Fri, 25 Nov 2011  /  Post a comment
What’s up guys, Happy Thanksgiving and hope this finds you all doing well.

It has been quite a while since I’ve had the opportunity to sit down in the one spot and gather my thoughts for a blog, so a massive apology for that. When the summer started picking up my free time has almost been entirely dedicated to the radio shows and gigs, compiling tracks for the 2012 compilation, as well as beginning to get into the teeth of producing my next Markus Schulz artist album.

I know that I have a huge amount of gig recaps and catching up to do; and I hope to come back to those in future blogs. But the main reason I’ve pushed myself to do one for you guys today is to talk about my latest Transmission experience - memorable not just for professional reasons, but for personal ones too.

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m going to try to convey my thoughts on how thankful I am for the weekend just past. So grab a drink and some pumpkin pie.


The Buildup to Transmission: Berlin and Sofia

It had already been a busy week in Berlin on the production front. Since my last appearance at Avalon in Los Angeles back in August until now, one of the key components of my livesets has been this year’s Transmission event theme - Digital Madness. Since it was becoming familiar for everyone to hear, I wanted to add a little something extra that would surprise the audience the O2 Arena on the night, and also conscious that the set was going out live around the world too.

So on Monday I sat down and started thinking about what to add, and went through my folder of liveset intros from down the years. When I was making coffee I had the Sin City intro playing in the background (the one you would have heard at the beginning of Las Vegas ’10 Disc 2), so I thought to myself, if I can transfer the lead of Digital Madness into that haunting orchestral type of vibe then it might work. The set preparations were underway.

Tuesday and Thursday of that week I spent working with Berlin native Dennis Sheperd. He’s had a great year on the production front, particularly with his massive Fallen Angel that I’ve supported lots of times on Global DJ Broadcast and in my livesets since July.



I’ve gotten to know Dennis better since the summer and was open to the idea of spending some time in the studio with him with the hope that the results might yield something for the next Markus Schulz album. Without giving too much away for now, I’m very satisfied with what we’ve accomplished. Might be a little while before you hear it, but I think it’s something hopefully you guys will enjoy.

Sandwiched in between was GDJB recording day on Wednesday and more preparation ahead of the Transmission set. I spent some time browsing my own forums and Tranceaddict to find the tracklists of my last few Transmission appearances, and there was one thing that stood out to me - the Coldharbour remix of Breathing had never been played there before. So that was something I wanted to factor into the equation too.

Whilst Transmission was obviously heavily in my thoughts all week long, Friday also presented an important gig for me - my first visit to Sofia in Bulgaria for almost two years. I was going to treat this gig as my dress rehearsal for Transmission the night after. I wasn’t leaving until early evening, so I slept right through from Thursday night until the sun went down on Friday in Berlin, because I knew I wasn’t going to get too much for the next couple of days.



Yalta is a beautiful intimate club that has always made me feel very welcome over the last five years or so. My itinerary said that I was only due to play two hours but the crowd demanded more so I gave them three. I must give a mention to Danny from Tucandeo who came to the gig for support along with his girlfriend, nice seeing them.

Overall the night went really well. It was the perfect way to get me fully focused on what needed to be accomplished in Prague the next night. Great people and great vibe. I know I said to some of the guys on Facebook about possibly making Sofia a World Tour destination - to be completely honest, had that gig not fallen the day before Transmission, and Transmission going out live, I definitely would have done it. So maybe the next time they bring me back, if the timing is right, then we showcase Sofia to the world. Many thanks again to everyone who came out.


Transmission: Digital Madness, Prague - Saturday November 19th

The big day had arrived; without doubt one of the biggest and most important gigs of a trance DJ’s schedule throughout the year. After a layover in Vienna, I touched down in Prague early in the evening.

My connection and affection to the city of Prague is obvious to those who have followed my career over the years, and this affection went into hyperfocus mode earlier in the year due to me dedicating the 2011 chapter of my city series compilation to the Czech capital. The backbone of this affection has been the Transmission extravaganzas. I’m very proud to be an unofficial resident of the event, having played there every year for the last six and having done three event themes in the last four years - The New World, Future Cities and this year’s attempt Digital Madness.



I have to take you back to last year’s event where I was very fortunate to have my father and two brothers in attendance. Earlier that summer we had received the news that my dad was fighting cancer and the outlook wasn’t good, and with me only having discovered and connected with him a couple of years previously, it has left me with so many ponderous moments, such as why is he possibly going to have to leave my life so soon only after coming into my life.

Going into the event last year, we all thought that it would be his first and last Transmission. But all year long he’s vowed to fight and be strong for us in the hope that he would get to experience one more.

Not only that, after my brother Holger’s accident which left him in a coma back in May, my life felt like it had turned upside down. That was one of the toughest weeks I’ve ever had to encounter, and I’ve never been so appreciative of my fans as I was that week, particularly those who came to see me when I was touring India. It’s funny; I said to one of the girls who regularly supports me and GDJB on Twitter that I feel a debt of gratitude towards them for almost carrying me through that week, and hopefully I can repay them when I visit the Sunburn Festival in Goa after Christmas.

Thankfully however, the family were there this year supporting me again, and I knew that I had to make every effort to perform to my best, as well as making it a night to remember for the fans.

After meeting the family and my press agent Tim Stark we gathered for dinner and headed to the O2 Arena in Prague. You could feel a buzz in the air all night long. Gareth Emery was on the decks as I got into the arena, and unsurprisingly could hear Zombie Nation blasting through the speakers.



At 11pm it was showtime. Deep breaths and time to deliver. My short edit of a Digital Madness intro into Mr. Pit’s remix of Katowice kicked us off, and my first sense of relief was hearing the crowd embrace the event theme. As you guys know, one of my favorite tracks from this year is Khomha’s remix of Max Freegrant’s track “Olya” - I’ve gone on record as describing it as the track where we can only be friends if you like it too! I still had the acappella of Sarah McLachlan on Delerium’s Silence from when I made the mashup with Lift Off, so had an idea to place it over the top of Olya as a nice surprise. Thankfully it went down well too.

I hadn’t planned on playing either Surreal or the Beat Service remix of Saints, but I changed my mind after the reactions they had gotten at Yalta the night before. So you guys in Sofia definitely had an influence on the big dance in Prague. And of course no set of mine would be complete without a few pesky IDs in there, although they’ve been going over huge in all my livesets over the past month. Right now I’m debating on whether or not to use them in the city compilation, so just want to keep the identity of the tracks under wraps for now.



The staples of Opera of Northern Ocean, Rotunda and Outsider were all requested by the fans throughout the week on Facebook and Twitter so they got big reactions when played, and it’s always a seminal moment when The New World gets played in Prague in any format due to the connection with Transmission. The debut of the Coldharbour remix of Breathing at the event followed, and it was definitely a very special moment for me looking out at the sea of hands from the booth. You would be hard pressed to find timeless classics better than that. Then to wrap things up was my new version of Digital Madness, which rounded things off in great fashion.

After 1 hour and 40 minutes (it only felt like 5 minutes if I’m honest) I was done, and my contribution on stage to Transmission was over for another year. I went down to meet some fans and take pictures, then went out to the lobby to do some press and poster signings for even more fans. Paavo and Tony from Above & Beyond had taken over and by the time I got finished and back up into the skybox where my family was, they had around 20 minutes left. But nothing could have prepared me for their ending.



Over the past year A&B’s drive has been all about their Group Therapy artist album. Included in the album are some beautiful atmospheric tracks that they’ve used as their intros and outros to every set they’ve played this year. As expected, they ended their Transmission set with “Sun in Your Eyes”. Along with everyone else in the arena, I watched the screen and the messages they were typing up to interact with the fans - all of meaning and value to many; “life is made of small moments like these”. Then they put up this:



Now I’m not exactly the poster child for showing my emotions physically, but it was unbelievably difficult to keep them in check when they put up the message about my dad. It was a moment of sheer class and appreciation I will never forget, and I will be forever thankful to them for going out of their way in doing it. We don’t know the future, and we don’t know if this past week was my dad’s final ever Transmission experience. But if it was, it was a beautiful moment that everyone will always remember.

So my heartfelt thanks go to the boys - to Jono, Tony and particularly Paavo who was manning the messages on his laptop. It’s a huge weekend for them coming up as they reach the milestone of 400 episodes of Trance Around the World, so as well as thanking them for Transmission, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate them for their achievement and wish them luck for their live event in Lebanon this Saturday.

My Transmission thanks also spread to Ferry Corsten (great company as always), John O’Callaghan and Gareth Emery, and a sincere thanks to each and every one of you who supported me during my performance on the night. This was Transmission: Digital Madness, and it’s one I’ll be reflecting on for a very long time indeed.



I said my goodbyes to the family and headed back home to Miami via London Heathrow. Hope to see you again soon Prague.


2012 City Compilation Announcement - This Monday

My week on the road started early with a trip to Denver for Trancegiving Eve, and then flew back to Miami to spend my first Thanksgiving at home with family for the first time in years. Later today I’m packing up for a weekend in Texas, starting at Rich’s in Houston tonight and then the GDJB World Tour recording at the Lizard Lounge in Dallas on Saturday. Should be fun seeing everyone.

Then Monday is a big day, where the location of the 2012 city series compilation will be revealed. The amount of messages and people asking me about it over the past few months has been crazy. At times I’ve felt like I’m going to be announcing the next city hosting the Olympics or the World Cup! But all will be revealed with a video broadcast this Monday, starting at Noon Pacific | 3pm Eastern | 8pm UK | 9pm Central Europe on http://www.markusschulz.tv.



To be honest, it hasn’t been an easy decision, because there are so many cities worthy of contention. I’ve tried to base my decision not only on the impact I have felt by the city in the last 12 months, but also over the past number of years. I’m delighted to say that as well as announcing the city, we’ll also be able to reveal to you the special release party and plans around the compilation. So make sure you free up your Monday to find out the next instalment of my city series project.

After that I’m saying goodbye to home and spending another stretch of weeks on the road; first going to Asia to Singapore and China, and then playing Creamfields in Abu Dhabi before a couple of weekends in Europe. I’ll be gathering even more tracks for the compilation and starting to put the pieces together in the coming weeks, as well as doing some more production work for the artist album.


And with that, it’s time to wrap things up and pack for another weekend. Many thanks for taking the time to read guys and thanks for your patience in waiting for the next blog to appear over the past few months. I’ll try my best to go back to the summer and get caught up over the next while. Please leave me your thoughts and comments and I’ll have a read when I’m on the road, they always keep me going.

Until then, take care and enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving weekend.

With love,
Markus

Mon, 21 Nov 2011  /  Post a comment


On Monday November 28th, as part of a special live video broadcast, one of the busiest international DJs, Markus Schulz will reveal the metropolis that’s been chosen to host his 2012 city compilation. Ahead of the curve at each turn, the series has long stood at the forefront of metropolis encapsulating mix-comps. Having previously pointed the spotlight at EDM epicentres including the never-been-hotter Amsterdam and his home city of Miami, latterly the series has gone on to centre-stage the newfound club-credentials of Vegas and thriving European dance-hub Prague.

In the run up to every year’s announcement, trance fans take to forums and social media platforms to speculate as to which city Schulz will pick (regularly lobbying for theirs to be chosen!). With Markus having spun in over 90 different municipalities in the last 12 months alone the field for 2012’s could hardly be more open!

There can however only be one! And in a twist, for the first time this year, Markus himself will be making the announcement via a live video broadcast! Transmitted via http://www.markusschulz.tv, it will allow you to be among the first to find out where the series lands in 2012. In addition to the grand unveiling, he’ll also be talking in depth about next year’s pick, recalling his past experiences in the city and how he perceives its club future. Further he’ll be giving fans the inside track on how its essence will be captured in the music AND give you the first details and dates for the 2012 city compilation’s can’t-miss block-rocking launch parties!

So get your desktop reminders set and prepare to tune in! The announcement broadcast is now less than 7 days away! It will go out on Monday November 28th thru http://www.markusschulz.tv at Noon Pacific | 3pm Eastern | 8pm UK | 9pm Central Europe

Which City will it be? Well it might be yours!

More info on Markus Schulz from http://www.markusschulz.com and http://facebook.com/markusschulz

Wed, 03 Aug 2011  /  Post a comment
Markus Schulz presents Dakota - Katowice

Release Label: Coldharbour Recordings Red
Release Code: COLD030
Release Date: July 28th 2011



Katowice (Extended Mix)
Katowice (Mr. Pit Remix)

vailable to purchase digitally on Beatport by Clicking Here

“The epitome of tech-trance heavy industry” - Mixmag Magazine, August 2011

He continues to pack the biggest nightclubs whilst receiving rave reviews in response. His Thoughts Become Things II album has been critically acclaimed as another bold step for the trance genre. And with his annual Coldharbour Day celebrations approaching, it is apt that Markus Schulz brings his Dakota alter-ego to the fore for this special occasion - by dedicating it to a nation which has supported him immensely throughout his journey of being regarded amongst the industry’s elite.

His affiliation to the people of Poland and the city of Katowice goes back many years; with its Planeta FM affiliate being the first in the country to transmit and support his Global DJ Broadcast radio show on a weekly basis. But it was a visit to Katowice on a November night for Poland’s Mayday celebrations which projected this connection to the next level.

Inspired by the underground techno vibe emanating from the outdoor ambiance of the event, Markus harnessed his experience into a new track in his hotel room only hours after being on stage. Given unidentified roadtests through the Global DJ Broadcast World Tour events at Green Valley in Brazil, Vision in Chicago and Zouk in Singapore, speculation mounted whether this tech-trance filled grinder could be one of the Thoughts Become Things II offerings.

The answer was yes, and on the day the album details were revealed and the track in question was dedicated to one of Markus’ most rabid nation of followings, the Polish fans and the people of Katowice in particular knew that a strong bond had been formed, and the world was watching.

Fast forward to July and Markus’ first Global Gathering festival appearance of the summer in Gdansk, Katowice was on the tip of everyone’s lips. In front of over 15,000 fans, they got their wish by hearing the original live on the night, but they would also be the recipients of a world premiered alternative slant on the track - in the form of on-fire Romanian Mr. Pit. Played to audiences on both Global DJ Broadcast and A State of Trance in the same week, his remix gives Katowice extra room to blossom both in the clubs and on the grandest outdoor settings.

Katowice is aptly described in August 2011’s edition of UK magazine Mixmag - “All in all this is darkly minded, challenging and satisfying trance music”.

