Tag Archives: Interview

Interview: Arkham Knights’ USA Debut at Avalon Hollywood

 

On the first Saturday of April I found myself dancing under illuminated neon lights at the historic Avalon Hollywood nightclub. I only arrived in Los Angeles a few hours before on an early Megabus from San Francisco. Prior to boarding the 12 hour overnight bus to LA, I was stepping off a plane from my month long vacation in Thailand. The journey from the other side of the world to the dance floor of Avalon was a long one: my body still jet lagged from the long flight, my mind still trying to grasp the change in time zones and my skin still smelled like a freshly burned tan from the Southeast Asian heat. But I made it to L.A., I made it onto the sticky, cocktail spilled dance floor (which has seen cleaner days) and I finally made it to my first Coldharbour Night in the City of Angels.

As the late Saturday night quickly bled into the dawning Sunday morning, I mentally prepared myself alongside a crowd of trance lovers ­who also craved dark, progressive melodies for the American debut of Leed’s rising star. Once the early clock struck two, the eager fans who had been waiting for hours, dancing their way through four amazing DJs, filled Avalon’s atmosphere with cries of joy, giving a warm California Trance Family welcome for Arkham Knights.

Before Stuart Turner, brother and one-half of AK, got behind the decks, I had an opportunity to sit down with him: getting a chance to peek underneath one of the masks that makes up this trance sensation that has been captivating fans with their techno-­infused style.

Hey, how’s it going?

All good thanks.

Where is Ben at right now?

He’s at home in the studio most probably, I have him chained up in there working 24/7 (laughs). It’s Mainly going to be me on the road playing gigs, Ben is more focused on production, although we are always in the studio together working on tracks. He’s got this real knack of bringing my ideas to fruition…he knows exactly what to do when we discuss an idea.

So I guess, everyone wants to know, where did the name Arkham Knights come from?

Well, (laughter) I was just trying to think of names and I had Arkham in my head for some reason. I used to be a fan of the old Batman comics. And I just put that with knights and bam! It was as simple as that. Then, like literally weeks later the actual game came out. It (Arkham) just really suit’s our style of the dark, groovy, techno-y kind of trance. We both loved the name and it stuck.

You guys definitely do a great job blending those two genres together. I remember I was on SoundCloud, refreshing your page, trying to catch a new Afterhours set, I saw that you posted your guest mix from the Judge Jules show. And it blew my mind. I like how you guys opened up with trance and blended it with techno and back to trance and ended it out with some hard tech-trance remixes. Are you guys like a trance first or techno?

You know, we love the techno grooves. Fuse that with trance and you got something special. We love the big lead lines too because trance was our first love. We focus a lot on grooves and you get a lot of groove from techno. So yeah, it makes sense to fuse the two together. Defiantly for our sets, I love playing techno and trance because it’s a great fusion.

Your last two tracks, “Legacy” and “Knightfall”, are huge success.

Yeah, they did real good. Did better than we thought.

Yeah?

Because obviously when you’re making them in the studio, you’re locked into this track for like two months or so. And you’re hearing it constantly everyday, and over and over, same bits and by the end of it you don’t realize whether it’s big or whatever, you just know that it’s something you like. So, you just go with it. The feedback from fans and of course Markus & the Coldharbour team is awesome…makes it all worth while.

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So how do you find that perfect medium between techno and trance?

There isn’t a script really. It’s hard to put into words, it just kind of happens, it’s just our vision of music built on what we love and are passionate about. We love it dark, lots of percs, heavy bass, driving grooves and in all that dark madness an uplifting lead. When writing a track I always imagine myself stood on a dance floor and getting that feeling you get when the DJ just dropped something special…if I get that feeling i know we are on to a good thing.

So how long have you and Ben been at this craft of blending those two genres together.

Since we started, in about 2008. We both sat down and started producing. Obviously, it took quite a long time to get there because it’s a hard thing to learn and  crafting your own sound is hard too.

Did you face any difficulties when you started coming out with this style?

Yeah sure, when your doing something different it’s always worrying how it’s going to be received. We still worry now, sometimes I think “have we gone to far out of the box this time” but Ben is always the voice of reason (laughs). Markus is such a great mentor, he really gets us & what we do, so we worry less these days since we joined Coldharbour.

I remember reading a quote in February edition of Raver Magazine where Markus (Schulz) compared your guys sound to the old school Tiesto sound. (Laughter) That’s a huge pedestal to be compared to. How did that make you guys feel?

Oh man that was overwhelming to read, because the old sets from Tiesto, the old Tiesto tracks were where we first really got into trance. Myself and Ben were big fans back in the day. I mean, I played around with trance on vinyl back in the mid to late 90’s. Defiantly like the early days of Tiesto & Markus saying that about us was like, “Wow”.

