Triceradrops Dreamstate SoCal Debut Feature 

On September 9^th, 2016, I caught up with Triceradrops, a local underground Los Angeles trance DJ, at Zodiac by Subterranean Dwellers, to discuss and preview his Dreamstate debut.

big divide that separates mainstream and underground.  Triceradrops hopes to be that bridge by using his success in the underground scene with his loyal fan base; performing his style of dark, cringe worthy psytrance to the masses.  He has been on a personal journey with his musical career and has found his passion and his calling.

After interviewing with him, I caught his set and effortlessly lead a venue on a musical journey that gripped your heart strings as you went on a two-hour journey.  The music was hard with blended techno and psytrance on multiple levels.  You could hear his influences play throughout the set and I was privileged to see a musical genius making his own path.  His hunger for success will keep him moving forward and I know in the near future we will be seeing his name as one of the new headliners in the US trance scene.

Music isn’t new to you as you’ve been playing guitar for 13 years, but how were you introduced to EDM and what was it that drew you in? 

One of my best friends John Conner (Nathen Mata) who was my drummer in the past got drawn in by another good friend Tom. So it was kind of the new thing going down—drugs, music, and lights…ha ha..!!! To me back then, I used to say “…that music sucks…etc…”  Then, I just missed my friend so I ended up scoping it out, tried going to Monster Massive and that was a big fail with my friends Richard and Lisa. So the mission was to go to a rave and that turned out to be TAO (Together As One), since then I heard Markus Schulz and I fell in love with trance, the hype and bass was something I’ve never experienced!

Most DJ/artist starts from the DJing aspect then naturally move towards the production side, but why was it opposite for you as you produced first, 4 years ago, then to recently DJing just 1.5 years ago?

When I went to the L.A Recording school, I got access to Logic Pro 9 and a Mac.  My intentions were to record bands at first. I was just messing around producing hip-hop and then I tried making trance. I was first introduced to DJing and producing by my 2 best friends Antonie and Nathen. Nathen had FL studio, so I had a little fun then, but I now had my own setup so DJing never caught my eye at the time. I just wanted to make music, practice what I was learning at school with mixing down audio etc… My first gig ever was at Circus, a B2B set with my boy Antbadakk.  We played a really early trance production there for the first time, …ha ha…!!!  What made it real though, was winning Christopher Lawrence & John 00 Flemming’s Beyond The Limit Remix competition.  That email is why I thought to myself, maybe I could do something with this and I followed up with a release on Zombster Records Nyquist & Neuro Note, then my 1^st release on Pharmacy “Floor bomb & Synesthesia”, seeing Christopher Lawrence playing that track at 420 Fest, 2013, for the first time and seeing the crowd’s reaction was just the beginning, I wanted more. Later down, I met Yaniv (Orpheus), another amazing producer. He basically jumped started me and helped me get my production into high gear. I still use what he taught me but I made it my own. Music was priority for me but I started DJing for real 1.5 years ago because I knew that I needed to get good if I ever wanted to play out again.

Your production on Soundclound is insanely good, do you get a lot of top tier artist supporting your tracks? Can you share a few names with us?

Thank you so much, glad you like the tunes! Yeah I’ve gotten support from Sean Tyas, Jordan Suckley, Airwave, Indecent Noise, Mark Sherry, Christopher Lawrence, Jano and  Orpheus.

Any influential artist which inspires your sound?

Influence for production quality would be Orpheus, Mystical Complex, Jano and Bizzare Contact.  Inspiration for my sound comes from all over the place, life experiences, metal, dark hard techno, hard trance and psy.  To name some artists would be Diatek, APTA, Ace Ventura, Freedom Fighters.  So every song comes from a lot of different emotions.

As a former/current Punk and Metal bands guitarist, do you try to fuse and experiment with new sound in your production?  Any secret sauce you want to share for up and coming producer who are inspired by Triceradrops’ sound?

Well, no guitar will be in my music just yet. I need to figure that out still without sounding cheesy ha ha…!!! Secrets…? Well for sure. Learn the bass frequency chart and harmonic EQ, that will help fatten your bass up and sound cleaner.

How did you come up with name Triceradrops? Any meaning?

No meaning at all, it was a drunk night messaging my bud Kahn and jokingly saying “If I ever become a dubstep artist, I’ll call myself Triceradrops”.  He stopped me in my tracks and said to use the name.

“…That it’s fucking awesome…”

I used to be embarrassed by the name…didn’t like it! I bit the bullet and went for it …ha ha….!!! People liked it and thought it was catchy so fuck it, it grew on me …ha ha…!!!

Do you prefer playing one over the other better as in big shows vs underground?  And any big artist you would love to share the stage with?

I haven’t experienced anything as big as Dreamstate yet.  So until that day, I’ll know. I do really love my scene. Though all those people coming together like that in a desert or forest is just fucking awesome. Freakshow has to be my favorite so far.  Playing there is always awesome and the party is real…!!!

Any big and up coming projects in the horizon?

Next year I want to start my first album. Challenge myself with this one range from 136-145 bpm techno and psytrance. Another is the launch of my techno project which will be 130-136 bpm, slower dark fat stuff.  I want to release an EP at least to show the world what I got.

Last but not least, is there a quote or motto you live by and apply to Triceradrops’ endeavoring success?

Forgot who the dude is but this is the one.

“The only limit in life is yourself”