciting to be back! Although, we did play last summer at Palmerama which was a scaled down event at Ushuaïa so we had a taste of the island last summer. Ibiza is a second home to us and we’re always happy to come here.

It looks like you’ve been playing a lot of shows now that everything has opened back up - how do you separate work and play?

Well honestly everything to us is about the music. Even on our days off we make music. It never ends, we do it everyday. We love DJing, finding records, and ripping records. After Movement, Detroit we spent an extra day in Detroit just to go digging for new music. It’s our passion.

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How is it to play at W Ibiza? How do you find the experience playing more intimate venues on the island compared to Super Clubs?

Playing in Ibiza is such a special feeling like no other, you can feel it as soon as you step foot in Ibiza. It’s such a different experience to play for an intimate crowd at clubs such as Below (at W Ibiza) and it feeds the soul to be so connected and close to our fans.

How important is it for you to support fresh talent like Any?

This is so important to us because it was just so different, and that’s what we love and are always looking for. Our label Cuttin Headz has been an outlet for new talent.

What’s in the pipeline for the rest of the year?

We have a lot of music in the pipeline. Our record with Gordo and Rema 'Rizzla' just came out and we have some other dope collabs coming up over the next couple months. The next single features Leven Kali and Scott Storch. We’ve also been in the studio with Tokischa and Ms Nina and MC Buzz.

Can you tell us a bit about your collaboration with Rema?

Gordo had been in the studio with Rema and over lockdown he shared the vocal with us. At the time we had been sharing a lot of ideas and this hook stood out. We laid down the track to the vocal and it clicked.

How important is it to both of you to have good partnerships in music? Both with each-other and the wider industry?

Family first always and we’re blessed to be on this journey together as brothers. Relationships are everything in this business. We try to be respectful to everyone and give the best we can to every performance and deliver something unique to our fans every time.

What can we expect from your time in the studio with Tokischa? How is this informing your current sound?

We have been mixing Dembow with our music for a while now. Our Space Jams tapes had a lot of those types of remixes. Tokischa right now is the queen of that sound. Mad respect to Tokischa and can’t wait for y’all to hear this one. It’s bomb.

How do you think you have both evolved from your first time on the island to now? Musically, are you excited to kick off your residency at Hi? What can audiences expect from your tenure at the Playa D’En Bossa Institution?

We always like to push ourselves musically and we regularly create special edits for our DJ sets. We also are constantly searching for new music and different sounds. It’s all about the musical journey for us.

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Follow @WIbiza for latest happenings and to click here to listen to Tocame by The Martinez Brothers x AnyLoida