Sam Divine

I’ve been doing this a long time and every year honestly gets better. Bigger festivals and bigger parties means bigger vibes. This year I’m really looking forward to playing Tomorrowland, it’s been on my bucket list for a while so I’m looking forward to getting lost in the madness as it looks really special. We’re also hosting our own stage at We Are FSTVL which is a great look for us and we’re also hosting a boat party in Croatia for the Defected Festival. We did it last year and it was something truly amazing. And we have 4 Ibiza dates. I’m looking forward to taking the brand up a level and showcasing my amazing residents.

I was head hunted for Chemical Records which was a big thing at the time as I had only been a house buyer in my local record shop for a year so I went from 20 customers to a 1000. It was literally the best job I ever had. I had unlimited funds so I made use of that by importing a lot of soulful and jacking house at the time from the States. It really was a dream job and played a massive part in my career to come. The knowledge I gained from that era set me up for years to come. I was a complete vinyl junkie and I earned my respect by playing vinyl and making it all about the music and nothing else.

I was quite a latecomer, most of my friends started DJ-ing at 15 or even younger. I was 22 and 3 years later did my 1^st season in Ibiza and then went on to play 4 more full seasons after that. I got to listen to all my heroes on a weekly basis. When I got signed to Defected that’s when I started warming up for them. Artists like Kenny Dope, Frankie Knuckles RIP, Dennis Ferrer, Junior Jack & Kid Crème. I was in my element but it really made me up my game, you cant miss a beat when you’re warming up for these guys and you have to do your job properly and there’s a real art to being a good warm up DJ. Some people are good at it and some people just don’t get it at all. I’m really lucky that I had the opportunity to play with so many great DJ’s on a weekly basis and still do.

I really love Eli Brown’s edits, when a track blows everyone is playing it so I like to have my own edits that very few people have and Eli nails it!! CASSIMM nails it for me every time, and we’ve worked on a garage remix together which went to number 1 on Traxsource and number 2 on the Beatport house charts and we’ve also just finished an original EP which has been signed to DFTD. I’m in love with everything that Joeski and Dario D’Attis lay their hands to and Will Clarke really does it for me to. We’ve been friends for over 10 years and I’ve watched him grow into an aspiring artist. I gave him his first ever DJ set in Ibiza so I’m super proud of his achievements.

What has been the highlights of your musical career so far? 

Single best moment has to be getting signed to Defected. Without Simon Dunmore being my mentor I probably wouldn’t be writing this interview now. He’s really guided me through the last 7 years of my career and he’s given me opportunities that sometimes at the time I felt was out of reach so I really had to man up and jump in with both feet. Thank god it all payed off. If you have someone great that believes in you then the world is your oyster. And I would have to say starting my record label. It was by complete accident that it happened. It was a conversation between myself and my manager and I was having a moan that some artists I had found on soundcloud were making records that I was playing at peak time in my sets but none of them were signed to any big labels. It didn’t seem fair so my manager said why don’t you start you’re own label and sign them yourself so that’s exactly what I did. The next day D-Vine Sounds was born and we’ve been going strong for 2 years now. I run the label with my 2 best mates so it’s happy days all round.

We’re dropping a new edition to the label in May called Deeper D-Vine Series and we’ve got killer tracks lined up from Drop 2 Jump, Marc Cottrell and Grant Nelson. I like to switch things up with the label to keep it sounding and looking fresh. We release 2 VA’s a year which are 5 tracks from hand-picked artists. We get sent so much good music that its difficult to choose what to put out as a single so we use the VA opportunities to showcase some really dope talent.

NYC and Miami were sooooo good. It was amazing to see people in  D-Vine Sounds t-shirts and to know that are making an impression across the pond is a really good feeling. The crowd were totally up for it and they knew all the Defected tracks and D-Vine Sounds tracks. Parties like that are just a real pleasure to play at.

K&K – Move

Solardo – Tribesman (Eli Brown Edit)

Dead Prez – Hip Hop (Will Clarke’s doingitforthecuddles ReRub)

Kristine Blonde – Love Shy (Sam Divine & CASSIMM remix)

I wouldn’t say I miss it so much now and I definitely don’t miss carrying my record box around. I have a home studio with my decks set up and recently got all my old vinyl from my dad’s warehouse but I’m yet to have a mix on them. I went through them the other day and I’ve got some absolute gems. Never say never

Listen to the Parris & Lloyd mix that they put together for the party next week or D-Vine Sounds spotify playlist.