Feature: The rise of DC10’s Davide Squillace

Feature: The rise of DC10’s Davide Squillace

11 December, 2008 | 3.29PM

• Written by: Ryan Keeling
• Filed under: Music News: davide squillace, dc10, matthias tanzmann

If this summer you found yourself engulfed by techno amid the darkened chasm that is the inside room of Ibiza’s infamous DC10, then chances are you were dancing to Davide Squillace.

Beatportal’s Ryan Keeling traveled to his hometown of Naples to learn more about his brand new F.R.I. DAY parties, the method behind his DJing madness, and of course his life-affirming DC10 residency.

Welcome To Naples

Davide Squillace is a hive of activity tonight. As the 800 strong crowd at his F.R.I.Day party wait expectantly for another bar of Davide’s crisp filtering to drop, his hands scurry busily over four controller surfaces and a laptop before lurching back to the mixer to administer the anticipated bass reward.

As resident DJ of DC10’s infamous temple of rave Circo Loco, Davide Squillace has seen his stock on the European techno market rise considerably over the last two years. His Minisketch, Titbit and 500 labels have given him a broad sonic palette on which to expand his reductionist techno offerings while releasing tracks and remixes for acclaimed labels such as Ovum, Resopal Schallware, Net 28 and Viva.

Teenage Kicks

The seeds to his now substantial international standing were sown in his late childhood back in Naples, when the sounds of Motor City began trickling over from across the Atlantic.

“When I was 15 or 16 years old, there was a growing scene in Napoli that was more housey, with people like Lil Louie Vega and those sorts of American guys,” Davide recalls backstage.

“But at the time we were looking for something else; there were also people like Richie Hawtin coming over, and Jeff Mills. I started out as a promoter, helping some people and slowly we had our minds opened to new sounds: the so-called Detroit sounds. These people totally blew our minds, we were like, “what the fuck is this music?!”

Davide’s love affair with his trade began in earnest when he made the move that many young Neopolitans dream of, relocating to London. “I got into it properly around ‘96 or ‘97 after moving to London. It was just a case of having a couple of decks at home with some friends and buying some records. It wasn’t even like being a DJ, it was just about enjoying the music.”

The contrast between then and now could not be more stark. Davide is now the epitome of the modern digital DJ, tonight utilizing a dizzying array of controllers and loop machines that work in tandem with Traktor Scratch and Ableton Live. In fact when his good friend and this evening’s guest Matthias Tanzmann steps up to play with a pair of CDJs, it seems almost simplistic (although by the time you read this Tanzmann would have made the switch over to Traktor Scratch too). 

Like much of electronic music’s production workforce, Davide has been cutting his teeth on the scene for well over 10 years, releasing tracks on labels like Primate as early as 1998. As his nascent career began to take shape, Davide decided to take a break from production altogether in order to concentrate on the more technical aspects of the trade. “I went back from London to Napoli and I kind of stopped trying to make music because I wanted to study sound engineering, which I focused on for two years. Then in 2002 I went back to making music.”

Crazy Circus

Fast-forward to early 2007 and Davide received a call that most DJs wouldn’t even dare dream of. “The guys from Circo Loco called me up and said they liked my records and wanted me to play for them. It was an honour of course, as Circo Loco is the best club in the world,” he says.

Davide took up a regular spot, playing in the club’s less famous but no less musically inspiring inside room. It was here he refined his fluid, funk-fueled DJ sets and fell in love with the place, as almost anyone who visits does.

“You can find everyone from the guy who works at the bakery to the guy who works on Wall Street in the club and no one cares about social shit. All the best DJs want to play there – even for free. So far, for me, it’s been the best party ever. The energy you can find in there it’s like, “Woah –good luck trying to find another club like this!” If you get used to playing at DC10 and then go to other clubs they look a little bit weak,” he muses.

So with an inside view on all the soap opera that unfolded surrounding the venue this summer, what is the current situation with Circo Loco at DC10?

