Ferry Corsten played our Beachball remix in his set at Sziget Festival. The crowd was extremely responsive, we had a great time all the way through. Of course I have a video...

Tags: beachball, ferry corsten, sziget festival

Last night Markus Schultz was spinning our Andy Moor remix on Global Dj Broadcast, and Armn played the Mr. Pit vs Above & Beyond "Shana Can't Sleep" Black Army Mashup we did.

Tags: markus schultz, armin

Finally our Lange remix has been released, the single jumped straight to number one on Beatport's Trance charts.

Tags: lange, remix, beatport

We've just finished a new remix today: Nalin & Kane's “Beachball” got our treatment.
After 4 hours it's been sent out to a few big djs, we got a video from Above & Beyond, straight from the dj booth at Amnesia, Ibiza, recorded with a Blackberry. Sorry for the quality, but this is what it is...

Tags: above and beyond, ibiza, amnesia, video, beachball, remix

There's a new addition to our discography: we just finished remixing Jaytech's "Vela" for Anjunadeep.

Tags: jaytech, myon & shane 54, remix

As we know it Andy Moor's Fake Awake with our remix on it will be released tomorrow. Head over to Anjunabeats for more details.

Tags: andy moor, fake awake, anjunabeats

We've managed to put the finishing touches on to 3 of our new tracks yesterday. The long session was ended at 3:15 in the morning, but well worth the effort:
"The Beach" (B-side of "Not A Lot Left"),
"All Night Rock And Roll" a brandnew tune,
a totally new version of "Vampire", with Carrie Skipper are all wrapped up and ready to roll!

Tags: myon & shane 54

Tags: trapped, myon & shane 54, black hole

We've had a few TATW appearances with our remix of Andy Moor's "Fake Awake" which has been featured on episodes 222, 223 and 224 respectively.
Although it was stated (and announced) as Myon remix, it is actually that Myon & Shane 54 mix we posted about earlier. The reason for this is simple: we made an error when the track has been sent out, but it's sorted now.
Release on Anjunabeats / AVA recordings soon.

Tags: tatw, fake awake, remix

Tags: not a lot left, anjunabeats, myon & shane 54

We've finished our remix for Andy Moor's "Fake Awake" that will come out on Anjunabeats sometime soon. It became an ass-shaking electro-synth tune, Andy is really keen on.

Tags: andy moor, remix, fake awake

I already had the pleasure to work with Mr Sam when I wrote and sang vocals for “Lost & Found” on his Lyteo album (we later remixed it with Mario, I think that was the real start of Black Army, although we didn’t know that then yet)

Sam came over this week to work with us on some new material, spent 6 days with us.
I can report, we had a wonderful time, we clicked instantly, and the material we came up with sounds pretty good even in raw demo form. They’re far from ready, but very promising. They’ll be featured on his new (yet untitled) album, to be expected later this year. He showed us some of the songs, and I must admit, the high profile artists who contributed to it (not sure how much I’m allowed to reveal, so I won’t say anything yet) did a great job. It will be a fantastic album for sure.

Using some of the pics we took while he was here I made a small comic book...

Tags: mr sam

Armin Van Buuren played “Trapped” (the dub version) on ASOT last night.
Some forums stated it as “Not A Lot Left”, but it was “Trapped” I swear...

Tags: armin, trapped, asot, black army

Above & Beyond fully supports us, the played Not A Lot Left again on this week's show (217), and stated it as a "favourite from last week"...

Tags: above and beyond, tatw, radio

WHA!? (The bastard Pop Netlabel) is Simon Iddol's extraordinary place for bootlegs. He is also a well-known figure in Mashup Land. One of the label's latest releases "Da-Tah", a Scissor Sisters Mash up album gave a big peak in terms of exposure and credibility all around the world.

Simon chose my Depeche Mode (mashup filled) dj mix as the first release on his new, "WHA!? Mixtape Series", available now on their site

Tags: depeche mode, wha, simon iddol, dj mix

Just got the news, the Black Army remix of Lange's Out Of The Sky ended up on CD2 of the new Godskitchen: Underground compilation (Mixed by Paul Thomas & Mark Eteson)

There's more to come for sure...

Tags: godskitchen, mark eteson

Got some heavyweight airplay for our new tune "There's Not A Lot Left" tonight.
Tiesto (Club Life 59) and Above & Beyond (TATW 216) both have played the tune in their radio shows.

From the rest of the feedback we also had on it, it will work this summer big time I guess...

Tags: above and beyond, tiesto, radio

A few weeks ago, I did a 30 minute dj mix made entirely out of Depeche Mode tracks. As I love them for a long, long time, I was rather curious if I can make one that satisfies the hardcore fan in me (it did). The other reason to make it was an MTV Asia party in Singapore, where I was supposed to play 3 hours of DM. In the end the gig didn't happen, but I was pretty happy with the result, which ended up in Scott Johnson's hands, who is the host of the ramdom thoughts podcast. He loved it so much, it became part of episode 103, which is going to be online tomorrow morning (17th of May, UK time).

There's some stuff I made especially for this mix, so anyone who loves Depeche Mode will find pretty interesting stuff in there.

Here's the tracklist, feel free to check it out at the RT website:

01. Depeche Mode vs. West &  Thoenick -
Walking In My Hinbye (Shane 54 Mashup)
02. Behind The Wheel (Matt Hite Mashup)
03. Enjoy The Silence (Matt Samuels remix)
04. If You Want (Shane 54 refill)
05. It Doesn't Matter Two (Shane 54 refill)
06. Personal Jesus (Shane 54 Remix)
07. A Question Of Time (Extended remix)
08. Here Is The House  (Gabriel & Dresden Bootleg mix)

Tags: depeche mode, ramdom thoughts, dj mix

Above & Beyond has played our "Secret Garden" Dub in episode 212 of Trance Around The World last night.

Tags: tatw, above and beyond, esmaye, remix

We made an April Chart for Beatport, of course "Secret Garden" is number one atm...

