The much anticipated follow up to Ghost in the Machine, with Colleen Riley back on Vocals, Wish You Were Here finally hits stores.

You can pick it up here:
https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/164810/Wish%20You%20Were%20Here

The package includes an amazing "Deadmau5" style progression house mix from Jerome Robins & Zoltan Kontes as well as a unique take from Solarity that goes from deep heavy prog into a full on stormer. Also in the package, Trenix pres. Adumana and Erhen Stowers both with their own trancey take as well as KT's personal favorites Dirty Freqs bring their blend of electro to the mix.

We hope you enjoy!

-KT management

A very dear friend of mine passed away a few weeks ago. His name was Dennis Mellon. He is the father of the main promoter in Cleveland Ohio, Michael Mellon of Tru Productions. Michael began booking me a number of years ago. Since then we have grown to become very dear friends and not long after I started playing regularly for Michael did i meet his father, Dennis.

Dennis was such a warm and loving person. He had a huge love of dance music and was such a strong supporter of my music personally. You could often find him backstage at shows in Cleveland and Detroit, dancing and singing along the whole time. I would actually make him special mixes of his favorite tracks and when i was in town we would discuss all the new music coming out. Although he maybe 25 years on most EDM fans, his knowledge and taste More often than not Dennis would pick me up before my Cleveland shows and we would grab sushi together. I really enjoyed his company.

But beyond being a warm personal friend of mine, he also had a deep impact in my current success. You will find me crediting mainly three people for my signing with Paul Oakenfold and Perfecto, Dan Sordyl in Detroit and Michael and Dennis Mellon in Cleveland. Dennis also befriended Paul over the years as well and you could often find Dennis getting into Pauls ear saying "When are you going to take care of my boy Kenneth?" And after I signed with Paul, Dennis would often get into Pauls ear asking "Are you taking care of my boy Kenneth?" or "How is my boy Kenneth doing?" It was funny cause Paul would often come back to me and tell me that Dennis was asking about me and I would hear the same stories from Dennis.

It was just really special to have a fatherly figure in this scene. Someone who understood the music so well, had a sincere love for the music and who had such a strong belief in where i could go with this sound. I would truly consider him my biggest fan ever and i am so grateful for having my relationship with him. I believe God placed him in my life for a season for a reason and it really meant so much to me.

I will miss Dennis although he has gone on to a better place. Whenever I truly reflect on the love of the music, i will remember him and remember his passion.

So i got wrapped into a conversation on www.tranceaddict.com recently. I first spent a good few minutes responding to an initial response to a general question, then this question was posed in response to my initial thoughts so i responded again. This second response took me a bit to write. With my intense work schedule at the moment i probably shouldnt have spent the time i did writing this but i did. And with that, i figured i would kill two birds with one stone and make it a blog as well. Take what you will, enjoy! - KT

Originally posted by Dojomaster26
First off, thank you for posting.

Is there another way to gain that "buzz & notoriety" other than by producing
tracks? What should a DJ at the local level do to build that kind of support
for him/her?

KT Response:

Whats funny is recently ive had some people that were surprised when i told them id been djing near a decade. They thought i had started around the same time i started producing, which was 2003/2004. I was already playing 100 shows a year in this region of the US before i had a radio show or started producing but yea, i couldnt get a gig outside of the Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, Detroit loop to save my life. And the only way I got gigs outside of Detroit was because promoters from those other markets saw me dj in Detroit.

Bottom line, like any real successful business, you need to lay a proper foundation to support the weight of your business. In our case its all about starting from the bottom up. I see a lot of local djs who want to go right from their bedroom to opening for headliners straight away. I think this does a lot of kids a disservice. They get in over their heads way too early and never really learn the basics of djing. I see all too often kids who have a radio show and try to take what they play every week on ETN to a dance floor and it really doesnt work and quite often they dont even realize that the crowd they just played for was mediocrely impressed at best. They think they rocked it....
The place to learn "how to dj" (and im not talking about beatmatching) is in a small intimate setting, preferably on a weekly basis, not opening for Ferry Corsten. It takes ALOT of gigs to really understand how music sounds and works on a dance floor.

