Global trance star and lover of the white linen, Roger Shah is returning to Australian clubs in July to launch his new album Openminded!?. We caught up with the Shah-man of trance to find out how we’re meant to emphasise that title and more.

Hey mate, how’s your day going?

“It’s good, pretty busy though. I just got back from my US tour today and so I’ve got a day at home and then tomorrow I leave to go to Asia.”

Right. Wow, that’s non-stop!

“Yeah, it is almost non-stop, especially now that we’re about to kick off the new album tour which we get to launch in Australia.”

You seem to be making it out to Australia almost once a year these days, what is it about playing here and the crowds at the gigs that brings you back so frequently?

“Well for me Australia is really special because I still remember the first time I came there being so overwhelmed by the love I felt from the people who were coming to see me for the first time. They were really into my music, they knew all the lyrics and everybody has a great time in the clubs. I just love to come back whenever I can and I’m even more excited this time because I get to do my own shows instead of doing the festival tour.”

Where you are now I would imagine now that the northern hemisphere is in the summer season that every DJ just needs to get out there and play as much as possible as there would be a lot of competition around.

“It is like that in a lot of ways. I have my first Ibiza residency this year and there’s definitely a lot of competition out there. But for me I’ve never really looked around at what the other guys are doing; I prefer to do my own thing with my team – release the album, go on tour for a year for it and really just take it week by week.”

The Ibiza residency sounds like a pretty big deal, what’re you looking forward to about that and being back on the island?

“Well, all the people who know about my music know that my main influence comes from Ibiza. I’ve been going there since about 1996 and I do at least one show a year there so being able to have a residency there with five big shows and play during August when the island is just totally packed…for me it’s like coming home. I’ve always dreamed of doing it so I’m really excited to be doing the Wednesday nights at Privelidge with Dash Berlin and Paul Oakenfold. I think it’s going to be really special that instead of me having to go to everywhere in the world, the world will be coming to me!”