This is Markus Schulz’s tribute to the people of Poland, and Katowice will be the epicentre of many huge dancefloor moments across Europe and beyond.


Katowice (Extended Mix)




Katowice (Mr. Pit Remix)

Mon, 01 Aug 2011  /  Post a comment
Markus Schulz presents: The Big Room Reconstructions E.P.

Release Label: Coldharbour Recordings
Release Code: CLHR121
Release Date: July 28th 2011



Rex Mundi - Opera of Northern Ocean (Phynn Remix / Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)
Reverse - Absolute Reality (Arty Remix / Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)
Mr. Pit - Shana (Duderstadt Progressive Dub / Coldharbour Intro Mix)
Jan Johnston meets Tenishia - Flesh (Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)
Mike Foyle presents Statica - Headrush (Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)

Available to purchase digitally on Beatport by Clicking Here

July 28th 2004 is a significant day for all Markus Schulz followers, as it signalled the ushering in of a new era. Coldharbour Recordings’ first step towards becoming a fully flourished label through the first ever Coldharbour Selections release (which featured the iconic Blueberry). Seven years later, and with Coldharbour Day now a permanent annual fixture, Markus presents a very special treat to his fans by making public some of his most requested and exclusive works for the first time.

A glance at any Markus Schulz liveset tracklist would immediately tell you how dedicated he is to making his sets special through countless reworks, mashups and big room reconstructions. Very few of these reconstructions have been released to the public. However, to mark the Coldharbour Day celebrations in 2011 and alongside the release of Katowice under his Dakota alias, five of his hallmarked big room reconstructions will be packaged together, and will begin to fuel the DJ sets of many elsewhere for the summer season.

The Big Room Reconstructions package contains Markus’ efforts on Phynn’s remix of Opera of Northern Ocean (a track which remains one of his most requested for almost 18 months), an ASOT 450 highlight through Absolute Reality (and thanks to our friends at Vandit for their blessing); a mashed up version of Shana in the massive Duderstadt Progressive Dub with Markus’ own Coldharbour Intro Mix, last year’s summer anthem - Tenishia’s remake of Jan Johnston’s legendary Flesh; and rounding off with an enhanced dancefloor monster in the form of Mike Foyle’s Headrush.

The 2011 Summer of Schulz season kicks off in style with our bumper Coldharbour Day celebrations, and the Big Room Reconstructions E.P. is one that will go down very well with anyone who has a strong affection for the label. Enjoy the party.


Rex Mundi - Opera of Northern Ocean (Phynn Remix / Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)




Reverse - Absolute Reality (Arty Remix / Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)




Mr. Pit - Shana (Duderstadt Progressive Dub / Coldharbour Intro Mix)




Jan Johnston meets Tenishia - Flesh (Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)




Mike Foyle presents Statica - Headrush (Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)

Sat, 23 Jul 2011  /  Post a comment
What’s up guys,

Good evening to you all from beautiful Cyprus. Hope this finds you doing well. It has been another hectic week and a long week of travelling, but I’m here as promised to deliver another blog and get you caught up on the latest news and another batch of gig adventures.

Last week we left you in Las Vegas following Electric Daisy Carnival, so let’s pick things up again from there where we’ll go through my busiest July 4th weekend in history, and follow it up with the straightforward task of playing two Global Gathering events in two different countries on the same night. Isn’t Markus sensible...


Markus’ Insane July 4th Weekend Part 1 - Calgary and Vancouver

After Electric Daisy Carnival the previous Sunday, I stayed in Las Vegas for a few days to rest and party; doing too much of the latter and not enough of the former! But by the time Wednesday came round I was leaving for Calgary. Although it would have been nice if I could have left my dirty clothes somewhere and picked them up when I was playing again in Vegas on the Sunday.

A long delay meant that I didn’t get into Calgary until very late, and still had Global DJ Broadcast to finish that week. A couple of hours sleep and I was up doing my thing with the Twitter and Facebook peeps during the show, and then had to start preparing for a mammoth weekend. I was going to be celebrating Canada Day in style with gigs in Calgary and Vancouver.

The first fun part of the trip came when I was walking down the street. You know when you see a sign of something and it just somehow relates to you or your life, well, I guess you know what was going through my head when I saw this “Gypsy” restaurant.



It was a big night in Cowtown at Flames Central as it gave me the chance to hang out with my buddy Olaf aka Wippenberg, who was playing along with me at the gig. His track U R is still doing the business for me so well, and we had a nice moment in the booth together when as he handed things over to me, he kindly let me start off with my intro version of it.

I should also mention someone who I hung out with backstage, who told me he had been shot in the back, but snuck out of the hospital to come see me play. Now that’s a hardcore Schulz Army member if I’ve ever seen one!

Highlights of the set? I guess that boy from Medellin has to get his props again, with Khomha’s remix of Another Day doing massive damage early on. Once that kicked in and the crowd started going wild, I had a feeling that we were going to be in for a good night. The Calgary fans are always ones you can rely on to come out and make you feel good. The momentum of Lightwave from the previous week in St. Louis and EDC in Vegas kept going with another play. I rounded off the night with the awesome Fugu by Mr. Pit and it was a good way to start off this weekend. Gig one of five was in the books.

Friday took me west to one of the most underrated cities to party to Vancouver - although a lot of the natives had gotten a little too excited / aggravated (delete as applicable) out on the streets after the Stanley Cup Finals a few weeks prior. But I was looking forward to my first visit there since New Year’s Day.

I rested up as much as I could since I knew that it would be the last time I’d find myself in a normal bed at ground level for the next 48 hours. But it was out the door to Gossip and on another unicorn slaying mission.



Gossip photo courtesy of Davis Chu Photography

Wippenberg warmed up for me again that night, and I gave the Sleepwalkers intro mix I had been preparing for the festivals a first roadtest. They gave a great reaction to Miami, and rounded off the night with a couple of big requests in the form of the Big Room Recon of Open Your Eyes and Rapture to finish the night off.

Another fun night with the Canucks, and after greeting the fans after the set, it was time to get in the car and head back home. I can say home right?

Two down, three to go.


Markus’ Insane July 4th Weekend Part 2 - Miami

And straight to the airport for a 6:20am flight to Los Angeles. There was free wifi so of course me being me; I took advantage by reading and answering emails, although the tiredness was starting to kick in badly. Three hours later I was in Los Angeles, and after a bit of a nap in the business lounge, my flatbed on the plane was calling my name.... or so I thought.

We got on board the plane and even changed into my pyjamas. I got ready to push back and enter the land of nod when the pilot announced that the flight had been delayed for almost two hours, and we had to get back off the plane!! Couldn’t they just have let me stay there and sleep??

So in the end I was walking around LAX in my pyjamas, sleep deprived, and well, not having my finest moment in the department of good looks.



Eventually (or what felt like forever) we got back on the plane. I put an imaginary do not disturb sign on my forehead and tried to drift off. Keep in mind that we were losing three hours of the day travelling from west coast to east coast, so the race was on to get to Miami and get prepared for Space. What it did mean however is that the planned video blog shoot at the club had to be postponed.

I made it home for around 20 minutes to dump dirty clothes and pack clean ones, and then it was off for something I hadn’t the privilege of doing for five years - playing a gig in my hometown on Independence Day weekend.



Now we had all hoped it would be a marathon set on the night, but due to the flight delay out of LA and an early start to Vegas the next morning, I only managed to entertain the crowd for a shade over four hours; although hopefully it was enough to satisfy most of them. I kicked off my set with Katowice and went through a heavy dose of Dakota early on, but in the second half of the set I was able to bust out some classics like Marco V’s Simulated; along with the customary play of The Perspective Space.

The biggest cheer of the night probably came during Terrace 5 a.m. - because the locals know that I made that track very much with the Space nightclub in mind. There was a huge #SchulzArmy flag floating around the dancefloor all night, and the name felt appropriate during the break of Terrace that’s for sure. I rounded off the set after 5 with the mashup of Coming Home with Not Going Home, and a bit of Naked thrown in on top.



Like I said it was unfortunate not to be able to stay on and play even longer like the last night of Miami Music Week, but hopefully it’s something the Miami peeps enjoyed and I’m thankful to everyone who came out and supported me again. It’s been announced already that I’m going to be coming back on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend, so maybe we’ll see if I can keep on playing with no early flight to catch on the Monday (at least I don’t think so anyway).

Three down, two to go.


Markus’ Insane July 4th Weekend Part 3 - Las Vegas and San Francisco

Straight from the gig and to the airport - starting to sound familiar isn’t it! Time to get some shuteye on the way back to Vegas... with all the lack of sleep I wouldn’t have been surprised if somebody told me to wake up and all this travelling was just one big giant dream. But I was travelling to Vegas for business and not pleasure (yeah right) and a Sunday afternoon session at TAO Beach. The burning question inside was - what on earth does a unicorn slayer wear to a beach party?

I guess not black would be the answer, since I didn’t want to melt whilst performing. Although the sight of bikinis and yet more bikinis jumping up and down to the dark basslines would be a nice treat.

It’s kinda strange to play a set during the day, since you can’t really go through the full on heavy stuff since it’s not appropriate for the vibe. So it gave me the chance to play some older stuff I hadn’t spun in ages, like Phoenix, Rydem Koba and the Falling Meich mashup, along with different Dakota material like Suggestion No. 5.

But one of the most heartwarming moments of the entire weekend was a sign being passed around that said “God Bless Holger” on it - things like that which show how lucky I am to have the caring fans that I have.



The Dakota remix of Sweet Dreams with the vocals of The Space We Are over the top got a great reaction; just one of those great party tunes to pull out now and again when you know everyone is having a great time. Sky Traffic sent them off home, and I was off again to the airport. San Francisco beckoned - four down, one to go.

But this weekend wouldn’t have been complete without another delay at the airport. It’s funny you know; when you plan these multiple gigs in one day scenarios in your head they always run so much more smoothly than in reality!



So I went to get some food, and look at what I spot on the menu. I think this Dakota movement is starting to catch on!

Of course I had to think about refuelling my insides before being tempted by the slot machines. I think Vegas really didn’t want me to leave. But then all my money ran out and I resorted to some improvisational airport planking, although all my Facebook followers told me that I was doing it wrong!



All joking aside, the delay meant again that I wouldn’t make the start of my set time as originally planned, but thankfully the crowd were patient and ready for me when I made to the beautiful Ruby Skye to begin at 1.

I was tired. I felt beat up (maybe it was that Dakota soup), but you know what, when I stepped into that booth I just kept saying to myself, this is the last big thing to do this weekend, and when you’re finished, then you can chill. So I went out there with the intention of giving it everything I got, even if it meant going beyond the planned 3am finish. I think when the crowd were baying for Sleepwalkers as early as the third track in, they were in for a late night too.

If you listen to the World Tour recording from New Year’s Eve, then you’ll understand the vibe that the San Francisco people bring, and especially to that club. I lot lots of requests for some older material that night - thinks like the remix of Ferry Corsten’s Brain Box, Andy Moor & Orkidea’s YearZero and the Super8 & Tab remix of Perception to name a few, and they meshed in well with the new Khomha and Aerofoil stuff I was pounding out. Surprisingly, there was a lot of love for Red Star late into the evening too.



Photo courtesy of Kaelee Ramos VanMeter

The final half hour became like an encore after encore, with the Afterhours Mix of Without You Near, Rapture, Breathing and lastly the Coldharbour remix of Rui Da Silva’s Touch Me all getting a spin. I came down from the booth to greet the fans and say thanks for sticking with me until the end. To be honest, everyone that came out to support that weekend deserves a great deal of my gratitude because it was thanks to you guys that I was able to get my second wind when required.

Ultimately, after 5am on Monday July 4th 2011, I had done it. Three gigs in 24 hours. Coast-to-coast-to-coast-to-coast... I won. Sorry Charlie Sheen, but this was my victory.

Happy Independence Day, and happy Markus collapses into bed day. It was quite the journey!


Two Global Gatherings in One Day - Gdansk, Poland and Kiev, Ukraine

After the excursions of the weekend that had just passed, my last couple of days at home in Miami were very much in chill mode. I got the Global DJ Broadcast World Tour recording from Pacha in New York sorted for airing, and then on Friday I was up at the crack of dawn to pack a big suitcase for my five week stay across Europe. When I made it to the Coldharbour Studios, we had to film the grand return of the video blogs for you guys, since time beat us from doing it at Space the previous Saturday.

I said goodbye to Miami and flew overnight to Frankfurt on the amazing A380. A short delay but still had enough time to catch my connecting flight to Gdansk, and then it was time to rest and prepare for another marathon-testing night. Two Global Gathering events taking place in two different countries; and two countries in particular that I have a strong affection for.

The Polish fans are a very passionate and patriotic bunch by nature, and were one of the countries that really embraced me and what I was trying to demonstrate through the Coldharbour sound. Take your Sunrise Festivals; take your Godskitchen Urban Wave nights; take your ASOT 450 celebrations and most recently, take your Mayday in Katowice as examples.

If you were reading the blogs regularly towards the end of last year, you’ll know how the seeds of the Dakota track were sewn on a cold November night. Katowice an important location for me for historical reasons more than anything else, because the Planeta FM affiliate in the city was the first station in Poland to support Global DJ Broadcast on their airwaves every week.

On that Mayday night in particular however I was blown away by the cool underground techno vibe, despite the event taking place entirely outdoors. Normally when I play outdoors I tend to play high-tempo and banging from the outset, but with this gig I was able to explore the techno sound that I've loved incorporating into my sets over the past year in particular. I started working on the track as soon as I got back to my hotel room that night.

Now in the week leading up to Global Gathering, we were debating in the office what we should do for this year’s Coldharbour Day celebrations. The obvious things was going to be a Dakota single, but I was undecided on which one in particular. I did have options, since we have a few remixes going for the tracks right now, so I opened the door for the Facebook fans to suggest what they would like to see. Katowice seemed to be the big winner, but I still wanted to wait until after the Global Gathering gigs to be certain.

After a few hours sleep I was up and checked out of the hotel, and made my way to the venue where I hung out for a bit with one of the original unicorn slayers, Richie Hawtin. It would be a long night for both of us, as he would also be taking the trip to Kiev for the second Global Gathering of the night. Next stop was to the Planeta FM booth for a quick interview, and then got ready to do my thing at 9pm.



One of the early highlights of the night was a track I’ve loved playing on Global DJ Broadcast recently - the collab between talented guys Dennis Sheperd and Cold Blue called “Fallen Angel”, with a familiar voice to all you Surreal lovers in the form of Ana Criado. I haven’t found too many big vocal moments for my livesets this past while but this acted as a godsend. And after a couple of MS 2011 standards in the shape of Caress 2 Impress and Rotunda, it was time for the first big moment.