I encourage people to start a night. Like find some local pub or small bar, not too big, 250 capacity at most and approach the management. Find a night or club where they are struggling a little, Friday or Saturday preferably but even a Thursday or Sunday can work. Offer to DJ for free and make an arrangement to maybe take the door, charge like $2. Tell them you will do all your own promoting and everything, they just need to give you the night. Again, it needs to be a night that is struggling, that way they have nothing to loose to just give you the night. Another option is to find some small side room at maybe a bigger club that you can take over. Again, tell the management you will handle all the promotion yourself even if its for $50 a week. Keep in mind, its not about the money at this point, its about the gig. If your worried about "getting paid!!" at this point then go back to school and get a real job. The most common thing i see hold people back in this industry is EGO. Drop the ego, dont worry about getting paid, worry about getting the gig. Worry about the 10K a show you will make in the future, not the $200 you NEED to get now.

Once you find a nice home you will need to be prepared to work your ass off. Get your own flyers done, dont count on the club, take it in your own hands, make it happen yourself. Promote, Promote, Promote. At first you might only get a small handful of people to your night but your job then is to play the absolute best set you can to win over those few people. If (and thats a big "IF") you are good you will win them over and they will come back, usually with friends in tow. Also, be good, i dont just mean beatmatching, i mean, if you rock them. In your repetuare of music you need to find the tracks that work at that time, in that club, to that crowd. Every night will be different, even at the same club. Its understanding how, when and why to play what your are playing. Again, if all works out you will slowly grow and when you are ready, the bigger promoters will come knocking. They will hear the buzz about you when you are ready. Keep in mind no scenario is ever perfect. You will find the club business is a fickle one, just keep in mind you will have to do it yourself. And if one place doesnt work out, move on, find a new place. Once you have even an inkling of buzz other residency opportunities will present themselves.

I could go on and on and ive already kinda spent too much time on this hehe... But in a nutshell, start from the ground, do it yourself, BE PROFESSIONAL, dont "party" and be prepared to invest blood, sweat and YEARS to this. If your passion for music is deep enough, you keep your ego in check, dont get caught up in the "party" of this business and you just pound the rock your business will grow.

Obviously i didn't really write this directly to you (Dojomaster26) but generally to anyone who has a similar question of cares for my .02. I kinda had to figure a lot of these concepts out on my own. These are some ideas and thoughts that have worked for me over the years. After near a decade of djing and 4 years or producing i have had the opportunity to walk in some pretty amazing things in this business. I am still moving forward every day and still "pounding the rock". Its a lot of hard work, but i love music, it would mean the world to me to be able to share my passion for music around the world for a long time and I hope some of these ideas
work for you too.

Part two:

Originally posted by Gillis maximus
I dont want to get off topic, because this is really interesting, but what is the Detroit scene like ..??? Your mainly a trance DJ (correct me if im wrong) and Detroit is famous for techno. What got you started?? Who did you follow??? etc...


haha... yea, well kinda. I started out as mostly trance. I am still very large supporter of "good" trance... but only I play about %20 trance these days and sometimes you might not catch a trance record in a set if the setting isnt right. But i definitely dont mind people considering me a "trance" dj. I still pretty much consider myself a trance dj. I think nowadays trance is more about the set, not the sound. To me a trance set is a set that really focuses on taking you on a journey and with a combination of house, progressive, new school techno, minimal and trance i try to create a true journey through emotion every time i play.

As for Detroit, yea, it was really tough in the beginning. Honestly, i used to get teased by local record store clerks. I would be trying to spend money in their poor struggling stores and would get hassled and disrespected for it, go figure haha. I just did my thing, like i talked about above, i started my own nights and just built my own crowd instead of trying to get booked for raves and play for the techno crowd.
I actually thrive on that "do it yourself mentality", thats actually what Detroit is all about. Its that underdog mentality. Blue collar. You know its pretty rough when you are the underdog in an underdog city! But yea, i just did my thing, focused on my sound and put one foot in front of the other, kept moving forward. Its pretty amazing the opportunities ive been able to walk in as "a trance dj from Detroit" hehe... :

What got me started? Actually it was Paul Oakenfolds Tranceport CD that i finally had that "moment" (you know the moment dance music finally clicks and you finally understand it) Before that i wasnt into any form of dance music. I came up in the Detroit Punk Rock scene from high school on. Ive always been attracted to emotional music, Punk really hits those emotional chords but "trance" was really the ultimate experience connecting music to raw emotion for me.
Who did i follow? Locally, not really anyone. It was more through mix CDs. the Tranceport series, GU stuff. I didnt really go to the local raves, i wasnt into the cracked out drug scene or the ravey drug fueled music there, just the music i found on these comps and noone played it locally. There was one local dj who used to play a kinda proggy trance, John Pak. Amazing talent. Probably the best Detroit dj ever who really never got out of the city.

