Under The Covers With 2ManyDJs

Step back about four months. I’m struggling through the door of the Ibiza Rocks radio studio armed with Berocca, champagne, bananas (yes I know that’s a weird mix but I also know how to keep my boys happy) and a bag of supplies that looks like I’ve raided the local Ann Summers (and maybe I have!).

It’s a blisteringly hot day in Ibiza and I’m sweating more than usual. Why? Because something very exciting is about to happen!
Two of the world’s hottest music producers, re-mixers, DJs and artists – who as it happens are known in the industry for making only a handful of media appearances – have agreed to come in to DJ and co-host what amounts to an Ibiza Rocks the Radio/Radio Soulwax takeover. No wonder I’m feeling slightly hot and bothered.
I’m all too aware that hundreds of thousands of people are tuning in to listen to a Gabby and 2manydjs special, so the pressure’s on to make the next two hours epic. After all, these are the guys who will also snaffle the coveted ‘DJs of the Year’ accolade in the Hot Press Annual – the very one you are currently reading, that is. So this show is going to run – and run!
Strolling through the door, looking as chic and handsome as always, Dave Dewaele, the younger of the two ‘manys’, rolls up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt. He gives me a nod – and heads straight for the bunch of bananas. He gives the stem a quick jerk, peels the skin of the fruit off suggestively and sticks the sweet tip in his mouth.
Stef, who’s more casually dressed in a denim top, opts for the Berocca. As it fizzes in his face he looks bemused, before glugging it down once it has settled.
We hit the hour, jingles go out and then I play a ten-minute mix I’ve constructed, bigging the boys up and hyping the show. Immediately, Dave turns on his DJ expertise and starts twiddling with buttons so there’s crazy effects distorting and echoing my voice. We all break into fits of giggles (a running theme) and then, we’re on!
Let’s hear it for the DJs of the year – up close and very personal!

Gabby: Have I built you up enough boys? Does everyone know who’s in the studio – live? Let me check your pulses...
Stef: Hello! We’re Armin van Buuren…
Gabby: They’ve been fiddling with all my knobs already! (There is general laughter.)
Dave: Hey now!
Gabby: They were playing last night in Mallorca for Mallorca Rocks...
Stef: Yes Mallorca Rocks, there were a lot of naked guys.
Dave: Apparently it’s on our rider. I hope you’re providing them for tonight as well.
Gabby: So what’s with the naked men – it used to be chicks?
Dave: Success has changed us, Gabby.
Gabby: So, let’s first talk about Radio Soulwax, your online radio station, where people can find 24 one-hour mixes accompanied by films...
Dave: Yes! And they’re all themed.
Stef: We give one out every week – we started on July 4 (Stef’s birthday)...
Gabby: I’m very excited about your David Bowie mix. I know you’re both big fans, like myself. And, as it happens, David Bowie is a big fan of yours. Have you started it yet?
Dave: No.
Gabby: Well you better get cracking love, you haven’t got long!

There is, of course, so much going on in the wonderful world of the Brothers Dewaele. As mentioned above one of their recent innovations is a free Radio Soulwax app that can be downloaded from their website. Once you have it, you can watch and listen, anytime you want, to the 24 special one-hour Radio Soulwax shows. Meanwhile, they spent much of the year touring Under The Covers. I’ve taken that as a cue...
Jill (my sidekick on Ibiza Rocks the Radio and Ibiza Rocks International PR): I think it’s time to open your magic bag Gabby.
Dave: What’s going to happen now!?
(Jill opens the suitcase and pulls out a duvet, but that’s not all...)
Stef: Jesus!
Gabby: Yes, it’s my feather duvet from home so I too could get officially ‘Under The Covers’ with 2manydjs...
Stef: Oh, I get it!
Gabby: But without the air con working I’m not sure this is the best idea.
Dave: Eherm, Gabby. (Pause) Why is there a whip in your duvet?
Stef: (head in hands): Tell me we’re filming this.
Gabby: Yep! (coming soon on Hotpress.com)
Dave: Okay come on, let’s get under the covers; it’s only, like, 45 degrees!
Stef: Seriously. What’s up with the whip?!
Gabby (as everyone snuggles down): All will be revealed later on in the show loves. I’m sweating...
Dave: Jesus!
Gabby: Let’s talk about the visuals that accompany your set.
Dave: You’d like to talk about our visuals?
Gabby: Yes, very much please.
(Stef has gone back over to the decks, whip in hand)
Stef: It’s not working...
Jill: You need to get a good run at it.
(Stef hangs the whip over the duvet)
Dave: Well do you have a question?
Gabby: I can’t remember the question!
Stef: (smelling the duvet) Did you wash this?
Dave: Okay, let’s play another track!