My first opportunity to play the original of Katowice live to a Polish audience had arrived. And they cheered with everything their lungs could give.



With Mr. Pit at Global Gathering in Gdansk

Now normally in a short or festival set I wouldn’t play the same song, but I think with the magnitude of what was going on that evening, and the fact that Mr. Pit was there in person and had just give it to me the day before, I had to debut his remix to the world, keeping in mind that the set was going out live on Planeta FM as well as the audience in Gdansk. I think that was the moment I knew it had to be the next Dakota single.

In all honesty the set to me felt almost like a homecoming. The fans were absolutely incredible and came out in huge numbers to support, and that meant a whole lot to me. We’ve gotta get a nice long club set going somewhere in your country and get the World Tour thrown back into the mix.



Global Gathering Gdansk pics courtesy of Planeta FM

I wish I could have stayed longer to greet the fans afterwards, but Richie and I (along with his crew) had to beat the crowds and the traffic, where a private jet would be taking us to the second gig of the night in Kiev. The night was still young...



A couple of hours later and we were in Kiev, and it was a race to get to the venue (and most importantly the stage) on time. I was due to play from 4-6 after Tiesto, and was hoping he’d have his twitter on in the booth so he could read that I was delayed! At 18 minutes before showtime, our view from the car was this.



Not very promising! I kept saying to myself “please see some lights in the distance”. I don’t know how on earth we managed to make it on time, but we did.

What an awesome feeling playing to over 10,000 fans in the sunrise! That is was the summer season really should be all about. This was my first gig in the country since the World Tour recording back in October, so it was the first chance for me to play the Dakota material to them live. Beat Service’s Outsider, another one of those liveset staples which has served me so well, proved to be the big winner.



All Kiev pics courtesy of the awesome Richie Hawtin

We wrapped things up after 6 and another very long day was in the books. But it all worked out in the end. Thank you so much to the combined 25-30k people who saw me in Gdansk and Giev, and of course to all of the Global Gathering crew who believed I could perform twice in one night... again!

I said goodbye to Kiev on Monday morning and headed back to Berlin to recharge the batteries.


Coldharbour Day 2011 - Special Broadcasts and Events Wednesday and Thursday

It’s a busy week for all of us at Coldharbour, as we start blowing up balloons and bringing in party streamers... just kidding. But this week is an important one for me personally and all of the Coldharbour family - as we present an entire day of sets dedicated to the fans.

It’s all going to kick off at 8am Central European Time on Wednesday on Afterhours FM, and in the early evening yours truly will be taking control for my annual 4 hour studio set. I’ll be busy working on it after the gigs this weekend and I’m hopefully going to try to present a lot of your favorites from this year - either from the Do You Dream remixed album, the Prague ’11 compilation, the Thoughts Become Things II album, and of course some secret Coldharbour weapons.



I’d advise all of you to stock up on supplies because it’s going to be a very long but exciting day. I’m going to try to catch as many of the sets as I can too, and will be doing my usual live tracklisting on Twitter and Facebook for my own.

Then Thursday is GDJB and two special releases from Coldharbour. We’ve got the single release of Katowice on Coldharbour Red, which will feature the extended version of the original from TBTII and the excellent Mr. Pit remix. But on the main Coldharbour label... well, we’ve got a little surprise in store for you, and I’m going to leave it as late as possible to reveal it. But hopefully something you guys will enjoy and appreciate.

Global DJ Broadcast itself will also be a special episode - our annual Ibiza Summer Sessions Sunrise Set. I’ve been looking at all your requests through the social networks and the forum and trying to put the pieces together in my head, so hopefully I can provide you guys with a nice soundtrack to your summer with this set alone. It’s something that I’d want to make and be able to listen to when I’m in Ibiza catching the sunset or walking around the island early in the morning.


Coming Up This Weekend

And of course, there will be another blog for you all next Friday. These gigs just keep coming thick and fast! When I check in with you next week however, the blog will pick up with my first trip to Ibiza of the season, take in last weekend in Croatia, Russia and Tunisia, and the extended set on the Terrace at Space this past Wednesday, which you heard as a bonus treat on Global DJ Broadcast this week.

As for this weekend, well I started my morning in Barcelona after a layover, and after another plane journey to Athens, I’m here to start my weekend at Limassol in Cyprus. Tomorrow night I head back west to Belfast for the Transmission event at the Mandela Hall, which my friend tells me is right across the street from the main university building there. I can see that being a very loud few hours, because the Irish are naturally crazy and a gig there is like being at a sold out soccer game!



Performing at Tomorrowland in 2010

Sunday night is another festival stop, and back to the scene of the double rainbow appearance last summer - Tomorrowland at Boom in Belgium. Although this time, it’s going to be something that all you guys will get to not only hear around the world, but see too. The folks from Be-At TV contacted me last night and asked if they wanted me to be part of their live broadcast, and I’m really excited to be able to do something like this for the very first time. So you’ll get to see me acting like a goof and doing all my silly unicorn slayer dance moves on stage from 2:30pm Eastern / 8:30pm CET.

During the week will be fully focused on the two important radio sets, and on Thursday I’m back on my travels again to Budapest, and yes Budapest peeps, it is going to be the next Global DJ Broadcast World Tour. Now since I’m good, I hope you guys come out in force make Café Del Rio the hottest spot in the world that night, because the world will be listening through GDJB the following week.


So that gets you a little more up to date with my travels. We’re getting closer to being fully caught up week by week now! Haha. So I’ll wrap things up and wish you guys a great weekend whatever you get up to. Looking forward to seeing everyone at Limassol tonight, Belfast tomorrow and Boom on Sunday; and of course, you’ll all have the chance to see the happenings live on Sunday through Be-At TV.

One final note before leaving - this Sunday marks the anniversary of the tragic events that took place at the Love Parade in Duisberg last year, where the lives of 21 people were taken away from them. Please take a moment to reflect and pay tribute to their memory, and hope that they will live on through all the music that we cherish.

With love,
Markus

Fri, 15 Jul 2011  /  Post a comment
Hey guys, hope this finds you well.

Good evening to you all from beautiful Croatia. I landed in Zadar earlier today and took the drive to Novalja for a big night at the Papaya beach club. The video blogs returned last week but your offering for today is the latest chapter of the written variety.

You know it’s summertime when you’ve been spending more time asleep on airplanes than on ground level, and with the gigs coming thick and fast it’s time to do more recaps for you in order to avoid falling behind too far.

So this blog will cover the gig that last week’s Global DJ Broadcast World Tour was dedicated to; and plenty of others including the two Electric Daisy Carnival events, with hopefully the odd humorous moment along the way. The writing started in Miami, continued in Kiev, Berlin and Ibiza, and is wrapped up here in Novalja.

Let’s set our destination for the Big Apple, and another huge night at Pacha awaited us.


Pacha, New York City (GDJB World Tour Recording) - Friday June 17th

Home only for two days after travelling from London and I was back on the road again, this time up north to New York. Got checked into the hotel and got the laptop up and running seconds before the first GDJB Ibiza Summer Sessions episode was due to air, so got my Facebook and Twitter pages fired up before getting ready to post and interact with you guys.

I was in New York a day early for meetings with management but I spent most of the evening buried in the laptop making mashups and reconstructions for the set at Pacha.

On Friday morning I got a call from Grandmaster Mele Mel (don’t freak out trancefamily), saying that he was going to be in town and that we could do lunch together. Definitely something I was not going to turn down! We met up for some food and chat in the lower east side, and it was fascinating for me to talk to him about a variety of subjects, although you probably expected me to say that. There’s one sentence he gave me that I’ve been recollecting in my head ever since though, when he said “what we have now is too much music without art”. Think about it…

Now if you know Mel’s work from back in the day, he was and still is treated like the King of New York. He was in his usual gear, totally pimped out, and I honestly felt like I was walking through the streets with royalty beside me. It would be like walking through Chicago along with Michael Jordan, or Boston with Tom and Gisele. You would not believe the number of times we got stopped by people on the street; guys and girls reacting “OMG you’re Mele Mel” then handing me cameras to take their pictures with him! Definitely a fun afternoon and felt like a period of my breakdance days.



But Friday night was all about the present, and that was to deliver a night of fury inside the walls of Pacha. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and like the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song indicates), New York is a city that inspires and motivates you to be the absolute best at what you do. The people within the trance communities of the city are so supportive and appreciate, while at the same time being honest and fair. Any time I see an NY gig coming up in my itinerary it’s one that you have to circle in red and prepare properly for.

I’d been reading all the Facebook comments and the threads on tranceaddict about fans wanting me to play a long set and show some love like I’d been doing to other big cities. So I went into the night with the feeling that I’d go beyond the three hours I was scheduled to do!



Most of the first half is what you heard on Global DJ Broadcast this week. I must give props to two local guys who set the scene perfectly for me to begin - Zack Roth & Jason Jollins. They’ve been doing really well for themselves recently and it’s great to see upcoming talent flourishing in a big city like that. I kicked things off with Katowice, and then the World Tour segment came in beginning with the Life Before Different Angles mashup.

One of the big highlights of the night was Mr. Pit’s awesome new one Avion, mashed up with the vocal’s of Fatboy Slim’s legendary Rockafeller Skank, or as the world knows it, “Funk Soul Brother”. I’ve been hammering the other two tracks on the same EP in my livesets over the past few months too, Fugu and Sick & Sexy, and all three of them will be out on Coldharbour this Monday - nice club material for all you DJs to get your teeth into for the summer months. But once the break of the mashup hit and the reactions it caused inside of Pacha, I knew we were in for a good night.



It was also an important night to play a lot of the Dakota tracks to the NY audience for the first time (since my last appearance was Electric Zoo the previous September and still in full Do You Dream mode). Sleepwalkers got the, well, typical Sleepwalkers reaction, but the other track that really stood out was Tears. It felt like there was a wave of emotion coming over the entire crowd with their hands in the air, with many chanting the melody already. One of those moments I had to pause and draw breath at what I was seeing.

The final hour or two were pretty much dedicated to requests I had received through the social networks - tracks like Nothing at All, the new big room recon of Open Your Eyes and even an appearance for Koolhaus towards the end. Breathing rounded out the night at 6 after being on the decks for five hours I was spent; but was delirious on the inside that I got to share a wonderful journey with the NY faithful. I made my way down from the booth to take pictures with the fans before heading back to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep, although it was hard winding down over the energy of the room.



All Pacha photos courtesy of Douglas Marrero & United States Trance Movement

I’ve been reading lots of reviews of the night during my various travel delays last weekend, and it must have been a good gig if the tranceaddict guys are asking for me to come back! I will be back for sure at Electric Zoo on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend, but here’s hoping the next visit won’t be too long afterwards. Thank you guys all so much for your support, not just on the night, but for all your kind words you give to me all year long.


Electric Daisy Carnival, Dallas & Beta, Waterloo - June 18th-19th

So about two hours of sleep and I was on to Dallas for my second of three EDC events in the space of a month. And dayum it was hot when I landed!

The event in Dallas was sadly overshadowed by another drug-related teenage death. Now to be completely honest with you, I was not aware of what had happened by the time I was on stage performing, so proceeded as I normally would. It’s sad that we have to go through things like this though. I always say that when we go out to perform at a gig, we want the fans to have a great time, but ultimately, that they do it safely.

As for the gig itself, it was a fun and intense runthrough of my typical big room sound these days. The crowd there were really up for it and responded well, so it would good to see an event bringing everyone together in the area.



Photo courtesy of EDC Facebook Page

The afterparty turned a little bit crazy though, resulting in me almost getting kicked out of my hotel due to too much noise! Good old rock n’ roll I guess.

Sunday would round out the weekend’s activity with a flight to Toronto, and then the drive up to Beta nightclub in Waterloo, along with Toronto native Glenn Morrison. I’ve admired Glenn’s work for a long time and he’s chipped in with some great original and remix work for Coldharbour through the years, and we’re going to be touring together quite a bit during the summer.



It was good to see a lot of the Toronto natives that would normally come out to my gigs at the Guverment make the trip for a fun Sunday night. As for my set, well, I guess you could say I ended up doing two! I did my standard two hours with the current favorites; of course tipping my hat to the fans with the mandatory Ontario play of Koolhaus, and followed it up with a couple of encores. There were no signs of anyone being done for the night, so I started things up again and ended up playing for another hour!

I treated that hour like an intimate afterhours set. The lights were turned down and the room darkened, and I was able to throw out some of that deep and twisted material I love playing when I’m well into the second half of my extended sets. If you were able to find the recording of the set from Privilege in Buenos Aires back in June, then you’ll get an idea of the vibe. We wrapped things up at 3:30 and made the drive back to Toronto, content with my night’s work.



All Beta photos courtesy of Magda Beda Photography

A long weekend was over. I said my goodbyes to the beautiful city of Toronto and thanked it for its hospitality once again, before a mini Angry Birds marathon entertained / frustrated me on my light home to Miami; but not for long…


USC 14, Seattle and Club Europe, St. Louis - June 24th-25th

My last few (full) days in Miami for a few weeks and I was back out on the road on Friday, for a trip to Seattle via Los Angeles. It had been a long time since I was back in the city where Starbucks was born. From memory it must have been at the Element nightclub back in 2007 where I last had a gig there. Normally if the fans in Seattle wanted to see me then they had to head up north to Vancouver, but I was in their back yard for USC Events’ 14th anniversary celebration at the Comcast Arena.

I had gotten into a comfortable sleep when I got the call for an interview in the hotel lobby, and after a bit of sushi it was time to prepare. It felt like a festival taking place inside a huge arena. I took over the decks at 1:30 from Benny Benassi (real nice guy to boot) for a 75 minute set.



Much like EDC in Dallas the previous week, I stuck with my tried and trusted standards and big room reconstructions for most of the evening, with Rotunda in particular receiving a great reaction. The Paranoize Rapture mashup finished things off and I retreated backstage. Very cool party and one that I would be happy to be part of again.

Saturday took me to another city I hadn’t played in ages, St. Louis, Missouri. The Cardinals baseball team were playing two games that weekend so the city was very busy, with my hotel room being right across the street from the stadium!



The weather was horrible - thunder, lightning and sideways rain, so the people upstairs must have known that Mr. Dakota was in town... although the weather decided to upset things by knocking out the power of the club 10 minutes into the set. Not the ideal way to start off. Then there was an unfortunate moment when my laptop was closed 30 minutes later, and thus stopping the music!

