Sven & Ritchie, a bromance for the ages…

Cocoon, Sven Väth and Richie Hawtin go together like bread, ham and cheese.

Mixmag’s recent interview with the pair, reminiscing about close to 20 years of Cocoon Ibiza is a trip down techno memory lane, particularly for anyone that’s had the chance to visit Amnesia on a Monday night in midsummer [I think I’ve made it along seven times, but the memory’s not what it used to be].

The older he gets (he’s now 52), the more avuncular ‘Papa Sven’ becomes, and there’s real nostalgia at the 3.32 mark, when he recalls his first trip to Ibiza as a 16 year old (by my reckoning, it must have been around 1981), wandering into a Spanish finca to see “guys sitting in the corner playing the bongos, girls dancing half naked” and Grace Jones and Duran Duran on the dancefloor.

Quite the education for a teenager from the leafy Frankfurt suburb of Obertshausen.

Also worth a look is the section from about 10.50 onwards, where Sven and Ritchie reminisce about the legendary Cocoon after parties… although there’s a definite tinge of sadness in Sven’s voice when he talks about the loss of spontaneity (and perhaps innocence) of those early after hours sessions (at 14.02)…

Never change, Sven…