Rui Da Silva plays Bed at the R Bar on Wednesday night.
It’s every producers dream come true – slog away at your craft in the city of your choice, rise to the status of large fish in your chosen pond, create a tune that instantly takes on a life of it’s own, and before you know it, you’re entering the UK charts (and every other European/Commonwealth chart) with a bullet to number 1, becoming a bit of a historical talking point as it was the first #1 record for 2001, hitting the coveted peak on January 7 and narrowly beating the God awful Steps to the much hyped position.
Well, it almost happened that way. The fish in question is Rui da Silva, (who says it was “A lot of work before Touch Me” was released), the pond is Lisbon, Portugal and the tune is that infernally catchy Touch Me track featuring the passionate and intense vocals of Cassandra. Now heard everywhere from Sportsgirl’s shops to Fruitopia ad’s (replete with dancin’ juice guys and gals), originally, Da Silva wasn’t too sure if his track would have the stamina to tackle the UK charts.
"It's difficult to say whether it will make it.” Da Silva said at the time. “With something like this, it's not just what kind of song it is, but the marketing behind it, the shelving in shops, all that stuff. A lot of factors determine what's gonna make a Number One. I do think that record has a lot of potential to be a Number One record, but as to whether it will be - you'll have to wait to see!"
It seems that Da Silva’s nous was correct and his canny knowledge of what makes the dance world tick was spot on the money. The proof that Da Silva wasn’t just a one hit wonder with an ear for a good tune came when he started to receive offers from other artists to remix their work, a sure fire sign that an artist is just as good as their last work and that they have a ‘sound’ that others want replicated. One new single is for Latino uber-babe J-Lo, Da Silva says "It's one for the drag queens! It makes her sound like a man."
But the fairy tale almost didn’t happen that way. Originally, the single Touch Me was in a spot of bother with a guitar sample that EMI alleged was taken from the Spandau Ballet track Chant No.1, an injunction was placed on the release, hindering it’s progression, but Da Silva maintained from the word go that it was not a sample, “It just sounds similar.” he clarifies.
But, ideology and the ethics of sampling aside, none of these things stood in da Silva’s way, he and his ditty were thrust up the charts and into the dance consciousness like it was possessed by the Devil, resulting in numerous awards and gongs for the trance-lite star.
The very confidant Da Silva says that he “Thought Touch Me was a hit. It becoming one was due to other things, but that is how I thought of it.”
The DanceStar Awards gave him a nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist, Touch Me was voted Best Single of 2001 by the prestigious Muzik Magazine, not to mention the aforementioned and tres lucrative marketing deals the single has enjoyed. But Da Silva is keen to point out that his life as a producer and DJ didn’t start with THAT single
“I’ve been a producer for the last ten years, reflecting on the original tracks I did, I notice many elements adding to what I am doing now. But it was different then.”
Da Silva admits he has not had a chance to play in his native Lisbon for some time, but he is stoked that his current tour that started in early February took in Portugal before he arrived in Australia for his first tour here.
“Yeah, the nature of the job has meant I cannot visit there as much as I would like, but the scene there is really beginning to take off.”
And as for the future of Rui Da Silva, he says to expect something more “Mature and meaningful.”
