Beatwolf Baleria- with Andy Wilson

Beatwolf Baleria – With Andy Wilson

Based in the world capital of electronic music, Ibiza, Andy Wilson can be heard on the island’s leading radio station Ibiza Sonica, with 2m monthly listeners worldwide, where he hosts his own weekly Balearia show as well as producing shows for the likes of Jose Padilla and Nightmares on Wax.

Andy was born in 1964 in Manchester, the no-nonsense bastion of football and music and he was raised on an early household diet of Beatles, Motown and Radio 1.

He was still at school when punk turned the musical world upside down. Grabbing his guitar, he joined The Spurtz, described by The Fall’s Mark E Smith as the: “Best fuckin’ band in Manchester’’. Andy’s next stop was hipster girl group, The Liggers. Then it was on to Action Holidays which survived just a little longer than their first gig, when they were supported by New Order.

But, it was with The Passage that Andy enjoyed his greatest rock success. With four albums and four John Peel sessions, the band toured the world. All along they remained based in the Manchester inner-city counter-culture stronghold of Hulme.

It was here and in London that Andy began to move amongst the post-punk b-boy funky-dread scenes in disused warehouses, clubs and squats. He was further inspired by stays in early-1980s Berlin, New York and Thailand. These were where the seeds were sown for the birth of Acid House and the glory days of Madchester. Andy was there for it all.

Becoming a DJ was a natural progression from years of making pause-button mix tapes and spending a fortune on vinyl. Starting with two turntables and a mixer in 1991, he has travelled the globe ever since.

For most of the following decade that meant summers in Europe then escaping the cold, mainly in Asia. The winters of his 1990s were spent scuba diving, partying and DJ’ing in Thaliand’s legendary Backyard and dozens of full moon parties.

In London he was an integral part of the notorious Sancho Panza crew. At the same time he also managed Camden Town record shop, Vinyl Addiction, a part of Bar Vinyl, London’s first bar with a DJ.

Then in 1999 Andy decided the natural place to develop his musical career and bring up his family was the musical island of Ibiza.

His move to radio came after he’d spent years playing most of Ibiza’s superclubs, but had become disillusioned with their often narrow-minded musical policies. This led him to first take over the only English-language show on the mainstream station Cadena 100. Then in 2000, with Balearia, he revived the island’s eclectic approach to DJ’ing.

He was one of the founders of the island’s first dedicated music station, Ibiza Global Radio, before leaving to start Ibiza Sonica in 2006. He hasn’t given up public DJ’ing, but you’re more likely to see him in action behind the decks at exclusive parties and venues on and off the island than in a big club, or catch him at one of Sonica’s famous live broadcasts.