(I originally posted this blog a year ago, but in the redesigning of my page it was deleted after only a week or so. I had originally thought i lost the original text but recently found the journal entry in my computer. Im glad i am able to repost and share this experience. Enjoy!)

So I'm walking through the Houston airport. Its quite a long walk on a very short layover. Im a bit exhausted from a great night before and then a few rough hours of sleep.
Here i am, zombie like, walking through the airport when I hear something. In an airport of all places, its alien at first yet brings me from my drone state. There's a Piano floating through the air. I look over and in the middle of the tarmac there's a man on a piano. Probably in his mid 30s in a suit, just playing a piano. Sharing his music.

Being a producer myself and one who uses a lot of piano and piano sounding elements in my music at first I shrugged it off and continued my walk to my gate. But there's something special about a live piano. The simplicity of it, the warmth of the sound. It is one of the cleanest purest forms of music. No lyrics to clutter it all up and control the meaning. This sound is almost like the purest form of music production, limitless but immeasurably simple.

I walked over to the man and bought a CD from his stand. Shared a few brief words with him and was again on my way. Walking away and for some reason, really reflecting on this quick 5 minute experience. The experience brought back into focus the truest emotion and reason for why it is what I do. What we do. What true musicians do. To me, the focus is on sharing music, sharing emotion. Music is so deep and truly touches the rarest parts of the spirit and to make sharing it such a large part of ones life has got to be one of the most noblest things i think a person can do. How futile sharing music can seem, but how deeply important it is.

There's so many things in this business that can cloud up the meaning of this all. Sometimes it just takes something as simple as a Piano Man to bring it all back into focus.

Here I am sitting in a Starbucks in the middle of downtown Shanghai, China. Kinda ironic that i choose a "Starbucks" of all places to reflect on my world travels, but at least i am sitting outside watching the traffic and not in the air conditioned inside.
Everytime i venture outside my known world to another place, i still reflect deeply how amazing it is to be able to see the world like this. Its amazing that a passion for a relatively obscure form of music has carried me around the world. I truly do count my blessings and appreciate every moment of this.
To be honest, there are times that i do get caught up in the hustle and bustle of this job. In and out of a city in a matter of hours. Its times like these where i am able to sit back and take it all in that i am very very humbled in life.

I have often discussed how i consider a dj set as a piece of improvisational art. I love that aspect of this music. How you walk into a room, focus on the energy and just 5 minutes before you go on you then think about just your first record or two. Then a combination between the crowd, the energy in the room, the setting and my personal mood leads the rest of the night. At the end of the night, if everything flowed correctly, you end up with a vibe and an energy in the room that is so thick you can touch it. It gets inside you and its a high you can ride for hours after. Yea, there are nights where it doesn't all line up and its ends up being just a "set". Maybe not bad, but not magic. Its this flowing from point A at the start of the night to point B to end the night and every up and down through music in between, that together, the dj and the room are creating a piece of improvisational art. Its something that only exists for those in the room that night to experience. Only in that one moment. Sure you can "experience" that set through a recording, but truly for good or bad, its a one time experience that will never be relived.

Lately I've been thinking of life on those terms. Sometimes parts of life line up so stunningly that its just magic. Often though, there are times that are filled with pain and sorrow. Struggles in life that can cause one to question what the point is. I don't really know how to explain it, but to me, thats the beauty in life. Of each of our lives, it's a piece of art. Looking around i see so many of us everywhere. Its hard to imagine, but every life we look, every person walking down the street is full of ups and downs, love and sorrow, beauty and death. Beyond language, culture and even religion we all have our this journey. We are each living a magnificent flow though art. It will never be replicated and only those willing to focus will be able to share another ones wonderful, broken, flawed and ultimately perfect piece of art. People often say that struggles in life build character, i do believe that, but struggles in life are part of journey, part of the piece of art we each are.

Today, sitting outside under the sun in a strange foreign land, is one of those days filled with magic.

