Interview: Psytrancess ॐ AtlantaPsy ॐ Georgia

How did you get interested in music? When did psytrance come into the picture?

My parents were a strong influence. My dad played bass guitar for our church and my mom had a record/tape/cd collection that rivaled most music stores (seriously her whole collection took up 2 whole walls of her apartment). Between the both of them, there was definitely more time listening to music than there was watching TV growing up. My progression to psytrance begin in 1991 when I was first introduced to “techno” by a show Jason Bentley had on the NPR station in California, called Metropolis, every night at 8 PM. From there I learned about raves, became an avid attendee and fan of the “club kid” culture and then learned about these secret parties they would throw in the Mojave. Everyone I talked to were crazy passionate about those parties. How the people were friendlier, how the open air and scenery just made the mood of the party better and how alien the music was. I finally got myself on the proper phone/usenet group lists that announced these events and went to my first desert party in 1999. It was true love immediately. I never wanted to go to another dirty California warehouse rave again and didn’t have to with 4 different crews throwing down a party at least once a month.

When you first started DJing, what was the vibe/crowd/venue like?
I first started DJing in my backyard at the private parties that ATLpsy would throw for the GA/NC psytrance family, the SpaceCamp parties. So the vibe was nothing but pure, the crowd was small, real intimate, and full of love and the venue was perfect as it was a home field advantage so to speak….lol. I have so much appreciation and love for all of the guys (Brainlizzard, Pyite, Puskara, Ika, Psyonic and most of all for CinderVomit) that helped me with gear and support; let me plug in my headphones and hear, watch and learn what they were doing; and more than anything, gave me the strength and encouragement to take my psytrance experience to this next phase, from dancer to DJ.

What are some differences that you notice in the psytrance scene that vary from other EDM subcultures?
Hrmmmmm…..in no particular order I would have to say:

• Audiophile-tuned speakers….psytrancers are extremely particular and finicky with achieving crisp and concise sound.
• Tends to be more of a spiritual overtone to the event, at least to the “heads”
• Attendance on average I would have to say is older, possibly (and I use this loosely) more mature than your typical EDM scene.
• Sadly, psytrancers do up the art/deco aspect more often than the EDM scene these days. The art was one of the most amazing aspects of the first generation of raves and it seems that the more commercial EDM gets the focus on the visual art has slipped away to nothing but a banner some lasers and a VJ, if you are lucky.
• Most of all I would have to say though that psytrancers are more likely to treat you like family (the good kind that is) than any other group I’ve encountered. I’ve got more friends all over the US and the globe just because of our common bond of the music and the love for our scene.

Tell me more about the crew that you’re with, AtlPsy?
As Atlant-aliens, we used to be limited to psytrance parties in North Carolina for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, the different crews that threw down in NC were great, but the 3.5+ hr drives were a little rough sometimes. The silly thing though is that we really didn’t know of each other until Tribe came along and Moksa formed a “tribe” for Atlanta. Together we discovered that we each had a skill or commodity to contribute to putting on our own shows down in Atlanta and thus a great group of clowns and shenanigans was born.

Psytrancess – Sacred Seed Flight 3

Psytrancess will be performing at Embodied Awakening 2.5 hours East of Dallas, TX at Armadillo Acres.