Pic Schmitz was born in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, on March 8th, 1980. His baptismal name ‘Pedro Henrique’ soon turned into the nickname that has followed him since his childhood: ‘P, for Pedro, and ‘ique’, last letters of Henrique, forming the word “Pique”, which would finally turn into “Pic”. Pic was introduced into the musical universe at an early age through his junior school music lessons, as well as by his family, as his mother always loved MPB (acronym for Brazilian Popular Music), while his father was a fan of jazz and classical music.
In 1985, his oldest sister turned 15. In charge of the music for the party, the company Vento Norte Sonorização had a DJ called Cako Bolsoni, the man who a few years later would become Pic’s music guru and tutor. On that day, Pic - who was only 5 years old - felt incredibly at ease amidst a bunch of sound equipment and records and ended up spending the whole party right there. It was his first experience inside a DJ booth, something he would never forget.
Pic’s two older sisters used to throw parties with their friends at their house and listen to hype bands of the 80s, such as The Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode, Sting and Brazilian bands, like the Paralamas do Sucesso. Pic would always get to sneak into those gatherings and would often take charge of the choice of the next record, as soon as the needle reached the end of the previous vinyl. This way, he got to know a great number of bands and could play their songs at the first parties at his friends’ houses, when he usually looked after the music selection. On the other hand, whenever he was not in charge of the music, he would always stay around the DJs observing and learning from them, in particular when Mister Ivan - a well-known name of the Porto Alegre party scene at that time – was performing.
Music was present in his daily life. In his old blue Walkman, Pic would listen to K-7 tapes of Brazilian artists like Titãs and Legião Urbana. Everything started to change in 1993, when his close friend’s sister celebrated her 11th birthday. Her mother needed someone to play the music and instead of hiring a professional DJ, pictured in Pic someone who could do the job. The invitation was made, and Pic did not hesitate to take it on. On that day - May 7th, 1993 - Pic Schmitz officially became a DJ at the age of 13.
As the years went by, Pic started to get more and more requests to play at his friends’ birthday parties, school friends’ parties and so on. He got to save up a few bucks to invest in records and when he finally got to purchase his first professional device, he talked to DJ Cako Bolsoni and asked for some more advanced tips. It was time to take that hobby into a new level! Those events had become quite frequent, and Pic used to do everything on his own, except driving the ‘Kombi’ he hired on party days, as he did not have a driving license yet at that age. First, he needed to carry the equipment, speakers, and records to the party. Then, he would set up the DJ station and test it. Doing the DJ work at that time meant playing for the whole night – sometimes for 12 hours straight! Finally, at the end of the event, he needed to pack up all the gear and carry it into the Kombi again. It was an extremely tiring and demanding job that took the whole weekend, but it was also very rewarding.
At the Christmas of 1998, the ‘Quebra Tudo’ Party – held by some of Pic’s sister’s friends – was all set to take place. It all changed when only two days before the event, the main DJ of the party had to call off his participation due to personal matters. Pic met up with one of the party hosts and was invited to take on the job. He’d been used to playing at smaller events to no more than 200 people, but he didn’t think twice before accepting the challenge to play at the main ‘Quebra Tudo’ dance floor for over 4.500 people! It was his first big event, and everything came out so well that he became a resident DJ of the party.
The number of parties increased, so Pic and some friends set up a company - Zapp Sonorização. There was more work to be done, but now he had more people helping out. Several popular events in the city started to be run by Pic and his mates, providing him even more expertise and networking. A few years later, Zapp was sold to Plug Sonorização and Pic carried on with his activities, this time exclusively as a DJ, no longer being necessary to worry about pre- and post-event duties, such as the equipment set up.
Now Pic had the time to focus and improve on what had always been his passion: music! He went on getting recognition and was cast to play at some of the main parties and clubs of Rio Grande do Sul – his state in South Brazil - such as DaDo Bier, Rocky Point, Liquid, Veneza, NEO, República de Madras, Cozumel, La Barra and Jimbaran, among others. Soon he began performing in other states of the country, including venues like Ludh, KM7 e Winter Play in Florianopolis (Santa Catarina) and the Disco Club, in São Paulo. Another highlight is New Year’s Eve party at La Fiesta de Punta del Este, Uruguay, where he has played since 2004.
In spite of taking the job of DJ very seriously, Pic was not sure if he could fully rely on it as his only profession, so he always thought it was important to carry on with his formal education. He graduated in Business Administration in 2004 and went on to take a post-graduation degree. He worked at important companies, always alongside with his DJ career. It was only in 2007-2008, period when he used to work at his father’s company during the day and as a DJ during the weekends, that he realized his health had been paying the price for such exhaustive routine. Pic did as much as he could to handle both careers at the same time. Then, Sandro Horta, one of the people in charge of managing his career until today, invited Pic to join the team of artists of his new agency, DJcom, based in Curitiba. It was the opportunity he’d been waiting for to win Brazil over.
That important step, however, took its toll. Being more and more cast to parties, Pic had to give up his ‘daytime-job’ to go on pursuing his dream of a solo DJ career. It was one of the most difficult decisions he ever took, because it was not a simple job he was quitting. It was his family business. Pic was following his dream - as he told his father - and he would take that challenge with his best commitment to grow even more.
Over the following years, Pic had a lot of work and success, proving that he’d made the right decision to solely commit to this profession! During this new phase, Pic’s new logomark and visual identity were designed, and he set off on the road to perform all over Brazil, taking more than 150 flights in a year and driving thousands of kilometers. Pic became a regular attraction at acclaimed nightclubs, such as Green Valley (Balneário Camboriú), Disco (São Paulo), Winter Play, Café de la Musique e Posh (Florianópolis), Pink Elephant (Porto Alegre), Boox e Miroir (Rio de Janeiro) e Liqüe (Curitiba). He also played in several countries, including the United States, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Netherlands, Peru, Greece, Paraguay, and Morocco. He opened for ex-Beatle Paul McCartney in his Porto Alegre concert, in 2010, for 55 thousand people and was DJ at Mick Jagger’s private party in Porto Alegre, after the Rolling Stones show in the city. In addition, he played at the official party at the ‘Jogo Contra a Pobreza’ (Match against Poverty), a charity football match organized by former players Ronaldo and Zidane.
Pic reached success at his music production debut, remixing Marvin Gaye’s classic “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”, which was acclaimed by world-renowned artists such as DJ Meme and Grant Nelson. Pic also produced hundreds of other songs, among which we can highlight the remake of Jota Quest’s “Dentro de um Abraço”, which reached over 1 million Spotify streams.
And the story goes on...
Pic Schmitz, from Rio Grande do Sul, is one of the main names in the Brazilian electronic scene and has a long career with more than 2,000 performances. His sets are heavily influenced by house music classics, but also have the versatility of current trends, filling every corner of the dance floor with good music and lots of energy.
Pic has already been present in the main clubs and parties in Brazil and around the world such as Encore Las Vegas, Ultra Music Festival Peru, Privilège Ibiza, Blue Marlin Ibiza, Hed Kandi Amsterdam, Ibiza and Punta del Este, as well as residency at Reveillón Unique Punta del Este , Winter Play, Posh Club and Café de la Musique Floripa, Provocateur Porto Alegre, among many others.
Regarding their musical productions, the remix of the song “Dentro de um Abraço” by the famous Brazilian band Jota Quest stands out, which has already reached the mark of 1 million plays on Spotify, in addition to the success of the versions of “Primeiros Erros (Chove) ” and “Lágrimas e Chuva” with Toni Garrido and George Israel, as well as the authorial productions “The World Goes Round”, “It's True” and “I Don't Care”.