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Trance Jesus
Happy Friday, Trance family. Chris Blackburn, aka Trance Jesus. Here we are in my hometown in Minneapolis. Yes, the Timberwolves are playing their first, or now's 1st, 2nd round game. It's the second time ever that they made the second round of playoffs. And so it just happened to be great timing that we had a special guest in town, actually, too. We'll talk to the other one at our next interview, but one is a fellow HQ Bookings artist. He has released a number of tracks on multiple labels from Future Sound in Egypt, our favorite regenerate, and much more. And we'll ask you about some of the other tracks that he has in the works. And coming from Sunny Phoenix, let's say hello to Niko Zografos.
Niko Zografos
How's it going, bro?
Trance Jesus
It took me a while to get that right, the Zografos part,
Niko Zografos
But you nailed it!
Trance Jesus
I nailed it. Finally nailed it. It took me a while, but I've got it down pat. Great having you in Minneapolis - perfect weekend to actually come. Weather is great. Lots of activity downtown. It's not January, it's not cold. Especially coming from Phoenix. That would have been quite a shock.
Niko Zografos
It's a little break from the 90 degree weather, which is nice.
Trance Jesus
Yeah. And especially, like, you, you're probably right on the cusp of, like, that. Real hot. 4,5,6 months of just 100-degree weather.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, yeah, probably. I think, like, June is when. And we'll get that six digits. And, I mean, ninety's great. Like, I like it. You know, it's dry heat kind of thing, but, yeah, especially July and August. That's gonna be brutal. But, yeah, good excuse to travel, seeing.
Trance Jesus
On the news where people are, like, cracking their eggs on the. The asphalt and it oughta rise up and then, like, people's tires melting to the asphalt. And then I think there was one point last year I saw it's like 140 or 150 out there in, like, the Death Valley area.
Niko Zografos
Oh, Jesus.
Trance Jesus
Yeah, it was great. It's, uh. It should be interesting to see what this summer has at all, especially here in Minnesota having a short winter.
Niko Zografos
Oh, my English.
Trance Jesus
How has the change been coming from the Bay Area to Phoenix and kind of that adjustment since you're pretty new to the Phoenix area?
Niko Zografos
It's fun. I mean, I've grown up in the Bay Area with my old life there. Different areas mostly like the peninsula and the South Bay. But I mean, the weather obviously is warmer. The scene, as far as trance goes, I feel like was more regular prior to COVID and is only now starting to pick back up. But I still feel like it's missing a lot of names that you usually would see in a city that has an established trance scene. So I'm taking it on like a personal challenge to see how I can, how I can help the scene out there.
Dreamstate San Francisco 2018
I'm not sure if there's really anything else I could do in San Francisco other than stay active, you know, a couple times a year. It's always been a strong, one of the strongest cities of the US for Trance. And, you know, with living in Arizona, I'm actually a little bit closer to San Diego. So yeah, I'm looking forward to getting there, getting out there more. And it is not far from LA, so it's from arms reach distance so to speak. So I still have my hand out in my home state, but also take on a new challenge.
Trance Jesus
I love that.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, exactly.
Trance Jesus
Especially being so close to San Diego. The Trancension crew, another Niko up with it and Eric, they're doing some great things out there. And you're actually closer to San Diego in Phoenix than I am to Chicago. Chicago is like 7 hours interesting. And they're also another market that has really, I'd say probably within the last six, nine months or so have started to ramp back up to where they were pre COVID because they were also another big scene. Everyone would go to Chicago. We would regularly do turn and burns and go to Chicago where we book a flight for 7p at night and be back by like 10a the next morning. We'd see Ferry, Marcus and a whole bunch of other artists, and pre COVID flights were a lot cheaper too. So right now we don't have that luxury.
Niko Zografos
Right now, unfortunately, that is the truth.