Tags: beatport, chart, black army

Black Hole Diva, Esmaye got the Black Army treatment, finally our remix has been released today. According to the BH Myspace blog "This beautiful pop-track is remixed by trance-dj's Myon and Shane 54, who have produced a Black Army Remix and Black Army Dub Mix. These trance producers commited themselves to remixing this new release, and this resulted in two classic trance remixes of the already released Secret Garden."

Tags: esmaye, remix, black hole, black army

Last weekend we were ultra-busy with Myon, remixing BWO's new single, Barcelona, to be released worldwide sometime late May,

Tags: bwo, remix

The Black Army remix we made for Lange's "Out Of The Sky" has been the opening track of the second hour in Tiesto's Club Life 53 last week.
We can pretty much consider this the track's world premiere...

Tags: tiesto, club life, lange, black army, remix

Be our friend on Myspace!
www.myspace.com/theblackarmy

Tags: black army, myspace

"Trapped" has been featured in episode 52 of Gaz Emery's podcast.
We sent him the tune last week, but instead of replying he simply played it on the show.

How nice...

Tags: black army, gareth emery, podcast, trapped

In the past couple of weeks Myon and me worked night and day on the new tracks, we have about 13 of them fully or semi-ready. This also means the need to release them on an album sometime later this year. If all goes well, the final tracklist will be chosen out of some 19 tracks, so we can ditch the ones won't really fit onto the album.
Up to this point we have some very good singers featuring on the songs (apart from the ones I get to sing):
- Julie Thompson (Begin Again)
- Kirsty Hawkshaw (Alive)
- Tiff Lacey (Someone Like You)



We just finished "Trapped" last week. so it's been sent out to a few people who might be interested in it.
Ferry Corsten replied pretty fast: "Thanks for sending me this track, I really love it. The song is cool, the production is fantastic."
He even gave us a tip concerning the vocals, we'll try it for sure, he might be right...

Tags: black army, trapped, ferry corsten

I've wanted to post this for a long time, just missed it somehow:

In the new Tiesto DVD's extra section there's a documentary about the tour's several gigs. It starts with Budapest, and I pop up here and there during it.They've used some of the footage we provided from the Laptop Dj episode filmed during his stay. Some hot bikini babes even saying a Laptop Dj ID with him on their side!

Nice...

Tags: tiesto, dvd, laptop dj

I've been telling about my "boybandish" past to friends for ages, but I could never show anything like these videos from the 90s.
A friend at a record company found these videos in their archives, so I got a dvd a few days ago, so finally I'm able to present some pre-Shane 54 stuff.

I really don't have any comments on these, just watch and enjoy! (I'm the guy who sings)


FLM - Megtalállak Még (1995)





Császár Előd - Mondd, Miért Fáj Ugyanúgy? (1995)





Császár Előd - Késő (1997)

Tags: music video

Shane 54 & Myon proudly presents their brand new project: The Black Army.

Named after Hungary's greatest, undefeatable army in the 15th century ("owned" by the great King Matthias Rex from 1459-1490), we concentrating on delivering a special, 2 laptop dj set full of our own mashups (we have no idea how many of those we did so far), remixing classic tracks (we already working on some) and make as much original music as we possibly can. We already have 6-7 tunes in the pipeline, watch out, we're coming!

Tags: myon, black army

I have no words,

"69" is at number two now, nice...

(Scroll down for chart history)

Tags: 69, chart position

To be perfectly honest , I had an idea of the Capital of Russian Federation, but the four days we spent there was exceeded all my expectations. My friend Koris (who I went with to play) was already spinning there in August, and he was telling me nothing but good things about our promoter, Vladimir. He was damn right about him.

Arrived on the 30th of December, a day befroe New Years Eve. I caused some surprise with my (very) rusty Russian knowledge, when I was a kid I had to learn "the language" at school: we've been part of the eastern block, we jst had to there was no question.
When we didn't had to anymore, I started focusing on English, and thought I never wil use it ever again in my life. I was completely shocked whenI found out after more than a decade of not using it at all, my never-been-that-good Russian vocabulary started to come back heavily causing alot of laughter amongst the locals. Especially reading russian was pretty easy. It was a great surprise, they've never seen an international dj who could read Russian.



Our hotel, Baltschug Kempinski was just across the river from the Famous Red Square / Kreml combo, it was about 8 minutes walk to go there.
On the very first time we used the elevator, we bumped to Demis Roussos, the legendary greek singer. Bodyguard in the lobby, long limousine outside.



On the first night, we went to a "Kortschma" (pub) to drink "bootleg" vodka (made from different kinds of vodka, very strong) with cucumber. We got pretty drunk, but not drunk enough to be able to drink it with local favourite, "garlic root in pork fat"... Awww!
We've had great russian food (can't remember what it was we were way too drunk).



On the last day of the year we went a bit around the Red Square area. It wasn't the -9 that made us feel miserable, but the wind, what makes Moscow winter horrible. My jacket's hoodie was on my head permanently, I looked a bit like Kenny, and at least I didn't have "MIR" space station falling on my head...
Ok, I took it off for this pic made at the door of Lenin's Tomb.



At early in the afternoon there was a considerably huge amount of people waiting for something at Red Square (according to reports in the evening it was around 700.000). We never knew what they've been waiting for, we had to go to the venue, a sport complex, with and indoor ice skating ring providing the dancefloor. This time there was no ice on it, and it was so huge, about two and a half thousand people could fill it to 80%.
The party was great, even though it was a little bit odd to listen to the Russian National Anthem at midnight with champagne in my hand. Back in the communist era if someone was telling me I will do this once, I've surely laughed. How strange...



The party was great, after playing we headed straight back to Red Square to see how it is like, but we left very fast. That cold is not for humans, and we saw people without hats, proper jackets celebrating new year. A technician was falling off of a 3 meters high stage's backline in front of our eyes, and we were the only ones who asked him if he's fine. He was standing up real fast, and we saw he was so drunk I'm surprised he could even say "No probljem"...

