‘All or Nothing’ finds trance DJ trying anything

Christopher Lawrence’s marathon DJ sets and frequent presence at some of L.A.’s biggest festivals, including Coachella, have earned the adopted hometown hero the moniker “trance messiah.”

With “All or Nothing,” his first artist album of all original material, Lawrence might be in the market for another nickname. “I was liberated in that I could just go where the track wanted to go,” he says. “If a track wanted to be down-tempo, more ambient, I was free to go that direction. In a sense, I began approaching my music with a much more open mind.”

Lawrence used that liberty to rediscover things like techno, classical music and the Rolling Stones, whose “Jumping Jack Flash” influenced the track “New Day.” Still, he has no plans to jump off the trance bandwagon he helped create Stateside. “On my artist album, there’s nothing that’s too far afield from what I’ve always done,” he says. “Yes, there are down-tempo tracks, there are things that are a lot more lush or break-beat. But you’re not going to hear a single track on the album where you go, ‘Whoa, that doesn’t even sound like him.’ ”

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Christopher Lawrence, V2O, 81 Aquarium Way, Long Beach. 9 p.m. Friday. $15. (562) 216-2060.