So, that must have been a huge confidence booster.

Oh, absolutely. We’re massive Markus fans. He’s a huge inspiration to us. I’ve followed Markus since 2005. Having him as a mentor and having these kind of comments come from him is just  overwhelming sometimes. And being sign on his label obviously is just…wow, it’s where we always wanted to be. So, it’s a massive achievement. To be honest, he’s  one of a few DJs that I go out of my way to go and listen to and make the effort to go see. His sets are both inspiring and educational.

Are there any other DJs that inspire your music?

We really like Eric Prydz. Another great artist is Solid Stone, He’s just amazing. But there are so many good artist out there, Nifra is blowing up as are Fisherman & Hawkins too. But really for inspiration we  look to the past, rather than the now, because I don’t really think that many people are doing the same thing that we do. We always go for that raw industrial feel. It really takes us back to the old days.

Do you think Arkham Knights are going to stay in the same realm of sound in the future? Or, maybe experiment with another sound?

Oh yes, definitely. But we’re always experimenting. We always try and aim to make each track different, changing the key elements in a track. Like in “Knightfall” you got the drums and “Legacy” has a big focus on a lead. We always try and do something different. In “Blackgate” we got a drum roll that comes out of the breakdown. So we always try and get those main characteristics, that really stands out, to fit in each track. Obviously, that takes a long time because you can run out of ideas. (Laughter).

When you and Ben throw together ideas, do you guys perhaps develop a track that is sometimes a little more techno than trance, or progressive trance, or big-room? Maybe creating another alias to produce those different kinds of music?

I mean, alias’s is good and works well for some, but for us we really want to keep focus on what & who we are. We don’t want to start doing alias’s right now while we are in the infancy of our career and have fans wonder who we are. Then when you start branching out people don’t know whether you’re going to turn up at a gig as this guy or this guy and same goes for tracks. So we just really need to be consistent with what we do, really have that focus on who we are as an artist and what identifies our sound.

And that sound has been doing really well. This week you guys had your debut guest mix on the Global DJ Broadcast and now you’re here for Arkham Knights first Coldharbour Night in L.A., a lot of great things and success are coming your way. Congrats on that. Are there any more goals left for you two?

You know, we never really expected this to be honest. If somebody would have asked us last year would we be here now, I would have said no. Because you just don’t expect it, it all just comes out of nowhere. There is no checklist to be honest, we love music and are very passionate about it. We’ll just keep going with what we love doing and see where it takes us.

Do you guys like to do anything else in your free time?

It really soaks up all your time. There is no free time. (Laughter) It’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night. Now we’re here at Avalon. A dream come true.

Any words out there for Arkham Knights fans?

Thanks for your support we wouldn’t be here without you. We have now signed to Schulz Music Group so expect to see a lot more of us at future club nights.

Well, thank you for your time and speaking with Schulz Army.

Awesome mate, thank you, anytime.

 

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Markus Schulz Discusses Handing Music off to a New Generation

EDMAmericaTV interviewed Markus Schulz in Chicago where he discussed his past, the present and discusses handing music off to the new generation to make it their own. “I’m really happy where the scene is,” Markus says in the video. “If everything stood still the way it used to be it’d be kind of boring.”

Watch the video for all of his comments:


Interview with Markus Schulz at Castle Chicago… by EDMAmericaTV

Markus Schulz Twitter Q&A and Unicorn Hunting Techniques

Markus Schulz took some time on Twitter on Tuesday to go through a Q&A with fans outside of the normal Global DJ Broadcast time slot. There’s always a lot of great questions asked and great answers in return. Here’s a handful of things we learned during this recent session.

There seemed to be a reluctance for a while for Markus to accept the term unicorn slayer to which he replied, “I think the biggest thing for me was not to make people think it was a marketing gimmick. It was created solely by the fans.”

Best technique for hunting unicorns? “Lure them into a false sense of security then go in for the kill.”

An 8 hour set in India? Find him a venue!

San Francisco and New York City are on his to-do list to plan open to close sets.

About Electric Daisy Carnival 2013 in Las Vegas..

Schulz Army has two meetups planned, join the events and meet other members of the Army through Facebook!

Electric Daisy Carnival Saturday June 22, 2013 & Tao Beach Invite June 23, 2013

Tao Beach time slot – Expected to hit the decks around 1-ish. You’ll still want to get there early!

Do not expect a New World Punx main stage gig at the festival itself. Ferry Corsten is playing on Sunday and Markus is playing on Saturday. If there was any hope of a New World Punx show the answers would likely be a little more secretive or the question would be avoided.

How was his experience at EDC Chicago? “Fans deserve all the praise. How you guys were willing to party and support while getting soaked to the skin was unforgettable.”

