Imagine launching a career with your best friend. But imagine you met that best friend on the internet. That's basically the history of Pyramid Scheme, in a nutshell. They are the epitome of what today's generation of technology and creativity can become when the digital stars align.
The stories of Adam LaRossa and Sterling Pike oddly mirrored each other as if they were meant to grow up and face off in an epic battle as adults. Instead, this story puts them on the same team, creating songs for those of us glad to be afflicted with musical ADD. Now the group, very recently formed in 2014, is rocking stages around the world and working with artists like T-Pain, Snoop Doog, and Ying Yang Twins. Call it a match made in internet heaven.
For Pike, the internet was the major force that molded his musical tastes. Since his parents moved around frequently from their original home in Hawaii, he sought out the web to make virtual, long lasting friendships. As a result, he was exposed to a wide array of genres. Metal was an early favorite, which led to him making music with other band members and realizing that the stage was his home.
Around this time, Pike tried to get his band members to incorporate some elements of Japanese Electronica into their tracks, but they thought he was crazy for even suggesting it. A music engineer by the name of Chase showed him Basshunter, which turned on his mental lightbulb in terms of producing electronic music.
LaRossa, on the other hand, who is originally from Atlanta, was surrounded by movie soundtracks from the greats like John Williams, James Horner, and Hanz Zimmer. Although his mom made him take piano lessons when he was young, he knew he had a special place in his heart for the drums. Grunge was calling his name and he knew that girls weren't as likely to go to a piano recital as a Rock show.
Eventually his parents gave in, little by little, getting him a toddlers drum set to replace his elaborate pot-and-pan set up with cardboard boxes and chopsticks. After that set was demolished within weeks, he used his new drumset to play his way into any band he could find, including Jazz, Rock, and "a lot of shows at small shitty clubs around ATL."
While a devout Rock drummer, he still expressed interest in producers like Prodigy and Justice as well as Hip-Hop oriented DJs like DJ Shadow, RJD2, and Paper Tiger. While living in Seattle, his girlfriend at the time started introducing him to Dance music he could get into:
"The biggest influence for me was when I went to the dB festival and saw Flying Lotus. Flying Lotus was playing with Thundercat on bass and an incredible drummer. Seeing the fusion of Dance music/laptops with a drummer really sucked me in. They weaved in and out of Jazz and Rock and it all built up to him dropping these bass-heavy tracks. It was so tastefully done. That was the show that really changed my life."
As for making themselves visible, Pike saw his fame rise with DJing before his production, due to his unique sets composed of Electro and Dubstep bootlegs as well as edits he had made of Top 40 tracks:
"The Top 40s clubs loved me because I was playing the EDM style they wanted in their club but still catering to the Top 40s crowds that just wanted to sing along to the new radio hits they loved. I think this is kinda where mine and Adam's (LaRossa) production style comes from--we both love that mix of both worlds and in a way we kinda produce original versions of that same type of music I got attention from."
LaRossa, too, had a short stint of DJing in dark warehouses with his friends in Seattle, but until he joined forces with Pike and picked it back up, his time was dedicated to production. Part of that was learning from Billy Hume, who worked extensively with Mr. Collipark, Lil Jon, David Banner, Polow da Don, and many others. Hume shared the knowledge that he had amassed by working with those artists, much to LaRossa's benefit. At this time, Pike was working with local Trap DJ, DeBroka, as MONSDRR. They were making "Thugstep back when that was a thing [laughs]."
The most impressive point of Pyramid Scheme's story is the relatively short amount of time they've worked together, especially in person. The first time they met was in Kona, Hawaii as LaRossa stepped off of the plane. They had already released a few tracks by collaborating via email and eventually decided that LaRossa should move from Atlanta to Hawaii to work more in depth with Pike. After they realized that they worked well together1, they made the move to go all-in with Pyramid Scheme and move back to Atlanta. If you ask them to describe their workflow together in the studio, it sounds a lot like a telenovela:
"It's usually a lot of phases of excitement followed by doubt followed by indecision followed by AHAH! moments that usually turn out sucking and then we scratch them and then we cry a couple times and then somehow it all comes together in the end. It's always a battle though, and there is a lot of deliberation throughout the process."
There's a lot to accredit for Pyramid Scheme's many sounds, (they're capable of bass-trembling Trap as well as melodic House overtures) but the most telling sign is their musical flexibility. Not only can they go from one genre to the next in the same number of days, they kind of have to, to stay sane.
"Once we met, we legitimized the fact that we love and want to create every single facet of music. We really just love everything and we don't give a fuck [laughs]."
Their versatility has also enabled them to work with all kinds of vocalists, from singers to rappers, a concept that makes perfect sense to the group.
"We are the generation of the weird kids who just met up after school to play Xbox together, so now that we're adults, why shouldn't we just meet up with cool people and play with music together?"
Outside of music, they're also both well versed in the art of hustling. Pike has mastered networking and marketing in a classy way, while LaRossa has experience in covering all aspects of post production. They are a two-man record label.
On the stage, their live shows have come a long way from their respective first gigs. Pike recalls smooth-talking his way into DJing a set with little-to-no experience and luckily was asked to come back despite his "absolutely horrible" mixing. His bootlegs saved the day for him. LaRossa's first gig, as ADHD under Freakstep Records, was less successful. He stepped up to the decks with about 200 people raging and narrowed the dance floor to about "2 girls who were just too drunk to know how bad it was." LaRossa credits the disaster to non-matching timecodes between the CDJs and his Traktor as well as no control over his decks' speeds, and we believe him.