You may have noticed in recent photos of gigs that I’ve had the laptop in the booth with me. All of my music now runs through the Rekordbox software because it makes my life so much easier in being able to see the tracks and selecting them to mix. It still gives me the same feel and functionality of CD mixing as opposed to the laptop technologies, but just using the laptop if that makes any sense.



But after a few false starts, we were into the full swing of things. Earlier in the day when I was on the flight to St. Louis I had the benefit of free wifi, and the frustration of Angry Birds made me jump on twitter and check messages. There was a girl attending the gig who had only gotten married a few weeks prior; and she had asked if I could play Lightwave, since it was the first song she and her husband danced to at their wedding.

So after moving into the final stretch and Sinners, I dusted off the club mix of Lightwave from the Do You Dream remixes album, and played it to a live audience for the first time in ages. It went over really well, and the reactions to it actually made me rethink my strategy for what lay ahead in Vegas the next evening. All in all though, it was a fun little night in an intimate venue.


Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas - Sunday June 26th

A layover in Dallas and then it was time to say hello to Sin City! There was a judge sitting next to me on the flight, so I made just to case his business card just in case I found myself in some shenanigans that I wouldn’t be responsible for.

This was traditionally the weekend that EDC took place in Los Angeles, but was moved to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this year, where you see the NASCAR races taking place. I had been looking at the pictures online from the previous two days and that alone was getting me pumped for what was in store.

Come 2:30am it was showtime, and thankfully I had survived being escorted in a golf cart being driven by drunk drivers. I took over from ATB and started out with the intention of taking the crowd on a wild ride. During my first track though I looked at the crowd and they were all looking up to the sky. I had no idea why because when I looked up I was blinded by the lights. Did I forget to brush my hair?



Little did I know until after the set but there were skydivers jumping down after I played my opening track. I was standing there worried that I’d lost the crowd already and they weren’t interested! But thankfully after they jumped, everyone started getting into things.

The set was being recorded for broadcast on Sirius XM’s Electric Area so I knew that it would be the first chance for people around the world to hear some of my weapons for the first time. So the mashup with Avion and Rockafeller Skank got people talking for sure, as well as an ID that I’m holding back for a special project that I’m working on for the summer, and you’ll be hearing news of soon.

It would be no surprise if I said that Sleepwalkers was the one that sent the crowd into overdrive, although Sinners got a huge reaction too - I guess appropriately since we were in Sin City after all. And then after my rethink from St. Louis the night before, it was time to give Lightwave another moment to shine. My Lift Off Silence mashup was the end of my contribution before stepping aside to let Dash Berlin take over. But for those 75 minutes, it provided some very special feelings looking at the smiles on so many faces.



All Seattle, St. Louis and EDC Vegas photos courtesy of Tim Grube

I headed backstage and got comfortable with copious amounts of vodka provided by the promoters. We had good company in the form of the guys from Spin Artist Agency, who look after me when I play in Canada, and Ireland’s John O’Callaghan, another one of the nice guys on the DJ circuit. I never quite got round to telling John about the time I ended up at his house for an afterparty after playing in Dublin a few years ago... oops. :p

Speaking of afterparties, there was a messy one that took place in Vegas at Marquee on Monday night, where Dirty South was playing. I had fun hanging out with the guys from Cosmic Gate and Ferry Corsten, although I think he might have ended up on the rooftop that night. We really need to have a DJ meeting to get our alibis sorted in future.

I left Vegas on Wednesday knowing that it had been very good to me for those few days. A big thank you goes to everyone who came to support me at the Circuit Grounds stage, and hopefully you enjoyed the journey that we took together. Same again next year? I definitely wouldn’t say no.


Thoughts Become Things II and the Return of the Video Blogs

After many, many, many months (ok I’ll be honest, nearly two years), the video blogs finally made a return last week. I had been sitting in Vegas thinking about it before leaving for Calgary, and had the intention of doing it at Space in Miami before the set on the Saturday of Independence Day weekend. But as you will have seen on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, flight delays were not my friend. So in the end, I did the most recent blog from the studio in Miami, which was my last day there before a month-long stay in Europe.

So it’s up on YouTube if you haven’t seen it already, and can catch it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg5G0NDknSU

Many thanks to all of you for submitting your questions. I’ll be putting up posts in the next week asking for your next batch, so get your thinking caps on and send me some interesting things to answer.

Since the last written blog however my 2011 album project has been released, in the form of Thoughts Become Things II. I’ve had a read on all the social networks and the message boards, and thank you to everyone who has been so kind with your feedback.



As I’ve said in interviews already, my work under the Dakota alias this year has been dedicated solely to fuelling my livesets with big club material which I feel is missing out there right now. You may not feel the same experience listening to some of the tracks at home compared to the big booming soundsystems in the clubs and festivals, and I can understand that. But hopefully those of you who haven’t had the chance to come out and catch me live will get to experience the intricacies of what the tracks really are about.

What has pleased me the most is that when I play the tracks live, they are generating the reactions I am hoping for. You’ll hear more about Katowice being played in Poland in the next blog, but things like that make me savour the merits of being a DJ.


New Blog Next Week and the Week After

Since we’re into the full swing of summer season, I’m gong to try my best to keep the written blogs up to date as possible. So between today, next week and the following Friday, I’ll be checking in with my latest adventures. Next Friday we’ll focus on the longest travelling and performance weekend in history, travelling coast to coast and back twice in the space of a couple of days. We had two Global Gatherings in one day last Saturday, and the beginning of a new residency chapter at Space in Ibiza this past Wednesday.

We’ve got a long set in the sunrise tonight on the beach at Papaya in Croatia, which I’m really looking forward to. Saturday is another Global Gathering with the Russian edition taking place in St. Petersburg - really looking forward to seeing all the Russian Coldharbour fans again. And then a long day of travelling which will eventually take me to Hammamet in Tunisia, for my annual gig at Calypso on Sunday.

Then this Wednesday is one of my biggest nights of the summer, playing a special 5 hour set on the Terrace at Space in Ibiza. I’ve been reading my forums and see a lot of people will be flying in from all over Europe and elsewhere specifically for the night, so I’ll be doing my very best to prepare and deliver something memorable for them. We’ll also preview next weekends activities in Limassol, Belfast and Boom for Tomorrowland.


So that will wrap things up for now, time to get focus for tonight and the rest of the weekend. Thank you guys for taking the time to read again. Take care and hope you all have a great weekend whatever you get up to. Speak to you again on Thursday during Global DJ Broadcast and with another written blog on Friday.



Oh and keep an eye out on the social pages this Monday - you’ll find out all the details of this year’s Coldharbour Day, including the DJs who will be entertaining the world on Wednesday July 27th.

With love,
Markus

Sat, 25 Jun 2011  /  Post a comment
Hey guys, happy Friday to you and hope this finds you doing well.

Hello to you all today strangely enough from a plane somewhere in between Los Angeles and Seattle! My day started very early with a flight from Miami to Los Angeles, and right now I'm on the connection to Seattle for tonight’s gig at USC 14. So this blog posting comes to you courtesy of free airplane wifi. :)

It’s been a very busy last couple of weeks for me, as sure a sign as any that we’re hitting the summertime and there isn’t even a spare moment to pause. I need to get you caught up with more gig recaps, so in this blog we’ll start with what happened over Memorial Day weekend and go through to my weekend in London. And of course a few bits and pieces of Dakota news in between.

So grab your tea or coffee and let’s take the journey to Sin City, where another residency chapter at Marquee lay in wait.


Marquee, Las Vegas - Friday May 27th

What better way to start off one of the biggest party weekends in the US with a trip to Sin City! I guess I had the best option with my buddy Roger Sanchez sharing the bill with me that night. Any time we can get free wifi during flights is always fun, because it means I can keep in touch with all of you on Twitter. Although I actually spent most of my time chatting to Mr. Pit, who was busy cooking up some more Coldharbour bombs. I hope he wasn’t eating any of that Fugu though... more about that later.

Unfortunately this was going to be a very short and sweet visit to Vegas, so I had to do my very best to love them and leave them. I had a lovely dinner with my close friend and the fulcrum of the Marquee project, Mr. Sol Shafer, and then went to the club where it was packed with lots of beautiful people swooning to the S-Man’s sexy grooves.

I took over at 2:30 and tried my best to transition the flow out of Roger and into me, by going a little more vocal-heavy than I normally would at the beginning of the night.



Photo courtesy of tranceaddict.com forum member Sheffy

One of the tracks I’ve been busting out a lot in my livesets is “Blow Up” remixed by Thomas Gold & Axwell. But it seems to be Marquee above all other places where this track gets such a massive reaction. I had such a fun time, especially with the guys from Far East Movement hanging out and rocking out along with the crowd.

I finished up at 5 and tried to squeeze in as much time as possible with the fans to take pictures, but not as much as I would have wanted to. I had to dash quickly to the airport to fly back east for what lay in store on Saturday. But hopefully everyone that was there had a nice time, and hope to see many of you both at EDC this weekend, and at TAO next Sunday. The Marquee story will continue.


Electric Daisy Carnival, Orlando - Saturday May 28th

While I set off to Vegas, my Coldharbour office crew set off on a road trip from Miami to Orlando, meaning what once I flew from Vegas, they would be there waiting for me to go to Electric Daisy Carnival. This would be the first of three EDC events I would play in the space of a month, but with the first I felt a sense of pride since it was taking place in my home state.

No time to go to the hotel, it was straight to the venue and had to get ready for the show backstage. I only had one hour to play with so I tried my best doing a marathon-style mixing session trying to get as many big room moments in as possible.



Photo courtesy of Tim Grube

But the biggest and most unexpected moment for me was when I was joined on stage by breakdancers... during Sleepwalkers! That was a very cool moment and the crowd really got into it from then on. The Big Room Reconstruction of The New World took us towards the finish and wrapped up with Perfect. As soon as I heard the final cheer, then the tiredness hit me bad. I felt like someone had knocked me over the head. But with the crew in tow, I had to be the master of ceremonies for a little backstage party. The weekend’s work was done.

On Sunday we had breakfast and made the drive back to Miami. I actually had the rare opportunity to listen to myself on A State of Sundays on Sirius XM, because normally at that time on a Sunday I’m either travelling on a plane or asleep. We stopped off and did a bit of sightseeing along the way, and then when I got home I had to finish off the two hour set for Afterhours.fm’s 5 Year Anniversary celebrations. I was so beat. When we got back I told everyone I just needed Monday to float around and chill. With all the stresses and strains of the past while touring, I think I might have lost my mind if I hadn’t taken the opportunity.

But thanks to everyone who came out in Orlando. Hope to see you guys make the trip down to Miami for Space next weekend. You will not want to miss it I promise.


Soundbar, La Paz - Thursday June 2nd

Now my South American adventures usually involve plenty of unpredictability and craziness, but I’m not sure even I envisaged it beginning the way it did.

Tim was coming on this trip with me, like he usually does when I tour South America, and we were due to leave Miami on Wednesday overnight, to take the long trip down direct and eventually make it to Bolivia in the morning. I’ve no idea what happened, whether it was a mixup with the airlines or whatever, but we were sat on the plane for well over an hour, with no sign of movement whatsoever. It was the middle of the night and nobody had any clue what was going on. So in the end we decided to get up and go back home, and I wasn’t happy at all, simply because I assumed that this meant I would miss out on a gig in Bolivia and a lot of fans and the promoters would be disappointed.

I came back home and started sorting out alternatives with my booking agency, and a ridiculously stressful morning ended up with us being booked on another flight out of Miami, laying over in Peru, and then onto Bolivia. Straight from the airport to the club, and straight back to the airport. Oh boy. I bet when you guys saw me doing the tweets for the GDJB World Tour from Los Angeles that day didn’t see me as stressed as I was!

So we left pretty much as soon as GDJB finished, and tried getting relaxed and prepared for the weekend that lay ahead. Thankfully we arrived just about on time, and went straight to the club to play.

When I hit the stage, then the stress of the previous 24 hours went away. I was a bit nervous starting off, but after getting the crowd settled in with the usual MS liveset standards, they lapped up the really deep and twisted stuff as night became morning. I’ve got a whole bunch of new IDs for my longer sets and specifically for those periods in the sets. Some of them you may have heard in the live broadcast from Buenos Aires, so you’ll know what to expect again.

We wrapped up and like Las Vegas, it was straight to the airport from the venue, where a big night in Buenos Aires awaited us.


Privilege, Buenos Aires - Friday June 3rd

One of my favorite cities in the world to party was calling my name to come back. We had said a brief hello together during the ASOT 500 celebrations at Club G.E.B.A, but it was time to give the people of Buenos Aires a nice long extended Markus Schulz liveset experience.

We flew from La Paz to Santa Cruz, then to Buenos Aires, then to Cordoba - 12 hours of travelling alone! So I got checked in to the hotel to rest up, since I knew this would be a long night and morning. The folks from Sonic FM were going to broadcast the set live across Argentina on radio and around the world online, so I knew the pressure was on to deliver, especially in the knowledge that the hardcore forum crew in Europe would be getting out of bed early to tune in.

We arrived at the club just before 2am, and there was still a massive line outside of people waiting to come inside. That got the excitement juices running right away. Local DJ Marcelo Fratini threw down a really nice set to warm the crowd up, but it was only when I stepped into the booth that I realised the place was absolutely heaving with people. Oh man. Time to take them down the rabbithole…



… or so I thought. I started at around 2:45am and after 20 minutes, the power went out - a DJs nightmare, because when that happens, you pretty much have to reset and restart your set flow from the beginning. Then we went for another 20 minutes, and bang, the power went out AGAIN. I couldn’t believe it. Admittedly I lost my cool after it happened the second time, and sadly everyone inside the club probably saw the expression on my face. I don’t like showing anger physically (surprising given the tone of my sets!), but at the end of the day you have to do everything in your power to give the fans who have paid their money the best experience they can hope for.

Eventually they figured out the problem - the LED screens were plugged in to the same power outlet as the CDJs. Whoops! That was never going to work. But the club staff got everything rerouted and finally we were properly ready to go without any more interruptions. I was grateful to the fans for being patient and never letting their enthusiasm drop once.

One of the tracks I played very early on in the set (I think before the first power cut off the top of my head) was the Dakota track In a Green Valley, which was inspired by my trips to the Green Valley nightclub in Brazil last October and January. Now I know the Argentineans won’t forgive me for comparing the scene to Brazil, since I know how intense your soccer rivalries are alone, but playing the track in Privilege gave me the exact same feeling inside. Subsequently you guys have had the chance to listen to it on GDJB and through YouTube, and it definitely seems to be one of your outstanding favorites from the album so far.



