DJ Dimplez on why Pop Bottles will never be a 'Fyre Fest'

DJ Dimplez takes Pop Bottles to the slopes this winter. Photo: Supplied

DJ Dimplez takes Pop Bottles to the slopes this winter. Photo: Supplied

Published Feb 20, 2019

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“I don’t know if you watched the Fyre Festival documentary but those guys tried to do it by themselves and that was a total no-no,” says DJ Dimplez before he bursts into laughter.

“We’re able to pull off Pop Bottles anywhere because hotels know how to handle guests and transport companies know what they are doing too. So the whole plan is to keep it simple and make sure people are having fun.”

DJ Dimplez wants to steer clear from anything Ja Rule would want to be involved in but he is proud that his brainchild, Pop Bottles, has taken care of the music aspect so well and hired the right partners to ensure the event is able to cross borders.

Last year, the event took a turn to Mauritius, and this week DJ Dimplez announced he was taking the Pop Bottles Ski Festival to Afriski Resort in Lesotho from June 7 to 10. Packages that include ski lessons, equipment hire, accommodation and more are priced from R3 800.

A yet-to-be-revealed line-up will include talent from Lesotho and they will keep the party going at night. During the day, revellers will have the opportunity to hike, embark on 4x4 trails, snowboard, and ski on the snowcapped Maluti mountains.

“The whole point of going to Lesotho is to have a different experience,” he says.

“We’ve already had a summer experience in Mauritius. A lot of South Africans have a negative perception of winter but being in Lesotho when it snows will be something they aren’t used to. They will be taught how to ski since the lessons are included in the packages. We will still have warm destinations for other Pop Bottles but it will be nice to take young, black South Africans skiing.”

DJ Dimplez enjoys sharing experiences. In 2008, the popular hip hop DJ decided to throw a birthday party and call it Pop Bottles. That signalled the start of what would become a decade-long staple on the music calendar.

“The phrase ‘pop bottles’ merely means a celebration,” he explains. “And so, people just enjoyed the fact that it was on a Sunday - which wasn’t the norm. And it was a purely hip hop experience, which, at the time, we didn’t have a lot of.

“The demand for the event was definitely there from the start. They asked me when we’d be having the next one and I said next year but they weren’t having it.

“So a month later, we did another Pop Bottles and have been going every month since.”

Last year, he took a hot line-up and planted it, over a few days, on the even hotter island of Mauritius. This experience was eye-opening because: “In Mauritius, it was maybe 80% a South African crowd but we had people from Nigeria, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Kenya came! The plan is to have South Africans go overseas to perform but we send out invites all over the continent through our partners, Channel O, for everyone to attend.”

Pop Bottles Ski Festival is at Afriski Resort in Lesotho from June 7 to 10. Tickets and more info at popbottles.co.za

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