Siriu2 talks trance family motivation, entrepreneurial music leadership, S2, past releases, and so much more in this week’s Artist Spotlight!
The artist who was once simply known as Mikey Shanley or DJ Sirius has since embarked on a fast track to success with a fresh rebrand as Siriu2. The new name is a play on his original moniker but as a 2.0 version, primed and ready to rise to the challenges and solidify his rightful place among the world’s rising trance stars.
This Florida Panhandle resident has set out on a quest to spread the word of dance music, taking his unique, out of the box vision and combining it with his electric and passionate personality. The resulting effect aims at drawing our community closer through implementing next level music production alongside motivational and transformational speaking that reaches out to the hearts of the dance family all over the planet.
You may have already been privy to his talent as his track “Lift Off” saw the S2 label boss garnering the attention of Appointed Recordings, taking the top spot on Appointed Recordings’ top ten tracks on Beatport as well as nabbing a respectable position for “Hindi” on Germany’s top ten iTunes releases. As Siriu2 continues on his expanding quest for breakout stardom, we just had to check in with him one more time and go even further in depth about his career thus far and his plans for future scene dominance!
Check out last year’s conversation with Mikey Shanley as we continue to follow and support this blossoming star!
Stream EDMID Guest Mix 116 || Siriu2 on Mixcloud:
As an artist on the rise, how does it feel to have already made an impact through your music, charting on Beatport with your singles “Hindi” and “Lift Off”? And how does this success help motivate your dedication to the studio and your work on future productions?
The Trance Family in the Pacific Northwest and South East areas of The USA showed me support that brought tears to my eyes. The Trance Family put me on the map! I found out that I had charted while double parked on Pine Street across from Westlake Station, in Seattle, and a warm calm feeling came over me as a major goal had finally turned into a major accomplishment. Since then, “my” Trance Family has grown tremendously. People DM me on Instagram daily from India, South Africa, and South America just to talk production or tell me what a fan they are. That has motivated me big time.
It’s hard when you don’t feel like anyone is listening yet you would really like to do this for a living. If you do it as a hobby after work, it’s different…I don’t do that. I’ve dedicated my life to the electronic community, DJ’ing, and producing. This is also why I make my motivational videos and do consultations. You have to manage your mind in this business, and I offer that to those interested. The motivation is there because people are listening.
I’m in the studio every day, and you can catch me almost every day with my live streams in the studio on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Come have a chat! Big ups to my good friend, and former student, Swift, for facilitating the record deal. He gets support for his trance productions from top names, has been played on ASOT and opens for all the big trance acts that come through Dallas. Dallas has a killer trance scene, BTW!
Recently, you delivered a special gem of musical art called “Transformation 1. Trance Family Motivation” in which you use spoken word over DJ Abscence’s “The Light Within”. What does the message personally mean to you and what impact do you hope it has on all who listen?
When the festival ends, we don’t have to leave the vibe behind at the gates. We don’t have to leave the feeling back in the city where the party took place. All too often we do leave it behind and depression kicks in. Instead, I urge my ravers and trance family to STAY in that higher state come Monday morning. You are more than just a raver. You are someone with DREAMS!!
Use the inspiration and believe in yourself to start your own festival, start to DJ, open that local rave coffee shop, get your body into shape, or whatever else. It’s ok to be afraid, but go through it! You are not alone! You have me with you! I am here! DM ME! You have an entire trance family! We could change the world if we just stopped leaving love and inspiration at the festival but instead carried it with us through life!
I can leave behind something that is more than just a job, my latest remix or screaming into a microphone… “EVERYBODY F***ING JUMP”. I have to leave behind my gifts by using them now because frankly, I’m not good at much else. I can barely type, I fell way behind on reading and math in school and I’m nearly suicidal when having to work a 9-5.
What I did find out at an early age as a martial artist and hockey player is that motivation/ transformation, coaching, mentorship, hard work and belief in one’s self works. Uplifting people with my music and DJ’ing is common. Anyone can do that. Where I stand out from every-single-other soul in this electronic community is that I can speak. I can tell my story and uplift the entire scene.