Trance Jesus
But awesome. So taking on a new market. I know I got that experience here in Minneapolis and trying to do what we can as stewards of Trance. Outside of being that steward of Trance you played a show and Phoenix here recently. Tell us a little bit about that.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, it's Sunbar in Tempe with Relentless Beats. It went really well. I had a little Phoenix Trance Family meetup beforehand and people were there, they were vibing. It was great. A lot of people talked to me after my set and it was just fun playing a new venue, a new city, new home city, really. And I should be back in there in the coming months, definitely. You know, the promoter, Relentless Beats, was really happy with it.
Niko at Sunbar in Tempe
So, you know, ideally, I would like to do 3-4 quality shows there a year where I play. That way it's not too much. Keep it special. Obviously, I hope for more trends than 3-4 shows a year. But, you know, when I play that, that's what I'd like to shoot for.
Trance Jesus
Yeah, that's always a challenge to kind of is that scene and the market starts to build up. I know we have experience, especially in the San Francisco. LA is where you can go and sometimes have two shows a night. I've seen some nights where I've been in LA and there's been three train shows a night. And I'm like, it must be nice to have, there's a pretty big city as the road, but to be able to have that community and build it and so it's just something that takes, so.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, exactly. And you don't want to oversaturate it. You want to, like, if people can. I learned from my, my early days as a resident DJ at Ruby Skye. Like, you know, when I was first playing there, you could see me, you know, multiple times a month. But, yeah, when you become an established producer and people get to know you more and more, if you play too much, if they could see you this weekend, why are they going to, why are they going to come and see you the following weekend or vice versa? You kind of lose your, it comes oversaturated and kind of lose that special feeling of like, oh, wow, I haven't seen this dj in six months or something like that, you know, so it's, it's just, it's a fine balance, you know?
And, you know, people ask, though, how come you don't play more often? Well, you know, a lot of times that's it, you know? Well, it's, a lot of artists don't play a city more than once or twice a year if this got their home city. So really it's just a matter of, like I said, finding that balance and, you know, being strategic.
Trance Jesus
Absolutely. And I would say, like, like yourself, you, you have that uniqueness where you actually go beyond just your traditional trance as well with your different sounds. And I'll get to that in a minute. But let's rewind the clock back to the very beginning of your love of trance. And as a question I always love to ask artists because I'm a big fan of origin stories. So this is where I get to uncover some of that part of origin of stories with artists. What was that first song that made you fall in love with trance? And can you tell us when that was?
Niko Zografos
Yeah, yeah, I remember it. I remember it really well. So just to kind of give some backstory to that, my first rave was Pop 2007 with SKILLS was a big promoter of the Bay Area for many years. I saw Infected Mushroom, Christopher Lawrence. There was a whole bunch of people on that. I forget, but I wasn't really into electronic music at all. I was into rock.
Pop 2007 lineup
But my friend said, I'm taking you, you're coming. Infected Mushroom obviously has Electric Guitar and I thought it was amazing. It got me into the side Trance realm. But then 3 months later, I'm like, I'm going again uh, saw Ferry Corson, Sasha, Ferry Corsten and dropped "On Fire". I'm like "Oh my God, this is amazing. "
Ferry Corsten & Niko Zografos
Then a year after that, yeah, after going to raves, EDC and things like that, like I saw Paul van Dyk and. But it was Love Fest 2008 in San Francisco.
Love Fest 2008 Flyer
The after party where, uh, I saw it was Kayu and Albert, then ATB like school ATB, great lineup and everyone played at least an hour and a half to 2 hours, for an 8000-9000 person crowd. It was Abobe & Beyond beyond playing Tri-State, and it was Armin when Imagine came out and he played 2 hours and it was when that venue went until 4a. So Armin played from 2a - 4a. I was, I was dead tired too, because if you know Love Fest, it's through the day too. So you're already out for like 12 hours at that point. But instead, I stood up, I danced the whole time because it was just so amazing. I danced probably until like 6a or 7a. The party ended at 4a. And then that, that Monday or Tuesday, I went to Guitar Center and bought decks because I'm like, this is what I want to do.
