Written by Carl Mumford
Anyone that knows me knows that I really like listening to Sam Divine and jump at any opportunity to see her. I’ve followed her from Defected at Amnesia, to Bristol and now to We Are FSTVL. I’ve met her a few times now and every single time she has always made time to talk to me, she’s humble and I enjoy listening to her sets. So it was only natural that when the chance arose to inter-view her I got it done. I also met Jess Bays who is Sam’s Tour Manager and best friend who was very accommodating and a pleasure to talk to. I wanted to speak to Sam about Ibiza, her label and her love for We Are FSTVL. Here’s a short interview I conducted before her set.
Hi Sam, are you good?
I’m really good thank you.
I’m from Uneek Ibiza, my name’s Carl, I’m just going to ask you a few questions today about your season in Ibiza, what’s coming up and what do we expect from you today?
Well, this is the fourth We Are FSTVL, We Are FSTVL for me kinda kicks off the whole summer and it ’s probably the same for a lot of other DJs as well . We Are FSTVL is very close to my heart, I could probably say it’s my favourite UK festival for sure. To play for Defected, the first year we had 1,000 capacity tent and then the next year we had 2,000 and then this year you can hear it going off now, it’s absolutely going off already in there. We just seem to keep getting bigger and bigger, like I said We Are FSTVL is definitely the start of the summer for a lot of DJs.
Your label D-Vine Sounds is going from strength and strength, I’ve been watching it for months and can you tell me a bit more about your label, what can we expect?
Yeah we started it a year ago, it was myself and two of my best friends, Jess Bays and Camilla. Camilla is label manager, Jess Bays helps out with A&R. We started it a year ago just for the pure fact I had a couple of weeks off and I was going through SoundCloud, I was finding all these amazing producers that had minimal followers. I was thinking, why are they not getting their tracks heard.
Unheard talent?
Yeah, basically! The A&R came out in me. I had a lunch meeting with my manager and they said Sam why don’t you just start your own record label and sign these artists? And literal-ly, the next day D-Vine Sounds was born. It was simple as that! We have grown it organically, obviously I’ve been in the game a very very long time and I could have gone to my friends and said you know hey, I’ve started a record label can you do something for it but we have started it organically and we have gone out and we have reached out to up and coming artists and given them a plat-form.
Yeah a friend of mine James Campbell I met him in Ibiza, he’s a good lad.
Yeah I met him in Ibiza two days ago! Exactly, these guys need help, they need the platform like me a long time ago. The youngest guy we have got on our label is 20 years old. He is incredible, Casey Spillman, he is way ahead of his time, we have Casim, we have so many good talents on our label and it’s just about a real family vibe. I’m coming from Defected so I’m taking all the best bits and putting all that experience in there. We have just launched a second label called Soul D-Vine, the first release is going out next month in June by Husky from Australia. Just be-cause my roots are soulful coming from Defected so we wanted to do something on the more soul-ful tip. This is kind of exclusive news, we are starting a third label in September! I’m not going to tell you the name of it yet, I’m not going to give away too much but it’s going to be more deep house, tech house and then we are then covering all genres of house music because for me D-Vine Sounds I wanted to just have a house record label. A lot of people sub-genre and we just wanted to have House. It’s grown at a really rapid pace and the support we have got from people in the indus-try. It’s given me a new lease of life, I’m playing a lot of upfront stuff that I get sent from the artists and just being able to play that at festivals like We Are FSTVL, premiering their tracks that have come straight out of the studio and then I’m playing it in front of 5000 people, for these guys it’s a big step up.
You’re over at Sankeys in Ibiza this year for Redlight, tell us a little bit more about that, what can we expect?
I’m super super excited, Defected isn’t in Ibiza this summer but we have got an an-nouncement to make very soon. I’ve been with Defected seven years now and the presence we have had on the island has been huge and this year we have taken a step back. So this year is my 11th year on the island and it wouldn’t have been possible to not have a residency so to be at San-keys is a really cool club. I loved playing at Sankeys in Manchester, I’ve only actually ever been to Sankeys once in Ibiza.
Really? Wow! Sankeys is incredible.
I’m really really excited just to get in there and do my thing. The opening party for it is tomorrow. I flew back from IMS last night, We Are FSTVL now and then back out there tomorrow.
Are there any tracks that you would recommend that we could feature on our website right now?
We have got a big one coming out, it’s on D-Vine Sounds, it’s by Carnayo – Jean Jax movie two people. He’s done a killer remix and we are dropping it in July. So that’s going to be my summer anthem!
Just to finish off, obviously you’re a veteran to Ibiza, what would you say are your favourite places on the island? Where would you go? Where would you recommend?
There’s so many places, I mean Formentera is another level and so many people don’t know about Formentera. I think Ibiza is not just about going out and having a party, it’s about explor-ing the island and there are so many beautiful places, the restaurants, the beaches, Camara’s in San An is still one of my favourite places to go. Mambos obviously for Sunset, I’ve had a home there for a long time. There’s so many hotspots, it’s hard to say off of the top of your head.
Thank you very much for your time Sam!