I saw it happen in person the other day, his life changed in a matter of seconds.

We are so desensitized to life these days. With drama filled news casts and instant online updates of every celebrity mishap and unfortunate exploit, we easily become blase about what is happening to others around us. But when you see it happen right in front of your eyes, a life changing action which most likely could have been easily avoided, it really hits home how fragile and delicate life is as well as, how easily we should be able to dodge such avoidable incidents.

I played a gig with Tiesto a few weeks ago in Cleveland. For some odd reason the hired semi-pro UFL security guards were finding a bit more than the average amount of people to throw out of the building that night. Given, thats life and thats clubbing. Get wasted, mouth off to a bouncer and yea, you might find yourself on your back end on the cement in front of a club. It happens. But, this one sorry guy really got the brunt end of the deal. I was hanging out in the front of the club with the promoter for a few after my set. A well-dressed, rather large guy was dragged out of the club, actually slammed out the door with a quick delay to have his face introduced rather intimately to the brick column between the outer doors, again, sala vie. But once outside, with the other 8 or so slobbering hooligans who were removed thus far that night for having a little too much liquid courage, this stumbling disaster decided to have a few words with the local police that were keeping an eye on the impaired group meandering in front. A few minutes later, surrounded by 8 officers, this genius decided that he needed to battle his way to "freedom" and decided to clock the skinniest and oldest officer in the bunch, whom, turned out to be a Sergeant. With a 75-100 pound weight difference in favor of the drunken clubber the Police Sergeant quickly hit the cement and the clubber quickly found himself on the receiving end of several tasers and a few good kicks from the surrounding officers. In comes the calvary and in that 2-3 minute ordeal, this guys life is changed.

Maybe saying his life is changed sounds a little much for a drunken scuffle, but think about it. This guy assaulted a police officer. I have a feeling thats a pretty massive felony. And lucky for him there were about 30 of us watching his wonderful display of anarchy or for assaulting not only an office but the Sergeant, he most likely would have been dragged somewhere even less public for a truly life changing beating.

During this episode, most people watching were finding the ordeal mostly amusing. I mean, who hasn't hung around outside the closing of a nightclub around 2am when all the impaired wonders are ushered outside and the 99% that haven't found a mate to venture home with decide to take their sexual frustration out in physical angst against each other. But after thinking about it for a bit, it really hit me how sad this incident was. This guy was at a Tiesto show. Not just some generic sports bar or meat market people go to with two options each night, find a girl or get into a fight. No, this guy payed a lot of money to see an underground dance act. I can just imagine him earlier in the day getting dressed up and being excited that the worlds biggest dj act was coming to his town. Then in his excitement and general social pressure, got up to par with the accepted general drunkenness society encourages from each other in that situation.

But, low and behold, this guy wasn't a happy lovey drunk, he was a pissy, angry, frustrated and ultimately very very poor decision making drunk. Its hard to imagine that a guy who pays $40+ to get into a Tiesto show is the same type of person who will sucker punch a cop in front of 7 others without a little inebriation. I can imagine this same guy going though what he naturally would of assumed was going to be the outcome of his night, getting jazzed up, going to a show, rocking out a little, having a great time, meeting some people and then going home with a memory of another night conquered.

Instead, he is now a felon. If he had even so much as a DUI (which unfortunately is kinda like a parking ticket these days) he will be going to jail for nice chunk of time, maybe years. This situation is going to haunt him for many many years, maybe forever. He might loose his job, he might loose future job prospects, and many other opportunities might be extremely hindered because of one very simple, very unassuming decision on a normal unassuming night.

This is all quite winded, i know, but i wanted to try to really explore the scenario and try to get you thinking about how simply this situation occurred. I wanted to try to convey a sense of realization of how dangerous our even unconscious decisions can be. In an instant we can change our lives with choices we generally make without even thinking. We can easily apply this to each of our general lives, even if we don't drink. Everytime we drive a car we can simply and unconsciously irrevocable change our lives by maybe not paying the best attention and accidentally hitting a pedestrian. By making the decision to ride a motorcycle a little too arrogantly and wrecking. By making the simple mistake of diving into a pool in the wrong end and ending up a quadriplegic for the rest of your life. By deciding to legally carry a gun on you and ending up in jail for 20 years for attempted murder by using it in honest self-defence but with a prosecutor begging to differ. And finally by being a bad drunk and making a decision to get wasted like any other night out clubbing yet with this one serendipitously leading to a irrevocable fork in the road of life.

