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 STEVEN BLACK Yet another DJ that I met for the first time in Ibiza, though I suspect I made considerably less impact on that occasion, since he was on holiday with a bunch of his A-list friends, and I was reeling around the island in various states of consciousness devouring clubs like my life depended on it. We bumped into each other a few more times that week before he returned to the real world, and our paths looked destined never to cross again...
Back in London, however, we were introduced by a mutual friend at 'RoboFactor'... He looked blank as I smiled and said we'd met before. Next time we met I recall he looked a little less blank but the recognition was still slow in coming. By the time we met at Fiction one night, he recognised me sufficiently to duck and hide before I could say hello. It's hard to imagine that by Easter that same year he would be travelling to Ibiza with me under an assumed name! None of which is either very interesting, nor likely to explain what he's doing on these pages, until I mention that he also deejayed at Fist, and would persistently badger me to come hear him play.
Being a sweet, innocent young thing from the sticks, it was with great trepidation that I ventured down to Fist one cold, wet wintry night (it wasn't that cold and wet outside, just cold and wet in the venue), where I discovered Steven's dark and dirty little secret... He played house music... And he played it dark, and he played it dirty! Like Macbeth's three witches, Steven, Jack Chang and Simon Simple worked their magic on me that night and converted me into a believer that Fist was one of the venues where quality and innovative dance music could be heard in London, and so I returned once more before the call of Ibiza whisked me away for another summer on that cursed isle...
And as for his DJing, we were at a record producer's villa in the hills overlooking Talamanca Bay one night, where he was asked to put together a set. Within minutes he'd found gems of records that even their owner didn't know he owned, and was putting together a flawlessly mixed set which left everyone present slack-jawed. That's when I realised what a talented DJ he was. By the time I returned to London that winter, Steven's style had grown from the dark rhythms of my first visit to Fist that same year, and he was by this time probably the best tribal disco DJ I'd heard, better even than those from Pacha and Lucifer in Ibiza.
After playing to thousand strong crowds while DJing in Brazil, early in 2003, Steven returned to Ibiza for the entire summer season, gaining a great deal of kudos from his successful appearances at Blues, Oríental, Gecko and Amnesia (for Gorgeous). So where did he go from there? Brazil, so you had to fly there to hear him play! And with a boyfriend and two residencies, in São Paolo and in Rio (the residencies, not the boyfriend), it was a while before he came back to London... He’s currently to be found as a resident in London at DisFunKtion. Recently, in May 2005, he opened for Space Ibiza when it made its UK club debut at London’s Renaissance Rooms, and his latest project is Fly with DJ Mark Westhenry (the test flight was held in the VIP Lounge at the La Troya Asesina event in May 2005). Steven played the opening sets for both Space Ibiza abd La Troya Asesina. Still working at DisFunKtion, alongside Menthol at Factory every month, Steven also plays at new after-hours club Meat, and Fly is waiting in the wings for its maiden voyage this autumn...
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I really have so lost the plot writing this, but being bereft of holiday companions for my visit in April, I persuaded Steven to share a little out-of-season taste of Ibiza with me. And, aside from the vast quantities of cat shit we had to deal with (ask him about it), it was like my very own reality TV show, where I got to watch a DJ in action 24/7, discovered his inability to walk past a record store without making a purchase, and discovered the joys of living next door to Pacha when there are no other clubs open!
It's now almost a year ago since Steven got back from Brazil, having secured during his 12 months in the tropics residencies at Kali Nato, in São Paulo, Brazilia and Belo Horizonte, Pride and DJs@Work in Rio de Janeiro, and headlined at Ultralounge and Level, again in São Paulo, Le Boy (Rio) and Box in Curitiba. The highlight, I'm told, was when he played to a crowd of 1.5 million at the São Paulo Pride Parade! Also a producer, Steven’s sets include many of his own Tribal and Disco House productions, which make his sets uniquely personal.