If you cast your mind back to the ASOT 500 set, one of the big debuts that night was Rotunda. I’m always very cautious about roadtesting material that I make in the studio before letting it out on the radio. I know a lot of you were longing for Sleepwalkers to hit the airwaves after it was debuted in Prague back in February, but even the foundations that led to getting Sleepwalkers right had been going on in my livesets for many months before. Rotunda however was finished only days before that gig, and with a live broadcast, I had no choice in hiding it! The reactions to it in Buenos Aires this time were nothing short of crazy. The party had hit full stride and I was in my zone.

Another one I got a ton of emails and tweets about was the Big Room Recon of Open Your Eyes. This is a really special one to me because the original is one of my all-time favorites, and getting the opportunity to remix it along with Elevation in 2005 was a huge thing for me at the time. When I was flying home to Miami after seeing Holger in the hospital during his coma, I was trying to find different ways of keeping my mind occupied, and was flicking through my music library when I got stuck on Open Your Eyes. And as obvious as it sounds, that was the one thing I wanted Holger to do.

So I got my editing tools out and started working on an extra bassline to sit on top of my existing remix, just to give it that extra effect for the livesets. That weekend when I was flying to the west coast and for the World Tour recording in Los Angeles in particular was when he finally woke up. So playing it during the 6 hour set at Avalon was a really seminal moment for me. And with it being such an iconic anthem throughout the years at Space in Ibiza, I have a feeling it will be taking pride of place throughout my sets there this summer.



Photos courtesy of Sonic FM Argentina

The live broadcast for you guys listening ended after 4 hours but I actually went on another hour longer than I was originally supposed to, because the place was still as packed as it was at the start of the night. I finished with the Paranoize Rapture mashup a little after 8 in the morning before we called it a night. But despite the power issues earlier in the night, the passion and support of the people just reminded me once again how amazing Buenos Aires is.

I made sure to grab a picture and upload it to my Facebook page right away to thank everyone who made the night stand out. But, I feel obligated to thank the Buenos Aires fans once again here. We are developing such an incredible story together. Can’t wait until the next chapter because it’s only a matter of time before it is written. Gracias!


XXXperience, Rio de Janeiro - Saturday June 4th

Tim and I just had enough time to grab our bags and check out of the hotel, then we were back to the airport and on to Rio de Janeiro after two flights. More travelling but the Buenos Aires marathon should have enabled me to get over to sleep easily….

Yeah that didn’t happen either. It was another one of those scary white-knuckle adventures that I encounter from time to time, and felt like kissing the ground after landing! So I was glad to crawl into bed after getting to the hotel. Slept and then got up at around 3:30 to start preparing. Only in Brazil could I be headlining a festival and playing at 8 in the morning! Not that I was complaining much, since outdoor parties in Brazil are usually something else.



Playing in Brazil also gave me the opportunity to hang out with my buddy Klauss Goulart, Mr. Turbulence himself. He took us to the gig and rocked out along with everyone else, as I whisked through my typical outdoor and festival weapons in the space of 90 minutes. Sleepwalkers was a big reaction grabber, and of course I had to give Klauss his props with a bit of love for Turbulence.

I was due to fly home to Miami that evening so I decided to hang out with Klauss and check out a bit of music, or more specifically, to listen to some projects he had been working on in the studio. There is one of them that just blew me away on first listen, and I said there and then I wanted dibs on it for Coldharbour. It’s not called Ambulance like a lot of you have been speculating, but you might just need one after listening to it on the dancefloor! You can expect it to feature quite a bit in my livesets over the summer.



Photos courtesy of XXXperience Facebook page

Sunday evening and it was time to say goodbye to South America. What an unbelievably crazy ride from start to finish, but memorable once again. Will be looking forward to heading back down there towards their summer season. Back home in Miami on Monday morning and into my own bed.


Solo Set: The Gallery at Ministry of Sound, London - Friday June 10th

Global DJ Broadcast was a big one for me that week, with it being dedicated to the Thoughts Become Things II album and so many of the tracks being played on radio for the very first time. For many listening however, it was their warmup for a seven hour marathon session at my London home the following evening.

I left Miami on Thursday in the hope that the Miami Heat would win game 5 of the NBA Finals and take the lead in the series against the Dallas Mavericks, but I read the disappointing news online after landing in London on Friday morning. I didn’t sleep too much on the plane due to spending most of the flight working on the last blog you guys would have read, so when I got in I hit my bed right away and got some proper rest. After getting up and finishing off the blog before posting, it was time to get my mind into sharp focus for the big dance at Ministry of Sound.

You always get asked so many questions about goals and career achievements in this industry, and for me, one of the things I personally regard as so important is having the chance to play often at respected clubs around the world. When I eventually hang up the headphones, I’d hope to be able to tell future generations of my family that I was a resident at Ministry of Sound in London, or I held a residency in my hometown of Miami at Space, or I was resident when Marquee in Las Vegas started its legacy. And then to add on top of that, to be able to say that I carried the mainroom at Ministry of Sound from open to close will probably stand as one of my proudest achievements when all is said and done.

Before leaving the hotel for the club, I took a phone call from good friend Judge Jules, who asked me to participate in his “DJ on Route” segment for his Radio 1 show that night. And then immediately on arrival, I went to do an interview for French TV station M6, who were there filming the night for a show airing next weekend. Hastily motored my way through to the booth in the mainroom to do soundcheck, then had around 5 or 10 minutes to get myself settled and have some quiet time before starting out.



Everyone was waiting in the bar and just after midnight they let everyone come in. And like last year, they were running in like crazy from the get-go! I started my set in the exact same way I did last year, with a deep and hypnotic tune that helps ease everyone into the music. It was the same track I began my solo set at Amnesia in Ibiza which was broadcasted, so you are probably familiar with it. The track doesn’t even have a name, and just sits in my files as “solo set intro”.

The early part of the night included Aerofoil’s great remix of Leisure Battery, which I played again on Global DJ Broadcast yesterday, and also a brand new remix of DNS Project’s huge Another Day from Prague ’11. I got the remix only a couple of hours before leaving for the club, and it went down really well with the crowd as the room kept filling up.

Now if you were following me on Twitter during the broadcast yesterday, you will have noticed Coldharbour’s favorite Romanian tweeting about a hot new EP he has coming out soon. One of them you guys know about is Fugu, which caused a storm at MOS. And if you think it’s hot, wait till you hear the other two, because I think from memory I played both of them; one of them for absolute definite because I saw a video of it on YouTube that almost made the paint fly off the walls!



The best part about this residency over the past three years is the familiar faces that you get to see over and over. You get the big English fans that travel from all over the country, people flying over from Ireland and lots more from the likes of the Netherlands and Germany. And because of that I feel that I have the trust of the fans to test out brand new material for the very first time in the clubs. So I think the forum peeps might be on a bit of an ID chase for a while when they are reciting the night.

As we were reaching the halfway point I gave the crowd a taste of Saints, which got one of the best reactions I’ve ever received playing it anywhere. Right now we’re testing the waters with which track to take on the baton of the next Dakota single from the Thoughts Become Things II album, and Saints is definitely in my thoughts to fit the bill. The megachanting broke out when Sleepwalkers blasted through, and never ever sounded so good coming out of that hallmarked MOS soundsystem!

As the hours ticked away I went through my current big hitters, but for the final hour or so I wanted to play some classics and request that a lot of the fans had asked to hear. I had studied my tracklist of the solo set from the year before (I kept a copy of it for my eventual scrapbook that I’ll make) and I wanted to play some tracks that I’d never played as part of my residency before.



Photos courtesy of Ryan Dinham Photography and The Gallery

So as we were winding down and heading towards 7am, I brought in the Coldharbour remix of the iconic “Satellite” by OceanLab. Then we had the mandatory play of Breathing, and rounded off the night in the best way I could think of by dropping the Remember Magnetic North mashup. I honestly can’t remember the last time I played it in a liveset, but it was definitely a nice bond to share with the loyal faithful that had stayed until the very end.

When I was done I went down from the booth to take photos and sign all sorts of memorabilia. It was good to see a lot of the MS Forum crew in attendance, so I must gave a big salute to them for their amazing support that has become the norm over the years. Great to be greeted by lots of cheering faces who had danced themselves away until 7am! I said my goodbyes and packed away my equipment, then made it back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

Thankfully I didn’t have to wake up and go to an airport, as Saturday’s gig took me to Swansea in Wales for my first ever Escape into the Park event. A nice little road trip and spent a cool evening seeing and catching up with Jules who played after me. A typical big room experience but very enjoyable to play, and in god company too.



Photo courtesy of Paul Underhill and Escape into the Park

I had a day off on Sunday so felt a bit nostalgic and explored London for a bit. The weather was terrible (I guess your typical British summer that we all hear about). Made a brief drive through Coldharbour Lane, went to go see a movie and then had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants to visit, Nando’s, before flying back home to Miami on Monday.

But overall it was an amazing weekend in London, and I have to gave a huge amount to thanks to everyone at The Gallery and Ministry of Sound for giving me the honor and privilege of playing a solo set for the second straight year. Here’s hoping we can do it all over again at some point in 2012. And thank you all for coming and sharing the moment with me!


Upcoming Markus Agenda

So that hopefully gets you caught up a little bit more with my recent activities. The next blog will take us to the World Tour recording at Pacha in New York City, and the gigs that are coming up this weekend. I’ve one more flight today and then I’m playing a big arena event in Seattle alongside the likes of ATB and Benny Benassi. Saturday sees me make my return to St. Louis for the first time in a while, so that should be fun, and then Sunday is the massive Electric Daisy Carnival taking place in Las Vegas. I think my set is going to be aired on Sirius XM’s Electric Area at some point, so make sure you check my Facebook and Twitter over the weekend and I’ll post any info that I get from the station.

Next weekend’s schedule is insane - starting at Flames Central in Calgary on Thursday for their Stampede celebrations. Friday sees me out west in Vancouver to play at the excellent Gossip, and then on Saturday I fly home to Miami - not to take it easy and have a rest, but to do another one of my marathon sessions at Space. Then I leave the club straight away to fly to Las Vegas, to play for the Beatport Pool Party at TAO on Sunday afternoon, and then leave that immediately for another flight to San Francisco, returning to the scene of New Year’s Eve’s party at Ruby Skye. I think I’m going to have to get used to sleeping on planes!



Next Friday is also a big day for me with Thoughts Become Things II being released on iTunes, so I’m really looking forward to reading all of your thoughts on the album, and appreciate very much if you can support by buying. It’s the start of lots of cool things we are doing over the summer; we’ve got our annual Coldharbour Day celebrations coming up at the end of July with an entire day of sets on Afterhours.fm, and I’m sure with it being festival season you will be able to catch lots of my sets broadcasted live around the world too.

This is the time of the year we all have to physically and mentally prepare for. Hopefully I will see you somewhere while on tour. So I’ll leave you guys and wrap up for now, and check in with you for another blog in a couple of weeks. I’m off to chase this Coldharbour Ninja called Dakota so he can give me some cool tunes to play this weekend.

Take care and thanks for reading once again. Speak soon!

With love,
Markus
(Honorary member of the #bootyshakingfamily)

Sat, 11 Jun 2011  /  Post a comment
Hey guys,

Hello to you all from beautiful London! I travelled overnight from Miami to Heathrow and have been sleeping for most of the day in my hotel room in an attempt to get over the jetlag. It’s a huge night tonight again for me, with my second 7 hour all night solo set at Ministry of Sound in London for my Gallery residency. So we will look forward to that a little later.

Most of this blog was written on the flight, and it will take you through my three week tour of Asia, as well as a weekend out west in the US. I’ll also talk a little bit about the Dakota album, as well as some thoughts on the sad passing of Tillmann Uhrmacher.

So let’s begin by winding the clock back to the end of April, where I said goodbye to home for a while.


Asian Tour Part 1 - Thailand, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Shanghai

Bal en Blanc in Montreal was in the books and I had just about enough time at home in Miami to do laundry and pack my things for a long trip to Asia - Miami to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Bangkok. At some point during those I managed to mix Global DJ Broadcast that week. By the time the flights were done, that shower to refresh felt like heaven!

First gig this weekend took place at Lima Lima in Pattaya. It was one of those gigs where you think to yourself, ok, you haven’t played here before and don’t pass through Thailand that often, so play safe with the good MS standards everyone loves and you should be alright. My god this night was nothing short of insane. Craziness was everywhere - in the booth, on the dancefloor, you name it. Everyone held up their phones with track requests in them, and amazingly a lot of them really wanted to hear the Perspective Space mashup. So I held it back until the second last track and dropped it. Wrapped the night up with Rotunda and then hung out with the fans afterwards. The tour was off with a bang.

Friday and Saturday would be dedicated to one of the best pair of clubs anywhere to play in the world - Zouk in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore respectively. My main aim for Friday night’s set was to make sure everything in the set was fine tuned ahead of the World Tour recording the next evening, Track of the night had to be one of those IDs that has been floating around in my sets for the last six weeks since the Bal en Blanc broadcast, and I think in reading comments on the message boards that you guys have figured out that it is produced by Coldharbour’s favorite Romanian! You’ll hear even more about it in the coming weeks on GDJB.



To be honest with you guys it was really difficult to choose which Zouk club would be the one to host the GDJB World Tour that weekend. I opted for Singapore on the simple basis that it was closer to the date the set would be broadcasted, but the KL fans will get some World Tour love further down the line.



Jetlag was starting to creep in a little but I was keeping myself motivated with the World Tour recording. I started the night with one of my tried and trusted tunes over the past while, the awesome Tribeca. You may have heard me use Tribeca along with the track Blow Up in either order in my livesets a lot, because the basslines in both blend in so well together. Reading back on the forum threads on my own forum and Tranceaddict, I think a lot of you have fallen in love with Cobraphobie as much as I did when I discovered it during Miami Music Week!

All in all it was a great night with the Zouk faithful. They are very up to date with their tunes and keep tabs on everything happening on Global DJ Broadcast. Both club are definitely ones I would recommend you to visit if you like to travel when you do your clubbing.



All photos courtesy of Zouk Singapore.

No rest for the wicked though, and after some food I was on my way to the airport again to head to Shanghai in China. The ground was starting to feel like quicksand, and the jetlag went some slightly bothering me to kicking my ass. I didn’t sleep too much on the plane, but got a good run of successive hours when I got into the hotel.

