Davide Squillace is more of a performer than an artist. Born in Siena, he grew up in
Naples and stared to go to his !rst parties at 15. His friends were DJs and just like that,
he found himself playing behind a DJ booth. At 19, however, he wanted more and new
stimuli in his life, so he decided to move to London. In the UK capital he bought his
!rst equipment and has continued working to where he is today. Since 2004 he lives
in Barcelona, a multicultural city where he has found a perfect base to do what he likes
most, music.
Let’s speak about your roots. “Yes, there really is an Italian sound that even picks up
some regional shades. In Naples, the sound at the beginning of the millennium was
repetitive techno, very different from the clean-cut characteristic sound from Germany. It
had Latin in”uences which made you move more. It was sexy and informal. In the North
of Italy, on the other hand, people like Mauro Picotto produce a sound that’s more for
the dance-”oor, intelligent and destined for peak time.”
“Where am I most at home? DC10. It’s much more than a club to me. It’s my family, my
best friends”. Even the public touches him deeply, “They’re essential to play at ease”. What
about Amnesia? “To play at the opening was special for me. I admire people like Nacho
Capella and Mar-T a lot. They’re professionals who want to reach people’s hearts through
music and playing B2B with Matthias Tanzmann was a very exciting moment for me”. It’s
not the !rst time that Squillace and Tanzmann play together. They really are a perfect team
and those who have experienced their musical journeys, know that they’re unforgettable.
Like most people, it’s hard for him to !nd an answer when it comes to the frequently
asked question regarding his style. “I don’t know. I would like to be clearer about it,
although sincerely I’d prefer that people form their own opinions. I’m afraid of being
classi!ed. I consider myself more of a performer than an artist. I want people to come
and listen to me with an open mind and then decide later, freely and without any labels,
whether they like it or not. One can play underground tracks that become commercial
after playing them a lot, but this doesn’t mean that the work is commercial”. There’s
something to be said about Squillace and his music: he moves through feelings, with
no intention of selling out and this attitude is what has brought him to the top.
Where he gets his inspiration from is no mystery. He is inspired by everyday life, by the
little details in a normal life connected to music: a friendly conversation, playing new
instruments and most of all, playing with sounds. “Suddenly a sound appears that I like
and the rest comes from there. We’re surrounded by sounds at all times. Before we’re
born we listen to the beat of our mother’s heart. It could be that techno artists stayed a
bit longer in the womb to listen to that boom boom boom…”
What about the labels? Davide Squillace used to be ‘the man about the labels’. Now
he only has one, Hideout, which he shares with Luca Bacchetti. “The label was created
with the intention to launch electronic music based on a 4/4 beat. Music made to
dance. The last track we edited was by Patrick Lindsey, a dance-”oor track, and we’re
now working on a track produced by Guti and myself. A sentimental track with a Latin
touch which will include remixes by Dub!re and Kerry Chandler”.
“Apart from my label and although it doesn’t have much to do with my sound, I like
working with Ovum, Desolat and Cadenza.” Favourite artists you would like to mention?
“There are so many good ones that it’ very dif!cult to name only a few but indeed
there’s one that I love: Arto Lindsay, an American producer who lives in Brazil and who
knows how to cross the borders of different musical genres in search of new sounds.”
What are your summer plans? “I am doing a remix for Tiefschwarz but what my body
is really aching for and what inspires me most at this time of year is to get lost in the
clubs, to feel the contact with the crowd, to recharge my batteries and return to the
studio with new ideas and lots of new energy.”
Welcome to Ibiza Davide! You are one of us!
Taken from Amnesia Magazine
