Skiddle Mix 039 - Mark Sherry (Trance Sanctuary)

Skiddle Mix 039 - Mark Sherry (Trance Sanctuary) by Skiddle on Mixcloud

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We've gone and got another mix for you lot (listen above). This one is pretty nuts from the off, with cascading kickdrums announcing the start of an hour's worth of booming euphoric trance from Mark Sherry. The former Public Domain DJ and producer doesn't relent as he takes a trip through the energetic strain of the genre via tracks from Simon Patterson, Scot Project and his own productions.

Sherry is part of a huge conglomerate of DJs making up the line up as celebrated bastions of the music Trance Sanctuary celebrate three years of parties during the daytime at Egg London on Saturday 15th March. He'll be joined on the night by the likes of Agnelli & Nelson, Sneijder and Adam Ellis, making his debut for the clubnight by headlining Room Two hosted by Bang Messy. We caught up with Sherry ahead of the show.

It's fair to say you've been involved with the scene for a long time, what are your views on how it's currently evolving?

It’s all moving so fast these days, it’s actually incredible how fast things are moving! Technology is powering along at a rate of knots but it keeps you on your toes, whether it’s in the studio or behind the decks you’re constantly finding ways of being creative, which I think is very cool!

Music has such a short shelf-life nowadays though, so I suppose that’s a major down-side to it all. A good track stays in my sets for an average of one or two months now, of course you do get the odd special one that you hammer all year, but back in the day there were loads of tracks that would stay in my record box for months at a time…yes I did say records, you know those round, black & shiny things??..no?...ok then..moving on..

You are known for making incredible remixes of base tracks (‘The Evil I.D.’ and ‘Blacksmith’ to name just a couple of recent smash hits). How is the creative process on a remix different from that of a new track?

Thanks a lot! I have been doing more remixes than originals recently that’s for sure... but that’s all down to me moving my whole studio to another building and setting it all back up again (including sound-proofing it and adding acoustic treatments etc). This took around 5 months to do and in this time my remix projects really piled up, so as soon as I was back up and running in the new place I had to get them all done more or less one after another.

I’m back to working on some new originals again so that’s great! Well to answer your question, I suppose remixes happen a lot quicker because you already have load of elements/parts to work with. You get off to a much quicker start as oppose to starting an original with a completely blank canvas. I enjoy making both (originals and remixes) but I feel that some of the remixes I’ve done recently have been some my best work..so I’m very happy about this!

What is the difference in your approach to putting together a live show compared with your Outburst radio show?

My DJ sets/live shows are made up of around 50-75% of my own productions sometimes, depending on how long I’m playing for, whereas my radio shows contain much less, maybe only one or two of my own productions in any gven week, max - sometimes none.

One thing that my sets and show have in common though is that I like to start them a bit slower, around maybe 130-132 and then build up to the faster 140 gear, and with some techno in there too. I think the art of building a set is gradually disappearing over the years which is very sad, but it’s something I feel very strongly about so will continue to do! Anyone can go on the decks for an hour or two and smash out all the bangers & anthems. I like to start in one place and finish up in another, it’s what I enjoy most when I DJ! 

You recently played the Ultra music festival in Buenos Aires - please tell us that came about and how it was going back 2 back with Ferry Corsten.

My agent in Buenos Aires has basically been responsible for building my profile from the ground up in South-America over the last 6 years, from putting me on in smaller clubs as a support, then to bigger clubs as a headliner, to big events and then at massive events like Ultra..so it’s been an amazing journey!

Ferry Corsten was booked to play at the event (as you know) and was given his own ‘Full On’ stage. A week before the event my manager emailed me to say that Ferry had requested that we go back-2 back on the decks for the first part of my set so I jumped at the chance! He also went B2B with Heatbeat & John O’Callaghan so we were all buzzing on the night.

I’m not just saying this but Ferry is one of the most down to earth guys you could meet in the scene, so it was a real pleasure to play on his stage and also get the chance to talk to him backstage with a beer in hand talking about some geeky studio/synth stuff haha. He’s been a big supporter of my productions over the last few years too which has been great –most recently he’s been hammering my remix for Max Graham. 

Before being booked to play at Trance Sanctuary, had you heard anything about the party?

Yes of course, it was on my hit-list of UK trance events haha. I kept seeing the flyers everywhere online and the lineups always looked really great. I was hoping they would get in touch to book me... and they did, so it’s time to rock!  

What can people expect from your set on the day?

I’ll be playing all of my latest productions like my remixes of Tempo Giusto ‘Blacksmith, Max Graham ‘The Evil I.D.’, Giuseppe with Aly & Fila ‘Brilliant People’, and The Space Brothers ‘The Same Journey’.

There's also my latest vocal single with Clare Stagg ‘How Can I’ and new collab single ‘Feel So Right’ that I made with 3DW & Madders (two producers from Edinburgh) and amazing vocalist Debbie Sharp. This is forthcoming on Mental Asylum in May! I’ll be squeezing in as much new music as I can and also some dirty techno if the crowd are up for it, just to shake things up a bit, which I love doing!

Any messages for the Trance Sanctuary crowd?

Just would like to say that I’m very excited about being back down in London, it’s been a while so it will be great to be back in the big city…and judging by the buzz there’s been on my Facebook and Twitter over the last few weeks it’s going to be a mental night..see you all very soon!!!

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