Playing in Shanghai gave me a chance to hang out with my good buddy Sparky again. He was instrumental in getting the Chinese edition of DJ Mag up and running a couple of years ago, and highlighted by playing the official launch of the project at the Hitec Starhall in Hong Kong, which you may remember from the World Tour registration in 2009. One of my favorite clubs to play is the M2 Club in Shanghai, but it was actually closed when I was there, so it was another new adventure for me playing at Rich Baby. Sparky let slip earlier in the evening that it was his birthday, so I had a feeling there would be lots of cake flying around the booth during my set.

The night went well and showed to me that the scene in Shanghai is still as strong today as it was when we did the first ever GDJB World Tour show from there in 2007. Sparky showed off his Karaoke skills at the afterparty and I might have exercised a few vocal chords myself, but hopefully there isn’t any audio evidence to prove it. Asian Tour week 1 was over, and after settling in Shanghai for a couple of days, week 2 was about to begin.


Asian Tour Part 2 - Taipei and Seoul

Now if you’re a regular reader of the blogs you’ll know that I love trying out new foods from different cultures when I’m travelling around the world. My not-so-private affair with Brazilian cheesy bread takes over my thoughts on many occasions, and I think I might have to make some room for another. I wanted to try out some Asian dumplings after landing in Taipei on Thursday.



There was a place called Din Tai Fung that I was a bit sceptical about, but the Twitter peeps assured me that it was worth trying. And it was incredible! So much so that I hit it up again the next night. So we now need a restaurant in Miami that serves Asian dumplings from Din Tai Fung along with Brazilian cheesy bread, and offers drinks from Starbucks. Do You Dream? :P

Friday night took me to Luxy nightclub. One of the things that intrigues me about the scene developing in Asia is that one of these days we will have a susperstar DJ coming out of the continent. There was a lovely girl named DJ Cookie who was warming up for me at Luxy, and she threw down a great set to set the scene perfectly for me to take over. Sleepwalkers was the big winner of the night, they were chanting like they chanted in Buenos Aires back in April. Again like Zouk KL, Luxy is one of those places I’ll have to do a World Tour episode from someday.



Photo courtesy of DJ Cookie.

Saturday would be a big one, with a trip to Seoul in South Korea for the World DJ Festival. I only had time to drop off my bags at the hotel and had to go straight to the venue. I hung out with the Russian DJ mafia for a while - Bobina and the guys from Moonbeam. Then got one of the strangest requests for a stage performance ever - I was asked to wear a camera on my head! That thing wasn’t small either; I don’t think my neck muscles would have held up too well.



The Koreans had been partying all day so it was my job to keep their energy levels up. As well as Sleepwalkers, I hit them with one of the tracks from the Dakota album I’ve been dropping in most of my sets lately, named “Miami”. It was one of the few tracks on the album where the idea actually started at home! The rolling bassline in it works so well live, and the break has been getting some huge reactions. Many of you will have heard it for only the first time yesterday so I’m curious to see if it’s one of those tracks that will grow.



Photos courtesy of World DJ Festival Seoul.

A fun evening rounded off with the company of good friend Judge Jules and Australia’s tyDi. I was tired at the end, although I didn’t get too much rest on Sunday morning thanks to discovering that the hotel I was staying in was part of some sort of amusement park! The rollercoasters got scarily close to my window.


Update on Holger

It was the Monday I was in Korea when the news broke of Holger’s accident, and the emotional turmoil of being so far away from him began. The last time I checked in with you guys for the blog was when he made his first phone call to me after waking up, which as you can imagine was an emotional moment.

He’s taking one day at a time right now and continuing his recovery. I couldn’t help but smile so broadly yesterday when I was sitting on my laptop ready to do my twitter session during GDJB, because he messaged me letting me know that he was tuned in! So Holger helped us celebrate the big Dakota special. I can’t wait to see him again when I get some time in Berlin in between the gigs this summer.


Asian Tour Part 3 - India

However, during the part of the tour that took me to play for 4 nights in India, I was travelling with a very heavy heart due to what had happened. That uncertainty of the future was scary. I didn’t want to cancel and let down the Submerge promoters in India, because it was the first time they had booked me in 2 years. So I just had to go out and play as best as I possibly could, in the hope that Holger was going to wake up.



Landed in Mumbai and made the drive to Pune for the first gig. One of the tracks that I haven’t played that often in a while and don’t think I’ve ever played live at all before was the Lost Stories remix of Dark Heart Waiting. The guys behind the project are from Mumbai and they came to support during the tour, so it was nice to give them their moment of appreciation with the fans.



The Pune gig felt a little bit like Do You Dream revisited, since it was my first gig back in the country in so long. Phynn’s remix of Rain got a big reaction, before moving into the new Dakota material such as Saints. Friday was Mumbai, where Rex Mundi’s Valley of Dreams turned out to be a very popular request, along with Kyau & Albert’s 2011 remake of Kiksu.



All photos from Submerge Supernova in Bangalore. Photos courtesy of Ashu Dhar.

I was really starting to feel exhausted about halfway through the Indian trip. I guess it was a combination of being away from home for so many weeks in succession and Holger’s ongoing condition. But the fans in Pune and Mumbai, along with Delhi on Saturday night kept me going as best as I could. They made me believe that I could express myself well on the decks despite everything that was going on. Perception in the Redlight District and Outsider were the big winners. Everyone was so supportive and sympathetic towards me, and hopefully I tried to convey that with the atmosphere of the sets each night.

And wrapping things up on Sunday was a big event at Fuga in Bangalore. I knew going in that this was the last chance to play something inspired in the hope that when I got to Hamburg on Monday, Holger would wake up. So I went out and was relentless. All the big room / stadium material I had in my locker was used. From Sinners to Daydream; and from Caress 2 Impress to Perfect. It was the best of efforts to end this tour with a bang and say thank you to all the support I had received from everyone in India. You guys have got an incredible scene here and please keep working hard to ensure that it continues to grow.


Heading Out West - San Diego, Phoenix and Los Angeles

I went to Hamburg via London on Monday to be with Holger. He lay there asleep but there was that feeling inside me that he knew I was there beside him. I had to travel back to Miami on Tuesday and spent Wednesday working on the radio show for that week. It was such a short visit that like last time, all I had time to do was laundry and get my clothes cleaned for the next trip. It started with the best possible news though - Holger had woken up.

First stop on Thursday was San Diego for Fluxx. It’s one of the cities that sometimes get forgotten about due to how powerful the scenes are in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but I have to say from my past couple of visits down there, things are really starting to thrive. I went to the club with this huge weight lifted off my shoulders and was able to do what I was able to do best. A lot of the fans told me that they were travelling up to Los Angeles for the World Tour recording on the Saturday, so it acted as a good warmup for them.



Photo courtesy of Bobby Reyes of Eventvibe.com

Friday was the return to Phoenix, which as you guys know was home to me for such a long period of my life. Funnily enough, one of the guys on Twitter asked me where I got the Dakota name from - it’s actually the name of the street I used to live on in Arizona. You’d be amazed at the amount of people I meet in the most random of places around the world and they would all say the same phrase, “I used to dance to you at The Works”.

The Venue was amazing. It’s not often I get to play a long set in Phoenix but I got three hours this time around, and hoped to make the most of it. What touched me was seeing so many familiar faces that were following me back in the 90s still out there showing their support today. Although the winner has to be Adrian aka SeriousDanger from my forums; since he wore this t-shirt to the gig.



Of course the next morning was due to be our last, so we had to make sure we partied in Phoenix like it was our last. A late night and woke up with relief that we were all still here on Saturday. Maybe we were spared because the higher ups knew we had a World Tour recording to do at Avalon in Los Angeles. Just maybe!

I knew going in that a lot of the regulars on the forums were concerned that I was only playing for 3 hours on the night. This disappointed me for two reasons - first was that I promised you guys an extended set in the blog months before, and second, come on, how many times have we been down this road already? lol



You guys know what I’m like. As long as the club can stay open and everyone is having a great time, I’ll keep on playing. So I put the word out that day that I was going to Avalon, and would be there for a while. Anyone who didn’t get the message where reminded about 10 minutes in when I started.

Kristina Sky did a great job setting things up, and then I took over with my special “night of the rapture” influenced intro mix of Wippenberg’s U R. Looking back on the night, the hardest part was picking the best 2 hours for air on the broadcast last week. Originally I thought that I’d go in and frontload all the Dakota material in the early portion, but with an extended set you have to pace yourself and make sure the crowd stay with you on the journey. Although I did leave one track in for you last week - Tears.



I had been listening to the old Simple Minds track “Belfast Child” quite a bit a few months ago, and something about the melody in it stood out and stuck with me. I held it back in my livesets until Winter Music Conference time in Miami, and used it as my set opener then. But I’ve found that it’s working really well playing it much later into the night.

For the hardcore among you though, I treated everyone in attendance with special reveals of some of the Dakota tracks on the night itself, with custom visuals displaying the track name as each one was played. I hadn’t even made it back to my hotel from breakfast when they were up on YouTube already! Sign of today’s times I guess.



All Avalon photos courtesy of Rukes.com

In the end, since I love LA, I gave them 6 hours on the night, ending at 7am. And the reason why LA is such a special city to me is that the tranceaddicts all signed a get well soon card for Holger and gave it to me. If I could have bottled the energy inside that room all night, I would probably be a very rich man by now. It was one of those gigs where I wish we could have broadcasted the whole thing for you guys to experience the journey properly.

I guess the best way to sum up my Saturday night in LA was that I started my Sunday at 6pm! But I have to give a huge thanks to everyone who went on the journey with me. Here’s hoping we get to do it all again soon.


In Memory of Tillmann Uhrmacher

Wednesday morning brought the sad news to the world that legendary trance DJ, producer and radio presenter Tillmann Uhrmacher had passed away, at the far too young age of 44.

Tillmann was one of the true pioneers of our scene. He would have been best described as the German version of Pete Tong, thanks to his Maximal show on Sunshine Live Radio every Friday night. He also played an integral role in the station’s live broadcasts of huge outdoor events such as Nature One and Mayday in Germany, as well as Mayday in Poland and many more events scattered throughout the year. When cable and satellite started expanding at the beginning of the last decade, Sunshine Live became one of the most influential stations for electronic music anywhere in the world, with fans tuning in from everywhere around the world to be part of these live broadcasts.

He was one of the most enthusiastic people you could ever wish to meet, and he always said to me that he felt a sense of pride because of my German roots and heritage that I was doing well worldwide. Every interview that he did with me at these events he always brought up the same proposal - wanting to do an episode of Maximal live from my apartment in Berlin. Honestly I was up for doing it, but with my tour schedule, it made it almost impossible for me to find myself in Berlin on a Friday night. On reflection of his passing, that’s one of my biggest regrets, not being able to do the show he really wanted to make happen.



Interview with Tillmann backstage after Nature One, August 2010

Yesterday on Global DJ Broadcast we paid tribute by playing what many would regard as his biggest hit “On the Run”. Hopefully all you guys out there will take some time to play the track over the weekend and salute the legacy he has left behind with us.

I’m playing at Nature One in Germany again this August, but it just won’t be the same without Tillmann there. I know the guys from Nature One Inc. do the theme for the event every year, but I wonder if they and the promoters could honor Tillmann’s memory by recreating On the Run as this year’s theme. Might be an idea.

Rest in peace Tillmann, you will be missed buddy.


Thoughts Become Things II

This week was also an important episode of Global DJ Broadcast for me, as it was dedicated to previewing most of the tracks from my upcoming Dakota album, Thoughts Become Things II. It has been a year in the making, started only a matter of days after wrapping up the Do You Dream album, and has been a demanding yet enjoyable experience to complete.

I’ve used the Dakota alias in recent years specifically to have some fun in the studio and make good clubby tunes that fit in well to my livesets. This album moreso than the last one however has been more focused on tracks that are meant to blossom on big booming soundsystems, with tracks that sometimes don’t get as many affections after first listens than usual.

I’m going to talk about the solo set at MOS tonight in a little bit, but I guess I should let slip that everyone who attended the solo set last year got a debut of one of the tracks in prototype form without anyone batting an eyelid or recognising what was happening! The track grew and became Suggestion No. 5 - one of those dreamy and hypnotic tracks which hopefully will translate the influences I’ve felt from listening to artists like Royksopp and James Holden.

Sinners is obviously one that you all know about since it never left my livesets all last summer (and the remixes of Khomha and Aerofoil are still keeping it there), and a lot of the track names accurately describe where the ideas or foundations were laid in certain parts of the world I found myself at the time. Katowice for instance was started the morning after I played the Mayday event in the Polish city for the first time (which sadly was also the last time I did an interview with Tillmann for Sunshine Live), and I was inspired by the fact that it was a massive outdoor event, but had this real underground techno vibe going on the whole night.

Reading the message boards this morning before going to bed tells me that you guys are really loving In a Green Valley at the moment, and as the name suggests, was heavily influenced by my two visits to the Brazilian superclubs in October and January. Cape Town was started believe it or not on Thanksgiving Day when I was in South Africa, and had just come back from visiting the beautiful Table Mountain. Red Star was the final track I worked on for the album, made during my tour to Russia in March and started on a night when I couldn’t sleep. Maybe Barbara Streisand was haunting me again.



So each track kinda tells a story of my life and travels over the last year. I’m really happy with how the album has turned out, and I hope that you all enjoy hearing the tracks both at home on the radio and also in the clubs and festivals this summer. I’ll be giving the tracks some more plays on the Global DJ Broadcast in the coming weeks, and now that the album has been revealed and is coming out soon, I’ll be free to play as many of them as I want in the World Tour broadcasts.

More about the album in the next blog, and set your dates for the iTunes release on July 1, with the CD dropping a week later.


This Weekend - 7 Hour Solo Set at Ministry of Sound

It’s incredible to sit here in London thinking that I’ve been a Gallery resident at Ministry of Sound for three years now. You’ve probably heard me say this before, but the first minute I stepped in and surveyed that main room, the first thought that went through my head was “I want to play here open to close”. And some 51 weeks ago to this day, I got my wish. It was the height of the Do You Dream World Tour, the middle of the filming schedule for the DVD Documentary, and despite being jetlagged as hell after flying in from Australia that week, it was without doubt a night that will live in my memory forever.