The first of Jan was a very quiet day, we didn't really came out of the hotel, after sleeping for a long long time.

The last day we used the famous Moscow "metropoliten" (underground) to get to the site of the Lomonosov University. Damn, that place is huge!
Our plane started at 8 in the evening, so we had plenty of time to get to the airport. We were sitting 1.5 hours in the plane before taking off, but apart from that, our trip back was completely peaceful.

Vlad told me I have to go back sometime early summer.
Can't wait...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Tags: moscow, gig

I know there's a lot to catch up, I will do it as soon as I came back from Moscow, where I'll play on a New Year's Eve party.

I'm sure it will rock bigtime...

I've never had the chance to play in Estonia. so I was extremely happy when I got this request from my friend Alex, to play in Club Central Point in Tallin. I spent about 25 hours in there, but it was so good, if I'll have a chance I'll go back for sure.



As there's no straight flights from Budapest to the Estonian capital, I had to go to Prague first to get a plane to Tallin. The weather was much warmer there than in Hungary (I was expected terrible cold, winds and the like)
The old town look s amazing. On one of the small streets, I saw something that really made me feel warm inside. A Depeche Mode "Baar"!!! When I first saw the sign of the place it made me curious, as the rose from DM's "Violator" album cover was lighting proudly in the semi dark.
It couldn't be a coincidence, there was Depeche Mode in the air...



DM pictures everywhere, some of them proves the band actually been hanging out here some time ago. Martin Gore seemed to enjoy himself a lot on the pics. Depeche Mode concert video on the screen, the carpet has the same rose as the door sign, most likely custom made for the bar. Hats off to the owners from a Depeche Fan. I I was living in Tallin, you could find me there often.



Club Central Point isn't big, but surely close to everything. The sound was great, everyone was enthusiastic, really into the music. It was a night to remember for sure. Everyone knewthe other clubbers, they asked me to play such old tracks or remixes of mine, I don't usually play on gigs, but they wanted to hear those as well, so it was a really special night.
Thanks Alex, hope we can repeat it.

Tags: estonia, tallin, gig

Due to a recent Hugarian Digital Release, "69" (with former international adult film star Michelle Wild and Hungarian Dj Junior) has opened at the Hungarian Singles Chart at number 4! Not too bad from a single that has been originally released 4 years ago, and hasn't even been remixed...

Thanks to everyone in Hungary for the support

Tags: 69, chart position

One of my favourite softwares is Mixed In Key, the creation of my good friend Yakov. I also made a - sort of - audio demo to show the possibilities of harmonic mixing. This 5 minutes megamix (was downloaded more than 200.000 times from their site so far) is the part of the interview we did lately for their site. You can find it here

Tags: mixed in key, interview, live, ableton

I would consider myself a hardcore Jean Michel Jarre-fan. His "Oxygene" and "Equinoxe" albums are encoded into my DNA I guess.



This Friday the Master of All Synths had a quick "Oxygene 30th Anniversary Edition" promo day in Budapest. At the end of his stay he signed my last Equinoxe 4 vinyl, my favourite JMJ cds and my laptop!



To my biggest surprise, he remembered the "Equinoxe 4" cover I did, which made my day really. I'm sure there's tons of E4 covers and remixes he has to hear from time to time, and the fact mine stuck into his mind blew me away.
He was extremely kind to me, an we talked for quite some time, so I had the chance to ask things I've been always curious for.

The most important question was if he's willing to show his studio to the tv show's cameras. I'm proud to report, that he is up for the challenge, once we start filming again, they will find a date for us, then it's just a quick visit to Paris. Amazing...

Until then he made a Laptop Dj ID straight into my phone:

Tags: jean michel jarre, oxygene, laptop

It's been quite a while I haven't written anything to the blog.

The last couple of weeks were literally a misery, as I - due a series of embarassingly dumb events I wouldn't get into in detail - managed to break my right knee. Walking was nearly impossible for a long time.

This led to other things, like me not going to London for the DJ Mag Top 100 night (which I was looking forward to for ages). When we were filming at Mayday Budapest, I was in a pretty bad shape too (I didn't know then it was broken, so I walked around with a stick), I'm actually surprised we were able to make a decent episode out of it.

I had to go to MR to see what's really inside my knee, that's when it turned out I have some serious stuff going on.
On the photo, that's my knee right there, the thing hanging on the metallic tube isn't a headphone, it is so loud in there - even with my clubby standards - you need ear protecion.

Tags: broken knee, hospital

Jono (from Above & Beyond) invited us to Jordan, to film on one of the most exciting gigs in their agenda:Distant Heat

On Monday we took a plane to Vienna, ate echte wienerschnitzel in downtown, then headed back to the airport to catch our plane to Amman. It was early in the night when we got to our hotel, so after a quick dinner we went to sleep.

Next day before we started shooting, we went to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to get permissions to film wherever needed to. Those permissions never been asked though. Ever.
We got our press passes for Distant Heat, the rest of the afternoon was spent in Jerash, a Roman city in such a good condition, that even those with limited amount of sensibility for history would raise their eyebrows.



On Wednesday, we went to the Dead Sea to spend an afternoon there before we go to Aqaba. I was dumb enough to taste the famously salty water just to see how salty actually it is. Well, VERY.
I love the fact, you can only float in there...



We used our underwater camera for some shots during the afternoon.
I had a thermometer on the table, after a while this is what I saw on it:



The road to Aqaba was filled with heavily guarded checkpoints and a restaurant equipped with a suspiciously looking kitchen, so we didn't feel like eating in there.
We got to Aqaba pretty late, but it was still better than for Jono, Tony & Dave Seaman, who had to sit 4 hours in a car after the 6 hours of flight from London. They arrived around 4 in the morning, but at 2 pm we've had lunch at the beach bar...
Of course we did some filming, and the underwater camera had some good use in the sea too.
It was a great afternoon filled with beach and sunshine.