When the boys step up to the mic, you can see they mean business. If anyone is out there listening, they might just be putting themselves in line for a gig!
“This is an edit that we did for a Belgium band called Goose,” Dave says authoritatively, by way of introduction to the next track. “You should all know about them, they’re amazing. They’re our little brothers.”
Then he decides to name and shame!
“I also want to mention,” he says sweetly, “that the only reason we’re playing music now is because Gabby is so professional that she burnt a CD that stopped playing after 20 minutes, so we had to come to the rescue.”
“I blame you,” I respond, “fiddling with my knobs. It was all working fine before you came in!”
Well, it was…

Gabby: Do you two ever fall out?
Stef: Hell, yes.
Gabby: Have you ever come to blows?
Stef: No, there’s no physical fights. We’d probably go off into a different room and sulk on our own.
Gabby: Are there things that Dave’s really naff at, that you excel at, and vice versa?
Dave: I’m more the muscles... (Much laughter. Dave is very slender) and Stef’s more the brains really.
Gabby: Dave’s the brawn!
Stef: It’s true.

Back in the day, DJs used to raise the record sleeves of the tunes they were playing so that people would know what they were listening to. Ever the forward thinkers, Dave and Stef have developed this notion somewhat, producing mesmerising visual accompaniments based on the sleeves themselves, and using wizard animation…
“We have a big screen behind us so when we play, so you see the sleeve of the track we’re playing,” Stef explains. “But we’ve animated it. We switch live on set, so we not only mix the tracks but we also switch between the sleeves. A lot of people are used to electronic bands having a screen and it’s all time-coded, but we’re doing everything live – so when it’s black, it means Dave and me fucked up!”
Simple as that!
Curiously, when they first came over to Ibiza, 2manydjs were a little bit underwhelmed. Now they can’t get enough of the place!
“Well, you know that doubt about Ibiza is still there,” Dave says. “There’s still a large part of the island that I just don’t like. But there’s also this really cool side, which is the hippy side I guess: it’s like a world jamboree of freaks. We really can’t get enough of that. And then there’s also the rich dickheads...”
Having looked after the boys as artist liaison, I think I can take credit for their conversion.
“It’s true,” Dave says. “You drove us around, you showed us Noel Gallagher’s house.”
“I’m not just sucking up, but when you had the Ibiza Rocks villa and we stayed for a week, for us that was one of the best times we’ve ever had,” Stef adds. “We put our studio there, we met all these amazing people and recorded some music. We experienced Ibiza the way you should. You took us to some amazing places. Do you remember when your car broke down?”
Which time? Do you remember Dizzy?
Stef: “You really want us to talk about this on air? We had no idea how crazy you guys were and then we woke up one morning and Dizzy was sitting near the pool and we were like wait, there’s a naked chick, no wait, that’s a guy, wait, no... And we were trying to be cool and not say anything politically incorrect and now, he’s family, and it’s amazing.”
She’s family.
Stef: “She’s family. Stupid Belgians!”