Armin van Buuren & Niko Zografos
Trance Jesus
So your story started with a large event, a festival event, hearing some iconic names. Fairy and Armin and Kayu and Albert and Infected Mushroom lineup. And then diving into djing. In 2008, what was the equipment that you purchased?
Niko Zografos
It was Technics.
Trance Jesus
Okay. Vinyl.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, it was vinyl. But then I realized that not as many people were doing vinyl. So I added some CDJs to what I had. I think I had like a DJM 400 at first. Oh, wow. But I mean, yeah, that six. Like, was it like three months after that, went to my first club show at 1015 Folsom. Like Ronski Speed, Simon Patterson US debut. Aly & Fila's US debut. That's actually where I met Fadi. Yeah, both. I had longer hair. Like, like, yeah, I'll show you a picture.
Trance Jesus
I gotta definitely see that. We'll add that to the interview later.
Fadi (of Aly & Fila), friend Fatih & Niko Zografos
Niko Zografos
Fadi out here too. Like, it was just like I've seen.
Trance Jesus
I've seen pictures of Fadi with hair.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, yeah, so. But yeah, it was just a, you know, snowball effect after that.
Trance Jesus
So Vinyl. First Vinyl?
Niko Zografos
I'm honestly not sure I want to say. Armin van Buuren's Serenity
Trance Jesus
Sure.
Niko Zografos
That's what I think it was. If not, that was one of the first, right?
Trance Jesus
Yeah. Awesome. So, 2008, bought decks, Vinyl. Fast forward. When did you start getting into production and making music?
Niko Zografos
Probably EDC, after EDC 2010, maybe. I started on LA at that point. Yeah, that was like one that was in LA. But I wasn't really seriously as into it as I was. It was more just kind of like, dabbling. I wasn't, you know, wasn't any good. Obviously, you're not when you first started. But then I would say really. I really started wanting to pick things up after EC 2012 when they had, like, two days of ASOT in the ABGT stage.
And that was just like. It's just those kind of events. Whether it's an extended, you know, set at a club or. Or festival, usually live events is what inspires me. So usually I feel like I'll go to something or I'll play something and I'm like, all right, this is. Kicks me into the next year.
Trance Jesus
It just kind of, like, recharges those creative juices.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, exactly.
Trance Jesus
Just being around so many people, being around so many artists, hearing so much music. I've actually heard that from a lot of artists, and that's awesome that, you know, and I think that's just that being in a moment and just being able to experience how that experience is something that gives you a lot of reflection of where you want to go musically from a production perspective. So tell us about that first track that you released and kind of that journey.
Niko Zografos
I mean, yeah, it's just kind of like trying to figure out what works at that point. And, you know, you. You kind of think when you're. When you're producing, you kind of overthink. When you're. When you're first learning, you tend to probably complicated. At least I did. I complicated things way more than they needed to be. And, you know, the first track was a collab with my friend Jason Reign. After that, I had a remix of Ronski Speed on Euphonic, and then after that was my collab with my buddy Mitka and that was "Phoria" on FSOE.
And that's really kind of what catapulted me to making more music and getting a lot of support. And it's just. Yeah, it's been fun for sure. And the better you get. You realize that the smaller details matter, so ideally, the more you produce, the better you get at those smaller details, I think.
Trance Jesus
So you're able to kind of go from crawling to running a little bit quicker when you realize that it's more about just getting that idea out versus.
Niko Zografos
Yeah.
Trance Jesus
And kind of making sure that it's perfect.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, you gotta. Well, you gotta start at the ideas, and then what you can get, you know, then you can perfect them pretty much. I mean, that's, you know, even, you know, the word a lot from the next person you're gonna interview, Sean Tyas, I mean, he's, you know, he's actually told me that, like, you know, just sometimes just get it down. You know, you can get the. The mix done in your studio, but I mean, like, just get the ideas out there and just, you know, just stay inspired, find sounds that. And create. Create sounds, I should say, that inspire you and, you know, be you.
