New World Punx romping to global success. Schulz reveals all…
Interview : Dan Prince
Wow! A truly exciting few months for you Markus with the emergence of your new trance warriors New World Punx act with good friend Ferry Corsten. This all began with a conversation discussing a mutual love for the classic trance sound from the early to mid 90s – a period when some of trance music’s finest tunes were created. How did this progress to the idea of New World Punx?
‘Last year there were a few club gigs where both Ferry and I were booked as separate headliners. The guys behind Godskitchen in the UK had booked us to play 3 hour sets each in March, and let us decide who would play when. So in a Skype interview we recorded for them we decided that it would be fun to take control of the entire night. I opened for the first 90 minutes then Ferry did 90 minutes, and we ended up doing the last 6 hours of the night entirely back to back, and people are still talking about that event fondly today. This was replicated further with gigs at TAO Beach in Las Vegas (during EDC weekend) and the real dealbreaker with 7 hours b2b at Echostage in Washington DC for Club Glow last November. Preceding that, I travelled to Rotterdam during ADE week to visit Ferry and have a bit of a geek session in the studio. We hadn’t intended on producing anything but decided to make a cool bootleg of Jens’ Loops & Tings (which eventually got license clearance to feature on my Scream artist album). The reactions we received in our livesets made us think that coupled with the magic of the b2b shows that we were on to something special.”
Your sound is at the harder end of trance whilst Ferry spins the more melodic side of things. Had the idea of a joining with forces with another trance artist ever appealed to you before?
“One of the most fun things an artist gets to enjoy when making an artist album is the possibility to collaborate with fellow DJs and producers. It’s always a worthwhile experience going into the studio with someone with different ideas and sounds. The difference in working with Ferry though was that we were making tracks with a view to being able to enjoy the reactions of the fans collectively on stage. We are both fans and clubbers at heart, so we are feeling the same euphoria standing beside each other in the booth that either of us would feel on the dancefloor with our friends.”
How does a producer look at something like an 8 hour back to back set? On one hand you can’t outplay the other and you have to work as one. Did you have lengthy discussions on the set?
“Each of us will have our “signature tracks” that our respective set of fans will expect and want to hear, so for the opening peak hour moments we’ll weave everything around those. When you have the whole music library sorted by key and BPM it’s easy for me to react to what Ferry’s playing and going through my head what to play next to fit the vibe. The last few hours of the night though are completely unrehearsed, and that’s when we really start to dig and surprise the audience with things they would never expect to hear.”
Do you keep any secret bombs to drop when spinning back to back?
“Absolutely. When we are not on the road we are always firing off emails to each other or turning on Skype, sharing ideas for originals or cool remixes of tracks released back in the day. The entire ethos of working on these tracks is imaging how the crowd is going to react to them when we play them out live, and the reactions seem even greater when both of us are on stage. The b2b sets also give us the opportunity to set out our respective solo material. I am currently working on tracks for my next artist album, Scream 2, and have been roadtesting some of them in the recent sets we have played together in Ibiza and Las Vegas.”
Your early gigs together was under the Trance Warriors name – the name fitted both of you perfectly though?
“In the beginning there was no collective name at all – we were just DJing as DJ X & DJ Y. The Trance Warriors nickname began organically by fans on Twitter in the identical fashion that my Unicorn Slayer alias was conceived.”
So let’s talk about the new single, ‘Romper’. Debuted at Madison Square Garden in New York, talk us through the tune…”
“Playing Madison Square Garden was beyond my wildest dreams. Being a huge sports nut I feel the resonance and heritage of the venue, and when I eventually hang up the headphones it’s definitely going to be a career highlight. The ASOT 600 MSG show was the first worldwide showcase of the New World Punx concept, thanks to the live broadcast. We wanted to start out big and there was no more fitting track to do that with our first production under the NWP name. ‘Romper’ is a throwback to the old hard dance / rave days. It’s moody, it’s aggressive, it’s in your face. And in such a spacious venue like MSG is, you need something like that to create that wild atmosphere on the dancefloor and in the stands.”