What I appreciate a great amount about these gigs at MOS is that the residency has become a real family affair. Danny, Gavyn, Tom and The Gallery crew treat me as if I’m there every single week. And most importantly of all, it has become a genuine meeting point for so many fans from the message board, not just from the UK, but even more that fly over from Ireland or the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. And I’m very grateful to be given the opportunity to take over the decks and control the room from open to close.



Memories of Ministry of Sound Solo Set, June 2010

Like the previous MOS gigs, I’ll be roadtesting some Coldharbour material out for the very first time. I’ve been scanning over my Twitter feed and the thread on the forums reading your requests for the night, so we’ll have to have one or two moments of reminiscence during the 7 hours at some point. I have a few media duties to take care of, including a live phone interview with Judge Jules for Radio 1, but will be heading to the club and ready to start playing at midnight. Here’s hoping that everyone going will last the distance with me until 7am.

I’m based in London all weekend and will be driving to Swansea in Wales tomorrow for my first ever Escape in the Park. I’ll get to see Jules again and hang out for a bit. Electric Daisy Carnival has got my summer festival season up and running and this will be the next stop, so looking forward to the new experience and seeing everyone there.

Next weekend is also another massive one, because it’s not only my return to the Big Apple, the Global DJ Broadcast World Tour recording equipment is coming along with me for the ride. I can’t wait to return to Pacha and see all the great New York tranceaddicts again. I think I’m down to play an extended set there so like MOS tonight, I’m hoping you’ll all be preparing yourselves for a late night and going home in broad daylight!

Then next Saturday is my second Electric Daisy Carnival gig, this time in Dallas. Now you guys that have been keeping a close eye on me over the past couple of weeks know that the NBA finals are currently going on with my hometown Miami Heat going up against the Dallas Mavericks. The Heat lost game 5 last night when I was flying to London, so I’m hoping that the Heat can win game 6 and I’ll be back home for game 7, crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to go out and celebrate afterwards! So I guess I’m selfishly hoping that I’ll get ribbed by all the Dallas fans because the Heat won, but they know I love them anyway.


So that’s going to wrap things up for another couple of weeks. Thanks for taking the time to catch up with my adventures once again guys. I wish you could all come and party with me at Ministry of Sound tonight. No matter where you are around the world, please try to visit London and come to one of these residency nights. Remember that this is the city that changed my life, and it feels like it has been written in the stars for me to become a resident at one of the most famous in the world, and one that I’ve experienced both as a DJ and as a clubber.

Take care guys, have a great weekend, speak to you in detail in the next blog in a couple of weeks, and keep up to date with all my movements on the Facebook and Twitter pages. Signing out from London... Let’s go rock the Ministry tonight!

With love,
Markus

Wed, 01 Jun 2011  /  Post a comment
The rumors are true, but now it’s time to make it official…

Two years ago his first Dakota album heralded one of the boldest branch-outs that’s ever been undertaken by an EDM artist. This summer Markus Schulz will return his genre super-collider to the dancefloor frontlines. A bigger comeback in 2011, you will not find…

Back as far as its turn-of-the-millennium origins, Markus’ alter ego was always conceived as a channel through which he could explore the darker and more devoutly club side of his mind.

“To me the audio that Dakota presents and the music which I put out under my own name stand totally apart. It’s an entirely separate set of tempos, sound-ranges and FX rules. To have this studio ‘other self’ with which to produce this type of music is more important to me than ever”, he says.

The first ‘Thoughts’ long-player proved nothing short of a revelation, drawing Schulz’s productions into the CDJs of an entirely different type of DJ. Two years on and its sequel is on final approach. A fully floor-equipped, 14 track album, ‘Thoughts Become Things II’ again explores every cleft and crevasse of the prog/trance/techno/house panoply.

Stylistically ‘Thoughts II’ picks up precisely where the first album left off, in the deeply trenched progressive of ‘Gypsy Room’. From there the unmistakable churning, techno glint of ‘Red Star’ and the shadowy atmospherics of ‘I’m Where it Went Wrong’ continue to build the bridge between the two albums. Each one a Dakota device purpose built to send strobe-lit underground dance spots unrelentingly towards critical mass.

Expanding its style sheet further is the house-led thematic of 'Terrace 5 a.m.' Recalibrating Moroder’s immortal, discofied ‘I Feel Love’ bassline to 2011 levels, its set to become a much-demanded spin at Schulz’s new Space Ibiza residency. Equally 80's inclined is ‘Tears’, who’s poignant, film-noir channels Vangelis’ enigmatic ‘Blade Runner’ theme.

Every bit as redolent is the low-tempo industrial roll of ‘Katowice’s dystopian main line, the flowing transcendental melod-prog of ‘In a Green Valley’ and ‘Apollo’ - the expansive, epic album dénouement.

Dakota fans’ first contact with ‘Thoughts II’ will inevitably have come through the propulsive twin-turbines of its first two singles… Together, over the last three months, ‘Sinners’ and ‘Sleepwalkers’ have nitro-injected Schulz’s sets time and time again. The latter has already developed its own early cult status, when its emergence during his set at ASOT500 pushed Schulz into Twitter’s worldwide trending top 10.

‘Thoughts Become Things II’ holds back its toughest sonic punches till last, with a closing track triumvirate. The gated synthery of 'Miami’, the hard-ratcheting white-knuckle-tension of ‘Cape Town’ and stridently riffed, big-room suspense of ‘Saints’ all collectively producing the album its mighty endgame.

As with its first instalment, ‘Thoughts Become Things II' will have resonance with DJs of numerous electronic dance disciplines. With barely a track over the 130bpm mark and referencing many a dance sub-genre, it is this summer’s most intrepid, creative long-player.



Thoughts Become Things II will be available through iTunes on Friday July 1st, and on CD from Friday July 8th.

Tracklist:
1. Gypsy Room
2. Red Star
3. Sleepwalkers
4. I’m Where it Went Wrong
5. Sinners
6. Terrace 5 a.m.
7. Katowice
8. Tears
9. Suggestion No. 5
10. In a Green Valley
11. Miami
12. Cape Town
13. Saints
14. Apollo

More information can be found at the special microsite http://dakota.markusschulz.com

Fri, 20 May 2011  /  Post a comment
Hey guys,

Hello to you all again as promised this week, and hope that you’re doing well. I’m about to pack up here in San Diego and head for a big homecoming night in Phoenix, but I’m checking in with you again to catch up on everything over this past while.

It has been without doubt one of the toughest periods of my life the past few weeks, with worries and concerns both personally and professionally. Hopefully you guys appreciated the story and meaning behind the Sleepwalkers video and my dream collaboration, and that you’ll still trust in me and believe in everything I do.

So the purpose of this blog is to get you caught up on everything else that has been going on. We’ll recap most of the gigs in April, before looking ahead to what’s in store this weekend, and a little teaser announcement for you at the very end.

Let’s turn the clock back to the beginning of April, where Sleepwalkers was about to invade the world’s airwaves.


ASOT 500, Buenos Aires - Saturday April 2nd

After wrapping up the special speaking engagement at Yale and spending Friday travelling through New York and reminiscing, I was on my way overnight to Buenos Aires for my first of two contributions for the huge A State Of Trance 500 events.

It sounds very cliché (and I’m as guilty of using it more often than anyone else!) but the people and city of Buenos Aires resonate with me in a unique way. Maybe it’s the fear of someone secretly filming my breakdancing excursions at the Bicentennial afterparty with the go-go dancers last year and that footage one day appearing on YouTube, but it’s more likely because the fans are so incredibly passionate and generate an atmosphere that is difficult to put into words when you feel it on stage.

All the key elements were in place - huge outdoor event in front of nearly 20,000 people, live worldwide listening audience, and the expectation that a certain Dakota track I had been holding off the radio airwaves for a couple of months would finally get its debut. And that track in question of course was Sleepwalkers.

To be honest I was in a bit of a bind - going into this gig, I knew that there would be three livesets going out on the airwaves with my name on it in the space of a week (if you included the GDJB World Tour episode recorded live from Space the previous week), so it wasn’t easy making a decision on letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak. I knew that for months everybody on the message boards were speculating, and I felt their sympathy when they got angry with me on the occasions I had to edit it out of broadcasts before. So the “radio” debut of Sleepwalkers was going to be a gametime decision when assessing the atmosphere at the gig.



One debut that definitely wasn’t in doubt that night however was Rotunda - the collaboration with hugely talented Jochen Miller. We had a very fun three days and nights in the studio. It’s one of those opportunities that I was grateful to take. There are so many producers out there that I would love to spend time in the studio collaborating, but because of hectic tour schedules sending everyone to the four corners of the world, it’s incredibly difficult to get locked down.

With Jochen, I was fortunate that he had come over to play at the Markus Schulz & Friends event at Space for Miami Music Week, and because he was playing at ASOT 500 in Buenos Aires the following Saturday, it made sense for him to stay with me for a few days rather than fly back home and back again down to Argentina.

Jochen was very gracious in giving me the honor of debuting the track to the world during my set, despite both of us playing the same gig, and him on the decks first.

I arrived at Club G.E.B.A. just as Jochen was finishing and Dash Berlin was taking over. Got settled in and caught up with Armin, and we did our on-air interview together. I was trying to get a peep of the audience from behind the stage, and I think I saw at least five flags at the front with my name on it. So that was the clincher, Buenos Aires was about to Sleepwalk.



Midnight came and it was time to do my thing. Were the trancefamily ready to get dark and dirty? That answer was a resounding yes. Within the first ten minutes the chanting started, they wanted it louder and harder. Then the big moment arrived, time to bring in Sleepwalkers.

The reactions to it in the crowd were absolutely insane. I wish I could have slowed down time just to survey everything that was going on. People were jumping on top of each other’s shoulders swinging from side to side. One of the security staff said to me coming off stage that they hadn’t seen a crowd react like that since they worked on a Metallica concert! So that was definitely one of the biggest highlights I’ve had on stage for a while.



All ASOT 500 photos courtesy of ALDA Events

Rotunda finished off the set and I retreated backstage very content with how the set had gone. I listened back to the recording of the night a few days after, and even though the crowd were loud then, it was impossible to compare to how they were reacting at ground level. The fans were incredible to me once again. I keep saying this, but Buenos Aires has to be in the mix for the city compilation series in the future. Heck it needs another World Tour soon! But I was so thankful to everyone who showed their support for me on that night. And thank you for reminding me of how much I love Argentinean steak!


ASOT 500, Den Bosch - Saturday April 9th

Back to Miami and back to work in the studio. This was the week where a spider got the better of me, deciding to leave a bite on my face. I wish it had been more thoughtful and understood that I have Spiderman pyjamas in my bedroom. I laughed it off on the Tuesday, but on Wednesday morning I woke up with one side of my face swollen. Bad karma Markus. But after a trip to the doctor and getting some medicine, Peter Parker was going to be just fine. I had to get back into the studio and finish off an idea I had thought of for the ASOT 500 set in Den Bosch.

Wednesday night was dedicated to GDJB and on Thursday I was off to Milan for the Amnesia nightclub on Friday night, where I would be playing alongside Gareth Emery. It didn’t get off to a good start, having a two hour flight delay, but eventually we were on our way. Slept most of the day after landing, then had a lovely Italian dinner with Guido from my booking agency. I played for two hours and then Gareth finished off the night. For both of us, it was definitely a case of fine tuning our sets for the big dance at Den Bosch the following evening.

Saturday morning and the four of us boarded to Amsterdam (Gareth was along with his assistant Sophie). And for the first time in a few weeks, the flight took off on time. They must have known that we had a big gig to play after landing!

I had a couple of things planned in my set in Den Bosch. Obviously you’ve got your reliable weapons that you’re going to play, since you know the crowd want them and they are guaranteed to rock the dancefloor, but I wanted to change it up a little too, since I know all you guys who listen to my sets online want to be treated to a bit of variety.



When I was preparing my set during the week, there was one track in particular that had been doing the rounds in my previous sets as an unknown ID for the best part of a year. I had to take a moment to think about it, because in this day and age, keeping the identity of a track under wraps for that long is a bit of an achievement! The track of course was from one of the heroes of Coldharbour, Mr. Rex Mundi, with Interstate of Lightning. He just continues to amaze us all; with no two tracks the same. So it was pretty cool to be able to reveal it in his home country too.

Brabanthallen was already packed by the time I took over from bring young thing Arty at 11pm, and despite not playing in the Netherlands as much as I’d love to, the crowd made me feel like it was a home away from home again. When I eventually got off stage, I was told that they had to close the entrance to the room because it was completely full, which was quite humbling in itself, but the even more bizarre news was that Markus Schulz trended worldwide on twitter for well over an hour during my set! Now I love twitter as you guys know and we have a lot of fun on there, but never in my life could I ever have imagined being a trending topic. So thank you to everyone out there who supported and made that happen.

Another person who was in attendance that night was one of the rising stars of Coldharbour. His tracks have given me so much fuel for my livesets lately, and Aerofoil had to have his moment with Caress 2 Impress. And just to throw icing on the cake, I debuted another track from his EP called Kerosene in the early part of my set.



The combo of Beat Service’s Outsider into Sleepwalkers kicked up the energy quite a bit, and I was really in my stride with the mission to include as many memorable moments as possible. But it was the big finish that I had been running through my mind all week long.

I think if you were to ask the Dutch residents, they would probably say that The New World is my “big anthem” if they had to define me by one tune in particular. So I went into the studio earlier in the week with the intention of giving them the track towards the end of my set, but with a new twist. And by the time the break came in, I had a feeling that they appreciated it. Then there was the sentimental touch with the Coldharbour remix of Breathing, which many would hold as one of the greatest tracks ever to come out of the country, and special for me because of what I felt on stage at Trance Energy the previous year.



All ASOT 500 photos courtesy of ALDA Events

Breathing was originally going to be my final tune of the set, but Above & Beyond were running a little late, so I had people behind me screaming to play another track. I quickly loaded up Carlo Resoort’s remix of Not the Same to give the crowd a good send off, and my own ASOT 500 story came to an end. Thank you to all the Dutchies and everyone who travelled around the world to Den Bosch on that night and rnocked it out with me.

I was exhausted on Sunday morning so it was going to be a day of rest and recovery. Aided by the new direct flight route from Amsterdam to Miami through KLM, we said goodbye and headed back home.


The Guvernment, Toronto - Saturday April 16th

Another week passed by quickly and on Friday I was back out on the road again, making the short trip to Tampa. All Florida gigs to me feel like a bit of a homecoming, so I was looking forward to getting to work. Despite having some technical problems during the set, I think the crowd enjoyed the night. I spent quite a bit of time hanging out with them afterwards.

