Raver Magazine - Winter Edition

raver Magazine

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH

PASQUALE ROTELLA EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS: PASQUALE ROTELLA - COVER STORY W&W TIMMY TRUMPET WILL SPARKS ZEAL STEVE MARIOTTI

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Table o f Conte nts 3 P 7 ASQUALE ROTE W&W L LA 9 TIMM Y TRU 11 MPET WILL SPAR 13 KS ADE 15 Z EA L 17 ST E V E MA RIOTT I

OUR STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Beas OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Kristine Kennedy CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tom Colleran LEAD VIDEOGRAPHER Bobby Ben-Gal PHOTOGRAPHERS Nhan Tran Tran Ngoc Nguyen SENIOR WRITERS Kimberly Phan Miguel Tost STAFF WRITERS Charolette Vosbeck Sandra Santana CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Dar Dowling MEDIA PARTNER Speir TV

a Ro te ll le Pa sq ua Raver Magazine caught up with experience creator, businessman, philanthropist, film producer, and night owl Pasquale Rotella. For more than 25 years, Pasquale has changed the way we envision the world of dance music. He is an artist in his field and master creator that has crafted a legacy through unity. There is passion in his voice - a steadfast eagerness to put together the best dance music event the world has ever seen. While some in his field fail to pay attention to detail, Pasquale and the Insomniac Events team dominate. They leave nothing to chance as they put forth a production that is grand and filled with one thing at the heart‌ The Love of Music.

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Michael and Shayna Perlman Sr. Journalists – Raver Mag. Cover Photo Credit: Dexter Coffman for Insomniac Events Inside Photo Credit: Demian Becerra for Insomniac Events Dexter Coffman for Insomniac Events Graham John Bell for Insomniac Events

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Raver Mag: What made you bring EDC to Las Vegas Motor Speedway?

There’s lot of places you can go. What brought you here?

Pasquale: The support from the city was a big reason. I was searching out a venue after being in LA for so long because we outgrew the Coliseum. It was hard. I mean it’s not easy to find a place that is this large and then a city that can handle it. The airport, how close it is to the hotels, and then how large the Speedway is. All the logistics. It felt like the best place. And there were some options but when the mayor came out with a martini glass in hand I knew that this was the spot.

Raver Mag: EDC 2019 is a stark contrast from the original EDC you had. It was a concert hall in LA. How far did you think this was going to get 25 years ago coming to now?

Obviously not the behemoth it’s become. This couldn’t have been in your vision. Did you see this becoming such an explosion per se?

What outside of, if there is anything outside of EDM, do you enjoy? Hobbies, activities. Or do you just on your downtime enjoy doing nothing when you’re not involved in this?

Pasquale: Whenever I have downtime, family comes first. I mean, family comes first regardless of work or anything else, but I do absolutely love surfing. I just actually started surfing a little bit more recently. I love it. I also - this is going to sound crazy, but I love going out to festivals, other festivals. I still go out and party with friends.

Raver Mag: Bonus Question for you: ketchup?

So on French fries, ranch or

Pasquale: For me, hands down ketchup. I mean I’ll do it (ranch). It’s a little different of a flavor, but yeah. Ketchup can’t go wrong. I love it.

Pasquale:

2020 EDC

I mean I did see a massive crowd. I used to dream about throwing events before I organized my first one. I used to throw parties at my house and stuff like that, but when I came to techno music and house music I imagined a sea of people that was endless. I didn’t think about one thousand people or 450,000 people. I really just envisioned…I was so hyped on the idea of it all and I just loved it and still love it so much that it wasn’t so much about the details, like how many people would come. It was more about that I want EVERYONE to come. Everyone needs to experience this. Everyone needs to hear this. Everyone needs to be touched by this in some way and check it out. Because I felt like it was so good for the soul and for the mind and such. It’s just this beautiful scene. It was a simple vision like that.

Raver Mag: Music brings everyone together. Music has no barrier; No language barrier. Everyone enjoys it and it’s amazing.

Las Vegas Highlights:

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EDC Las Vegas 2020 and all of Camp EDC sold out in record time.

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Insomniac donated 750 Camp EDC ShiftPods, hundreds of water canteens, and raised over $40,000 to help aid the victims of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.

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EDC Las Vegas is the largest dance music festival in the world, welcoming more than 450,000 Headliners in attendance in 2019

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Each nightly firework finale contains 11,600 gerbs, mines, comets, Roman candles, water falls, strobe pots and multi shot devices that will range in height between 100 and 400 feet.