It was dark by the time we got to Distant Heat, but it still felt a very special place to held a party at. Local dj BeeBee had a great warm up set, then Dave took over at midnight. The crowd was very mixed, alot of tourists, most of them - like us - flew over especially for this party.
The free food was a great addition, especially in the morning, where it provided some extra energy for those in need.
At 3:00 a perfect Above & Beyond dj set started, Jono & Tony rocked the crowd hard, and the hits just kept flowing. The crowd were singing along most of them. As sunrise came, it was obvious why is Wadi Rum one hell of a unique place to party.
The sun comes up real fast, and the colours you see are just unbelievable.
Jono was right when he said it is something we should see...

Sunrise @ Distant Heat Festival

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In the morning we headed back to the hotel, sleep.

Next day our cameraman had some stomach problems. By the end of they day he felt so bad, we had to call a doctor to see him.
Food poisoning is a nasty thing, but a few injections and various other medicines had their effect, so he got much better.

In the morning he got two more injections, so we were able to go to Petra, that provided one of the most iconic locations in the Indiana Jones Trilogy, the temple of the Last Crusader.
Of course there is a gift shop.



It is a huge area, which seems a lot longer in the afternoon heat. If we get a carriage, it is extremely bumpy.
But it is definitely a jaw dropping experience to walk through.



...which only multiplies at the end:

Entering Petra

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After all the amusement, we filmed while Pisti (the cameraman) could do, then headed back to Amman, to go to the airport at 8:00 am. Then Vienna, where instead of waiting a few hours for our Budapest plane a friend of mine picked us up, so we got to Budapest earlier than with a plane.

Ever since I try to rest, as on Firday we go to Ibiza!

Tags: jordan, laptop dj, distant heat

There's not much to say about this pic I took this afternoon. It's the thermometer outside the living room's window.
Thank god for air conditioning...

Tags: heat

It took me some time to recover from last weekend...

We've started on Thursday, on a new Hungarian festival, Balaton Sound about 120 kms from Budapest, at lake Balaton. On the first night Darren Emerson & Eric Prydz were playing in the same stage Roger Sanchez, Ferry Corsten and myself shared next evening . But before that we came back to Budapest to see Hybrid live who brought John "Quivver" Graham as guest vocalist.




Right after them we went back to the festival where Ferry was really rocking, so I could start playing at 4:30

Ferry Corsten @ Balaton Sound Festival, Hungary

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As soon as I've finished, we went back to the Airport, to catch the Amsterdam plane, so I had about 2 hours sleep before we arrived just to drop our stuff in the hotel then head to Dance Valley.



My good friend Jonathan Llewellyn (publicist fro Marco V, Sander Van Doorn, Christopher Lawrence and others) invited us to the festival (you can never have enough of those). Marco & Chris had their own tent, both with exceptional line ups. Besides these 2 there were 12 other stages with at least 8-10 djs each, so there was a lot to see and film...

Ferris wheel on Dance Valley 2007

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We interviewed Paul Van Dyk backstage, while he was waiting for his turn at Main Stage after Ferry Corsten.
At DV we basically been filming until the very last minute, at 11 it was over, and we went back to the hotel where I fell alseep in no time.

Of course we had to wake up pretty early on Sunday to catch our plane back to Hungary, where we had a rendez-vous with the Beastie Boys. We went to the press conference in fake moustaches, they were thrilled...

Tags: dance valley, laptop dj, holland, balaton sound, ferry corsten

...I post the youtube videos I made on Sensation White:

Tags: sensation white, laptop dj

To be perfectly honest I've never thought (not in my wildest dreams) this TV show we're making will last for more than the 10 episodes I've signed for in the beginning.
Now here we are after the first full season's 30 episodes, filming the second season, so for a start I wanted something special, that's how we ended up at Sensation White, mother of all white parties, the biggest indoor dance event in the world.

On Thursday at noon our plane left to Amsterdam, so we've had half a day of filming and planning.
On Friday we went to Eindhoven, where Menno De Jong was waiting for us. we did alot of crazy stuff, some filming for the episode about him and his Intuition Summer Event next afternoon on the beach of Bloomingdale. Saturday morning spent with hunting for white clothing, since I was missing a few things from my outfit. At two in the afternoon, we arrived to Bloomingdale, and I must admit it's a great looking beach for sure.



The road towards there looks like it was from an Anton Corbijn video (ok, he's Dutch), and the party was so good it was hard for me to leave even though I knew what was waiting for me at the Amsterdam Arena.

Holy Hell!!!



I'm not surprised there's so many people who consider this party as the one to go to every single year, even if you're don't plan to go out at all whole year.

I'm not sure if the party's better without trance djs, but everyone was really prepared for the event, and it's a great sight to see tens of thousands of people dressed all white. I'd love to see how does Sensation Black looks like a week after. One big happy funeral?
But this year I won't be able to find out even though we'll be in Holland again and that's because of Dance Valley...

Tags: sensation white, menno de jong, intuition summer event, laptop dj, 2nd season

In the past couple of weeks - especially due to his recent world tour - we've been seeing Tiesto quite a lot. It's been enhanced when he arrived here to have two gigs on the same weekend, one with the tour, and one smaller gig for the hardcore fans the next day.
We were filming on both, but the second one had another task for me, being the warm-up dj for Tijs.

On Saturday, not long after his arrival to Budapest, Tiesto started his usual rounds of interviews, and I had a slightly different thing to do this time besides my show, Laptop Dj:

I was stunned to hear that a few days before Tijs agreed to participate in Hungary's premier hidden camera show to make a complete fool out of someone who was supposed to interview him. (Kinda like Punk'd on MTV, where celebrities got the cold shower.)
What was my role then? As some kind of coordinator, I had to tell him what to do to make the perfect wind-up: he had to be so offended by a certain question that after jumping up and storming out of the room (cursing in Dutch) he simply "canceled" the gig on that night. (The question was about his marriage which went down the drain just a week before the actual event, when his bride left him. Of course the story was made up by us)
Poor reporter had some VERY bad moments when Rogier, the tour manager rushed into the room shouting wildly about his responsibility about "what's gonna happen".

