Talking Bass and the Pacific Northwest with Terravita

It’s no secret that we love our bass music here at DMNW, so when the opportunity came this past Paradiso to interview Terravita – we just couldn’t say no. Back in June, we had the pleasure of speaking with Chris and Jon fresh off their set at the Wreckage stage. While most interviews tend to include a voice recorder and rehearsed questions, we opted for a more casual conversation. What we got was a great perspective on the music scene, plenty of laughs, and lots of love for the PNW.

Terravita is certainly no stranger to the bass music scene. The duo made up of Jon Spero and Chris Barlow have been integrating Trap, Dubstep, and just about everything else into their sets for nearly 10 years. Aside from being a staple at Shambhala’s Village Stage and playing EVERY stop of the Safe in Sound tour in 2014, Terravita continues to carry that momentum across the country making countless appearances at some of our favorite festivals. With major releases on Datsik’s Firepower Records and Borgore’s Buygore, you know you’re getting some heavy bangers.

Sitting down with Jon and Chris definitely gave us a unique opportunity to get to know the guys better. The guys wrapped up their set and we headed back to their trailer for a cold drink (It was HOT in The Gorge). After we’d sat down we asked the one question that had been on our mind since August of last year “what happened to the Shambhala mix?” The guys told us they tried EVERYTHING to get the mix up, but unfortunately they had audio issues on all 3 tracks; the music itself, the mic, and the crowd. Their set in The Village was certainly one of our favorite from 2015 and we looked forward to hearing it again. At the end of the day, the mix was unable to be released, but it makes it that more special we were there.

While on the topic of Shambhala, we couldn’t help but wonder why they wouldn’t be returning for 2016. The guys made sure to say it was only a break and would be returning again. They liked the idea of their fans missing them, so we hope to see a glorious return for the 20th anniversary in 2017. Anyone who’s ever had the chance to step into The Village stage knows that the sound is top notch. The PK bass bins and accompanying Trinity array make for a bassheads dream. Paradiso’s Wreckage Stage shared a similar PK rig and was a perfect alternative for an absent Terravita at Shambhala 2016. At times you could actually hear The Wreckage Stage overpowering the festivals main stage… WUB!

Chris and Jon were clear on the fact they loved PK sound… and so do we. The idea that it gets placed on a poster and people sometimes mistake it for a performing artist gave us both a good laugh. They certainly favored playing on a PK rig over others and would often change their set if they were playing on one.