Many are saying this is a new era for trance music. Do you think your scene needed a new edge?
“I think the scene in general got a little tired for a while. It was always the same names who were the headliners and there wasn’t really a lot of scope for change, especially at festivals. But now this new generation is bulldozing through with a new attitude. What I’ve always strived to do with my Global DJ Broadcast radio show and Coldharbour label is to provide a platform for new talent. The majority of artists on the Coldharbour roster are in their early 20s, and the ideas they bring to the table keep things exciting for me. However with this new wave, the most important thing I sincerely hope that doesn’t get lost in the shuffle is the art of DJing and the ability to tell a story throughout the night with longer set times. Most of the new superstars barely play for more than 1-2 hours and their sets never really change, so I hope that as they mature and develop they are able to take risks and explore different avenues when performing live.”
What are the future plans for New World Punx studio wise?
“We’ve just finished doing another bootleg remix, the awesome New Time, New Place from Mauro Picotto & Riccardo Ferri. The original was one of the staples of my sets when I was a weekly resident at Space in Miami, so for me personally it’s great to be able to inject it into my sets again. There are also a couple of original sessions going back and forth at the moment, and hopefully we’ll get them ready for the shows towards the back end of summer.”
And will you be spinning together at any big festivals this summer?
“We have two huge shows coming up – the first on August 17 at the Biel Center in Beirut (which I’m personally really looking forward to as it’s my first gig in Lebanon for almost 3 years), and then at the Arenele Romane in Bucharest on September 7. And it has just been announced in the past week that we will be welcoming 2014 as New World Punx for POP NYE in Oakland.”
Where can we catch you in Ibiza this season?
“I have 5 residency dates for A State of Trance in Privilege this summer on Monday nights – July 29, August 5 & 19, September 9 and the closing party on September 23.”
Vegas or Ibiza?
“Each of them have their charms but I could never imagine a summer without Ibiza. Experiencing sunset parties at places like Café Del Mar and Mambo are impossible to replicate elsewhere. And to have the opportunity to play at venues like Amnesia and Privilege I still feel is an honor.”
Where have been some of the stand out gigs for you in recent months?
“The month of June alone was almost like a personal highlight reel. Everyone who follows me know that I love the opportunity to play open to close solo sets, and I got to do 4 of them throughout June – in London for my Ministry of Sound residency, back to back nights at Mandarine in Buenos Aires and for the very first time at the Guvernment in Toronto – which included the first wedding proposal ever staged at one of my gigs! All of that was either side of a massive weekend in Las Vegas, where I played the sunrise set at the amazing Electric Daisy Carnival, and followed it up the next day by going back to back for over 6 hours with Ferry.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
“In no particular order:
Markus Schulz featuring Dauby – Perfect (Digital X Remix)
Grube & Hovsepian – Trickster
Purple Stories – Locust
Beat Service & Susana – Reach the Sun
KhoMha – Hydra
Rene Ablaze featuring Jacinta – You’re My Destination (Wellenrausch’s Dark Matter Dub)
Armin van Buuren – Last Stop Before Heaven
Danilo Ercole – Player One (Gai Barone Remix)
Max Graham – The Evil ID
Aaron Camz – Emission
Tip for anthem of the summer?
“With apologies for being a little biased, there is a new vocal track I have done for my next artist album that I am hugely excited about. Much like Nothing Without Me, which seems to have resonated with fans in a speciail way, it could turn out to be another stalker anthem!”
And finally, what is coming out next from Markus Schulz personally?
“I have just finished mixing my 2013 city series compilation, which this year is dedicated to Buenos Aires. There were so many cities in contention, but I feel representing the scene in Argentina (and indeed all of South America) for the first time is important. The compilation took around 8 months to complete, and should be coming out late summer with hopefully a big release party soon after. It’s amazing reading on Facebook and Twitter already that people are planning on travelling to Argentina to attend the gig. Plenty of exclusives to look forward to from the Coldharbour family, including new originals and remixes from me, and some cool dude named Dakota too.”
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