Grindr Plays: DJ Samy Jo

My name is:
Samy Jo or Jo if you ask me my Grindr profile name.

I started DJing:
In 2005 when I was 20. And twelve years later here we are.

The first place I DJed at was:
Les Bains Douches Paris. The mythic club from the 80’s. The funny story about that is I never thought about being a DJ when I started working at the club. It’s the fault of the artistic director, Thibault Jardon, who pushed me into it. My first gig wasn’t even planned. They looked at me at 5 a.m. and told me I was playing in 30 minutes. My passion began in that moment.

My musical style is:
Most of my tracks are classified as house, tech house, tribal house, and sometimes I go deep.

My favorite parties in the world are:
The H.I.M Festival in Antwerp, obviously. MENERGY in Paris because all the hot guys go there. Matinee Pervert for the Spanish production. Milk Festival in Amsterdam I just fell in love with. Algeria for the U.S. production. And as I’m currently in London, I’ll add Room Service, Dollar, and Daddy Issues to the list.

The song I play most in my sets is:
The “Sun Rising Up” by Rebeka Brown is a classic for me. And as of last year it’s probably probably “Kwango” by Micha Moor.

The best night out was:
I’ve had a couple since I started going out—you can’t have just one. I’d say in Paris of October 2010 at Garnier’s Opera. The party was the Grazia Magazine Masquerade Ball hosted by Club Sandwich. The place is unreal for a party and I was with some of my craziest friends so…

Right now I can’t stop listening to:
To be honest there are two tracks on my phone I play everyday. “Let the Bitch Know” from my dear Kiddy Smile on Defected Records—even the video is incredible. Also “Read U Wrote U” from RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Season 2. I can’t lie!

My musical influences are:
As a DJ, I’d say Pagano, Tom Stefan, Dario Nuñez, Erick Morillo, and Dennis Ferrer.

You can catch me playing at:
I’ll be playing for the Milkshake Festival Pre-party on April 8th in Amsterdam.

You can hear more from me at:
instagram.com/samy_jo orwww.mixcloud.com/samy-jo