Mike & Claire Launch New Manumission Motel Ibiza Book
Written by Dan Kirwan
Much has been written about Manumission, the iconic Party that filled Privilege for 14 years, defined a generation and ingrained Ibiza into British culture. Its artistic directors Mike and Claire McKay pushed the envelope of Ibiza’s limits and found that she was an unforgiving mistress that could chew you up and spit you out without so much as a glance. They stared into her tempestuous, fiery eyes—and survived to tell the tale. While Manumission was the parent, The Manumission Motel was its illegitimate wild child, conceived in the raw, red earth of the island and born in a brothel in 1998.
Its guests were handpicked hedonists – Shaun Ryder, Jade Jagger, Kate Moss, Primal Scream, Roman Polanski, Diego Maradona, Elle MacPherson, Fatboy Slim, Zoe Ball, Carl Cox, DJ Alfredo… bad party boys and girls with unfathomable stamina. It was “a dolls house on acid”, and boy did they get fucked up in there – people would disappear for days on end, but nobody knew why. Moreover, it brought its creators to the cliff edge of insanity, both in their twenties and chasing the dragon of Tanit’s energy.
As a result, the true story of the Motel was shrouded in mystery, seemingly consigned to hazy flashbacks of drug and sex-fueled memories. However, as with many artists, Manumission creatives Mike and Claire kept everything. Books filled with conceptual planning, hand-drawn design notes, and pieces of memorabilia, along with an extensive archive of thousands of photographs and never before seen video footage. As well as this, Claire kept a diary, a behind the scenes account of what went on on a personal and professional level at the helm of the world’s most infamous nightclub.
It has taken the couple several years to perfect their work. They have been busy in the quiet hills of Barcelona raising their beautiful family, keeping themselves grounded in reality and waiting for the right moment to launch a vivid and artistic account of the early Manumission years and their time at The Motel. Creative independence and editorial are not easy, and Mike McKay is a perfectionist, a stubborn and principled one at that. To retain artistic freedom and full ownership of its direction, they have turned down a number of commercial offers to launch the Manumission Motel story into the mainstream because it would not allow the true story to be told. It would not possess the fierce rebel soul of its birthright. So instead, they have chosen a publisher who shares the Manumission ethos of freedom — an ideology and a promise to publish uncensored literary work.
Without vision, there is no hope, and we owe it to future generations to remember the magical and decadent spirit of Ibiza.
I feel it is now incumbent on those who were part of that era to celebrate and remember it. To leave a record of who we were, to show our grandchildren that we were trailblazers, a generation that broke down barriers and did it for the love of music, diversity and the Party—an organic and cultural movement that will inspire generations to come. ‘The Motel’ will be the artistic flagbearer for freedoms lost and especially for those of us who connected to Ibiza during the nineties.
It aims to be free in spirit, just like those warm Balearic nights that we so fondly remember. We can help shape its direction with our support, and the business model that the off-grid McKays has chosen is both refreshing and organic.
I am honoured by the opportunity to offer my followers an invitation to be part of the Ibiza family that will support what Mike and Claire are doing right now by offering a sneak preview of the available rewards to those of us who will be immortalised in the first edition hardback and digital audiobook editions. Without vision, there is no hope, and we owe it to future generations to remember the magical and decadent spirit that was once abundant on a small, beautiful island in the Mediterranean.
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