inthemix | Features | Marcus Schossow: Rubbing all the right people up the wrong way

Another one of the new trailblazers in the trance scene who’s taking the sound in some welcome new directions, Swedish DJ/producer Marcus Schossow is earning the attention of the musical world on more than one front. While any have praised his ability to fuse tech, progressive and trance with his widely-played productions like Mr White and Chase My Rabbit, he’s also become known as a bit of a rogue. As his interview with ITM clearly demonstrates, he’s not afraid to put himself out there, say what he thinks and just be a little bit cheeky – a quality that’s bound to rub some people up the wrong way.

Take uber-producer Deadmau5, for instance. When it was revealed that Marcus was the one behind the cheeky MySpace parody site deadrat6, the cranky Deadmau5 apparently kicked up a bit of a stink when the two were booked to play a party together – with the ensuing ruckus playing out beautifully on internet forums, naturally. While ITM is sure that no bad blood still exists between the pair, what would Marcus do if he was ever treated to a visit from Mr Deadmau5? “If he ever came to my door, I would invite him in for some whiskey, force him into a rat dress and record a live video of him making a lap dance for me.” Rightio then!

But let’s not let these petty squabbles overshadow his excellent music, shall we? Marcus Schossow will be landing in Australia this weekend to play a series of parties for the Pharmacy crew, and here he speaks to ITM about being one of the trance scene’s latest and greatest talents.

Gday Marcus, I’m glad to hear you’re finally coming to Australia (even though it turns out you’re probably not playing in Sydney, which is a shame). I’ll start with an easy question: what kind of gear do you use to produce your tunes?

I use Ableton, but I try to keep everything as analog as possible. I love the heat from the sound, its like hmmm… you just wanna hug the synths ! If you listen to Moog Me, it’s all about the analog stuff.

When you’re commencing work on a track, do you jam out and try to find a sound that you like, or do you start off with a specific direction – a concept perhaps, or a melody that’s gotten stuck in your head?

I always start with the beat and then build from there! The beast is like the heart of the track, if it doesn’t move you it’s dead. After I have a beat I’ll work on the basslines. I love it when tracks have more then one bassline, it just makes it way more cool on the dacnefloor! After that I’ll get some whiskey, throw my cat out of the studio and start doing the melodies. Melodies are like reflections of the bassline.

Excuse me while I blow smoke up your arse for a minute, but you were by far one of the standout producers in tranceland in 2007 – as you continue to be in 2008. Much of this has to do with the fact that you push a distinctive kind of prog/trance sound that breaks away from the established formula. Was it a conscious move on your part to try and inject some fresh ideas into trance with tracks like Chase My Rabbit, or did it just kind of turn out that way?

Gosh, I just got my ass cleaned… But allright, I’ll accept smoke! Thanks for the warm words. I was just fucking bored of trance that didn’t move me. So I started to make really fucked up stuff, and then mixed it up with trance and in the end I found my own sound! It kinda turned out to be extremely successful. But trust me, only 10 per cent of the Schossow sound has been showed yet, just wait until I get time to do an album, then we can talk about the fusion of trance and house!

I interviewed UK producer Sophie Sugar last week (who you’ll be touring alongside in Australia), and suggested that the definition of ‘trance’ has evolved a lot in the last couple of years to include a range of different styles, particularly the tech/electro/minimal stuff. Would you agree? Do you think that trance is ‘healthier’ and more interesting now because of this diversity?

Of course, trance has moved it has to, or else we would end up like old mammoths on a dancefloor. If you go to wikepedia and search for trance you will find that trance means that “it takes you away blablabla”. For me, trance is trance when I can close my eyes and I get taken away. I know it sounds extremely fucking cheesy but hey, it’s the truth!

At a time where more and more DJ/producers are pushing online radio shows, your weekly Tone Diary stands out from the crowd. Partly because your tracklists are always eclectic and interesting; but another distinctive element is its sense of humour (which was also demonstrated in Mr. White). Do you think that people take trance too seriously? Is Tone Diary kind of like a message for people to chill out and have fun with the music, then?

