According to the results of our recent forum poll, trance heavyweight Markus Schulz is the number one must-see for ITMers on the upcoming Summadayze and Summafieldayze festival circuit. It’s hardly a surprise, given how consistent the DJ-producer has been on his tours down here. We’ve now been waiting over a year for Schulz to return. In that time, he’s made three mix compilations and a new Dakota album, while still keeping up an industrious tour schedule.

This summer visit is an interesting one for Schulz, as he’ll be doing the rounds with the likes of the Scissor Sisters, Calvin Harris, Pendulum, Sasha and Skream & Benga. In short: he does something different from the rest of them. However, as Schulz told inthemix down the line from his Miami home this morning, that’s exactly how he likes it.

“My favourite parties are these kinds,” he enthused. “I don’t know how many parties I’ve been to this summer where I’ve heard [Ferry Corsten’s] Punk or Zombie Nation five times on the same stage. You just sit there and shake your head. It’s like, really? You’ve got a 90-minute set, can you just get through it without having to play Zombie Nation? It’s usually the most tired and rinsed out songs you can imagine. It’s not like these really cool tracks. So I love when I get to play with an eclectic line-up because I know I’ll be playing certain songs that won’t be heard in any other DJ’s set.”

For Schulz, it’s all about doing his own thing. “What I do is spend a lot of time in the studio doing mash-ups, reconstructions or remixes so they fit into my sets,” he explained. “That’s something people have come to expect from me. One of the things I like doing nowadays is finding really cool techno records with amazing groove, then taking it into the studio and playing melodies on the keyboard over the top. I did that with Tiesto’s [1999] track Lethal Industry and it’s one of the biggest tracks in my sets.”

Stay tuned for the full interview with Markus Schulz soon. In the meantime, add yourself to the roll-call for your city below.