I can confirm that, as Belgians, the boys speak numerous languages. Not that it’s easy to get them to admit it...
Stef: “No we don’t!”
Gabby: “Yes you do.”
Stef: “We speak English, Dutch, French and we should speak German – it’s like a third language in Belgium but we can’t understand it, so we kind of refuse.”
Gabby: “Well I was going to ask, what language do you think in? And dream in?”
Stef: “English. There’s very few people I speak Dutch with: everyone around us is English. You should get Dave to speak to you in English with a Dutch accent, he does that amazingly.”
(At this point Dave is bringing up the music)
Gabby: “Are we being drowned out, Dave?”
Dave: “Yes, you’ve been going on for ages, I want to play this next track!”
Gabby: “Okay, Dave’s drowning us out...”
And up it comes, the wonderfully sweet pop soul of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Don’t You Worry About A Thing’, with its funky rhythms, beautifully loose high hat, shuffle-roll drumming and – occasionally – soaring vocals. They know how to pick ‘em...

Dave: “Next question, hit me!”
Jill: “Here’s my question. You two used to play Dolly Parton quite a lot in your sets. Have you ever been to Dollywood?”
Dave: “Alas, no we haven’t.”
Gabby: “You should play there.”
Dave: “Yeah I agree with you. We should play everywhere, but we don’t. We should play the White House but we don’t.”
Stef: (chuckling) “We should play the White House?”
Dave: “Yeah, it’d be cool. He gets jiggy with it, everybody knows.”
Jill: “Well you two can certainly get jiggy with it: we’ve been talking about your bounce for quite some time, haven’t we Gabby?”
Gabby: “We have. I love your dance moves.”
Dave: “Who me?!”
Gabby: “Both of you, when you’re on the decks.”
Dave: “Ahhh, that’s cute, thank you!”

Stef slams on a funky hip hop number and the boys start to bounce on the spot, in the studio!
“We’re playing the music,” Stef wails, “we’re getting our pants off, and we’re dancing right now! This is an amazing track by Armin van Buuren called ‘I Am Not The Beastie Boys’!”
It’s impossible to keep a straight face.
“Jill and I are partial to a bit of
bouncing ourselves,” I offer. “So we’d like to see you and raise you, and do a bounce-off!”
“A bounce-off!” Stef looks startled at the thought. “Dave? Oh, he’s DJing, he can’t hear you.”
But Dave has started, look! He’s away and bouncing. Look at those cheeks!
“Great arse Dave!” Jill says, and who am I to disagree?
“Did you just say,” Stef enquires, “look at those cheeks?”
Yes, peachy cheeks! So come on Stef, let’s see yours...
The bounce-off commences.
We’ve got the better moves! Stef intervenes by bringing down the next track. It’s Digital Underground with ‘Humpty Dance’, a bass heavy piece of smart, knowing, funky rap that advertises the pleasures of the dance known as the Humpty Hump.

Dave: “We’re here with Gabby, she’s been doing the humpty dance, but people couldn’t see it!”
Gabby: “You mean the Beyoncé booty shake?”
Stef: “Well this was before Beyoncé! This is the humpty dance. So Gabby here’s a question that the 2manydjs have for you. What’s the name of the highway, the road here, that the radio station is on?”
Jill: “The road to San Antonio.”
Stef: “The San Antonio Road? That’s it? Does that really exist?”
Gabby: “It took them ages to come up with that one.”
Stef: “So we’re looking at the San Antonio Road and if you’re listening when you pass the radio station you have to...”
Gabby: “Beep your horn!”
Stef: “Exactly. Come on, a bit of interaction here.”
(A load of horns start to beep)
Gabby: “And while I remember a big happy birthday to our artist liaison, Jason!”
Stef: “Yes, who lost his virginity, in the Ibiza Rocks hotel, yesterday!”

