Sam Collins is reshaping the tech house landscape – interview

Sam Collins is having a moment. His tracks are impactful and stirring, and his live set includes drumming, an immersive blend of sounds and visuals, and his signature masked persona, creating an unforgettable experience. The mask, a symbol of both privacy and artistic expression, has become a key feature of his shows.

Kicking off 2024 with a splash, Collins’ latest track, Prayers On Acid, is a standout. It’s anchored by potent drums and a robust, syncopated bassline. The track intensifies with distorted vocal snippets, sharp percussion, and a monumental breakdown.

With the track out now on Thomas Gold’s Fanfare, we caught up with Sam for a chat.

How has the start of the year been for you? Do you tend to find this time of year inspirational, or daunting?

I usually use the first weeks of the year to calm down, recover from the busy months or year and focus on writing new music. As January is a more quiet month – booking wise, I love to spend time at home and build a routine, which normally can be difficult as a touring DJ.

In your journey from Munich to becoming a renowned name in tech-house and electronic dance music across Europe and Asia, how have your experiences in different cultural contexts influenced your musical style and production?

Getting to know different cultures and countries around the world does not only shape your character and mindset, but also always has a positive impact on your musical style and productions. For me this has become a source of inspiration I couldn’t live without. During the pandemic I really got to see how my creativity was restricted due to the lack of new impressions and inspiration. I love connecting with the resident DJs in the clubs. I always try to arrive at my club shows one hour early to hear them play.

As an artist with a strong social media presence and a significant following, how do you balance the demands of social media and the business aspects of being a DJ with your creative process, especially considering the challenges you’ve mentioned about misconceptions regarding the DJ profession?

When looking at my social media, people often tend to misperceive my job as easy. They only see my glamorous lifestyle and me traveling the world, but they don’t see the hours of layovers at airports, the amount of time invested in the set preparation and studio work. That’s just how social media works. Don’t get me wrong, I feel extremely blessed by being able to turn what I love most in the world into my job, but as everything in this world it also has another side to it. When it comes to balancing all the other aspects of this job I sometimes get overwhelmed.

As a typical artist, business and being organized is not my biggest strength. I have to force myself to also leave some time for the aspects I don’t enjoy as much.

Given your success in engaging audiences through both your music and online platforms, what new directions or innovations are you considering for your future projects?

Although it doesn’t come as a surprise or innovation, I think having a strong social media presence has become indispensable for artists nowadays. Personally, I have always tried to not become one of those “Influencers”, but to stay professional and focused on my music rather than lifestyle or entertainment. For the future I have found that my live-performances are one of my biggest strengths to give back to my community – entertainment wise. Therefore, I will try to be more present on YouTube again, recording my shows, and afterwards making the full set available for my fans.

Tell us about your upcoming single, Prayers On Acid. Was there any specific inspiration behind this one?

This song was the result of my set preparation for a big festival show in Seoul, South Korea. The planned line-up was half melodic techno, half hard style, with me right in the middle. I wanted to produce a song, which would combine these elements while still keeping my personal note to it. The bass line found in Prayers on Acid reminds of hard style music, while the main lead sounds more like melodic techno. This track, with its extremely high energy, perfectly fits any main stage all over the world.

Are there any emerging trends in the music industry, particularly in tech-house, that you find particularly exciting or that you plan to explore?

A trend I extremely enjoy watching right now, is how the tech-house scene is becoming more and more underground at the moment. Seeing artists like Max Styler gaining popularity, I think Acid House is a big upcoming trend, which should not be left unnoticed.

What music do you listen to outside of the studio? Outside of dance music, what has been the album or artist you’ve listened to the most?

This is a difficult question for me to answer as I am surrounded by music 24/7 and this includes music of all genres and artists. Of course most of it is dance music, but I also enjoy listening to classics from the 80s or R&B from the 90s, as they always inspire me for melodies and toplines. I sometimes even listen to traditional Turkish music, going back to my Turkish roots and family memories. A song that I enjoyed lately is George Duke, “Reach Out”.

What’s 2024 looking like for Sam Collins?

This year is holding a lot of new opportunities and chances for growth. Most of the things, unfortunately I can’t talk about yet, but what I can say is that there’s a lot of new music and big collaborations on the horizon. This year is all about pushing the boundaries of my music, exploring new sounds, and connecting more deeply with my audience. It’s going to be a year of growth, innovation, and unforgettable experiences.

Prayers on Acid is out now on Fanfare Music