Then Saturday took me to one of the absolute best nightspots anywhere in the world - The Guvernment in Toronto. Now most of the time when I get my gig itineraries sent through from my booking agency, I don’t know how long my set time will be beforehand. I think all the guys in Toronto have been reading these blogs too much and knowing how much I love playing the longer sets for them, because without even expecting it to happen this time around, they gave me the chance to do it again!

Charlie Sheen was doing one of his tour gigs right across the street from the Guv, so I wondered if having been given the opportunity to play 6 hours, then I’d end the night as the one who was winning.



I took over the decks from resident Mark Oliver at 1am and took the crowd on a fast and unforgiving ride. The place was absolutely rammed and it was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard an audience inside the place. They were reacting well to the new Dakota material and they’d cheer massively when some of the hallmarked Coldharbour classics came in. I think that’s one of the things that sometimes get lost on people when it comes to playing extended sets - it doesn’t always have to be the constant new stuff. Even when I did the marathon solo set at Space for WMC I deliberately dug some tracks out that I hadn’t played in ages, but they work so well when you find the right moment to play them.

Normally when I play the long sets, you sometimes see the crowd thin out a bit towards the end. But what really pleased me was to see it still so packed going into the final hour. The crowd were so amazing, that I started taking song requests through messages on their phones. This was their reward for sticking with me, so when I got a request for Johnny the Fox, then that’s what the crowd got. If they wanted Noodler, they got Noodler.



All Guvernment photos courtesy of Shaya Photography. For a full gallery of the night, please Click Here

Overall it made for another great night, and completely fuelled by all the fans that were there in attendance. I think the next step for us at the Guvernment is to try for an all night, open to close session. I’d love the opportunity to build things up from scratch and then go through the real Markus Schulz live journey, taking every twist and turn possible. Maybe for the future. But thank you again Toronto for your great support and hospitality. Well, maybe not the sideways snow, but you guys for sure!


Easter Weekend - Denver, South Padre Island and Las Vegas Residency

Back to the Harbour and two days in the studio of working with my idols – Mele Mel and Scorpio. I’m sure you’ve read my thoughts on the reactions from you guys on the video earlier in the week, so I won’t add any more here (if you haven’t read them, you can find them on my website and Facebook page). We did the videoshoot at Club Space on the Tuesday night, and Wednesday was taken up with press and working on GDJB again.

The Easter Weekend is always a busy one for clubbing, and I set off early to head out to the Rocky Mountains and Denver, to play at Beta nightclub, owned by Beatport of course. As usual, it was a great time playing for all the Colorado peeps, enhanced even more by the appearance of one Jenny McCarthy rocking out alongside me in the booth!



Friday took me to South Padre Island in Texas to play at the Schlitterbahn Water Park. A police escort had to take us across the bridge from Brownsville in order to make it on time. A job well done by them in making it happen. The set was very much of the big room variety, with it being outdoors. Sleepwalkers got another good test again. Once I was done, I hung out in the greenroom with the guys from Far East Movement - very cool bunch of people. They said that they like trance! Maybe I should have showed them that bootleg of Like a G6 I’ve been springing on unsuspecting crowds lately...

Saturday was chapter 2 of my new Las Vegas adventure at Marquee. Track of the night here had to be Tribeca, by Dutch duo Sunnery James & Ryan Maricano. I had them on the Global DJ Broadcast last week and loving what they’re doing right now. I managed to get a hold of Tribeca during Miami Music Week and it has been blowing up in my livesets ever since. But in Vegas, it took on a life of its own.



Marquee photo courtesy of Elyse Lavin

We’re going to keep growing and developing our unique story with this residency I feel. More and more you’ll see me debut stuff in that venue before any other place in the world. I’m back there next week and in good company too. If next Friday with Roger Sanchez is as fun as our tour of Brazil was last October, it’s going to be a great one. See you there S-Man!


Bal en Blanc, Montreal - Sunday April 24th

But the big dance of the week was saved for Easter Sunday, and the annual Bal en Blanc extravaganza in Montreal. One of the best events anywhere in the world, held in one of the most unique cities in the world.

Montreal is a place where you have to pay respect to its house roots. They love all that deep and chuggy action; and I’ve tried really hard over the past few years especially to take great care in preparing my set for them. And Bal en Blanc in particular is significant for me because of the Dressed in White theme. I gave it a warmup at Marquee the night before as an encore, but it was going to get full focus here.



On arriving I found out that Jono from Above & Beyond had fallen ill in New York the night before and couldn’t make the flight, so Paavo was on solo duty. I believe that Jono hasn’t been doing too well since, so hope that you feel better soon buddy. Best wishes from everyone at Coldharbour.

As a result of that, I ended up with an extra half hour and started at 7am for a three hour set, and a worldwide listening audience on Afterhours FM, exactly just like last year. It must have felt strange for everyone in Europe rocking out to a liveset over their lunch!



I had to keep the energy of the set going throughout, since you knew that if people started feeling tired then they would go home. So it was relentless from the get go. I might have sneakily played a Dakota track or two that would have been unnoticed to the live audience! Also had a ton of fun dusting off the epic track done by Wippenberg quite a few years ago called Earth. It still works so well on the dancefloor today. Then with around half an hour to go, it was time to give Montreal what they wanted, Dressed in White. An incredible feeling.



All Bal en Blanc photos courtesy of Cristian Constantinescu at Red Lite. For a full gallery of the night, please Click Here

Finished up at 10am with Rotunda and Ben Gold took over until the finish. Didn’t have an awful lot of time to hang out afterwards since my flight back to Miami was that afternoon, and needed to get home in order to prepare for a three week tour of Asia. But it was another wonderful BEB experience, and my third in total. If the promoters asked me to play Bal en Blanc every year until I retired, I would be so honored.


Holger

If you’ve been keeping in touch with me on Facebook and Twitter recently, you will know that the past couple of weeks have been incredibly draining on an emotional level. I’ll be sure to recap all the other goings on of my Asian tour in the next blog, but this was too important to leave out.

I had a night off in Seoul before travelling to India via Hong Kong on the Tuesday. I’d gone to do an interview at the TBS eFM radio station for the Nightvibe show, and went out that night to check out Deadmau5’s gig in the city. But when I came back to the hotel, I received the terrible news that my brother Holger had been in a bad car crash in Germany, was taken to hospital and was in a coma.

In all honesty, I can’t remember my heart sinking so quickly like it did on receipt of this news. When I got through to my dad and my other German brother Marc, they told me that the doctors wouldn’t let anyone near him, and they were worried that he wouldn’t even make it through the night.

I broke down in tears so badly. Here I was in South Korea thousands and thousands of miles away from him, completely helpless. Keep in mind too that I’ve only known him for around three years, at the same time that my father first got in contact with me. I just kept hoping and praying that he would make it through that first night. Needless to say, I never shut my eyes to sleep. A million thoughts were going through my mind. Do I cancel tour dates? What happens if I do? What help can I be if I’m there and he’s still not awake?

So I had to start making calls and getting myself organised, and take each development day by day. I made a contingency plan to travel to Hamburg after the Indian tour. All of the gigs there were played with a heavy heart. In some ways, being on stage felt like an escape, but it felt more like a duty to play sets that would inspire him to wake up.



Happier times. Holger (left) and Marc (right)

I spent less than a day in Hamburg by his beside this past Monday. He still wasn’t awake, but somehow I knew that he felt me there. There was something that made me feel he was going to fight. It was such a hard period for me, because when I was sitting there, that’s when I was reading all the reactions to the Sleepwalkers video and felt like the entire world was against me.

Wednesday brought some promising news with him being removed from the breathing machine and showing some movement, and a huge relief on boarding the plane to San Diego on Thursday that he had finally woken up.

But this morning was a special moment - waking up to my phone ringing, and hearing his voice on the other side of the line. Can’t describe how I felt. I know that he still has a long road of recovery ahead of him, but today is a good day so far.

What is really important however is to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for all the love and support you have shown. With everything that has happened in these past two weeks, I have absolutely no idea how I’ve survived without you. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and let’s hope he gets back to his best as soon as possible.


This Weekend - Phoenix Homecoming and World Tour Recording in Los Angeles

So the emotions are still powerful on the inside, and it’s probably appropriate that I’m playing in these two cities in particular this weekend. The fun and games kicked off in San Diego last night at Fluxx, and tonight it’s back to the city I called home for practically the entire 90s - Phoenix. Home to The Works nightclub; Plastik Records, the Edge Factor radio show and many more memories. I don’t know if it’s what has been going on with Holger, or whether I had to revisit my journey through the city during the Master’s Tea at Yale, but tonight feels really important to me. So I’m really looking forward to seeing some old faces tonight. I’m sure there will be plenty of stories being retold!



Avalon, Los Angeles May 2010. Photo courtesy of Drew Ressler aka Rukes

Then on Saturday, I nip back out to the West Coast for a huge night at Avalon in Los Angeles. My gig there last year was memorable for so many reasons, with it being the second night of recording for the Do You Dream DVD, and also because of the infamous “Schulz Shuffle” that got captured on YouTube for the world, which haunted me as much as the Barbara Streisand song at afterparties has this year!

But this appearance will be even more important, since it’s going to be the next Global DJ Broadcast World Tour recording. And since we’re getting closer and closer to the Dakota album coming out, I’m going to be tailoring my set to debut a number of tracks from the album on radio for the very first time. So all you guys that love chasing down IDs will be in for some fun. And to wet the appetite for everyone out there, here’s a peek at the cover of the new album.



Have to say that I can’t wait to see all my SoCal peeps out in force again. I hope it will be a night of inspiration.


Alright guys, time to wrap things up and get ready to head to Scottsdale. Thanks for taking the time to read again. Here’s hoping that the next couple of weeks will be a little easier on the mental and emotional side.

Take care and have a great weekend, and can’t wait to see everyone in Phoenix and LA. And a date for your diaries - Wednesday June 1st, the tracklist and details of Thoughts Become Things II will be revealed.

With love,
Markus

Wed, 18 May 2011  /  Post a comment
What’s up guys,

Hope this finds you doing well. As I sit here on the airplane looking out of the window, I reflect on the reaction created by the new music video for "Sleepwalkers"; featuring Mele Mel and Scorpio. I’ve read all your messages on Facebook and on the message boards, and feel that I need to address your worries and concerns.

First I want to thank everyone for all of the messages of support that I have received. As this project was coming together, I knew that there would be mixed emotions of response, and the trancefamily and tranceaddicts out there certainly did not disappoint.

Anyone who has followed me in detail throughout the years will know that I started off in the music scene as a breakdancer. Along with my crew, I would go to the local roller rinks and teen clubs entering contests and battling. It was a really fun time. I remember hearing songs like "Boogie Down Bronx" by Man Parish, “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force - just to name a few. And one of the legendary record labels during that period was Sugar Hill Records. They were the home of one of my heroes Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.



Meeting Grandmaster Flash in Australia while on tour in 2009

I remember being at the roller rink and hearing the track "Scorpio" and "White Lines” filter through the speakers. The entire crew would immediately jump up, knock everyone over and race to the center of the floor like maniacs. Some of you veterans may remember a movie that had come out many years before (in 1984) that we used to watch all the time called "Beat Street". There was a legendary breakdance battle in the movie that took place at The Roxy nightclub in New York City.

On my last Dakota album, I paid tribute to this scene by making a track influenced by the synths from that era, called “Roxy 84”. One of the things I have always wanted to do (other than bust out some vintage B-Boy moves in the middle of my sets) was to re-create that legendary Roxy battle scene in one of my videos. When we started discussing the idea for Sleepwalkers and making some phone calls the wildest thing happened. There was a voice on the other end of the phone that sounded so familiar telling me that he was a fan of my work and would love to work together. It was none other than one of my childhood heroes - Mele Mel.

Mel did some of the music for Beat Street; so I wanted to get him involved with the video of Sleepwalkers somehow and for him to suggest doing some vocals on top of the original was surreal. I told them him that all I wanted in return was a Sugar Hill T-shirt and a press release sent out to my old high school saying I was an official member of the Furious Five!

But despite all of this going on, I had so many other thoughts running through my mind. I knew that many of you guys would freak out over this. I had the fear that there would be cries of “Markus sold his soul” or “Markus sold out”. I was a bit confused as too if I should do this or not.

In the last blog, you may remember my describing my trip to Yale University for a speaking engagement, I was travelling to Buenos Aires for ASOT 500 that weekend and had some time to kill, so I rented a car and drove from Connecticut to JFK Airport in New York City. My flight was not until late at night, so I drove through my old neighborhood when I first moved to the US, and past Yankee Stadium (which believe it or not, I have never seen in person).

While I was walking around Yankee Stadium in the Bronx I stopped in for a drink at The Hard Rock. Still fresh on my mind was the offer from Mel and Scorpio.

I got up to go to the bathroom and along the way, in their "Wall of Fame" looking right at me, who did I see? A framed picture of Mele Mel!



I genuinely believe this was not a coincidence. This was the universe speaking to me. It was right at this moment that I said to myself, this is something I should go through with.

Fast forward to Miami and a few weeks later, here I am with Mel and Scorpio in the studio. I was transformed back to this young kid in his Adidas jumpsuit with the shell toe sneakers and the fat shoelaces. The Sugar Hill legends where in the studio with me and we were having a blast. Suddenly I could not believe it, but one of the members of the Sugar Hill Gang "Big Bad Hank" walks in as well! Are you kidding me??

Of course I kept my cool, but on the inside, I felt the desperate urge to bust out a windmill in the middle of the studio. I was completely starstruck working with them.

On the Tuesday night, we had the opportunity to film the music video for Sleepwalkers at another venue that is paramount to the story of what brought me to where I am today - Club Space in Miami. I wanted to get the fans involved so we sent out invitations for extras, and the response was enormous. It was really funny because when we went to Space that night I was thinking to myself, when they see me walking in with Mel and Scorp people are going to be like WTF?? It was such an amazing vibe.



And I got to achieve one of my dreams - recreating the Beat Street battle scene from the Roxy at Space with Mel and Scorpio, with the fans playing their part in the video. How awesome is that?

Anyways, I hope you guys got a little insight into how this project came about. Thanks for taking the time to read guys, Should you take anything from this entry today; I want it to be the following:

I hope everyone at some point gets to experience something as cool as working with someone you idolized as a kid. Maybe some day many, many (and many more) years from now, when I am one of those "where are they now" artists, someone will dust off my email address and say "Markus was a hero to me growing up; I would love to work with him".

With love,
Markus