Pasquale: I agree. It does something magical. Walking through the gates they become their best selves, because the culture does that to people. I love it for those reasons. It can be an escape, but for me it also feels like it centers me. It’s more than just getting away from problems in life. It helps my life be better and happier. I love it for that reason. It’s what I want, not just for myself but for everyone.

Raver Mag: Everyone knows you for EDM and for all these festivals.

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Your new banger is filled with so many positive vibes and energy, what’s the story behind how it all came together, especially with such a talented roster banging it out together?

Will sent us a setup for a new version of the classic Tricky Tricky, we loved it, worked on it and asked Timmy to record some trumpet parts and to work on it as well. We had to glue everything together in the end. Funny fact; we never actually spent time in the studio with all of us together, everything was done online.

AMF the center-stage of the world of dance. What was the experience like dropping it in front of the home crowd for the first time?

Playing AMF with Timmy, as 2=1 was super exciting, we’ve been good friends with Timmy for a long time and not to finally play together with him was amazing. There was a lot of preparation for the show and we were super happy everything went well.

You both are always in sync when you perform, it’s almost like you connect when you are on stage. That energy shows and resonates with the crowd, what advice can you offer other duos that are trying to follow in the W&W footsteps?

Try to both focus on what you’re good at instead of both trying to do everything. We are very different in personalities and have different things that we’re good at, and we try to make that as efficient as possible.

Other duo’s venture off in different directions to cover more gigs throughout the year, but you both almost always perform together. Why is performing on stage together so important to you both?

Our show is very energetic and we can’t do that solo. Also people know us as 2, so it would be weird in our opinion if only one would show up.

What plans for the 2019 New Year, and what’s in the line up for 2020?

NYE we’re playing at Marquee in Singapore that was super excited about! 2020 will bring a lot of new music both for W&W as well as our other project NWYR. Also we have a lot of great music coming up on our label Rave Culture by some amazing artists, and Rave Culture in general has a lot of cool plans coming up!

Bonus Question: Favorite Restaurant to eat at in Vegas?

Beauty & Essex in The Cosmopolitan is amazing and we also love Yellowtail in the Bellagio 8

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How old where you when you first picked up a trumpet?

I’ve been playing trumpet ever since I was old enough to hold the thing! My father taught me how to play the trumpet so I guess it runs in the family. To share my passion for music with my Dad is truly an honour and I’ll so glad he passed it down.

Who are your Top 3 favorite Trumpet players of all time?

Bonus Question: Your sets are filled with some much energy and emotion. I don’t think I’ve ever been to one set over the years where Champaign isn’t poured all over the down below. So the question if you’re a raver and your in the front watching a Timmy Trumpet set what Champaign can they expect to be drenched on with?

I only drown my fans with the very best, but I would be on the lookout for Vodka as well

Too many to pick just 3! In no particular order: Clifford Brown Miles Davis Louis Armstrong Dizzy Gillespie James Morrison (Australian legend and still living!)

What was the experience like to team up with W&W, Will Sparks and Sequenza on your new banger?

It’s a remake of a classic we all used to play. Will came to us with the idea first and we took it from there. These guys are the best of the best, and Will and I have been making music together for years. Really happy with the result!

The life of any musician is filled with challenges, what was one of the greatest challenges you faced and how did you find the resilience to over come it?

Every day is a challenge in some way and at the same time an opportunity to grow. I’m always looking towards the future and just trying to do my best work along the way. My fans are what motivate me when things get tough, and my love for music keeps it all very real. I’m very fortunate to have great people around the best fans and me in the world!

Zero Gravity must have been a unique and fun experience, what is it like to play the trumpet in the zero gravity and as a kid growing up did you ever dream of traveling to space one day?

It was like no other experience I’ve ever had before. I expected to be swimming around in the air, like it was water, but you actually have almost no control at all. You could touch the side of the wall with one finger and that could send you flying across the room. It was very surreal and I’m so glad BigCityBeats asked me to be a part of it.

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Will Sparks What is your feeling towards the original track by Sequenza?

One of the all time dance classics. Something I heard and loved before I even made music How did you meet Timmy Trumpet and W&W? I met Timmy nearly 7 years ago when he had a show at my local club Billboard The Venue in Melbourne. He was supporting my track ‘Ah Yeah’. Since then we have done countless tours and shows together. He’s truly one of my brothers. Always had each other’s back W&W and I met in 2014 where we played the stereo sonic national tour of Australia. Such great guys, so humble and welcoming. I was a big fan and still am.

