This interview with Jose Padilla was made by the correspondent of Special Radio in Swissotel Moscow during the birthday party “Swiss del Mar”.

How did you begin your career?
I’ve worked as a waiter, I’ve worked as many things when I was young, and I have worked in many shops, because only by djing you cannot make a living, not enough money. I was djing at night and I worked in supermarket, in a bar during the day. I had to.

Did you have any dream occupation?
I had dreams like other kids. When I was a kid I wanted to be a singer, dreamt to be famous. I even dreamt to be a famous football player. But when I discovered djing, it was very clear that this is what I want to be. When I discovered I could produce, i can make my own music – it was obvious I should do this for life.

What is fashionable music?
Fashionable music is something that changes as clothes’ fashion and all kinds of fashion. Fashionable music now is electro music, that’s the trendy music of the moment. But you can yourself make any kind of music to be fashionable. Like you can make your clothes to be fashionable. You don’t have to follow. Now every body does the electro so it doesn’t mean you have to too. You can create your own fashion. It relates to music too.

What about Ibiza?
There’re many Ibizas. Not two or one, there’re many. I lived in Ibiza for 30 years, but sometimes i still find new Ibiza, new places, new beach, or i meet a person who I’ve never met before. or new house. There’s a crazy Ibiza which everybody know about. Ibiza for partying. And then you have the quiet Ibiza, and then you have the cultural Ibiza, and more deep inside Ibiza. I like Ibiza not so much in the summer, I like it now. In summer there’re too many people. In the summer we have 1 million of people and it’s a big change so for the local people it’s a shock – too many cars, too many tourists, but Russian people are used to this, so for you it’s paradise anyway.

There’s a saying that “God is a dj”, do you agree?
God is a dj…. I wish he was a dj so things would be so much better on this planet.

Some say that dj is not a musician. What do you think?
Dj is a musician! Being a musician doesn’t mean you have to go to college and to have a degree, how many painters haven’t been in an art school but still became famous. Djs and producers are exactly the same. The music is inside you and no college can give you this.

If you could live another life…who would you like to be?
Sometimes I see people on TV or in the pictures, and I think I’d like to be like this guy, because he looks like a nice one, I like his personality, but that’s difficult. Maybe I’d like to be John Malcovich, I like him very much – his personality, his style. But I still want to be Jose Padilla.

Ibiza is too expensive. Can you survive in Ibiza without money?
It’s impossible. If you want to go to the clubs you have to pay no matter what. And yeah the entrance is very expansive but I would recommend them to be friends with somebody in the club – maybe a dancer, or a dj, or waiter, so you could get on the guest list. You can live cheap in Spain, because for example food is cheap in supermarkets, but restaurants are very expensive, drinks too. So you can buy your own food/ there’re a lot of people going with caravan now.

When someone says Russia what comes to your mind?
Vodka and caviar. That’s the first thing I tried when I went to Moscow for the first time, I went to the red square and there’s a nice restaurant with a terrace, and I ordered vodka and caviar because that is something I wanted to do for many years. And I’ve called my nephew and said – I’m at the red square and having vodka and caviar. And he was like – you’re bastard! I took some for him but now they don’t sell it in airport, they sell red caviar only.

Is Russian public different from others?
No, there’s something in common. They like good music, no big difference. When we’re talking about music they’re all the same, we’re the same country. Some people are crazier than others but when dj starts to play we’re all the same.

What do you do besides djing?
I produce music as well. I like to go to the beach, I like to swim, I like to cook, I like to cook for my friends. I make very good paella. You can do 50 different paellas but the procedure is very important. You need the right fire, the right pen, you have to fry the things the right way and have to put the water in the right moment, rice in a moment, it’s difficult.

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Official site: www.josepadilla.info/
Pictures by Darya Iwanova