Introducing Davide Squillace & his fabric Promo Mix

There aren’t as many people out there as busy as Davide Squillace is. Not content with the high flying lifestyle afforded him from his tripped out tech house productions and packed DJ schedule, he’s also founded and drives a creative agency based in Barcelona that goes beyond the usual label structure of presenting music into a multi-media creative affair. It’s all pretty remarkable if you think about it so ahead of his debut on our Saturday night program we got to know the industrious artist a bit better through our chat with him below and the exclusively constructed fabric Promo Mix that you can listen to below. Download: Davide Squillace fabric Promo Mix I hear that London played a big part in influencing you as a DJ and producer, can you tell us about your first experiences in the city? Well, the first time I was in London I can remember the clubs like Heaven, the Complex and Velvet. What to say about them, I could literally catch practically anyone playing in the space of the weeks I was there. It was amazing because it exposed me to such a wide range of music, not only techno, but also drum & bass, gabba and more experimental landscapes a la Mille Plateaux. You now call Barcelona your home, what makes it such a great base for a traveller and creative like yourself? Barcelona is a great spot to come back home to, it’s very similar to my hometown, Napoli. It has that Latino feeling and shares the architecture and structure that was part of my childhood. I think that any city has a creative rush, but for me it is more about how you interpret it and how you live it. My process is a bit more about taking lots of experiences from my travels and then going back through them when I get home and analyzing them …… I have a mental "sit down" with them. Barcelona is the place where I do this. It is my cocoon where I’m more relaxed and where I can deal with my thoughts. That’s where the HQ of This and That Lab is correct? Can you tell us a bit about the concept behind the organisation? The whole project is built on a bunch of different artists working together to create a synergy of different medias. It’s not just about music. Music is the first product of our output, but we combine that with work from visual artists from around the world who produce paintings, drawings and videos etc. We are also working on advertising and marketing campaigns too. So it is a varied project, which keeps things very exciting. It is more than just a record label. It is a think tank that embraces art, media and culture as a whole. It is all about creative people working together to create something different. The idea came about through our desire to do something a bit different that goes beyond just music and deals works under the broad ranging umbrella of art as a whole. What do you have forthcoming we can look forward to seeing or hearing? I’m mainly on the road for gigs right now, which as lovely as it is, it also kind of sucks to have all your time and mental energy up and keeps you away from writing music as much. But that is usual for this time of the year where going into the studio is not an option. However, we have managed to continue with the BLTS project, carrying on with work on the album in Ibiza. Other than that, Martin Buttrich and myself have a release on Minus coming in September too. It must be pretty challenging to balance all that out with your DJ’ing, you’ve been resident at Circoloco for 6 years now – what’s it been like being part of a crew and representing their certain sound? It has been nicely challenging. I see being part of Circoloco as a family affair, I think we are a range of DJ’s and producers that have their own sound and represent the brand in different ways. Circoloco and the DC10 experience has shaped my life on a personal level, which of course means that has had an effect also on everything else. Every experience in life makes you a slightly different person and this affects your music too. I mean what aspect do you like the most of your life – is there something you wish you could be spending more time on? Of course my own personal agenda is totally fucked up. I’ve been wanting to follow the design weeks around the EU for the last 4 years, but never had a chance …… just to name one thing I wish I could be able to do. I’m sure a time will come when I’ll have more space for myself and for other hobbies. Just not yet! Have you managed to take a break from the summer madness yet? (Laughs) We are still in August! Impossible! But I’ve already planned a whole week off in September. The master plan is to rent a boat and sail through the Sicily islands while doing internet therapy, which means no connection at all. Time will probably be spent just fishing and snorkelling all day; the kind of vacation where you can reboot your body and brain. Have you played with Joris Voorn or Craig Richards before? What are you looking forward to from sharing the bill with them here later this month? I’ve played with Joris a couple of times but not with Craig, I’ve seen him playing but never shared the DJ booth with him. I’ve been looking forward for a long time now to play at fabric on a Saturday, so I’m really going there with nothing in my mind and to go with the flow. I’d like to be swollen by the whole scene there and see what happens!!