You get to see a lot of the world. What is your favourite city so far?

New York is really cool. I love visiting the European old cities too. So much history You’ve done some impressive collabs over the years!

Who would you still like to work with?

I really want to get a banger going with Deorro and DVBBS. Work in progress. It’ll happen soon hopefully!

What does 2020 hold in store for Will Sparks?

Sparks Mania will keep growing. I’m hoping to host my own ticketed events around Australia - then across the pond Bonus Question: Favourite dish after a night out?

A good quality kebab. Can’t go wrong!

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Zeal Showcases New Sound with “Tomorrow” - Exclusive Interview

by Michael Beas Editor and CEO - Raver Mag Following in the footsteps of a long lineage of talented Australian musicians, electronic producer Zeal offers a fresh, forwardthinking sound with a nostalgic feel. Inspired by the work of Porter Robinson and Madeon, for his new single, “Tomorrow” Zeal started with an innovative and fresh instrumental, which he then decided to pair with the tight lyrical flow of rapper Paintriip and accented with the rich ethereal vocal stylings of solo artist Yohanna. Seamlessly combining deep basslines with chilled-out trap beats and elements of old school hip-hop, pop, R&B, and experimental electronica, “Tomorrow” showcases the evolution of Zeal’s music production. In support of his musical passage, the talented producer recently cut off his long hair to complement his more sophisticated and mature sound. With a plethora of upcoming releases planned in the near future, it will be exciting to watch the progress of this brilliant producer’s already promising future.

We had a opportunity to catch up with Zeal, this is what he shared with us...

Raver Mag.

sound and your own music?

Talk to us about “Tomorrow.” Everything has a story, what is the story about Tomorrow and what is the one thing that you would like the Zeal fans, both new and old to take away from your new music?

Zeal

Zeal “Tomorrow” started as just a very late night mess around on my computer after coming back home from Porter Robinson and Madeon’s Shelter tour. I wrote the chords and laid out the general idea of the first half of the track then went to bed. I returned the next day and I just really vibed what I had done, I kept working at it for the next week or so until I was happy enough with the demo to send it around. I think around this time I started digging back into a lot of my roots, one being older rap music. I always spent time listening to music and trying to find fresh and exciting new music, I came across Paintriiip on Reddit and he was rapping over older boom-bap beats. I instantly fell in love with what he was doing and sent him a message asking if he would be interested in collaborating on a song with me, after lots of back and forth messaging we became very close and realized we had a lot in common. He sent the song to Yohanna asking her if she wanted to be apart of the song, I feel truly privileged to have made friends with people that live on the complete opposite side of the world to me and that they wanted to create something with me.

I want all of my fans to know that I have lots of very different stuff coming, eventually my older fans will get some heavier stuff but for now, lots of very cool melodic and not as clubby music coming, expect a lot more to come from me this year :) Raver Mag. How and why has Porter Robinson and Madeon inspired your 13

Porter Robinson and Madeon are two artists in Electronic music that have never stuck to a trend or jumped to please the masses, they’ve always started movements and constantly innovated, I really respect them for that. I want to be similar in the sense where I am not trying to make things to fit any molds and I want people to know the Zeal project is going to be a very diverse and genre-less project, I’m all about experimentation and trying to be my best self. My older fans will know I use to write a lot heavier and different music, I still have lots of love for bass music and all the weirder stuff but I also love my roots which are older Electronic music like 2000s trance and older music, in general, like 90s hip hop. Ultimately I want to be able to blend all my interests and become a versatile musician, so I need to show early on in my career what I’m truly capable of.

Raver Mag. Where does the name Zeal stem from?

Zeal This is a good question, back when I was in high school (16 I think) I played a lot of League of Legends, I was trying to find a new name for this project and there was an item called Zeal. I think it naturally just stayed in my brain but the reason I decided this was the name is the meaning. Sometimes the way I find names is looking up obscure name lists for a letter and I happened to choose “Z”. I found Zeal and the definition being “Great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.” I think it described me perfectly and it really stuck over the years, becoming even more important as I progress musically through my journey.

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Raver Mag. Why is “Human Experience” as it relates to music important to you?

Zeal Music is like a universal language, in life we have very few things like this. I think music is the most important thing ever and throughout my life, I can pinpoint my memories through music I was listening and making, I can tell you the exact moment I first heard the most important pieces of music to me and sometimes the memories become more significant the more I like the music. Music is so special because every single aspect of the human experience links to music, every stage of growing and changing music is involved in it somehow. You go out to a store, they have music playing, you drive somewhere and you have a device that plays music to you, you’re feeling sad, you’ll turn on music to comfort you. There are so many different examples and scenarios I could run you through to back this further.