Our simple decisions, weather bad, naive or just even unconscious can easily change our lives forever. There really is no U turn in life. We can change and make perfect choices for the rest of our life moving forward, but nothing can change the choices we do actually make in life. I personally was reminded recently of how close we are actually to the edge every moment of life and I wanted to write this to hopefully help us all to remember how fragile life really is.

Just contact me in Kt's Top Friends list with requirements, show name, etc. and I will be happy to help you out.

Thanks,

Jeff Rising

::July::

In a month that found me at home for less than a combined total of 7 days, July turned out to be quite a whirlwind.

We enter into July with a weekend that took me from Sky in Austin to Vision in Chicago. After that it looks like a few days of preparation before the madness which is the Perfecto Tour is to begin.

Friday, July 7th, I find myself en-route too Myst in Phoenix Arizona for the first stop on this 2+ week west coast tour. Im to join up with Paul and quasi tour manager for the first few days, Dan. After checking into the hotel I head off to hang with the co-promoters of the night, via Chicago, Jay & Lucas of Pure only to find out that the man of the hour, Mr. Oakenfold was a bit under the weather and wasn't able to make his flight out from LA that afternoon. As a form of panic seized the promoters, flashbacks of Mexico float through my head. At least we know before doors what we need to prepare for and that i would be taking over in the prime time that evening at Myst.
Although there was a sense of disappointment in the air, the place was still beyond capacity and we all prepared for goodtime. Jay Prasad & Timothy Heit are tagging a nice mix of progressive and electro to set the mood. Around midnight i stepped up not knowing what to expect from the crowdn, as i obviously wasn't Paul Oakenfold. The crowd had been forewarned but you still never know what's going to happen in a situation like this. But low and behold, the night went on. Arms in the air, for the next few hours we moved though peak progressive, nasty electro and storming trance. Around 2:30am things wound down with a requested encore of Ghost in the Machine and we parted Myst all smiles.
The next day the locally based promotions director for the evening, Aaron of CEG, joined up with me for a quick bite and said they were looking forward to bringing me back for another round in the near future. Holding true to his word, since then we have locked down Sept 15th for my return to Myst.

That afternoon I shoot off to Vegas where i rendezvoused with my wife Izabella who flew in from Detroit for the weekend. A little bit later Paul & Dan arrived and the late night escapade was raring up to take place. That night we were at Late Night Empire and our part of the evening didn't even start till 3am. The programming of the club is pretty unique as the focus, pre-3am, is towards the more commercial tourist crowds and the club flips at 3am every Sunday morning to usher in the best house music Vegas & the world can provide. Taking over the decks at 3 to a smaller yet growing crowd, i think i may have confused them a little with the near minimal beats i started things off with. But, with a few smiles and a wink the crowd seemed to wake up with Daryl- Phoskitos and the night officially began. Working them through some groovy electro and melodic progressive, Paul stepped up at 5am on cue. Still the crowd a little unclimactic even when Faster Kill Pussycat was dropped, Paul brought the anthems out and we were off. At 7 Paul stepped off the decks and i was up for round two this time bringing the tech-trance stormers to end the night. Sun blazing, we made our way back to the hotel mid-morning.

A few days off in Vegas and it was goodbye to Izabella as i headed off to Denver. This, for me, was one of the best nights of the tour. The club, Vinyl, was great. Perfect sound and a great crowd. I spent some time and caught up with a few friends, local DJ Nitmer of Norskool Productions and crew earlier in the day and they were in full force that night. Another sold out show and great performance by Paul. Joining us in Denver was Paul's assistant and official tour manager for the rest of the tour, Mickey. "The Warhorse" as Paul has taken to affectionately calling Mikey, is always great to be on the road with. He definitely keeps you on your feet.

