Pioneer Spinner Keeps the Rave Mobs Entranced

Ten years on, the shadowy underground world of rave culture has entered the light with a vengeance, what with Jaguar now hawking its cars to a “trance” remix of Sting’s “Desert Rose,” not to mention the recent release of three rave-oriented movies, including the documentary “Better Living Through Circuitry,” which focuses on the Los Angeles scene.

Like most dance music fans, veteran DJ and producer Christopher Lawrence is not surprised by such commercialization. An L.A.-based pioneer of trance--the instrumental style currently supplanting drum-and-bass as the one non-devotees have most likely heard of--he winces when the uninitiated even use the word “trance” to describe the Sting track.

“In all the parties I’ve played, I’ve never seen Sting out there with a glow stick in his hand,” Lawrence scoffs lightly.

The music that some consider trance is “really just commercial dance music,” says the tall, blond, thirtysomething DJ, sipping tea at a cafe near his Park La Brea home. “It is in no way similar to the trance music played at raves and parties. That’s what you hear in shampoo commercials.”

Unlike many of his peers, however, Lawrence is happy to see real trance music garnering a wider audience, thanks to the increasing popularity and professional execution of local raves, as well as the opening of Giant, L.A.’s weekly rave-oriented nightclub.

“A lot of people argue that the electronic music scene is going to become too popular,” he says. “But all of us went to our first party at some time. It’s a bit selfish to say that, since we found something we really enjoy, nobody else can come. My feeling is, everyone’s welcome.”

No wonder the articulate San Francisco native is known in the electronic music world as the Trance Messiah. Renowned locally and globally for his finesse in fusing subtle sonic shifts to irresistible bass lines, Lawrence is among a group of far-flung DJs who are becoming focal points of a culture that, unlike star-driven rock or rap, prides itself on a mobile, collective consciousness in which the person spinning the music is no more important than the listeners.

The full effect is best appreciated at a rave or in a club like Giant. But you can get an idea of how a typical Lawrence set feels by listening to his current compilation CD, “Trilogy Part One: Empire,” released by the West Hollywood-based dance label Moonshine Music. On two of his own compositions and nine by others, he blends a sleek sheen of what he calls “interesting sounds” with repetitive, propulsive beats, all of which shift as gradually yet irrevocably as the sand dunes during a desert dance party.

Like a good messiah, Lawrence emphasizes that trance appeals to everyone, everywhere. And it is one of the world’s most popular forms of dance music. First a favorite in Europe in the early ‘90s, the style was slower to catch on in America. When Lawrence moved to Los Angeles six years ago, he, along with such like-minded local DJs as Taylor, helped to make the L.A. scene one of the first in the States to embrace trance.

“At the time, L.A. had large parties in warehouses, with 2,000 or 3,000 people,” Lawrence says. People were there for hours, and it was the DJ’s job to hold their attention and keep them moving. “It’s my passion that trance has something both for the body and the mind,” he says. Apparently, the partyers agreed. “Within a year,” he says, “trance was dominating the raves.”

Unlike hip-hop DJs, trance DJs don’t manipulate records on a turntable but display their skills in the planning and execution of a set.

“The way the music is programmed totally changes the whole atmosphere and vibe,” explains Neil Thomas, owner of Global Grooves, a Santa Monica record store specializing in electronic music and a promoter for Giant. “Christopher continually pushes the boundaries of the music. His style has changed over the years, [leading] the way forward.”

Indeed, as Lawrence says, trance is unusual among dance styles in that, over the seven years he’s been spinning, it has evolved by borrowing freely from such genres as house and techno. “It doesn’t have set rules, and that’s why it’s maintained a following,” he says.

In some ways, that evolution has paralleled the rave scene’s own gradual shift from outlaw to pop culture. Promoters of huge parties are now more likely to get the necessary permits, hire security and provide basic comforts rather than just sneak to a remote spot and let the revelry rip. In fact, the scene’s increasing accessibility has even allowed some early devotees to reconnect to it.

“The audience who first went out to raves in 1990, ’92 or ‘93, when they were 20 years old, is now [approaching] 30,” Lawrence says. “Most people that age have jobs or kids, or they don’t feel inclined to drive two hours to an event where the majority of fans are between the ages of 18 and 22. When I played at Giant recently, I saw people I hadn’t seen in years.”

Because of its large population, Los Angeles has been able to support many different dance music styles, elevating the local standard as well as the city’s global profile. “There’s a great variety of DJs, and that encouraged the scene here,” Lawrence says. “L.A. DJs are now the more recognized DJs in North America.”

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RAVE ON: This summer, Lawrence and his record crates will travel to parties all over the world, but he’ll stay in touch with his roots by performing at two major Southern California raves: Jujubeats, on Aug. 19, also features Doc Martin, DJ Sneak, DJ Dan, Donald Glaude, Wally Callerio, Jason Blakemore, DJ Jasen, Deacon, and others. Information: (213) 673-3536 or (310) 535-3283. Nocturnal Wonderland, is scheduled for Sept. 3. For info visit https://www.nocturnalwonderland.com, or call (310) 288-3436 or (323) 871-8522.