He had a great time at the Scream Bus Tour stop in Buffalo and said, “I honestly think Buffalo is one of the fastest growing scenes in the US. It will only get bigger and bigger there.” That was a great gig. Buffalo might be known as a sports town but it has some deep roots in electronic music.

Toronto is gearing up for their first open to close with Markus Schulz on June 29 at The Guvernment. When asked how fans should prepare he said, “Sleep well and don’t plan an early night.”

Any classics during the Toronto gig? “Yeah for sure. In the later hours when we hit the rabbit hole I throw in the classics.”

Going to the Toronto event? Join our Facebook Event Here. Need tickets for that event? Purchase tickets here.

How excited is he about the gig? “Massively. I’ve longed to do a solo set there for years and years. Great venue and the Toronto fans are amazing.”

How late will he play? “As long as you guys want me to and plenty of you stick around until the very small hours.”

There could be a new Dakota track on the city compilation album if it is finished in time. He also stated that the last track he listened to was Markus Schulz presents Dakota – ID Test Bounce June 11 2013.

A New World Punx track was premiered at Ministry of Sound last Friday. Did anyone get a recording of an unknown ID? Markus stated it still needs some work but there’s a new track coming.

Who is the mischievous between Ferry Corsten and Markus Schulz? “Definitely Ferry. I am a good boy and would never get anyone into trouble #nolies.”

The big room reconstruction of ‘Remember Magnetic North’ will never be released due to licensing rights. Enjoy it in mixes and live sets.

His favorite KhoMha track is ‘Mind Gamer’.

If he could meet anyone past or present who would it and why and he stated, “Larry Levan. I’d ask him a million questions about the Paradise Garage NYC days.”

Do you think managers/promoters influence DJs to change their style? Do you feel restricted depending on the location? The reply was, “Not really. Location and type of gig are an influence though, you have to be able to adjust.”

Future plans with Justine Suissa? “I’d dearly love to. Wanted to get her on Scream album but couldn’t track her down. Door always open to work with Justine.”

And if you haven’t already, download ‘Romper’ for free at http://www.newworldpunx.com/romper/

 

Markus Schulz Interviewed Before New City Gas in Montreal

NewBeatsNow.com interview Markus Schulz before his recent gig at New City Gas in Montreal where he shared his views on the gig that night, different songs, the acronym EDM and more.

Talking about songs he said, “Each song that I’ve ever worked on has it’s own unique story and I think that’s what makes it so fun because each one is different.”

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/newbeatsnow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/newbeatsnow

Joonbug Interview with KhoMha

The Colombian born DJ took some time to talk to Joonbug about what motivates him and touring with Markus Schulz..

What has been your favorite part of working with Markus Schulz?

It’s been an amazing experience, and I think that the best part of working with Markus is that he’s helped me enormously in growing as an artist and as a person. I’m still relatively young, so that type of support is invaluable.

Read the rest of the interview on Joonbug here: http://bit.ly/XUOc1Y

Scream Tour to Bring Visuals that Many Cities Never See

In an interview with Live for Live Music, Markus Schulz shared some details about the upcoming Scream Tour that should be exciting for many cities along the way.  Unless you’re in a big city chances are your local club or concert hall doesn’t have more than a standard lighting rig unless a tour like this comes through.  The original Scream USA Bus Tour press release had mentioned that they would be travelling with full production but the way it’s described here brings a new level of excitement.  Personally, I’ll be attending the April 12 date in Buffalo, NY (click here for tickets/info) and a setup like this is rare for most dj’s that come through the city.

For a full list of dates click here – http://www.schulzarmy.com/dates/

On his upcoming cross-country bus tour:

“Well you know what..the idea behind it is, a lot of these cities I’ve been to, some of them I haven’t been to, but one of the things is, a lot of these cities when I goto them, they don’t have like, LEDs, or lasers or whatever…so I’d ask the promoter ‘hey, why can’t we get some LEDs for the night?’, and he’d say ‘well we have to get them shipped in from California or here or there…we don’t have them in our city’. So the idea behind this tour was to take our production, and take to these cities a show that people in Ibiza see all the time, or in New York City, or here in Miami. And the only way to really do that is to travel with a crew and bring your own stuff. So, you have to do it by a bus.

It’s going to be really exciting, you know. One of the cool things is when you look out at the audience and you know they’re experiencing something for the first time. This is the first time they’re seeing a production like this. You just see it in people’s eyes and it’s really exciting. For me, doing this bus tour is going to be really cool just to see those people’s eyes when they see the production for the first time.”

The rest of the interview is worth reading as he discusses the 10-hour set at Space, New World Punx and A State of Trance 600 at Madison Square Garden.

Read the rest of the interview here.