Raver Mag. Do you feel that the musical vibe in Australia is different then that of music in the USA and what do you feel is the biggest challenge is to break into the USA market?

Zeal Definitely! The Australian music scene, especially for Electronic music is very diverse. Artists like Flume, Chet Faker, Knife Party/ Pendulum, Waver Racer, Mr. Bill, and many many more. I feel in America there’s a way larger market which leaves a lot of room for someone like me whereas in Australia we’re very particular

and we know what we want, we love American music or Australian music, I slot a bit more towards the American side so I’ve felt I’ve had a bit more success online with my music internationally than here.

I think the biggest challenge might be having to tour around so many different cities to help build my audience there, it would be extremely tiring. In Australia, there are like 4 and 5 cities you can play in and that is your tour, you can do that in two weeks or less whereas in America you’d be going around for a month playing shows daily just to get everywhere, that’s such a crazy thing for me to think about. It’s a big challenge but its also very exciting at the same time!

Raver Mag. Do you miss the long hair or are you chiller sporting the new cut?

Zeal I honestly thought the transition was going to take a long time to get used to but I adapted pretty quickly, I think it was a nice change after having long hair for most of my adolescent life and I donate the hair so it felt good in the end.

Listen to Zeal’s new track Tomorrow

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AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT 2019

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STEVE MARIOTTI

Books That RAVE: Interview with Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), Founder and CEO – Steve Mariotti on his groundbreaking new book Goodbye Homeboy

By Michael Beas 17

You are the leading advocate for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship education worldwide. You also are the founder and former president of the global nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and the author of books, textbooks and articles exploring the transformative power of entrepreneurship for low-income communities.

(NFTE) is truly has touched and changed so many lives in the world today. Who are the top three graduates from (NFTE) that created and started companies who in your opinion have made a difference in the world today as a result of the program you founded?

NFTE has over a million graduates worldwide and I am proud of each and every one. There are three in mind that capture the success NFTE has had: 1) Robert Rifkin went through NFTE in high school in Northern California making his way financially with a DJ business that ended up paying part of his way through Columbia University. After spending a year as a white house fellow and then getting an MBA from Columbia Business School he spent years at Goldman Sachs learning finance.

Thing all came together for Robert several years ago when he not only began a beautiful family and also founded Compass a real estate firm now valued at over 2 billion dollars. Number two, is Malik Armstead who was my own student in 1989 at a summer business camp NFTE held at Wharton business school. Malik went on to Morehouse College one of the premier colleges in America and then was hired in the bond department at Morgan Stanley a Wall Street powerhouse. After several years Malik decided to go into the restaurant business founding FIVE SPOT RESTAURANT on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn.

The neighborhood was intense and I remember being concerned for Malik’s safety and soon I was proved wrong as not only did the business thrive but Malik started another business next door and bought two of the buildings on the block adding dozens of jobs to a discouraged neighborhood. His giving back to the neighborhood through scholarships and sponsorships of local artists and athletic teams made him a truly gifted social entrepreneur. James Mac McNeal is a graduate from my class in 1988 that I was teaching in Philadelphia, again through the legendary UCOP PROGRAM developed by Wharton Business School as a way to bring business back into West Philly at that time a difficult neighborhood. James (Jimmy Mac) moved to New York City and started numerous companies, that became leaders in the fields of BMX RACING and in developing and marketing successful hip-hop groups. Jimmy Mac was on the cover of magazine Black Enterprise for his company Bulldog Productions that manufactured bicycles for use in BMX racing. James was always giving back to those less fortunate than himself and is arguably the most socially conscious entrepreneur in each of the industries he has pioneered in.

Jimmy recently asked both myself and a leading designer of Shoes, primarily, action Sport shoes to help start a Union Square Shoes with him. Although the company is principally owned by Jimmy and Michael Hobbs the designer I am very proud that it was the second investment my own Mariotti Venture Capital firm had made and I think it will be a big success. Union Square shoes will soon bring to the market some of the most interesting sneakers ever design and at economical prices as well. I think it will be a huge success and bring many jobs to Camden NJ where Jimmy now makes his home, hoping to help turn Camden back into the economic powerhouse it once was.

What’s your favorite track or song, new or old that you enjoy turning up the volume for when you’re celebrating a victory in life?

Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run is always part of any celebration of an educational insight or the addition of a new and talented teacher to our community.

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