The hidden cam show never had an international star as a decoy, so it was a very memorable event for us, and Tijs assured us, it was his first too. We all had a great time.



On top of all this, I bumped into BT in the hotel lobby (he was participating in the tour too), of course I had to interview him as well. I've never thought I will talk about (Hungarian composer) Bela Bartok in my show once...



The tour gig according to Tijs the next day was "the best in the tour so far". Hell yeah, it was...
The Palace party on that day was top notch, Tiesto's Hungarian fans surely know how to party.

Tags: tiesto, bt, budapest

This post had a little delay, since I was a bit swamped regarding my blogging.

We went to film 2 episodes in France, Paris first, then we went to see Nuits Sonores Festival, which is one of the biggest European electronic dance festivals.

Our plane started on Saturday morning at 7:00 (the night before was spent with Chris "Hybrid" Healings, so I didn't get too much sleep). As I've never been to Paris before, I was a little excited, preparing for the famous language problems (as I've heard they don't like to speak any other laguages than theirs).
I have to report, it's not entirely true, but only in Paris. Lyon is a different story...

However, Paris is stunning. Period. Go and check it out, if you can, well worth it. The queue az Eiffel was so big, we didn't bother standing in. Maybe next time.

In Lyon with one exception it was raining every single day, and was pretty cold. On top of everything it was hard to find anyone who could speak english, so communication was quite hard. If someone understood Albion's language, they simply refused to talk.

At the festival I had to realize the French people LOVE minimal techno...

Tags: france, nuits sonores, paris, lyon

I almost forgot to post this, even though I made this with my phone, just for this blog...

Tiesto's dj booth

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Above & Beyond gave my new track a spin as well, TATW episode 162 includes "Boom, straight from Budapest..."

The track I mentioned below "Boom" is available for streaming on my music account on Myspace. I also upped "Someone Like You", the track I did with Tiff Lacey, so it's like a double debut...

Two days ago on his Radio 1 show Judge Jules played my new track as "Bangin' Tried & Tested". The tune is so new basically he's the only one who has it, such a debut for my song!

In Beatport's "preferred software" section features my friend Yakov's Mixed In Key. Earlier I made an audio demo to show it's capabilities, it's available alongside the description for the program. This megamix is an example of how to squeeze 37 tracks into 5 minutes, and still maintain musicality. So far more than 60.000 people have downloaded it from the MIK site, the Beatport featurette will gain more for sure...

There is a 3 part Shane 54 interview on laptoprockers.eu, about alot of things laptop...

Last Thursday we went to Poland to film on the second gig of Tiesto's "Elements Of Life" World Tour. 12.000 people and a sold out event welcomed his longest, 7-hours long leg of the tour.



Wroclaw is a really nice town with a population about 600.000 people. To be perfectly honest, I didn't know much about Poland apart from the facts that they have very beautiful girls (just like us in Hungary) and an exciting party scene. I have to report, all I've heard was true...
Ludowa Hall (the venue) was built by Hitler's designer, and has a special feel for sure.



We've been filming for 2 days. I've sat on a real tank, carried a megaphone in search for a Polish Tiesto fan, to have a meet and greet with his/her idol. It wasn't an easy task to find someone who spoke English as well as we could explain what we want to do. At the end we found Christian, who was more than excited when he found out, we're not joking. He was so enthusiastic after the meeting, like a kid.

On Friday (23rd) was the opening day of Ultra Music Festival. Headlined by The Cure & Tiesto (one after the other of course) It was a great day, spent filming all the way through, so we were pretty exhausted when got back to the hotel in the morning.



Next day we didn't get much sleep, had to go back to the festival early in the afternoon, to see and interview Ferry Corsten. The weather was pretty bad, rain and sunshine switched constantly making the festival one big wet t-shirt contest.
To me the surprise of the day happened in the "Carl Cox & Friends" tent, seeing Fatboy Slim playing for the first time.



HOLY SHIT!!!!



I had to rethink my idea about a good party...
I always knew this guy is great, but what I experienced there was mental. i've never heard such a variety of styles blent together so naturally. The ass shaking factor was at an all time high during his set. Due to the heavy rain outside the tent was absolutely full, people were jumping in the water that was flowing in from the sides.

For me one of the most anticipated event on the festival was Hybrid's live concert. Unfortunately it was raining heavily, I was surprised they even tried to play. After 2 songs they had to stop to prevent electric shock or equipment damage, nature had his own victory on breakbeat.
We filmed a bit in their tour bus, then went to the official Ultra afterparty, where they played on that night. (Actually Chris played only, he was in the mood for playing alone)



Before the afterparty I got to see BT's Laptop Symphony, which was amazing, I really love his work.



Sunday evening we went to Josh Gabriel's place, to cook something for them. Dave was sick for a few days then so, he was sleeping in his own room. (We filmed him snoring) so the furry bread has been ate in the morning as a grab-sometihing-when-coming-back-from-clubbing.
Last day of our Miami trip was spent filming additional material, on Tuesday we headed back to Budapest thru New York and Brussels. I was so exhausted that practically slept the whole thing over on the planes.


One more thing: in Miami plastic surgery is so common, even the mannequins look like this

Sunny Miami...

There is defintely something in the air. The weather supposed to be much nicer, warmer (and less windy) than what we had...
Every time we went out to the beach to film, by the time we got there, the sun was gone. We've had some sunshine, but it wasn't the best.



We didn't get much sleep during the WMC week, at the end we've had 3 episodes worth of material.
It's pretty hard to see everything important during the 7 days of the Conference. Ultra is also something to see as it's one of the biggest dance festivals in America.