It's okay to be inspired from somebody, but don't necessarily copy them. Sure, you got to be. You got to be you. But, you know, like, if I'm sitting, like, for example, you know Dreamstate SoCal. I remember sitting, you know, in the crowd. Standing in the crowd for Ferry Corsten listening to, like, some of the transitions or so, you know, in his tracks, not like you're mixing. I'm just like, okay, I want to try something like that. Not exactly, but you see, you hear what he does and you want to try it yourself.
Niko Zografos
And a lot of times, if you try to do with something else, what somebody else does, it's not going to come out the same. So, you know, it's. It's ting with a grain of salt, just, you know, the same time. Like, yeah, if you mean, if you're listening to the same thing always, you're gonna always sound like that. You gotta listen to different things.
Trance Jesus
So you pick little pieces of it from a mechanic perspective, not necessarily from a creative perspective because that's where you want to fill in that gap. You want to fill in your experience and your creativity to really build that trap the way that makes it uniquely you.
Niko Zografos
Yeah, exactly.
Trance Jesus
So let's fast forward, and I'm
gonna ask Sean this question, too, but I wanna ask you as well, because you
are also involved with this. So one of my all-time favorite trance tracks is
Sean Tyas "Drop", and lo and behold, a few years back, I think it was 2019,
maybe. I think it was 2019 that he came to Minneapolis and he teased the first
off, oh, yeah. And that was the only part of the track that was actually
finished at that point in time. And lo and behold, when it finally came out, it
was announced that it was a collaboration between the two of you.
Sean Tyas & Niko Zografos
Niko Zografos
Yeah.
Trance Jesus
How did that track come to life?
Niko Zografos
Well, originally. Yeah, I mean, originally it was just me trying to remix Drop. Sure, because everyone wants to remix Lift. Yes. So I wanted to remix Drop just because no one, I don't think there was a remix. And I was like, sending it to him and he's just like, hey, pretty much in his own words, like, are you down for me to like, roll up my sleeves and we make this love that. And I'm just like, yeah, of course, like, you know what I mean? It's like Sean Tyas, like, he's somebody I've like, looked up to, like, for years and, yeah, pretty much were there. I actually, like, learned a lot from him in the process as well because he's a wizard and so, yeah, it was, um, you know, I think it's actually better for me. Cause instead of a remix, it was a collab and I got to learn from him in the process.
Trance Jesus
So that's amazing. And, yeah, he's. He's definitely a machine and a master in his own regard. And, you know, you've released quite a few tracks as well, I think on, on regenerate as well. You released some others on a number of other labels as well and got some others coming up here in 2024 for releases as well. Can you tell us a little bit about any of them that you can share?
Niko Zografos
Yeah, so we got the one coming out on HQ. So it's an HQ debut, so I'm really excited for that. To tribute to the new area, I moved in calling it "Valley of the Sun", named after the Phoenix area. And, you know, another one on AVA, that one's actually inspired from a city that I lived by in the Bay Area called Pacifica. It's a gorgeous city. Yeah, that one's really special to me. I love being by the water. I love the coast, as you've probably heard from other of my tracks inspired by that with names, but this one's a little closer to home.
"Valley of the Sun" out now on HQ Recordings
And another really, really big vocal track. I'm not going to say it just yet, but I will tell you it is on FSOE. It's going to be the biggest, biggest track I've ever done with the biggest vocalists I've ever worked with. That's going to come out probably after that, I'm assuming. But the releases are going to start rolling in end of July, early August.
Trance Jesus
So that's amazing. In listening
to that Niko Zografo sound. You have to. Have to listen to the other side of
the Niko Zografo sound as well. And your NZ project, any official releases
coming out for that one?
