Professional BMX rider and now renowned DJ

His charismatic personality and positive outlook on life is so refreshing in a scene where attitudes and negativity can eat at you.  Not afraid to fail, and not afraid to get back up, Ben Snowden is transitioning from the world of X-games and death defying tricks to hard beats. A modern-day Peter Pan, Ben is writing his book of fun-filled chapters at a time, never losing focus on the idea that life is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest and you will never know how far you can fly if you do not try.

First, congrats on the long BMX career and all that you accomplished, especially with your accolades from the X-games. In the past, they have referred to you as Peter Pan, the boy who never wants to grow up; do you think that is still true?

This is so on point. If people had known my life story, they would very much say the story of Neverland could have been written about me. I love the idea of not growing up. The idea of always finding youth. I always tell people that dancing is what keeps me young, that is really the best way to avoid getting older, to keep dancing. Just in general, Peter pan is good role model for me and everything he does and everything he is about. Flying around, having fun, fighting pirates.

You are very competitive, how has that helped you in your transition to doing music and now producing?

I feel like it was definitely essential. Having the BMX background and almost being forced to compete is kind of the approach you need to have in the music industry. Although I feel that I am a very friendly competitor, I love to have the comradery with my other competitors, I want to be friends with people I am competing against. I want to be friends with my competitors. However, it did prepped me because had I not, I would not be able to handle the music industry, because some people are really mean and you have to be able to handle that. The music industry is so competitive and you have to be able to take a beating. You have to be able to get beat up because people will beat you up. And I love it, I can handle it. Be brutally honest.  If I do something that is terrible, please let me know. I’ll be honest, I have been kicked off stage before and it made me a better DJ.

Music and sports, especially those featured in the X-games have always had a strong partnership, especially when you look at events like Air and Style, so it is not far fetch to see you transition. How has the transition gone?

The transition is going so smooth, and it really was almost seamless as I slowly competed less every year, as I would slowly pick up more DJ gigs along the way. It was the best transaction ever. So I use to get paid to travel the world and ride my bike and then I would party at night. So now, I get paid to go out and party at night and I get to ride my bike during the day.

What is your end goal?

The end goal, I have two sides of it. One side is the DJ side, and from that perspective, I love to make the crowd jump. I love to get them completely engulfed in the music and the story. And I love to travel and I want to travel. If I could be not the road every day, it would make me happy.  And on the music production side, my first attempt to ever writing a song, my goal is to make a song  that somebody can relate to a moment in their time when something wonderful happened. There are certain songs that every time I hear, it reminds me of a summer in Florida. Everyone has those and I want to make songs that people can relate to and attach to good memories of their lives.

What are some of your musical influences? In addition, what sound have you gravitated to since you started producing?

A lot of my musical influences came from classical piano (started playing 2 years ago) and some of my first influences were Alesso, Swedish House Mafia, like the really big room happy sound. And as I got more involved in the music production scene, became a little more genre specific and as I started to get into some house music, I am finding a more comfortable place in trance music. I have had trance influences like Above & Beyond, but going deeper into more current psy-trance. I love what Vini Vici has been doing, even some of the DJs playing tonight, Kristina Sky, Triceradrops, actually I loved his set. There are some other people who really have been influential.  I feel I could just list off everyone. I also like the people I have produced with. I have produced with Trevor Yagen a lot, and his style has been a major influence. And some of the songs I will be playing tonight will be from our new alias tonight called Trice.

Your early music and DJing sound was more house and electro, but lately it seems you have been gravitating towards trance and really leaning towards the psy-trance. What is it about trance that currently holds your attention?

I mean it gets you in a trance. It’s labeled properly. Some of the very first electronic music I ever listened to was trance. It was some underground trance, and I don’t even know who the artist was. But I have always liked the consistency, but I felt that the music matched my personal energy levels and so that’s what I was very drawn to. Just fast, consistent, beautiful breakdowns, and that is one thing that I can definitely relate to in trance for having some of the most melodic and beautifully breakdowns, hard drops, hard chorus lines and just dancing as hard as you can.

You have definitely been busy and playing more shows both locally and out-of-state, congratulations. What does the future look like for you?  Any festivals in the future we should keep our eyes out for?

I mean I am doing everything I can to follow the Dreamstate festival. On a random side note, one of the most difficult things for an ‘up-and-coming’ DJ that is learning the direction, you have to make decision, you have to see what is going around, and you have to make a decision of what your goals are and research it. So this year, it has been finding out a lot of where I want to play and what direction I want to go. And one of the best ways to do that, is to attend events and festivals. So I have been actively attending and participating in events and shows in doing everything I can. It is way easier to set goals when you can go to the event, and you can say ‘yes’ this event is for me or you can say ‘nah’ this isn’t really my thing. I have some stuff booked up for the rest of this year, but I don’t have a big festival I am shooting for. I mean I was really fortunate enough to get invited last-minute to play a set at EDC LV. Clearly in the back of my mind, I am hoping to get that again for next year but in the meantime, I really want to focus on getting associated with Dreamstate and all the other different trance events being held in LA.

If you could live by one motto, what would it be?

Live fast and die! No, I don’t know. I use to have a couple of really good one-liners but I don’t know anymore. My motto is like what if tomorrow never comes, live each day like it is your last. I mean plan for the future, but really don’t put off what you can do today, don’t be lazy, take full advantage of the moment. And for any other DJs out there reading this, no matter what set you play, even if it appears you are playing to an empty  room, you never know who is in the crowd. Always give it 110% and don’t ever slack off because no one is listening. You never know who is listening and there is always someone who is paying attention. So never, slack off

Finally, Ben’s backyard is almost a suburban legend, especially with the YouTube videos. Why is your house so legendary? In addition, any plans to grow up in the mere future.

I definitely do not have plans to grow up. The idea for those who do not know what Ben’s backyard is, my backyard has simply become a mini Neverland. It was a little fun zone where I built a bunch of skateboard and BMX ramps, foam pit, tree house, trampolines, swimming pools, anything that I could think of that would be fun. It is currently under construction, and it will be a little more art driven, but nonetheless it will still have tons of fun all the time, and it is currently host to some of the best after parties that OC has ever seen.