We've spent half a day with Judge Jules, following him to parties, making an interview on the way. The first one was an exclusive rooftop party of Sirius Radio (we spotted Danny Tenaglia there as well), but the real deal was the Wetgrooves party by the Shelborne Hotel's Pool.



Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Christopher Lawrence and Serge Devant played that afternoon till 9 in the evening. It was a BIG party, however a guy fell off a balcony, so the Meds took him to a hospital.



On Thursday evening we got invited to Ferry Corsten's party at Cameo (formerly Crobar). In the VIP section Tiesto, BT and Sharam (of Deep Dish fame) was partying hard...
For me this was the party of the week, the vibe was so great everyone stayed till the end, Ferry played more than he was scheduled, all the way through.
Outside the club we filmed on the street, the footage surely has some great moments...

As we lost half a day easily in London, it messed up our filming schedule too, we couldn't do anything on Saturday.
It was so freezing cold, as in January. On Sunday we met my friend Eric, he guided us around a bit in NYC, the night ended at LeSouk, New York's finest Sunday party.



Monday spent filming again. We also found Manhattan's best pizza place, Grimaldi's (even thought technically it's not in Manhattan) under the Brooklyn Bridge.



Tuesday morning we headed to Miami...

We were facing a serious challenge, almost two weeks of constant filming...

It started in Amsterdam.



Tiesto held a World Tour Kick Off party at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. The party was held in one of the new baggage halls, converted into a party arena.
Before the event we had an interview with him, while talking his phone revealed he likes to use his own tune (In the dark) as a ringtone



After the party (at seven in the morning) on our way to America turned out JFK was closed due to heavy snow, and most of the flights were canceled. Due to the early hour we had a replacement ticket for a plane 10 hours later than our original arrival time. The crew spent the day celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the Airport...

Just because my luggage got lost on the way back, I can't forget the unbelievable Monday Bar Spring Break Cruise.

I wouldn't overrate anything by saying it's one of the best parties in the world. Thanks to Staffan & Johnny for taking us on such a great journey!
24 hours, 1500 wild, Scandinavian party people and 600 km from Stockholm to Finland and back.

It is definitely a sight to see when arriving to the port. The Cruise is Big.



By 6 the departure side was jam packed with the party crowd, everyone seemed very excited about the next 24 hours.
Alot of people brought their own sound systems, to warm themselves up in the "cabin parties" (a Scandinavian speciality). Some of them were sharing us their location, so we could find them easier when we need to.



Yeah, the warm-up...
Since alcohol is pretty expensive in Sweden, as soon as the cruise starts, the tax free shop opens, providing the source material for the rest of the night.
Everyone's really friendly, here you can see the best security ever. They're nice, and very friendly, all those grizzlys acting badly in clubs are fairly unknown here. Of all I've talked to basically I was the only one who lost the "mondaybar virginity" on that day. Everyone seemed to be a returning guest, and ever since I feel the urge to go back for the next party.



The bigname djs (Gaz Emery, Blank & Jones, Marcel Woods, Bart Claessen, Barry Connel & Tatanka) were playing at the 2 main rooms, they solwly filled up as the cabin parties ended. The vibe was unbelievable in both. By the morning only small cafeteria had an afterparty for the remaining partygoers.

At 12 I had a meeting with the Captain, I've always wanted to meet one who handles such a big cruise. I examined everything, I even got a coat, just to look more appropriate on the pic...



Everyone on the ship knows, the last few hours of the trip holds the best party. They keep in mind all is over at 5 pm, so squeezing out the last energy drops is the keyword here.
After the very last song, everyone has to leave their cabins pretty soon, which results quite a big mess at the exit. But you don't see any problems here, everyone has a smile, a handshake, or a kiss to someone, and if any soundsystem has any power, it will sound.
This video was made at the main exit 25 minutes prior stopping...



The next party cruise starts on July the 2nd and will last for 40 hours...

Damnit...

I'm flying to Stockholm, Sweden today, to film on the legendary Monday Bar Party Cruise. Everyone I talked to about it, got really excited, and agreed it will make a great episode for the show.

Gareth Emery
Blank & Jones
Marcel Woods
Bart Claessen aka Barthezz

and many more...

The weekend has passed, on Sunday evening I landed on Budapest's Ferihegy Airport after a short flight back. (The self checking system at Schiphol rocks bigtime...)

Finally I was able to get a bike ride in Amsterdam, I have no idea why didn't I do it earlier, it's such a good fun.



Later on that day In Utrecht I met a group of young pilots, who took me to some local clubs.
In our hotel I met Dmitry Almazov from Russian duo Bobina, he was playing at TE too. Poor guy had his tooth removed a few days before, so he felt pretty bad on Friday...

On Saturday afternoon we met (and filmed) a group of Hungarian clubbers (from TranceTream FM's forum). They regularly go to party outside their home country to see their favourite djs. They happily shared their tricks on what and how to do, when going out like that. Of course we saw them later at TE, enjoying themselves during Menno De Jong's great opening set at Future Stage.

It was my third time on a Dutch Megaparty, and surely it was one of the best.
Of course we've had some problems with getting in at first: some waiting and several phone calls finally solved the problem so we could get our black wristbands. Their "pers" (press) sign was the passport for us to get in anywhere basically. We just had to show it, then we were right where free drinks and alot of my favourite artists were waiting for their turn... I was hanging out with Paul Moelands, Gaz Emery, Mark Norman and many others.



The party was big. I mean BIG! The main stage could hold up more than 20.000 people, but the small stages were full as well. The whole complex was so huge, I'm sure much more people could've fit in. I uploaded some photos from my phone to flickr, go and click if you're curious...

Sunday (after a good sleep) was spent at my friend Misja Helsloot's place. The company there was more than pleasing, if I can I spend some time with them every time I'm in Holland. Misja, Anika, Fons & co. made sure the last part of my Holland visit was just as perfect as the whole weekend.

Thanks to everyone involved, it was surely a time to remember...