Carter Woodson in, ‘The Mis-Education of the Negro’ wrote, “If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”
I’m sick of seeing people demand to themselves that they stay unhappy and held down by a structured society that doesn’t serve them! To hell with demanding a back door!
https://soundcloud.com/siriu2music/siriu2-vocal-motivation-track-id-dj-abscence-alternate-high
Not only are you an amazing producer but you are also a speaker of entrepreneurial music leadership and motivation. Can you talk about what that role entails and what led you to embark on such a unique career path?
Firstly, the best thing for everyone to do right now is to keep in touch with me on my socials @Siriu2Music because I provide uplifting messages and inspiration EVERY DAY on one platform or another to set you up for success every-single-day. I say this because if you don’t consciously put good things in your mind, it will be filled for you (once again, read the quote above from Woodson).
Second, I wish so badly that I had some sort of mentor in electronic music/EDM/trance/techno when I was a teenager. Had someone said to me, “let me take my twenty years of experience and provide you with the work ethic it takes not only to build a fan base or chart, but to just live life. Let me show you some efficiency that I had to learn the long and hard way. Allow me to give you back the most valuable assets in life: “Time.” I would’ve fallen over in excitement and been a student of it for the rest of my days.
I want young and aspiring DJs, producers, hoopers, dancers, bloggers, promoters, and ravers that are future business owners to feel like they have someone to turn to. I want to give back to the scene what they have given me without even knowing it at times. It’s the love and rush of charting, but it’s also the love and rush of seeing a young raver couple at a festival that shoots you a smile and offers you a hug or a drag off their joint. It’s the feeling of the build-up and drop and as everyone around you dances and gets lost in the moment, you just stop, don’t jump, and just smile and look around and see the happiness…then you close your eyes and just feel the moment.
There are a lot of big things in the work as far as programs I’m going launch, but honestly, I’m a one-man show. I have no representation and it takes time when it’s just you. I’m in the trenches building it right now, and I’m loving it. I get up and I grind. By 5 pm, I leave to go DJ on the beach (I love my job), come home, sleep and do it all over again.
Some of the programs include a DJ/producer mentorship program (which will be where my record label, S2, comes into play), a dream/mind management program for those who seek to start a business, fitness program and more. I really plan to infuse my meditation, yoga, and vegan lifestyle into the fitness program. I just love leadership.
Unity among the members of the dance community is something that you hold very dear to your heart. In your opinion, how can we as individuals ensure that the old school vibe of unconditional acceptance and comradery remains a key cornerstone of our community?
We can ensure it by doing all the stuff that isn’t convenient to do, but we like to think that we are good at: loving your enemies. I just saw something about the whole Datsik sexual assault thing. Before anyone twists my words and freaks out (please don’t hear what you want to hear or read what works for you: actually take time to read and work on moving judgment to the side): we need to love him and love the potential victims and stop relying on the news to give us our truth.
If you really think about it, someone reading those headlines in the middle of Arizona (or wherever) may never actually know the truth. They only know what they read. Then they form an opinion based on that.
It’s funny how no one wants to read boring news, isn’t it? Funny how things that are dramatic draw a lot of clicks isn’t it? There is likely only a few people who know what really happened: Datsik, the potential victims and those who hold the DNA testing. Everything else that we common folks read should be understood as something read…not the indisputable truth because you were triggered with a rush of judgment and emotions and developed the idea that you were there via a news story on the internet.
My heart goes out to everyone involved in that, and that is a perfect example of how to uphold what you asked. Just have to have love for everyone involved because guess what: YOU WEREN’T THERE. You don’t really know what happened. All you can really do as a third party is have love.
Note: I didn’t say look the other way. I didn’t say that it was acceptable or funny. I didn’t say it was true. I didn’t say it was false. I don’t know. All I know is that when you have love, you can give love and you don’t only do it once you’re drunk, high, or realize you share the same opinion as everyone else and we can all rave on because we are all very like-minded. That’s not how you grow. You do it when it’s hard. You do it when a news story comes up in our scene about sexual assault.
You do it when someone hassles a friend of yours who might be gay and also might not be a liberal. Heck, this person may have voted for Trump despite possibly being gay and Latin because this person really believed that their stocks would skyrocket. Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. It’s actually not about what Trump or anyone else (the media, your friends, whoever) says or what someone says they said. That’s the illusion we so often give into. Instead, it’s about what you (want to) believe and think.
