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Terry Thompson (CodeRed) and Neil Kurland (SoulMob) are the driving forces behind The 5th Annual Future Classics Pool Party to be held at The National Hotel for WMC 2012.  This full day Pool Party features Paul Oakenfold as headliner, and a stellar lineup of top international acts and live performances from Ultra Naté, Grammy Nominee Nadia Ali,  Marcie, & Anthony Webster , Rae, Japan’s Studio Apartment, Italy’s Harley & Muscle, Tony Humphries, Groove Junkies, DJ Spen, Joyce Muniz, , and plenty of others!

The EPIC artists, and a massive sound system will spread across two areas of music. Sunburn Goa and Seven Amazon Brazil, will make their debut at the WMC during the Future Classics Pool Party with their own stage. Sunburn is an electronic dance music festival held in  Candolim Beach, Goa, India. The festival was ranked by CNN as the ninth best festival in the world. Seven Entertainment  is the biggest electronic music company in Manaus – Amazonas – Brazil. With two colorful stages full of amazing talent, there will be cutting edge music to suit all tastes.

What does it take to throw such a massive party at one of the biggest electronic festivals in the world? Marcie sat down with Head Promoters Terry Thompson and Neil Kurland to find out.  

MARCIE: Hey Terry and Neil! Thanks for taking time to chat.  You must be swamped with work preparing for The 5th Annual Future Classics Pool Party!

THOMPSON: Hi Marcie. Yes, I am definitely swamped with work preparing for our 5th Annual Future Classics Pool Party. It’s been a lot of work booking talent, securing the venue, stage and sound logistics, and the whole event planning process. But I love every bit of it. Especially, I love doing my part to keep Electronic Dance Music alive.

MARCIE: How long have you been at work on this year’s event?

THOMPSON: Well, it really started at the end of our WMC event last year. My partner Neil Kurland and I wanted to keep the momentum going, so we started looking at what we wanted to bring to the people this year. Something a little different, but not too crazy or over the top. But certainly Futuristic!

MARCIE: How do you keep up your energy?

THOMPSON:  That is a great question. I’ve been wearing so many hats over the years, that I got use to being very busy. I am always hyper and full of energy. I work 9-5 as a banker type for a major finance company. I am visual artist. I mostly create abstract oil paintings and collages at night. Then I also find time to dj and produce music. I’m very lucky to not have a busy travel schedule. I bet that would slow me down real fast. :>) I admire all of the djs that travel from country to country to play gigs. I could do it once or twice a year. But it would take too much time from my family.

MARCIE: You had a huge success last year with your party headlined by Danny Tenaglia. What was the highlight of last years party?

THOMPSON:  Last year was truly amazing. Danny poured his heart out preparing for the event. He created some amazing reworks of disco classics and new versions of Basement Boys house music hits. He dropped pure bombs during his set. We needed at least five additional hours for him to really do his magic. We had the legendary Basement Boys together for the first time in years to celebrate their 20th Anniversary in House Music. The amazing Crystal Waters celebrated her 20th anniversary of her smash global hit Gypsy Women. The party started at 12 noon. I played the opening set on the main stage and it was non-stop madness all day. We had reached capacity by 5pm. It was totally insane. The crowd came to have a great time and enjoy massive performance by all of the djs and artists. I think the crowd really love the mixture of live PAs and djs. Miami is such a great for a pool party. There is nothing better than have fun for 10 hours or more in the open air by the pool with awesome sounds. Pure heaven. That’s why we are doing it again.

KURLAND: Well for me the highlight of the party was the amount of people that came out to support us. We were filled completely to capacity with hands in the air till the last record, with the people screaming for more!

MARCIE: What was the craziest moment?

THOMPSON: There was a guy walking through the crowd with an ipad during Shelia Ford and Bibilical Jones, (Member of the Muthafunkas), performance. He had some funny tags on the screen. Like “Welcome to Miami Bitch”, and “Free Sex”.  Other than that, the crowd was amazing. So great. We loved them so much.

MARCIE:  How many times have you been to WMC?

THOMPSON:  I started going in 2004. I only spent three days in Miami on my first trip. I arrived on Saturday and left at 9am in the morning after Monday after one and a half hours of sleep the night before. I went to a party at Crobar that had Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, and Bobby D’Ambrosia

MARCIE: What made you decide to throw parties?

THOMPSON:  A couple of Miami dj/promoters from Nikki Beach offered me a venue in 2008 to host a party. I had just had a big record on Defected/CodeRed called “Shine”. That opened the doors in so many ways.

MARCIE: Are you happy that Ultra and WMC are back on the same week this year?

THOMPSON: I say yes because in the end, we are all in it for the love of EDM. I love the soulful house, big room, trance, progressive and tribal. I love it all.  It’s great to go to different types of parties in the same week.

KURLAND: I am happy that the two are combining. I believe that this week is all about the music in all its forms. With this platform every type of EDM will be represented and that’s what music is all about, self expression in all forms.

(Rae & Ultra Naté)

MARCIE:  Neil, Tell me about your company, Soul Mob Productions. Your Visionary Solstice Gatherings feature digital media tapestries, and “Living Galleries”. Can you give readers an example of what this entails?

KURLAND: Soul Mob Productions is a company that pushes the boundaries of art and music. We bring together the biggest visionary artists and musicians around the globe.
Our digital media tapestries and Living Galleries consist of live Black light performance art, Full body reactive black light paint, massive art pieces with led moving lights, and live projections by some of the most talented VJ’s on the planet.

(Marcie & Nadia Ali)

MARCIE: What do you like best about djing in Miami?

KURLAND: What I like best is the melting pot of people from all around the world. Its great to perform and drop my latest releases in front of such a global audience. It inspires me as an artist and event producer.

MARCIE:  What is going to make this year’s Future Classics Party stand out?

KURLAND: This year we have two areas of music powered by the massive Void Sound System with multiple genres of EDM from some of the most accomplished artists from around the globe featuring: Paul Oakenfold, Nadia Ali, Tony Humphries, Studio Apartment, DJ Spen, Rae, Basement Boys, Marcie, Terry Thomson and Neil Kurland and the list goes on.

THOMPSON:  We reached out beyond our comfort zone to build the best lineup of talent from around the globe. We partnered with Sunburn Goa and Seven Amazon of Brazil to bring some amazing elements to our event.

KURLAND: Our second area of music we will be featuring artist’s from Sunburn Goa (Largest festival in India) and Brazilian artist’s from Seven Amazon Brazil.

THOMPSON: Seven Amazon is Brazil’s premier EDM event brand. They have hosted some amazing parties in their country and we are excited to have them participate as well. The National Hotel is amazing. It’s going to be a great party.

KURLAND: We are also having an after-party this year at at the Shore Club’s Red Room featuring some surprise guests from around the globe.

We will see you on the dance floor!

Early Bird Tickets are already sold out! Get your tickets  HERE

More Info HERE

Posted in: Events, Interviews | Posted on February 16, 2012 by MarcieJoy