Niko Zografos
Not yet, but I've been working a lot on that. I'm pretty much finalizing my transfer leaf schedule and been dabbling with that quite a bit. But you'll definitely see that for sure, hopefully this year. But, you know, it just depends how long it takes to release things when you submit it and things like that. But yeah, I mean, I love the deeper melodic sounds. I played a show at Public Works in SF and then Academy in LA was playing like proper Trance. And then that Sunday I just hung out at Hermosa Beach in SoCal and was listening to like Guy K and Anjunadeep all day. And I always loved that sound. Just like deeper, hypnotic ruby, but still melodic and lush. And I was like, dang, I gotta do this. And that was like the first. It was like the first events, like, after. After COVID.
Trance Jesus
Yep.
Niko Zografos
So it was just like, yeah, everyone was super inspired to be back, but that was just like, all right, I gotta do this. So it's been a couple years in the making for sure. I was kind of getting down on myself, like, all right, this is taking a while. But then I talked to Fadi about his Das Pharoah alias. It took him like 2-3 years with that going. So these things take time. But, you know, you've had. You have heard tidbits in my live sets, just haven't been ready. But yeah, they're definitely coming. So it i'm passionate about both, love both.
Trance Jesus
And one of my favorite NZ sets was the Dreamstate or the pre-party.
Niko Zografos
Right.
Trance Jesus
It was technically not a pre-party to the event, but the pre-partying to day two. Like after after party. I'm not gonna say that an after-party or after-hours, really. It was that right at that cup of being the second day of programming was happening there at the Queen Mary.
Niko Zografos
So earliest set I've ever played was like 09:00 a.m.
Trance Jesus
I was crazy and I was in the room, I was sitting there on the floor with a couple of friends just enjoying it. I was like, that's a perfect way to kind of keep the day rolling.
Dreamstate Socal 2023 Day / Pre-party
Niko Zografos
Yeah, it was a good way. Good way to start the day, for sure. Absolutely.
Trance Jesus
Any closing comments Niko? Like, I guess I'll ask you this question from the perspective of your history in Trance, your history as a DJ / producer. What advice would you give for the new kids on the block, the kids that are in this digital age that are looking for instant success, that from your experience, where does success really lie and what advice would you give them?
Niko Zografos
Advice I got early on was one, you're going to have a lot of ups and downs. So many. And you have to keep working hard, no matter if things are not going right for you. And if people are looking, people are going to pay attention when things are going right.
It's easy to work hard when things are going right. When things are not going right, you're not catching momentum. You have to work even harder. Don't just look at it as a grind. Have fun. Like, if you're not having fun, believe me, people can hear it in your music. Like, you have to be yourself.
Um, and, yeah, have fun. Don't overcomplicate things. Always, you know, ask questions. It's, it's a marathon, you know, it's. There's, there, you know, there is no instant success. It may seem like that when someone blows up, and. But when that person blows up, I guarantee you they've been working out what they've been doing for a long time. They've been putting in hours. You know, the saying is 10,000 hours to be a professional at something. I mean, it's, you know, you have.
Niko's Studio in Arizona
How many hours in a week are you going to put into music? So, you know, and don't be afraid to know when you need a step away to recharge, too. Don't get burnt out. Don't drain yourself. But, you know, have fun, experiment with sounds, try to be unique. Don't just be like, I want to be like this artist. Be like you. You know what I mean? Everyone says, I want to be like Armin. I want to be like fairy or whoever. You know what I mean? You want to be you.
It's the same with professional athletes. You know, people say they want to be like MJ or, or whatever the case may be. Like, you don't want to be MJ, you want to be you. That's the thing. So have fun. You know, it's hard. It's very hard. But it's one of, if not the most rewarding things I've ever done in my life. So just keep that in mind when you're down, because there are a lot of frustrating days you're going to make tracks that don't go anywhere, and that's fine. Cause once you hit that one, that's all it's going to take.
Trance Jesus
So it recharges your battery, and gives you that little bit of success.
Niko Zografos
You're always one track away from the best track that you made.
Trance Jesus
I love that quote. I love that. Awesome. Well, thank you, Niko, for your time. Definitely excited to have you here in Minneapolis to get some great advice in just being in this industry. And with that, let's go on some fun.
Niko Zografos
Oh, yeah. Let's do it, man.
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