Playing Manumission, staying at The Motel – ‘a real eye-opener’!!!
MC Otter had gone back to the States so we had a stand in called Gram’ma Funk. One of the lines she would say to our dancers was ‘I See You Baby, Shakin’ that Ass, Shakin’ that Ass…’
We asked Groove Armada to make a track for Manumission The Movie soundtrack, staying at the Motel for the week, playing every night in the Pink Pussy – they came back with a track called ‘I See You Baby’, inspired by their time.
Below is Gram’ma Funk on the mic, on stage in the Pink Pussy.
When did Groove Armada first play on the island? – DJ Magazine interview.
Tom Findlay: “The first time we played would have been Manumission Motel, which was also my first experience of the island — and it was a real eye-opener. I came more from the soul and funk backbone, so I was playing smaller basement parties before then. It was an amazing time — surrounded by strippers and kind of mad sexuality that was completely normalised living in that house.”
Andy: “That was a real peak of what people think of Ibiza — the best part of Ibiza — it actually happened then. You were resident at Manumission for a week and you’d play the club at the bottom of the Motel every night. I can’t even begin to describe some of the characters in that place. As we left, the next people who were residents were Primal Scream. They turned up to do the same thing that we’d just done and they rolled in like, ‘Ah, fucking hell, I forgot all my record boxes!’ and Mike [McKay] from Manumission was like ‘Ah, doesn’t fucking matter’. Another — totally forgotten — memorable week.”
I remember the day that young Andy first walked into our Motel bedroom with Trombone in hand. I also remember breaking into Tom and Andy’s bedroom and making them drink shots of Hierbas for breakfast, and dragging them back down the graffiti stained corridors to get back on the decks! I was a very naughty hostess!
And here it is…
A Manumission Life 