With those days in the past, Pyramid Scheme lives for the live shows. Without a concrete plan, the two step on stage with one goal: have everyone go as crazy as if they were at a Rock show. So far, it's been wildly successful.
Although they've only been officially recording as a group for a couple years, we asked them what they'd like their legacy to be. Pike replied with,
"Leaving a legacy would mean we plan on eventually leaving. Our plan is to locate the fountain of youth so we never die and can just torture everyone with our random music forever! [laughs]"
LaRossa shot back with,
"We just want to leave a legacy like the Romans did, you know--conquering and killing everyone, and this is really all just a master plan to start our own totalitarian empire that rules the northern hemisphere. But if I can just make a living traveling and making music that would be pretty cool too."
1. ["He finishes my sentences, we always want to go to the Chinese Buffet at the same time. We sing country songs together on the way to shows. I guess we're just soulbrohomies. I just made that word up." - LaRossa]^
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?Pike: Oh man you're getting real with this one. I'm going to say Dragon Ball. I rewatch the whole original series all the time. Goku was a funny ass kid and it's like reliving my childhood every time, which I think is the best reason to do anything ever.
LaRossa: I'd have to go with my childhood on this and say either Animal Olympics or Top Gun. Or The Dark Crystal.
2. As a young DJ, who was the one DJ you looked up to?Pike: I mean honestly it was Diplo. In his early days he was my biggest motivation ever. The guy did whatever the hell he wanted live and it usually was all the things DJs weren't supposed to do [laughs]. I saw him as a rebel in the industry who just didn't care about the rules.
LaRossa: Justice was probably the first Electro group I was obsessed with. I feel like their first album is still, to this day, some of the most original and forward thinking Dance music to come out. When I really started DJing I think Claude Vonstroke was one of my biggest influences. The way he fused House with this dirty Hip-Hop sound really connected with my inner ATLien.
3. As a DJ, what's your biggest pet peeve?Pike: Biggest pet peeve is for sure other DJs who just don't know their own setup. I couldn't tell you how many times I've shared a stage with a bigger name who didn't know his gear or setup intimately. I'm not saying if you're not able to scratch and beat match on vinyl, you're not a real DJ, but whatever you choose to be your setup, learn that shit fully and don't get to the decks and not know how to even plug your RCA's in [laughs]. I swear I have saved dudes on stage for stupid things like they didn't update their Serato before the show and were trying to use the mixer as a Serato box live when they've never even done that before. I literally once plugged in a USB to the CDJ's to play a few tracks in the middle of a DJ's set who was train-wrecking, then turned on the hot spot on my phone to give the other DJ internet while I updated his Serato and restarted his computer. Got him up and running properly for his last twenty minutes, but guess who the promoter chewed out at the end of the night? Now, as much as I want to help other DJs I play with, I just stand back, because 9 times out of 10 when you help you end up becoming the blame after for some crazy ass reason.
LaRossa: I get annoyed with DJs that get snooty with the "rules" or call other DJs out. The snootiness of this scene where people call other people out because they do what they want drives me insane. Like for example, when everyone started shitting on Steve Aoki because he threw cakes into the crowd. Have you ever seen that dude? Do you think he's being anything other than himself? I love it. I think he's doing exactly what he wants to do and people obviously respond to it and go to his shows. If you don't like the direction Dance music is going, then make the kind of Dance music you want to see. If you think "EDM" is destroying the "craft" and the "art" or some other hipster shit like that, then go to the hipster shows. There are a million of them every single night. I can tell you where to go, 'cause I love that underground shit too. And I love Adventure Club and I love Skrillex. I really love it all. I just hate how, among certain DJs and fans, it's almost cooler to talk about the music you think is lame than it is to share and support the music you like.
4. What is your current set up at home?Pike: Well we've recently left USBs and Rekordbox to go back to Serato on our laptop running in HID mode. I love HID mode, but I'd rather not have my laptop there. But we're in the process of making MP4 movie versions of all of our bootlegs to DJ video at the same time when we play live. The new Serato has some awesome video capabilities, and it's all right there in your control on the decks while you spin music. That sounds cool as hell and we're working hard to have a wild video show in 2016.
LaRossa: Ableton Live all the way to the sky for production. We're huge fans of the UAD plugins for mixing - we have an Apollo Twin as an interface as well as a UAD-2 Satellite Quad. Adam A7X and KRK VXT 8 speakers and my personal favorite, the Klipsche Pro Media 2.1 speakers with a sub. Some $100 computer speakers I got at Best Buy that, for some reason, kick all the fancy speaker's ass.
5. What's your favorite record of all time?Pike: Soundgarden - "Black Hole Sun"
LaRossa: All the Outkast albums, Kid A and In Rainbows by Radiohead, Soundgarden's Down On The Upside, a ton of Beatles songs, the first Justice album, a ton of songs composed by John Williams, Hanz Zimmer, Bill Whelan. Every band produced by Brendan O'Brien and everything mixed by Tom Elmhurst...are my favorite song.
Keep up with Pyramid Scheme on their Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter.
Bryan Hahn may have found his soulmate online but that might be a little different... He's on Twitter: @notupstate.