Trance is known for its bitter forum nerds discussing if Tiesto is cool or not. It’s totally the wrong picture; I mean sure, there are forum nerds who discuss Tiesto, but that’s like 2 per cent of the market. The rest are just ordinary people who want to get wasted, have a great time and listen to some music that moves them. How serious can it become? I love to have a good laugh, and I do exactly what I want in Tone Diary. It’s a great place for testing my ironic humor!

Still on the subject of humour – are there any movies or TV shows you find particularly funny?

I used to have time to watch stuff, but not anymore. But I’m a sucker for The Simpsons and their political irony. Although I thought the movie was a disappointment, way too obvious jokes.

Is there an artist album in the works, or perhaps a Tone Diary themed mix CD? If you were to put an album together, would it be a collection of singles, or would you prefer to do what Trentemøller did with The Last Resort for example, and construct an album from scratch?

I’m making a mix compilation at the moment called Ukraine, it’s a country that truly deeply breaths dance music. EDM is one of the places that the old system doesn’t have control over, so it kind of becomes a freedom to go and party there, it’s a amazing vibe! I actually live 30 km from Ukraine, in Slovakia, so I feel very close and connected to them. If I ever did an album (which I probably will) then I would do it like Trentemoller but probably more short tracks. I hate those seven-minute album tracks, it’s just boring. If I ever will do an album, its gonna be like 40 tracks on one CD with loads of experimental trance and beats!

Do you have any musical influences that aren’t electronic? I’ve seen you mention Mozart somewhere, does that also give an indication of the stuff you try and listen to when you’re not immersed in dance music?

I never listen to trance at home. It’s big event music… When I’m home I prefer a laidback set from Danny Howells or some rock. If I would listen to trance at home I would get stressed! My dear beloved girlfriend happens to be a trance/progressive DJ so I get to hear the stuff from her. Although I get loooooaaads of trance promos but well… Let’s just say that sometimes I wish I had a special filter on my email!

When is Marcus Schössow presents… 1985 likely to be released? I just bought my first set of decks the other day, so I’d like to be able to play 1985 to the poster of Bill Murray in my bedroom at some point.

Its comming out soon on my cousin’s label Social Sound. It’s been kind a slow process but its hard to start up a label from scratch. I think everything is cleared now so it will be out this summer. There is a remix from a Swedish guy called Phillip Jensen on the release, this remix is extremely good! Bangs the roof off every where I play.

What is it about Sweden, Marcus? For a relatively small country, you guys contribute disproportionately to the amount of excellent music we’re hearing these days. There’s yourself, Onova, Sebastian Brandt, the Dahlbäck cousins, Eric Prydz and the House Mafia guys…among many others. Does the Swedish government run a secret program to breed incredible musicians at the Oskarshamn nuclear site or something?

Hahaha, I always get this question and I’ve realized why. Sweden has extremely long and boring winters so we all get fucking bored, so we make music in order to have something to do! I guess if I lived in Australia i would be a sexy prosurfer instead.

Time to do some smoke blowing of your own… Which tracks and producers have really stood out for you so far this year? Any predictions as to which newcomers will have a big impact during the remainder of 2008?

Thomas Sagstad Go, Leonid Rudenko Shizzle Nizzle and hmmm, I really like the new stuff from Ido Ophir as well! I think the newcomers are kinda hard to see since there is a billion that been standing out, but Nifra, Thomas Sagstad, Mat Zo and ReWard are just a few.

Are there particular aspects of touring Australia you’re looking forward to? We have a pretty healthy binge drinking culture here in Australia, so that’s got to be a start, right?

I haven’t thought so much about it more than I wanna try surfing, and meet up my good childhood mate in Melbourne! To be honest, I’ve heard so much good about the Australian crowd and my Facebook is spammed with Australian people writing to me, so I’m pretty sure we’re gonna rock some places! I’ll bring my most dirty material with me!

Catch Marcus Schossow being his usual cheeky self, as well as playing some mighty-fine music at the following shows…

Fri 23 May – Pharmacy at Queensbridge, Melbourne
Sat 24 May – Pharmacy at Channel, Adelaide
Fri 30 May – Pharmacy at Family, Brisbane