We're hitting the road again. This weekend the Laptop Dj Tv Show visits Trance Energy in Utrecht, The Netherlands, one of the largest indoor dance events in the world! The line-up is more than superb, I have no idea how will we be able to see everything / everyone we want to.
Sweet problems...

I found a great pic on my HD from Sarasota last September, on the same day I came across to this myspace video for the first time. I thought I post them partly cos it gave me great memories. Besides the pic shows something I've always wanted to see my name on: a Classic American Roadside Billboard...

SHANE 54 @ KHROME

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Yeah, life's mean and cruel, no awards for me this time...

Fonogram, the Hungarian Music Industry's annual awards nominations has been announced recently.

I've got two:

Best Hungarian dance / Electronic Album for my "Laptop Dj" album
Hungarian Song Of The Year for "Altass El", for last year's hit single i've had with singer / songwriter Thomas Mester.

It's an honour for me to be in the 5 best albums / songs, i'm thankful to be nominated.
The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, the 24th of February.
Till then I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Yeah, I know I forgot to post stuff during the past few weeks, I have no excuses.

I'll try to summarize it a bit:

The TV show took us to Passion, UK in January where we filmed at the Classics Party (held on every first friday of the year).
Guy Ornadel and Emporium-resident JFK played classic tracks only all night long, the party was unbelievable.



On the way to Coalville, we visited Lange in his Oxford house and discovered he's also a big Mario Kart fan. Played pool with Mike Koglin and Jono Grant at Fortress Studio's bar in London. I got beaten badly in both cases...





At the end of January we went to Thailand, to film in Bangkok and the legendary Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan.
I must say it was one of the best parties I've ever seen.


They sell drinks in buckets (small, large, whatever you want), and those cause a lot of damage among the tourists.
I didn't hear a single complaint anywhere though...

Yeah, on the way back we had 2 hours delay again...

But at least I got home pretty much in time for the Christmas dinner.

I wish everyone Happy Holidays, eat a lot, socialize and watch out for those drinks on NYE!!!

I was going to post last night, but finally after arriving to Lausanne, I couldn't. I was simply too tired to do anything decent...
Easyjet gave us almost 4 hours of delay to the original departure time (sitting in a small airport where not much to do isn't your ideal pre-christmas activity), so I got to Lausanne pretty late. Tonight I'm playing with Marcel Woods, Dj Tatana and Koris vs Djule in Biel. Looking forward to the party...



I can only hope the return flight to Budapest will be ok, I would hate to spend some of Christmas at the Geneva airport...

We borrowed a reality show's camera used in cars to do our interview with Hybrid right after their arrival in the car.
We've discussed alot of things on the way to their hotel, then we filmed them djing at Club Studio, Budapest. Chris and Mike are extremely friendly guys, it was a blast...

Here's the Perfecto Football shirt I got from Paul, The Godskitchen Party was really good, everything I've heard was true...
But around 3:30 we had to leave to the hotel to catch our early plane back to Budapest.

We're in Bucharest, Romania now, interviewing Paul Oakenfold for the Laptop Dj TV show. Yesterday, we went to this restaurant (shown behind us with Imi, my friend, I do the show with) to try the local food, which was reportedly very good. Then on the menu we saw bear steak which the reataurant is known for... (yes, you read it right, BEAR)
We ate a full plate of mixed stuff including rabbit, wild boar (I had to get an online dictionary for this word, so it could be wrong, it's the animal Obelix loves to eat so much) and the already mentioned bear.
We're heading to the party soon, from djs I've heard legends of the Romanian parties, so I'm sure it's going to be great.

The mashup I did of Motorcycle's "As The Rush Comes" and Bart Claessen's "Playmo" seems to be a hot item these days: Paul Van Dyk plays it a lot and Judge Jules played it 3 times already on his radio show. Now it got to Tim Stark of Dj Mag, who gave it a nice 5 out of 5 review...

"BART CLAESSEN VS MOTORCYCLE
'As Playmo Comes' Shane 54 Mash Up (White)
5/5

Trance bootlegs became an endangered species in 2006. Great to see one of the primary exponents, Shane 54, keeping the mash up flag flying. "As the Rush Comes" explodes again, with Claessen's "Playmo" injecting the necessary afterburn."

- Not too bad for a mash-up, thanks to the original artists for making such good tunes. It was a pleasure to mash them up...

...but at least I can show you how does the TV thing looks like. Hope it's still enjoyable, we're working on the subtitles...

Shane 54 Laptop Dj TV s01e01 pt1

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Shane 54 Laptop Dj TV s01e01 pt2

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Today my new show, "Laptop Dj" will start on Hungarian Channel Cool TV. The first episode was filmed in Ibiza with Paul Van Dyk on the Cream Amnesia Closing Party. We also plan an international version, so watch this space, it might happen soon.

Chimo Bayo was a highly successful dance act in the early 90s (millions of records sold worldwide). If the name doesn't ring any bells, clicking below might do so...
Normally a track like this would go to the Synth Pop Museum, but thing is, I've been asked to do a new remix of the tune, which I completed a few days ago.
Since I'm not allowed (yet) to put some listening samples online, I dug out the original...

Yep, it's finally here, the video of our new Equinoxe 4 remix!

Yeah, I know it's been a while, but I simply wasn't around to blog properly. Not long ago I came back from Ibiza, where I spent an unforgettable week. Recovery took some time, I'll post more details in 2 weeks!

This year's Dj Mag votes for the list of the world's best djs has started!
Please take the time to vote for me on their site.
Remember, this is for the clubbers and music lovers out there, based on entirely the crowd's opinion!

The Shane 54 Mashup of Ronski Speed's "E.O.S." and Oceanlab's "Satellite" has been played by Ronski Speed in Poland at the ATB in Concert 2 party. Just got the video, I must say it's impressive...

