Over the last 10 years, Markus Schulz has crafted the individual musical identities of progressive, trance & house into his own unique fusion sound. The combined influence of his headlining DJ sets; Armada and Coldharbour label releases and highly prominent Global DJ Broadcast radio show have placed him at the forefront of the US EDM revolution. This success has been reflected in weekly sets spun in front of tens of thousands, a GDJB listenership up in the millions, and critically acclaimed albums, including ‘Do You Dream?’ and most recently ‘Scream’. In 2008 Schulz broke into the #10 of DJ Mag’s Top 100 chart and has maintained a successive run of high-ranking positions ever since. He holds the 2012-2013 DJ Times magazine reader-voted title of America’s Best DJ. Playing over 150 gigs every year, he has become the busiest international DJ playing out of the United States.
USA WIRE: Tell us about your upcoming U.S. tour dates. What’s special about these shows?
MARKUS SCHULZ: Well, as you know, I am preparing to release a new album this summer. I don’t have a title or anything for it yet. But the process when I’m making a new album is I like to make about 30 songs and then pick the best 10 to 15 songs to release on the album. As I’m working on all these songs, I definitely like to play them in my sets, test them out, and see what needs to be changed, or whatever. So I think what’s really special about my shows right now is along with, you know, the usual remixes and anthems that I love playing, you’re going to hear a lot of tracks that I’m testing, things that I’ve just worked on in the studio, and I want to see how it feels live. And that’s what makes the shows kind of unpredictable because I don’t know how it’s going to sound or anything, but it also makes it very special. Everybody gets to hear these tracks, some of them are in progress and not quite finished yet.
USA WIRE: What are you promoting at the moment? Are these shows in support of anything special?
MARKUS SCHULZ: Yeah, right now I am promoting, I’m on the tail end of promoting the X project. I think that’s going to be an ongoing thing. X project is a project I started last year where I’m reaching out to a bunch of different producers that I really admire and we’re making collaborations together. I just released a collaboration with BT (Brian Transeau). Everybody knows BT is a big hero of mine. I also released an X track with a producer from Brazil. Super up-and-coming artist, William Schneider. Another big up-and-comer is KhoMha. He’s like one of my great friends. You know, we haven’t made a track together in well over five, six years. And the exciting thing is I just finished a collaboration with Paul Oakenfold. So that is starting to go into my sets now and I’m really excited about the release of my collaboration with Paul Oakenfold that is coming up soon!
USA WIRE: How does touring as a DJ in the U.S. contrast with the same in Europe? Do you find differences in the audiences and do you perform differently in front of them?
MARKUS SCHULZ: Yeah, I think the big difference between playing in Europe and playing here in the U.S., is it’s just a vibe in the crowd, right? So in the U.S., people really just love the drops. They love that moment of impact when you really hear the screams, and the roar of the crowd during those drops than in Europe. In Europe, I find that they’re really into the breakdowns. You know, the breakdowns are where we tell our story. The breakdowns are where we tell our musical ideas, right? And then you build up. Build up, and then comes the big drop. So I think that’s the biggest difference between the U.S. and Europe. Here in the U.S., people enjoy the build-up and the release, whereas, in Europe, it feels like they close their eyes. They get really lost in the breakdowns.
USA WIRE: Are these tour dates kicking off something bigger? If so, exactly what? What can your fans and music lovers anticipate in general from you in the months ahead?
MARKUS SCHULZ: Yeah, like I said, the new album. Still trying to find a title for it. That’s what seems to be the hardest thing right now just trying to find a title that kind of sums up what it is that I’m trying to do with this album. The cool thing is it’s like a combination of Rabbit Hole and at the same time it’s, it’s really a throwback to my Do You Dream album. When I was going through my library and I was listening to tracks to inspire the next album, I really got drawn back to that vibe that I was doing when I made the Do You Dream album. And I started to make a few tracks with that vibe. I have about 20 tracks done now, all with this really cool Rabbit Hole Do You Dream vibe, and that is going to be coming this summer, folks! So keep your ears peeled for all of my socials. You know, you also get to start seeing behind-the-scenes footage as I continue working on some more tracks. I have about ten more that I want to do before I start deciding which tracks we’re going to put on the album. This summer, I’m definitely going to be doing an album tour! So keep your ears open for that as well so you can come out and see the album tour. It’ll be something special.
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Follow MARKUS SCHULZ online!
Official: www.markusschulz.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/markusschulz
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Instagram: www.instagram.com/markusschulz
For more information on MARKUS SCHULZ, contact EMILY TAN MEDIA RELATIONS (U.S.), +1(917) 318-3758, EmilyTan@EmilyTanMediaRelations.com. Visit https://www.EmilyTanMediaRelations.com.
Photo Credit: Coldharbour Recordings