That night we also get our new tour bus which will be out home for the next 10 days. 6am rolls around and we are off to Salt Lake City. The next few gigs, SLC, Sacromento are both great. A few technical difficulties to sort and all, but still great crowds and fun times.
Portland Oregon is that Saturday, the 15th. I have to say, driving into the city, Portand is one the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. Everything is just so green and hilly. The setting out the window is just amazing. Tonight we are playing Portland's biggest rock venue, The Crystal Ballroom, to a sold out crowd. 1500 strong that night as local, Tony Gordan wraps up a great set. Another amazing night all around, one of the top 3 gigs of the tour for sure.
After the show Tony took me over to a great little afterhours, Pala where i was invited to drop a quick one hour set as the night wound down. Its funny how 1500 people can have just amazing energy, but then 30 people in tiny little room, with the right vibe can sometimes have even more. We ended the afterhours, hands in the air, all singing along to a bootleg remix of Anna Nalick- Breath that Blake Jarrell handed me a few months ago. Im definitely looking forward to coming back to Portland.

Sunday its off to Seattle and Monday is Vancouver. The highlight of Seattle was local dj, Johnny Monsoon setting a perfect vibe to start the night. Vancouver was a great smaller venue with an amazing vibe. The only downside is that due to local regulations, the venue was shut down my authorities 45 minutes into Pauls set. Disappointed we proceeded to the afterparty with Cargo's Azim that took us till early morning.
The next day we began our 20+ hour drive to Lake Tahoe. Thanks to some stubborn radio stations (we shall not name) we ended up with a routing that gave us trips like this 24 hour jaunt through the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. And to make things a bit worse, we notice that certain party goer the night before had left us a treat on the bus that was going to make the trip a bit more uncomfortable... Ok, just so we are all straight on something, there is a General rule in all tour bus's, RV's and trucks, NEVER go ..2 in the bathroom. NEVER. Luckily though a few overly curious border guards decided to rid us of our little problem.

Lake Tahoe came and went and then it was off to my final gig of the tour, San Francisco. The show was at the famous Fillmore concert venue. One of the most famous venues in america, the likes of The Who, Jimmy Hendrix and the Doors have all graced its stage. The show was sold out a day in advance and the anticipation was high for the night. There was no local opener billed so around 8:45, 45 minutes after doors opened, i took the stage. I love settings like this. Nights where i can start the night out as deep as i want to have free reign to build the tempo at my own rate, ultimately having complete control of setting the mood in the room. When i went on there was 250 people in the room gathered around the outside edges. Loco Dice- Seeing Through Shadows kicked us off and we moved slowly though a melodic minimal groove. In no time, the place filled and the vibe was amazing. It was the perfect way to end the tour.

I flew home on Monday and had a few days to chill before i headed off to Canada for a couple dates on my own. But before i was off, there was one little problem to remedy. Somehow I was never sent the parts to the latest remix i had to do for Perfecto, Oakenfold feat. Pharell Williams- Sex & Money, so Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in the studio for the first time in 5 weeks, hammering out a last minute melodic breaks mix for the label. After the 15+ gigs in July, i had decided that i would take a few weeks in August off from DJing to hang out with my wife as well as get back in the studio. I really havent done any new original production in a few months, only a handful of remixes the few days a week I have been home so i am plenty antsy to get the creative juices flowing.

But there was one more weekend of gigs to be had before my self-imposed hiatus. Thursday it was off to Toronto to play for Sydney Blu and Christina from Rampant at the newest TO hotspot, Beba. Once in I caught up with Christina and we headed off the the Tranceaddict.com pre-event dinner. I've made most of these events that last few times ive been in town. This one had a lot of new faces and its always great to meet the local TA's. After a good time and a terrible chicken sandwich it was off to 105.1 Shock Radio for a quick on air set and interview. Resident Jelo was on the decks dropping some dark and groovy house beats. After that, it was off to Beba. Beba is a nice intimate house night held down by toronto favorite Sydney Blu. Thursdays are off the hook there and this one was no exception, the place was rammed. Sydney was dropping an amazing mix of tech-house and dirty beats and the energy was just great. I was actually a little nervous going on because she had such a great vibe going and the Toronto crowds can be some of the toughest crowds around. They will love you if you are great, but if you are even just mediocre, they will let you know. Right away i started out with nasty electro beats and it seemed to work. The crowd kept the energy up for the whole 2.5 hour set while i flowed from dirty electro and tech-house to melodic progressive.
After two weeks of massive big rooms, it was great to get sweaty and dirty in a nice intimate setting like Beba.