I could hold up a jacket that I swear is black and you swear it’s navy blue. It really doesn’t matter what it actually is. It’s what you want to believe or what makes sense to believe based on what you’ve gathered. You may have read the tag (perhaps a news story) that says “navy blue”, but the factory messed up and it actually is a black jacket with a navy blue tag. One person believes the color/hue that they see (me) and the other person (you) believes the tag that they read that told them what that company’s definition of navy blue is. Factor in quantum physics and if things change when we look away you will really start to question the simple black and white opinions that we are given and reduced down to.
I often look towards that which most might acknowledge but not actually put the time in with: yoga, meditation, being vegan, Jesus – not the church or some bad experience you once had (despite the condition of modern Christianity, study Jesus – not a religion – not a very edited Bible and what your local church cages you into and you will be astounded), Buddha, philosophers, psychology, quantum physics and so on. Do it when others are afraid of looking embarrassed. You practice PLUR! Easy to say, but can be hard to do. So practice!!
Living in the panhandle of Florida, it is very rare to hear of any event that stands outside of the bass music realm. In your opinion, is there a reason that the more underground sounds of trance, techno, and true house music have yet to have an impact on this region and do you feel that there is hope for the future?
I definitely do. The pocket of Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Tallahassee, Tampa, Mobile and so on has a TON of potential. You’ve got a charting Trance/Psy and Techno DJ/Producer and motivational speaker right here in your backyard!! Promoters, give me a call and let’s get something going: 412-427-9898!! Yep, I just left my phone number on a blog!
You are the owner of record label S2 Music. For those who are not familiar, what is S2 all about and what’s in store for the label as the 2018 season charges forward?
Right now it is my main release platform. I’m trying to build the label/brand up, on my own back, with my own efforts before taking anyone else on. I want it to have value on its own so that artists who want to release on it can be proud to submit their work to me and have a desire to work with a label that has already made some amazing milestones (like charting).
As I mentioned earlier, it will also be the major use for my producer/dj mentorship program. If anyone is interested in helping with the label, the programs, and the like please reach out to me. I’m all about collaborations!
Besides your goals for your label, what can Siriu2 fans look forward to when it comes to your individual artist career? Any new music in the works or plans on taking your talents out on the road?
I would LOVE to play more shows. What I see for the future is flying into a city, doing a motivational/transformational mini-seminar the early evening of my show and then seeing all those (and many more) at the venue for my DJ set that night, or doing a DJ set one night and a seminar/workshop the next night.
I love helping an inspiring people so it has to be a big part of what I do. Plus, being a Dj and producer nowadays really isn’t too hard. Back in the day with turntables, it was much more of a challenge. It just isn’t special enough anymore I think. I believe you have to offer people something else, if you can…and I can and want to…and do…and will continue too…
Finally, what has been the most challenging part of breaking out and finding relevancy among a sea of rising talent and do you have any tips for the next generation of producers hoping to make a name for themselves in the future?
The most challenging part is getting people to listen. Nowadays everybody consumes but nobody is a practicer. So many people want to be Armin…I’d rather be Armin’s competition. Friendly competition of course! That is, I do want to look up to him and I want to look to my side and see him. Don’t have idols, have competition. Don’t be like them, compete with them.
Bring some real value to the table. Make sure that value is authentic to you. I don’t do motivation along with trance and techno because I thought it would be a great angle. I do it because I love it and that genuine love became an angle that the Trance Family told me has value by supporting it and wanting more.
We are all very see-through, so make sure what people see through to is real, not just branding for the sake of fame. Stop being so scared. Get out there and understand what it’s like to not just talk about something or start something but COMPLETE it. The business is also very very hard and if you are serious (Siriu2, haha) about it I strongly suggest you wise up, put the gaming, beer, and whatever else down right now and do more than make a plan! Execute it.
Get a second job and use that cash SOLELY for expenses for your music dreams. Beware of marketing. You don’t need to spend a ton to get started. Pro Tools has a free version of their software that you can legit use like right now, to make a track. Use that in combo with a decent pair of headphones (I like audio technicas) and an $8/month splice account and start making music today with samples. You need a synth right away. Use samples.
Mix your tracks by A/Bing them with a reference and spend the time to get your track as close as you can. Don’t stay with a dying track. Complete it and if labels won’t sign it, release it for free and learn why it sucked and correct on the NEXT track you make. Don’t go back and fix, go forward and fix.
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