Hide Your Unicorns and Rainbows, Markus Schulz Goes Strong at EDC Las Vegas 2015

The #SchulzArmy was still going hard on day three of EDC Vegas 2015. As the 19th EDC drew to a close, the intensity of the driving energy emanating from Markus Schulz’s decks at circuitGROUNDS reached back and beyond the megastructure, where the crowd extended even farther. Prior to reaffirming his title as the Unicorn Slayer, Schulz chatted backstage about his latest projects and the current state of the trance scene.

As one of the most prominent artists in the trance world, what are your thoughts on the current genre-definition wars and labeling?
The most important thing is what comes through the speakers. That’s all the fans really want to hear about, and that’s all that matters. So I’ve always been the type of person, when there’s stuff going on, I try and ignore it and focus on what comes out of the speakers. For example, I have the sunrise set, and it’s on the last day; and I was thinking to myself, “This is a really special moment, and you have to bring something special.” All the anthems have been played time and time again, rinsed and recycled over and over, and all kinds of remixes. The thing is—and I know, because I did this last year—when you do bring something special and different, people remember it the rest of the year; they talk about it.

You’ve got the City Series, where you’re releasing a track every month inspired by a different location you play around the world. As no stranger to Vegas and EDC, might there be a related installment?
I try to capture the identity of the event in the City Series. We were tossing around the idea of doing a track for EDC, and I was like, “You know what? I’ve been playing EDC, and this year is only going to be the first year, and I want to save some for next year as well.” If I use up all the big events and cities this year, then next year, what am I going to do? So it was a strategic decision for this month to focus on London. Next year I’m going to do it again, and it’s going to be 12 new cities. Of course, this is an important event; I have an idea for this, and for sure it will happen.

As someone who’s no stranger to a marathon set, what do you feel are the rewards and challenges of a shorter festival set?
This is like a showcase. I love my 12-hour sets that I do, because I really get to spread my wings and fly, show my eclectic tastes. But this right here is like a snapshot of who I am as an artist. It brings a different set of challenges: How do you stand out when everybody here is looking to stand out? The other thing is, I’m known more for the darker sound. But at the same time, when you have 20,000 people in front of you, you can’t just be soft; you have to bring the hammer. How do I translate my sound to 20,000 people in front of me? How do I bring the two together—the dark sound and at the same time, the energy that you need when you’re playing for that many people? I can honestly say that I’m happy that I’m able to do both.

I apologize that I made the mistake of wearing a shirt with a unicorn that is alive and not slain.
Yeah, I noticed that when you walked in!

But the Unicorn Slayer—it’s actually a positive rally for fans. How did that come about?
Somebody tweeted, “If trance is rainbows and unicorns, then Markus is the unicorn slayer.” I though it was funny, and I retweeted it, and it just caught fire. Then it became a thing within the community of the fans. It’s really cool to see, because I travel all over the world, and you go to Asia and see people with unicorns and “Unicorn Slayer!” The funniest was when I got a letter from PETA saying they were upset. That’s when I knew this whole thing had gotten bigger. They were like, “We’re really offended at the idea of hurting such a beautiful, mystical animal.” The funny thing is, I’m an animal lover. I love unicorns! I just like the black ones that shoot fire out of their mouth, not the little fluffy white ones.

Recently, the EDM blogs were abuzz when Mat Zo retweeted a list of DJs and their alleged ghost producers. You were one of the ones accused of using a ghost producer. What are your thoughts on the allegation?
I don’t want to comment on that, but I know it caught us off guard; we signed a track of his 11 years ago, and for 11 years, we’ve never had any contact with the guy. He doesn’t know what I’ve done in the last 11 years. It’s kind of funny. If you want some real, juicy gossip, I’ve ghost-produced for other people! Go figure. People are trying to get attention for things other than what comes out of the speakers. People that know, know, and they don’t have to go tooting their own horn. I think the fans know what comes out of the speakers when I play is from my heart and soul, and also from my brain.

Besides the City Series, what else is next in your arsenal?
I have my track “Destiny” that I made. “Destiny” is a really important and special track for me, because the thing that I’ve really gotten into lately is songwriting. “Destiny” is one of the first songs where they’re my words—not just my music, but words—and the singer singing them back to me. It’s a new chapter in my career. I’ve always been into creative writing and helping the songwriters, but this is a special track, which comes from a personal relationship. We’ve got the remixes of “Destiny” coming out. Then the next track is going to be a collaboration that I did with Vassy. It’s the first song in my set, and it’s called “Tomorrow Never Dies.” The thing right now is songwriting, producing, and working on another album.

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