Cross the line with Marco Lys!

Eveyone knows him, everyone loves his unmistakable sound and everyone has danced to "La Tromba". Marco Lys is one of the most promising young producers from Europe and one week before his first album with no other but Chris Lake is going to be released on Beatport, he took his time to talk to me about his favourite XBox games, la bella Italia and his future :)




E: Lys, tell me about your first experience with electronic music.

M: I was around 15 or 16 when I started to fall in love with dance music. I was used to do my own compilations recording songs on the radio. At 17 I started to dj at private parties and at 18 to make first demos with a Commodore Amiga 500. In 1991, I released my first record and I still have it framed on my studio wall!


E: What do you love more – djing or producing?

M: Both! Especially when I play tracks of mine, the emotion that people give me is priceless.


E: What inspires you most?

M: The music. :) There are artists, who inspire me for a long time with their music. Sometimes I can get inspiration when I go to the club listening other djs, I get back home thinking about the records they’ve played. Sometimes city noises give me inspiration...everything is good for inspiration!


E: Are you the only one in your family, who is in the music business or is music in your blood?

M: I’m the only one in my family, but my girlfriend is a good singer!


E: You were born in Venice. Do you still live there and if not, have you considered moving to another country?

M: I was born in Venice and moved to a close city in north Italy (Vittorio Veneto) when I was 1 year old and I’m still living there, I love it. It’s a beautiful city, 1 hour to the sea in the summer and 1 hour to the ski slopes in the winter! A city I really would love to move to is London, maybe, one day...I’m already spending 1/3 of the year there.


E: Do you have other hobbies beside the music?

M: Yes, I like to practice sport and breakdance when I have the time.


E: You experiment a lot with your sounds. Do you use samples or do you create them by yourself?

M: I use both. When I started to make music many years ago there were no software synths or plugins. I was used to squeeze my 2 hardware synths like lemons to create new sounds. Nowadays there are so many virtual synths you can basically have all the sounds you need, this saves me a lot of time but it doesn’t mean I use presets as they are, I like always to experiments with the sounds.


E: The last two years were very successful for you. You released “Few Things” and “Mombasa”, and not to forget the amazing “Speechless”, “San Francisco Rain” and “La Tromba” with Chris Lake. Your sound is unmistakable. Were you afraid that people might not understand your music and have you expected such an enormous success?

M: Wow! Thanks for calling it “enormous success”! Well, I was not afraid but at the same time I didn’t expected it. It’s always exciting to receive good feedback from the people!


E: Your first album with Chris Lake is about to be released. Do you have a favourite song?

M: Oh, it’s a tough choice! I love all of them and each one has its own story behind it.


E: I’ve heard that you are a big fan of the Xbox360 :) Which is your favourite game?

M: Forza Motor Sport 3 and Tiger Woods, I see there’s a new edition of this last one but I haven’t put my hands on it yet.


E: What are your goals for the future?

M: I wanna start new collaborations in the next months, some have already started, I’m in the making of a new solo project and there are some more Chris Lake & Marco Lys projects to come, and I want to land a hit #1 on beatport...who doesn’t wish for that?!?


Thank you Marco for this interview. I wish you all the best for your career and for the upcoming album :)

For all of you who can’t wait any longer – the new album of Chris and Marco "Cross The Line" will be released on 27/09 on Beatport. I can’t wait to get my copy and until then you can hear some of the amazing tracks on it in the mini mix on youtube :)





Picture by artist