On May 21, Magic City will hijack Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion for a marathon party with 18 superstar DJs facing off in the one arena. Two of those crowd-pulling acts are legends in their respective strains of trance. We’re talking of course about German heavyweights Kai Tracid and DuMonde.

As his enduring moniker makes clear, trance and acid collide in the productions of Kai Franz. While since 1997 he’s primarily worked under the Kai Tracid name, Franz has a long list of aliases like Formic Acid, Acut Genius and Aeon FX. His Tracid Traxxx label has been a cornerstone of the scene for over a decade, releasing many influential tracks. As he reveals in this interview, the time was right for Tracid Traxx to stop while it was on top, but its boss is still firing.

As for JamX, aka DuMonde, the big man of German hard trance is hyped to get back to Australia. He’s joining long-time friend Nervous for a back-to-back set “playing all the classic tracks of the ‘good ol’ times”. It will be large. DuMonde are of course responsible for classics like breakout debut Tomorrow and its follow-ups like See the Light.

For our Magic City ‘Trance Legends’ special, we heard how Kai Tracid and JamX are planning to let loose on Sydney.

Kai Tracid

What can you remember about your first gig?
It was actually a live gig and I remember that I was the only one who brought his whole studio across – like a mixing console, computer, and so on, and built up everything. I mean, I was totally prepared. Then I was shocked when I realised that all the other artists just brought and played digital audiotapes. I didn’t expect that everyone was actually faking.

In 1998 you started the label Tracid Traxxx. Is that still going strong?
Well, it has been a really amazing and successful time, with lots of great and creative artists over the years. But as the saying goes, stop when you are at the top. That’s when I decided to settle the record company. I didn’t want to come to the point where everything sounds the same and everyone does the same thing; just repeating themselves. And I truly believe it was the right choice at the right moment.

How does a typical week with Kai Franz look like these days?
Well, I started to put the things that I really cared about as priorities. Just by living with more awareness, trying to see the little and beautiful things every day. Which is not easy, but worth it!

What are your plans for the next five years?
Keep on going. Although I have seen so many places and cities during the last years, I still want to go on a world tour and figure out all the things you don’t get to see while you are touring through the club scene. Taking the time to see things.