[Interview] Markus Schulz Interview Before His Show At Stereo Nightclub
Dans le cadre de la fin de semaine de l’action de Grâce, le Stereo avait invité de grands Djs. Celui le plus attendu lors de cette fin de semaine était sans contredit Markus Schulz, pionnier depuis 10 ans dans le milieu de la musique électronique. Son style de prédilection est le Trance. Les billets pour cet événement se sont épuisés rapidement, quelques uns étaient encore disponibles à la porte. Markus Schulz était de passage à Montréal à l’occasion de sa tournée nord-américaine. De plus, il vient tout juste de sortir son nouvel album intitulé «Buenos Aires ’13». Depuis 2005 avec son album «Miami ’05», Markus Schulz sort des compilations presqu’à chaque année qu’il nomme d’après une ville où il a joué.
Hello Montreal! It’s time. (((Stereo))) here I come.
— Markus Schulz (@MarkusSchulz) October 13, 2013
Do I even need to do soundcheck? I mean it’s (((Stereo))) right? Only one of the best sound systems in the world.
— Markus Schulz (@MarkusSchulz) October 13, 2013
Markus Schulz a commencé à jouer aux alentours de 4 heures du matin et a terminé vers midi. Sa performance était donc de 8 heures, courant pour ce Dj spécialement connu pour ses performances de longues durées. Justement, lors du festival Tomorrowland l’été passé en Belgique, Markus Schulz avait joué un «marathon set» d’une durée de 12 heures.
La performance de Markus Schulz au Stereo était donc très attendue, puisque sa dernière apparition à Montréal datait du New City Gas. L’énergie au Stereo était incroyable. Markus Schulz a le talent de pouvoir connecter avec la foule grâce à sa musique. Il semblait heureux de performer pour les centaines de personnes présentes. À mon avis, il n’a déçu personne. Le Stereo est reconnu pour avoir l’un des meilleurs systèmes de son au monde. Tous les éléments étaient réunis pour créer une atmosphère du tonnerre et de ce fait une soirée inoubliable. L’intégrale de sa performance au Stereo est disponible sur son SoundCloud.
Nous avons eu la chance de rencontrer Markus Schulz juste avant sa performance. Il a répondu à ces quelques questions :
1) Since 2005, you started creating mix compilations named after cities that you played in. Two weeks ago you just released your new album called «Buenos Aires ’13». Why did you decide to choose this particular city?
When I started touring internationally, Buenos Aires was one of the first cities where the people embraced who I was and what my sound was about. As each year passed, my gigs would become bigger and bigger, and they were happy to go beyond the limits of my set time and have the opportunity to entertain the fans even more. I’ve done clubs nights, festivals, ASOT celebrations, Boombox nights and even their Bicentennial celebrations a few years ago; and I can honestly say that they have been among the most memorable in my career.
So Buenos Aires was very much a case of “when” and not “if” regarding the city series family. I think the final dealbreaker that swung it was doing the two back to back solo sets in Mandarine back in June.
But one of the things I want to say is that this compilation should celebrate the passion of the fans throughout South America, because the scene there overall deserves to be highlighted.
2) What’s the thing that makes you most proud of this new album?
You know, when these compilations come out I do get nervous about what everyone will think. It’s like months and months of work can be critiqued and dissected within five minutes. I’ll go onto the message boards and read what the fans are saying, check out the blogging sites and read the feedback on Facebook and Twitter.
I’ve always treated to treat these projects as more than just a compilation. It’s not a case of downloading all the top tracks on Beatport, whacking them together and say “here’s my mix”. With the tracks on the compilation I work closely with all the producers to fine tune the elements, so that overall I can present a journey that fans can appreciate. And it’s great to be able to provide a platform for new and existing talent to showcase unreleased material.
3) In 2009 you did a compilation album named Toronto. Are you thinking about doing one about Montreal maybe in the future?
For sure. Montreal is definitely in the mix. I think when you look at my history with the city – doing Bal en Blanc five years in a row, remixing the BEB theme, and the legendary marathon nights at Stereo – there are lots of reasons which would justify choosing Montreal to join the city series.
4) It’s not your first time here in Montreal, you’ve been to Bal en Blanc, Beach Club and of course Stereo. What’s your best memory about Montreal?
It has to be the vibe of the city. Montreal is one of the very few of its kind that still exists in our world of dance music. I hold Stereo in the same breath as the likes of Space in Miami or Ministry of Sound in London – incredibly special venues with a history that we need to preserve.
I get asked a lot from fans in the weekly Q&A sessions during Global DJ Broadcast about which city or event I would recommend them to travel to. Montreal, Stereo and Bal en Blanc are right up there. BEB is very unique in that it’s an arena event, yet you get to play for around three hours at a time. Having that set length provides more scope to be able to take the clubber on a journey. And of course I was given the honor of remixing the theme “Dressed in White” many years ago, which is still one of my favorite pieces of work.
5) I know that you’re currently on your North American Tour, that’s why you’re here today in Montreal, but what’s next for you? Do you have any projects or something special planned?
The next major focus for me is completing my Scream II artist album. Most of the tracks are ready for the mixdown phase but I still have some ideas floating around in my head that I want to explore. Some of the finished tracks from the album were introduced via Buenos Aires ’13 – the likes of Remember This, Towards the Sun and Mardi Gras. The album is scheduled to come out early February.
As well as that, I’ve got a couple of Dakota projects currently going. I tested them out in my solo sets in London and Toronto earlier in the summer, so when I get Scream II wrapped up, I’ll finish those off. I’ll maybe get them ready for the 2014 compilation. And of course work is ongoing with Ferry Corsten for our New World Punx project. We have a few new bootleg remixes done and are working on an original followup to Romper.
6) What music do you usually listen to on your iPod?
I have quite an eclectic collection on there, because I take my inspirations from many different genres of music. There’s classic rock from the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, to modern albunms like Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die and Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto. I usually have the past few Global DJ Broadcast shows on there as well, because I think it’s important to critique your own work and performance, and I feel I can evaluate a lot better when the show has been completed for the world to hear, compared to when you are deep in the trenches putting it together.
There is also a drum n bass playlist I made about two months ago which I’m enjoying, and of course I have to round it out with all the demos / in progress tracks from Scream 2, along with the couple of Dakota projects I have going on.
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