In 1993 Da Silva was instrumental in crafting the underground music scene in Lisbon and by 2001 he had released the global smash hit Touch Me. He spoke to Ibiza Spotlight's Paul Cook to discuss the year ahead, what’s been keeping him busy and the various projects that lie ahead in 2011…
Spotlight: How was 2010 for you? What did you get up to?
Rui Da Silva: In 2010 I decided to slow down on the DJ gigs and focus on building my new studio and my productions. We’re now towards the end now finally in a position to re-launch my label Kismet Records for 2011.
What would you say has been a highlight of 2010 for you?
For sure it was building my new studio in Ibiza. I have been in Ibiza for 2 years and now that the studio is ready I have what is probably the best sounding control room on this island. I had an acoustic engineer doing it all up for me and I'm very pleased that is has come out so good, it feels like you're listening to music in 3D the stereo image and the detail on the bottom end is incredible. During the summer the highlights were playing EXIT Festival for first time and playing on the island at the most incredible venue The Kave.. not much can be said about this club but it has the best sound system and settings you can imagine...
Looking ahead to 2011, what are your plans? When are the Junkie Wife singles due to be released?
For 2011 I will keep the focus on working on new productions for Rui Da Silva, Junkie Wife, Crazy Love, Druid and BlackSilva. I'm also really looking forward to getting back in the studio with Chris Coco again for a brand new CocoDaSilva release. The first Junkie Wife single "Gotta Move On" is out on 14th March, the others will follow straight after that.
What did you do for New Year’s Eve? Did you play a show or spend it with friends and family?
I'm not keen on New Years Eve and celebrating the end of the old year... I'm more of a New Years Day person so I went to DC10 on the 1st. For New Year’s Eve I spent the evening staying in, eating and drinking with close friends and my family.
How would you compare Junkie Wife to previous projects of yours?
It’s a lot different than what people would expect from me so I decided to create a new name, I wanted to do something a little different with this project and bring back that old disco, funk, pop sound but give it the fresh sound of today and demands on the dancefloor. There is so much brilliant music that people who are going out today never hear and this is a way of getting all these amazing records to be heard once again. For people that want to hear them first I upload them on my Soundcloud page regularly.
What was your inspiration behind the sound of Junkie Wife?
A lot of old disco/pop records that I love and I cannot play in the current format so I decided to start updating them for my own sets and from there it became its own project.
What is the idea behind the name "Junkie Wife"?
It started from a bit of a lyric of the Superfly soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield. I had done an edit where there was that “junkie wife” reference and I played it at the Kave. It became a bit of a joke amongst the girls in the summer and from there it ended up as the name for the project.
Curtis Mayfield - Ultimate Superfly Guy
What is the next step after the three singles come out? An album perhaps?
At the moment I'm just really enjoying what I'm doing with the singles, I've not really spent any time thinking on an album but I'm not ruling anything out.
Do you have any other projects in the making? Any collaborations coming up in 2011?
I’m going to be working on more productions with Craig Richards, CocoDaSilva, BlackSilva and work with new singers. I’m trying to focus on recordings while it’s winter here in Ibiza because when the summer arrives it's difficult to work in the studio.
Rui Da Silva - Touch Me (Double 99 Remix)