Did I say that these guys are full of ideas? We’d done a bit of brainstorming before their Ibiza Rocks show, and there were suggestions aplenty as to how it might be livened up. Stef suggested TV sets being thrown out the window, a car being deliberately crashed in the famous Ibiza Rocks hotel swimming pool…
There is some dispute as to which of them came up with the wheeze of having an area called rehab? Where people would be sent to detox...
“That was definitely Dave,” Stef says gallantly.
“I can tell it didn’t make the cut,” Dave responds. “I had another idea that – because Ibiza Rocks used to be linked to Manumission, which used to have a sex show – I said they should do a festival but call it a fistival, where there’s live fisting, but I don’t know why, that didn’t make the cut either... What went wrong?”
Jill is unperturbed. “Don’t,” she asks, “the Australian’s already do ‘fistivals’?”
Hello to mum who’s listening...
“Your mum’s listening?” Stef recoils. “Hey Bernie, your daughter’s doing an amazing job.”
“My mum’s called Kathleen,” Jill says. “Can you give her a shout-out too?”
“Hello Kathleen,” Stef shouts. “This is Dave and Stef from 2manydj, we’re from Belgium, and your daughter’s doing a great job.”
“Okay, the next track,” Dave intervenes, “we’re going to play a special romantic number.”
“This is for when you really like a girl,” Stef says. “You should grab her hand and dive into the Ibiza Rocks swimming pool. It’s a really emotional, romantic track for you guys to bond to.”
My pal Jill is ever-practical. Really, she is. “Safety warning,” she interrupts. “Just from the edge of the pool, not from any other structure.”
“Good point,” Dave says. “Valid point. Grab the hand of the one you love and listen to this.”
Sensitive souls that they are, the boys then proceed to slam on Metallica’s ‘Master Of Puppets’…

There are moments when it feels like we’ve stumbled into a time-warped version of A Hard Day’s Night.
Dave: “Can I read your questions? How do you feel about...”
Gabby: “No! (Hides paper behind back) Are you not going to start working on an album soon? Do you know what’s in store yet?”
Dave: “No, but we’re going to start working on it asap... In fact, as soon as we’re done with this interview, we’ll make a new song.”
Gabby: “Glad to see we’ve inspired you, boys.”
Dave: “Incredibly.”
Gabby: (distracted by Stef’s eyeline) “Did your eyes just drop?”
Stef: “What!? No, they didn’t drop. To where? Where did they drop to?”
Dave: (Pause) “To the questions.”
Gabby: “Stop peeking at my... questions!”
Jill: “Haha! And her boobaloobs.”
Dave: “What are we going to play next Stef?”
Stef: “More rock!”
The boys drop their own mix of AC/DC’s ‘Dirty Deeds’...

We’re back on. Stef retro-credits a track by Freeez, produced he says by a good friend of 2manydjs, Arthur Baker.
“You’re listening,” I tell our audience, “to a very special Ibiza Rocks the Radio/Radio Soulwax takeover. It’s so special we’re about to crack open a bottle.”
A loud pop follows as we open the champagne. Jill hands a glass to Dave.
“No Dave doesn’t…” says I.
“My brother won’t…” says Stef
(Accepting) “Thank you,” says Dave.
“Wow,” Stef says, “he’s drinking alcohol. He’s changed.”
We’ve driven him to the drink.
Okay, more music!
The next track is Supergrass’ ‘Alright’. During the guitar solo, Stef brings the music down. The show is coming to a close.
“So everyone,” I say, “make sure you come tonight to the boys gig at the Ibiza Rocks hotel.”
“Start doing those drugs now,” Stef cracks.
“And by drugs,” I join in, “of course we mean paracetamol and Red Bull.”
“Take the Bercoccas now people,” Stef insists.
“Oil up,” Dave bellows. “Oil up now, men! Okay so, Stef is now playing Armin van Buuren, but in a new remix by Tiesto.”
“Yes,” Stef says, “and it’s been mastered by David Guetta... (pause) and Roger Sanchez is singing…”
Dave: “Eric Morrillo on drums... wait till the sax solo, it’s Paul Van Dyke. Shhh, you’re going to miss the sitar solo, this is Swedish House Mafia on sitar!”
We are laughing. Like drains...
“Can I just take the opportunity,” Dave asks, “to thank Ibiza Rocks for utilising the amazing invention of air conditioning; both in the car on the way from the airport and here in the studio. No, I’m kidding, thank you for everything!”
Thank you too. This is Gabby Sanderson in the Hot Press Annual wishing our ‘DJs of the Year’ a rocking 2012. Over. And out…

To listen and watch Radio Soulwax tune in radiosoulwax.com.