The next day it was off to Edmonton to play for Audi Paul and his new production company Global Experience at Fever. Audi and crew were great hosts and the gig couldn't have been produced better. Im sure the club would have liked more people, but that didn't stop us, we rocked that little room out till 3am, ending the night with all hands in the air to one of my newest remixes, Samantha James- Rise. Although, not the numbers they wanted, this was a good start for their new production company and I think there are big things in the future for Edmonton with these guys in the mix.

Now I am home enjoying my time off and my time in the studio. I have a handful of remixes to get done over the next few weeks and i have already laid the groundwork for 3 new original tracks. The end of August and September is already coming together with gigs in Seattle, Phoenix, Traverse City and Texas and the next Perfecto tour is looking like the end of September into October when we will do it all over again!

Ahhhhh... the month of June...

Its been a nice busy month over here. I started out with a bit of a break. I knew the end of June and all of July were going to be really massive months so i took only one gig in the fist few weeks of June and that gig was just a local one.
That gig took me across the river to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I returned to play for my old friends Remo & Renaldo at their new club, The Boom Boom Room. R&R are really starting to give Detroit a run for their money, recently booking the likes of Max Graham, Deep Dish, James Zabiela and more. Their main room that night was the typical commercial stuff that most clubs these days need to have to pay the bills, but the real fun happens up in their Sky Bar lounge.
It was leave the cheese at the door as we banged out a mix of melodic house and funky electro all night. Local favorite, Abdul was killing it as always with a melodic mix of progressive and house. Abdul is by far my favorite Windsor DJ and no set over there would be complete without him setting the mood as perfectly as he does. R&R definitely know how to do it and I'm looking forward to coming back.

After an entire week off and some nice rest and relaxation with Izabella I found myself back on the road in the middle of June. On the 16th I played the infamous techno party, Bandwidth in Detroit. Pulling out my staple tech-house and electro infused nastiness i have in tucked in my bag for nights like this, we all had a dirty time. The highlights of the night were Daryl- Phoskitos, Mohawk- Outerlimits and a new vocal bootleg i made just for this party of Nick Warrens remix of my tune, The Orange Room. The next night it was off to Indy after a few years away. Playing for my good friends Topher & Ben Brown, this was the inaugural event for their new Progress Events production company. Being as it was my first show in Indy in 4 years, their first event ever and just a few weeks after this new club had opened, the crowd wasn't what most were expecting, but we all definitely made the best of it and i don't think anyone left without a smile. As Progress gets off the ground I'm sure the people will follow, what they lacked in numbers that night, they made up with professionalism and i cant wait to see what these guys have for the future.

The next weekend i made my return to San Antonio and then it was off to Montblue in Lake Tahoe. Both events were a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to returning to both markets. Montblue entertainment director, Paul Reder, took Sunday off to show me around the Tahoe. Im back there with Oakey in a few weeks and cant wait.

That brings us up to last weekend. On Friday it was back to Sky in Austin to play for Jojo & Sam. I wasn't sure what to expect as this was my first proper headlining set in Austin but i couldn't have asked for anything more. The crowd was healthy and extremely responsive highlighted by a particular enthusiast that made the trek all the way from Philadelphia just for this event. Showing up a few tracks into my set and requesting the Orange Room right after i had played it, i obliged his long trip with an encore play of the original version later in the night. Smiles all around we closed out the night with Ghost in the Machine with the lights on and the entire room singing along!
The next day it was off to Vision in Chicago. Its been a year and half since i last played vision and i was really excited about the return. It was a double bill that night with me and Eddie Halliwell. Topher from Indy came up for the gig and it was off to Sushi with Jay from Pure. After some nice Dragon rolls it was off to the venue with Eddie on first. Fresh in from Ibiza he was trying to find his energy, but it definitely didn't show with his set. I had been familiar with Eddie but hadn't heard him play before. He read the crowd perfectly with an hour and half of great electro-tech and tough grinding house. He then moved into some big room trance to close out his set and hands in the air! At 140 bpm i wasn't quite sure where to go with the final 2 hours of the night but as a good trooper i pulled out the big guns and did my best to keep the energy in the room peaked. Tonic seemed to do a good job of grabbing the crowds attention then my brand new remix of the classic, Element 4- Big Brother really seemed to lock the crowd in. What came after was just intense big room madness! Tunes like Galen Behr & Rob Burns- Till We Meet Again and Dan Stone- Made in Bahrain kept the room glowing as we headed towards 5am and once again we closed it out with smiles all around with Mike Shivers remix of Ghost in the Machine, which seems to be my biggest closer at the moment.
That night couldn't have been any better, flanked by two separate groups that made the drive from Detroit specifically for the show it truly was a special night!

