OTS talks to Mark Sherry about his album – Confirm Humanity

Welcome to On the Sesh Mark, let’s have a quick chat about your forthcoming artist album ‘Confirm Humanity’.

Before we get into that though, can you tell us a bit about who Mark Sherry is.

Hi guys, big thanks for the interview! I was born in Falkirk but I’ve lived in Ayrshire on the West coast of Scotland all my days. I love the buzz of a city on a night out or for gigs but I prefer living in our really small and quiet village. I love going to the gym and keeping fit. This really helps me handle my travelling and jetlag a lot better. I love a good blockbuster film at the cinema too, I’m totally daft on sci-fi films and big special FX. I know what you’re thinking… yeah ok, I’m a nerd. 😉 

 

You have a serious back catalogue of releases and music compilations, but this is your first artist album. Your fans have been waiting a long time for this, why have you waited until now to release an artist album?

The last album I released was as Public Domain in 2001, so yeah it’s long overdue. I suppose it’s just taken me a long time due to the combination of my touring being so hectic and also because I’ve always just focused on trying to make strong singles, but this is my 25th year as a DJ/producer so I decided in 2017 that it was time to hold back the single releases a bit and start prepping for this album. 

How long have you been working on it?

It’s been over 18 months of studio work but from start to finish it’s been the guts of 2 years. 

We’ve had a sneak peak at two tracks from the album now, ‘Confirm Humanity’ and “Lighting Fires’ which features Christina Novelli on vocal duties. Both of which are out to stream/purchase now as a singles. Both of those tracks have a very different feel to them, what can we expect from the rest of the album?

When I discussed the album plan with Black Hole they wanted me to release a big and banging traditional Sherry track 4 weeks before the album release and then one of the main vocal tracks 2 weeks before. There are 18 tracks in total and one thing I wanted was the album to flow like one of my extended DJ sets, so it starts with techno, builds into slower tech-trance then keeps on building up to get into the faster tech, vocal trance, uplifting, tech-psy, hard-trance and there’s even a chillout ‘Hans Zimmer’ style track at the end to finish it all off. Basically if you’re a follower of me as a DJ/producer and you like all things tough and techy (like myself), then this will be right up your street! Even though it’s 90% trance, it’s still a very diverse album in my opinion, but I’ve played to all my strengths in the studio. I’m very proud of it! 

What/Who have been your inspirations whilst working on the album?

I’ve always been heavily inspired by some of my favourite tech producers like Mauro Picotto, Marco V, Sander van Doorn (the old SVD), Randy Katana and labels like the old Reset (Spinnin) label, BXR, Detox and the old Captivating Sounds etc..but all tracks on the album that have been influenced by these guys have my own modern twist. It’s got a real ‘classic tech-trance meets modern’ feel to it though, so I’m hoping that it connects with my fans that have supported me right from the start but also gets some new followers onboard too! 

We have a lot of studio geeks that read our interviews (ourselves included), so we are always keen to find out about your studio setup.

I have always used Cubase and can’t see me ever changing to be honest. I produce pretty much ‘in the box’ so all VST’s and FX suites as oppose to hardware. I absolutely love synths like Sylenth, Spire, Massive, Hive, Diva and Nexus – I use these on ALL my tracks. I love having the full flexibility of VST’s and FX right at my fingertips because it really helps me keep a steady workflow.

You are appearing in the music video for ‘Lighting Fires’, is this as glamorous as it sounds?

If you call standing in a really dirty and freezing disused warehouse that’s covered in pigeon shit for hours on end in whilst eating Tesco sandwiches in Stoke-On-Trent ‘glamorous’, then yeah, it’s glamorous. We had a lot of fun doing it though! 

Have you worked on any collaborations for the album?

Yeah, I wanted to work with some of my close friends and also guys that I’ve worked in the scene closely with in the past like David Forbes, Mallorca Lee, Tempo Giusto, Joey V, Vlind, Richard Durand and vocalists like Christina Novelli, Clare Stagg & Marcella Woods (that I’ve both worked with before) and also one of Scotland’s best male vocalists Ross Ferguson. There’s also a big surprise on there too, but I’ll let you discover which absolute legend I’ve done an official remix for when the album gets released 😉 

Will you be putting a remix package together, and if so which artists do you have in mind? 

I haven’t actually discussed it with anyone yet. I do have my own hit-list of producers to ask in my head though 😉 

 

The album tour has taken you all over the globe now, are certain tracks perceived differently in different countries?

I think trance and dance music in general is very much a global thing. Of course you get crowds that are crazier than others in different countries, but I feel that the music is seen as being the same, no matter where you are..I think! 

You are headlining for our friends Transonic on Friday 10th May. Are you looking forward to the event, and will we be hearing some of the album tracks at the event?

Yeah of course, I know for a fact it’s going to be a great crowd in Sunderland, purely going by previous gigs around that area. Us Scots know how to party and so do the English northerners haha. I can’t wait to play at this event and also check out the other sets by Darren, Ashley and Jak. Will be a real belter I’m sure! 

Can you let everyone know when they will be able to get their hands on a copy of your ‘Confirm Humanity’ album.

It gets a full release on Friday the 17th of May, but the ore-order is on Beatport now and if you order it you’ll receive 2 of the tracks for free  😉 

Thank you for taking the time out to talk with On the Sesh Mark, we’d like to wish you all the best with the album!!

Thanks very much guys, much appreciated!

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