“I’m pretty sure they are going to do something about it. I mean Circo Loco is the underground party on the island that everyone wants to go to. I actually heard when it closed down that a lot of hotel reservations and flights were canceled,” he reveals. “These people do go to other places like Space or Amnesia but they mainly come to the island for Circo Loco and the other parties come second. When these people hear that it has closed it really kills the scene – it’s like the underground soul of the island.”

In recent months there’s been talk of whether or not the Circo Loco crew would commit the almost sacrilegious act of shifting the party to another Ibizan location. Davide feels this won’t be the case but like everyone else seems in the dark as to exactly what will transpire in 2009.

He replies, “I have no idea. I hope not. I hope that DC10 will be back but if it isn’t I hope they will move the same feeling, the same environment and the same hype somewhere else. At the closing party at Privilege it was weird because I got in there and thought “oh my gosh this is fucking unbelievable!” The walls were different, the soundsystem was different but we had the same faces, the same happiness and the same freedom.”

Back-to-back

Back in Naples, Davide hands over the reigns to Matthias Tanzmann and is buzzing around making sure everything behind the scenes of his F.R.I. DAY party is running smoothly. He has a genuine laidback and likeable quality to him that is far removed from the seriousness that often seems to be associated with techno artists.

After an industrious 2007, Davide’s productions took a back seat to remixes in 2008 but it seems like it was more out of necessity than a labour of love.

“I actually don’t enjoy doing remixes as much,” he explains. “First of all because I like to start a track from zero, with zero ideas and I just like to go in the studio and mess around until something starts to take a little bit of shape. The before bit is the emotional part.”

“This year I have been focusing more on playing all over the place and doing about four or five remixes but from next year I’m going to focus totally on my stuff. I’ve been working with Luca Bachetti on some stuff for release next year.”

In addition to his remixes, residencies and worldwide DJ gigs, Davide heads up the Minisketch, 500 and Titbit imprints although as he explains, they have all seen scant contributions from him recently.

“On Minisketch I’ve been releasing different guys and I don’t really feel like it’s my thing or my baby anymore. I think I’m going to choose two or three young producers I really like to take care of the artistic direction with my supervision so they can each have two or three releases in a year. There is a guy from Rome who lives in Canada called DLO whose release on Minisketch is coming out at the beginning of next year and there is another guy from Turin called D Deck who I have in mind.”

F.R.I. DAY in Naples

As the party moves into its final throws, Davide and Matthias take the opportunity to throw down some back-to-back action. The pair share a running joke together as to who is the techno DJ and who plays house, although, which ever is which, tonight their styles fuse together seamlessly. The crowd has now depleted down to the 50% who came exclusively for the music and the atmosphere is all the better for it. As the lights come up, the remaining patrons jump on stage to applaud the pair’s final fader throws and filter tweaks.

“I didn’t want to have any musical links,” Davide tells us after the gig in a cold but glowing morning street of Naples outside. “So whichever DJ I bring here, people like Matthias can be more housey, or for example Josh Wink can be more techno or deeper – everyone can do their own thing. It’s based on friendship and also based on the people I respect music wise. The next party I think I’m going to do with Guy Gerber, then one with Dubfire and then I want to do one with Josh.”

A big part of what Davide does appears to be based on friendship and trust: feelings which are reflected in his latest project that will see the light of day in early 2009.

“My new project will just be with friends like Luca (Bachetti), and Ali (Dubfire) is going to do a remix, maybe Matthias Tanzmann too. The new track is with Luca Bachetti and myself called ‘Planetario’ which is coming out in February. I’m coming up with the name of the label and the logo and going through all the necessary things to launch a new brand now. This is the project I will be focused on in 2009.”

As is the case with many of the scene’s key players, Davide has embedded in him an A.D.D. like quality - a desire to constantly push things forward and to strive for re-invention.

“I hope in two years time I will do something different music wise otherwise I can see myself getting bored. Not just for the sake of being able to say it but it really does get boring doing the same thing.”

If anyone is bold enough to rise from the looming shadow cast by DC10, it’s Davide Squillace.


Photo credits: Alessandro David

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