A whole 3 house later i was back at the airport heading home. I have 5 days till its back on to Perfecto Tour madness for most of July. This week finds me trying up loose end and putting the finishing touches on a few tracks.
If you are reading this, check my schedule on my main page and hopefully you can make it to an upcoming show! If not you can hear a number of these recent live sets on my upcoming radio shows on ETN.fm.

Thanks for taking the time to peak into my life, i look forward to hopefully seeing you at a gig soon!

-KT

Hey all,
I think in some capacity i should start utilizing this blog space. Who knows when or what i will write, but start to expect somewhat regular blog updates... to being with heres a copy of the latest news update on djkenneththomas.com...

enjoy!

-Kt

(taken from www.djkenneththomas.com)
KT News :: June 5th 2006

Welcome to the new djkenneththomas.com. The site has been in the works for quite sometime and will continue to see improvements as we go along. The last "news" announcement on here was from mid-2004 and was announcing the signing KT's first production, Preen, with Armada. A lot has happened in the 2 years since that press release.

Preen went on to sell very well on the Coldharbour Selections Vol 2 EP and Elevation & KT followed Preen up with their 2nd collaboration, Varekai, going to the new UK label Alter Ego. Varekai did extremely well with AE and since their first release Alter Ego has quickly become one of the best up and coming trance/progressive labels in the industry.
In 2005 KT moved away from collaborating to solo production. Although he does still work with Elevation they both felt if was time for KT to venture into his own sound.
He didn't waste any time getting the ball rolling. After being shopped around for over a year, KT's first track, The Orange Room, found a home on the the widely renowned Hope Recordings and was remixed by non-other than Nick Warren. The release recently saw its release and has risen to one the top 10 top selling tracks on Beatport.com and has received play from literally everyone from Paul van Dyk to Hernan Cattaneo and Deep Dish. DJ Mag also gave The Orange Room its highest review at 5 stars.
His second solo production, Tonic, found a home with Markus Schulz on his Armada off-shoot Coldharbour Records. The track first saw a release on Coldharbour Selectrions Vol 9 in January of this year and will see a full release on KT's first EP along with his new progressive anthem Achem's Razor.
We also recently saw the release of KT's first vocal project, Ghost in the Machine on Alter Ego Records. GITM is an emotional progressive groove featuring the vocal talents of Detroit's Colleen Riley. KT was so impressed with how AE handled the release and promotion of Varekai that when they showed an extreme interest in GITM he signed it immediately. They commissioned Mike Shiver and Elevation for remixes and the release has seen heavy support from the likes of Paul Oakenfold and Armin van Buuren.
KT's has also started working with Noel Sanger under the guise "Air Hustlers" and their first track, Downtime which also features Colleen Riley on vocals. Downtime has found a home on Harry Lemons' Bandung Records and will see a remix from Harry himself and a release later this year.
KT's also been performing remix duties for many labels including Alter Ego, Real Music, Active Recordings, OM and Perfecto in the past year.

Speaking of Perfecto, KT's first production, Preen, eventually caught the ear of Paul Oakenfold in 2004 and Oakey later touched base with KT at a show in Detroit in late 04. Paul asked KT to keep him updated on his future productions and dj mixes. A year later Paul invited KT to join him as the supporting dj on a small east coast tour. That weekend Paul signed KT to Perfecto Records. Since that time KT has regularly accompanied Paul on his North American tours and has done remixes work for Perfecto including tracks on Jan Johnston's forthcoming artist album and Oakenfold's new artist album, A Lively Mind. You will be able to catch Paul & KT on the west coast for most of July.

Beyond that, KT still finds time to fly out regularly to his own headlining gigs around the continent. He's found residencies in Toronto, LA, Austin, Cleveland and has kept his monthly residency at his home club, Bleu in Detroit.
You can find many or KT's recent releases on www.beatport.com and with the re-launch of djkt.com keep an eye right here for updates that will be alittle more often than the recent, once every 2 years.

KT thanks all of you for your years of support and enthusiasm towards the music he finds so dear to his heart!