I was pretty inactive in the last few weeks: I've been pretty much on a holiday. A few good things have happened though, so expect a new comic about the Street Parade (in Zurich) soon, featuring Koris, Djule, Sean Tyas, Mark Etheson and many more. Hope I can finish it fast.
The biggest news of this fall without a doubt is the release of "My Way - The Digital Edition" on the biggest downloading sites (including iTunes, Beatport and VONYC) More info here soon.

"Lost & Found" our collab tune with Mr. Sam has already been released on his "Lyteo" album.
Now the track is back with a new Shane 54 vs Orange Project remix (OP is a very talented young Hungarian dj/producer, he remixed "Altass El" the first single of the "Laptop Dj" album), vocal editing and enhancement was done by Jonathan K.
The track probably will appear on Sam's new, "Lyteo remixed" album.

"Q" is one of my favourite music magazines, I buy it almost monthly, and it was a dream to get in there once somehow.
Their "World Of Q" corner features pictures of readers from all around the globe with their favourite magazine in their hands. The more exotic the location, the better.
When I was in Bali, Indonesia I made some pics along the way, then sent them in hoping one of them would get published someday.
I was stunned to see, in this month's edition they actually put one of the pictures in...
I feel better than James Brown!

The video says it all: "Altass El" debuted at number 4 on MTV's World Chart Express!

Tim Stark, trance-coloumnist in Dj Magazine gave 5 out of 5 points for Kippenvelmeter!

Here's the review:

+++SUREPLAYER+++

SHANE 54 AND ABEL RAMOS              
‘Kippenvelmeter’
(Getz NL)
5/5

No idea what a ‘Kippenvelmeter’ is. Though, thinking about it, it could be one of those things Scientologists use to check how ‘trance’ you are. See them in clubs soon. Anyway former boy-band member Shane 54 and Spaniard Abel Ramos turn in a brilliantly imaginative trancer here. Loads of cool Eighties nods don’t detract from the great melodies and a whacking great lift out of the break. Misja Helsloot remix is OK, but the original is the real damager.

-
During a gig rehearsal with fellow Hungarian Dj Newl, we did a live remix of Equinoxe 4. The result has been completed later in the studio, the vibe is darker and the beat drives harder than the original mix. Release not yet confirmed, but the video will appear in the media section soon...

Getz! has released a new remix package of "Kippenvelmeter", including superb 'Scirocco introducing Van Eyden' mix by Alex MORPH and Woody Van Eyden and '1999' mix by Misja Helsloot. Grab a vinyl at your usual store or click to Beatport for a download!
The original version of this Abel Ramos co-produced track will be available on "My Way - The Digital Edition" the classic Shane 54 album coming to your mp3 player soon...


...

I've always liked her work, so it's my pleasure to finally being able to produce a track with Tiff Lacey. Her vocals on Oakenfold's "Hypnotize" or ATB's "Marrakesh" were always on my favourites' list.
A few weeks ago we got in touch through her management, the result is "Someone Like You" a brand new Shane 54 feat Tiff Lacey track. (Ok, I'm not entirely finished it yet, but sounds pretty cool...)

...but congratulations to Dj Sterbinszky who did!

Today, VIVA Hungary announced the nominees for their 2006 COMET Awards to be held on June 1st in Budapest.
I've been nominated for best dj/electronic act!!!

"On Your Mind" is currently number 15 on the "Deutsche Dance Charts"

The VIVA Hungary Chart Show features "Altass El" as a new entry at number 36.

This week's official Hungarian Airplay Top 40, features "Altass El" the first time as it entered at 31.

Dj Tatana, Switzerland's most most popular female dj is just about to release her new album, and I got asked to remix one of the tracks "Brand New Start" for it.
The album launch party will be held on the 21st of April in Lausanne superclub MAD with Tatana, Smith & Pledger, Alex MORPH and myself. If you around then, don't miss it! )

The video for Shane 54's new single, "Altass El" debuted at number 18 on the VIVA Hungary Club Chart this week.

Last night, on his "A State Of Trance" radioshow - after supporting it the previous week as well - Armin played the Sean Tyas Hard Dub of "On Your Mind" the second time!

When a few weeks ago I got asked to provide some vocals to a track,
little did I know who it was made for, I just quickly received a demo with guide vocals and a tight deadline. I was in the finishing line of my new album’s production, so I needed to do it fast. I then heard the finished mix, but didn’t know much about it until Sean Tyas, who was responsible for one of the remixes sent me his work on the track. That was when I realised those vocals were for the new Beam single!
I was flattered. Paul Van Dyk picked it up, and started hammering it, Armin played it on ASOT, Steve Helstrip, Lange, also supporting it amongst many more.
Big thanks to Everyone!

Hello, there, this is the first entry in my new international blog, and I must tell you I’m pretty excited finally being able to post on
the website without additional help of an expert. I’ll put the Laptop Dj mixes’ tracklists online here week by week, and the archive
will always be here to check earlier stuff.
Why do I feel so exhausted, the answer is simple: my new album
“Laptop Dj” has just been released today (in Hungary only though),
and making it was one hell of a process: It took almost 2.5 years to finish it all. I hope I can make it available online pretty soon, I will keep
you posted about the progress. (Just like about everything else)


Here’s the tracklist:

01. Shane 54 feat Mester Tamás - Altass El (Album mix)
02. Király Linda - És Mégis (Shane 54 remix)
03. Shane 54 - Valahol (Intercity album mix)
04. Shane 54 - Les Maitres Du Temps
05. KFT - Afrika (Shane 54 Szavanna mix)
06. Letto - Requiem For A Dream (Monkz vs Shane 54 remix)
07. Shane 54 - 1000 Lullabies
08. Shane 54 - Vampire (Nu Nrg remix)
09. Pink Flood - Hologram (S54 Album Dub)
10. Zséda - Mindhalálig Mellettem (Shane 54 remix)
11. Van Eyden & Hampshire feat Shane 54 - Futuristic (Shane 54 remix)
12. Shane 54 - Attack Of The Evil Tomatoes (Shane 54 & Soliquid mix)