Hey guys, hope that his finds you all doing well again.
Hello to you today from home sweet home in Miami. I made it back home late on Wednesday night after almost a week in Russia. It’s Winter Music Conference week here in my home city, where all of the big movers and shakers descend upon South Beach for a stretch of meetings, panels and parties. It’s also traditionally the time where we start preparing our secret weapons for the summer season, and the WMC audiences are the first to receive the customary roadtest.
I’ve been a little busy over the past few weeks and I wasn’t entirely sure if I would be able to set aside an ample amount of time dedicated to the blog, but at the same time I never want to let you guys down and hate falling behind too far as well. I could of course make the excuse that the keys on my laptop are still sticky after the accident it encountered a couple of weeks ago on the flight out to Los Angeles, which you would have seen documented extensively on Twitter!
So this blog will be slightly shorter than usual, recapping the European gigs from a few weeks ago, and previewing what lies in store for me tonight, which I’m a little nervous but very excited about. Hopefully you guys will enjoy reading, and I’ll get caught up with everything properly again in the next edition.
Before I begin, I’d like to offer my prayers and thoughts to everyone affected by the tragic events that took place in Japan this morning. I hope that all of you over there are given the strength to battle through this incredibly difficult period. It’s a harsh reminder to tell us how precious life really is sadly.
Let’s go back and reflect on a huge weekend in Europe, playing in two of my most inspirational cities, and accompanied by a DJing friend.
The Markus Schulz & Wippenberg Alliance
And as many of you will have guessed, the DJ friend is a fellow German called Ofaf, but for some reason you guys like to call him Wippenberg instead!
It has been a long time in the works with many discussions between various managements, but we agreed a deal late last year for Wippenberg to be my opener for many nights throughout 2011. I could give many reasons behind why I wanted to have him on board. The first one is obvious – he’s an outstanding talent whose tracks like Chakalaka and Pong have crossed over unbelievably well between the lines of house and trance. And the second is because his DJ sound blends so well into mine in terms of how a club night progresses.
Wippenberg at the Prague ’11 Release Party
I’m sure it has been debated thousands of times over between fans in person or on message boards about the art of a good club night and the elements required. With the way I express myself musically in the longer club sets especially (down the proverbial rabbit hole, so to speak), it’s much more difficult for me to accomplish what I want if the opener is a trance DJ banging it out and ripping peoples’ eardrums before I even begin.
To be completely honest with you guys, the best sets I’ve ever played were when house guys were opening for me – because it allowed me to build everything up, twist it around, and go back down the rabbit hole. And having Wippenberg touring alongside me and us learning the traits of each other’s sets with every experience, it’s going to make the live events so much better.
Looking ahead a couple of weeks, you guys in Miami will be able to check out Wippenberg doing his thing, along with Jochen Miller and yours truly as we take over the mainroom at Space on the Friday night of Ultra week. But more on that in the next blog.
Up the Club, Budapest – Friday February 11th
The week started off on a good note with a trip to the lovely island of Malta on Wednesday, playing at the Gianpula nightclub. It was good to see a strong crowd out there, along with local duo and Coldharbour contributors Tenishia making an appearance.
Our flight was delayed and I was worried that we’d miss our connecting flight to Budapest from Frankfurt, but lady luck was on our side and that one was delayed too. I got settled into the hotel for a bit and rested up after the night before. Then after recovering, I took Olaf out to dinner and spent the rest of the evening trying to see how much trouble I could get him into. We ended up at Club Mix – Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson and 2 for 1 drinks