This past Thursday was one of the biggest events of the year for yours truly, another round of opening up for Markus Schulz. In all my years of playing, this was probably one of my most enjoyable gigs to date. Opportunities like this, especially in a city like Calgary (we won't get into that conversation!) don't come around that often, so if anyone noticed that I couldn't wipe the smile off my face that night, there's a reason why.

Playing for just over 4 hours from 8am until just after 12am, I got to witness (and help serenade) a room from stone cold empty all the way to shoulder to shoulder packed with an old school atmosphere that only straight up prog can bring.

Now, the task of opening a show like this is definitely not an easy one. On one hand, your job is to get the room going and create a buzz and an atmosphere, priming the crowd for the guy after you. However on the other hand, you don't want to overtake the sound and presence of what the headliner is all about by playing too big. I definitely treaded a fine line between both of those sides, but overall I think it worked considering the awesome feedback I've been getting since.

Anyway, it was a true pleasure as always. Markus - you're definitely the king of prog trance and you absolutely killed it after me. Awesome stuff and I can't wait to see you tear it up at Amnesia in Ibiza when we arrive there on August 5th!!! Now what were the last two digits of that number before I accidentally hit cancel for the fifth time? HA!! Damn Grey Goose!

Other than that, it's actually going to be a refreshingly quite July for gigs - not playing again until the weekend before we leave for the big trip - that'll be the send-off at Seven. Then of course it's onto Ibiza and a full 11 day line-up of shows to hit, and then a wedding in Italy after. Looking forward to what's probably going to be the best and most (well maybe least!) memorable trip of a lifetime with an incredible group of people.

In the meantime, I'll be stirring up the production pot a bit, working together on a new piece with good friend and talented producer, Titus1.

Back to bed now...

The long awaited (well, long awaited on my part) new track is now complete and has been immediately picked up by Inanna's new La Folia label, with remixes from none other than the globally exploding duo that is Moonbeam, established UK producer October, and Inanna.

Entitled 'Rain Drops' (due to the fact that I've been sitting in the basement making this track all the while the rain has continued to fall over my head for the past couple of months), the track has already received pretty decent feedback, and to have Moonbeam immediately wanting to take up remix duties is a huge honor. For those who don't know, these guys have been pounding out a bunch of originals and remixes, all within the realm of very atmospheric and techy prog. Good stuff every step of the way.

Anyway, this is hopefully the first of many tracks for myself, already working on the next one. Excited to see where it all goes...