Welcome to our readers and to our featured artist Mystik (www.mystiksound.com). He is a DJ and producer and longtime San Francisco & Bay Area resident. We’ve got some time for an interview together, so let’s find out a little more about him, shall we?
Q: What’s your name, where are you from & where are you based now?
A: My name is Peter Loomis. I was born in Milwaukee, WI and am now living in San Francisco, CA.
Q: How long have you been DJing? Producing?
A: I started DJing when I moved to New York City in 1998 after finishing my degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, just North of Chicago.
Producing I started a bit more ad hoc, starting with a Korg Electribe ER-1 drum machine then working with more outboard gear in around 2000-2001…(Boss Dr. Groove, Yamaha RM1X…) making mix tapes and drum beats and stuff in my brother’s loft in West Oakland. We played live for a long time before starting to get into computer-based DAW production with MOTU’s Digital Performer first and Emagic’s Logic (back then, before it was bought by Apple).
Q: How did you get into it [DJing and Music Production]?
A: With DJing, I got into it because of an amazing party I went to with Carl Cox at the Belmont Theater in Chicago I believe…(maybe I’m making it up, but it seemed that quintessential)… I saw him jockeying three or four decks and I was amazed. I thought he was taking samples from each of the decks and mixing them all together in this seamless and totally slamming groove. Maybe that’s what he was doing, but I couldn’t understand it and wanted to know how he did that… Oh also, when I moved to NYC, my friend Dave Brandt had turntables and a mixer in his basement and tons of records. We’d hang out there and just play music,…I hadn’t learned about beat matching yet but was starting to buy vinyl and got inspired to buy my first DJ mixer (NuMark 2002) and two Technics 1200s.
I started with live gear first and studio production after a couple years working with outboard equipment and doing shows that way. First DAW I got into, besides Reason which I found extremely confusing and limiting… was Digital Performer. Actually wrote several songs with this DAW but found that it’s lack of software instrument integration drove me towards Logic. That and another producer friend (Chromatone woot!) got me into Logic, gave me some tips and starting advice and set me off with a compelling vision and the tools to get there. I just had to put in the time.
Q: What kind of music do you like to listen to and also then produce yourself?
A: Realistically I like a lot of genres. I do tend to listen to electronic music most of the time. But I really enjoy all types of music, including jazz, classical, show tunes, opera, big band, rock, metal, blues, downtempo, ambient, drum & bass, house, techno, progressive, psychedelic, psydub, dub techno…did I leave anything out?
Q: Are you involved in any other music projects, bands or performance acts?
A: Yeah, definitely. Besides my own solo project which basically encompasses everything I work on that is not specifically a collaboration…ie, a lot…
Otherwise, I am still involved in a project with my brother Dave called Mystik Luminate. This is an ongoing project carried over from my early days in SF called The Loomii, our former live and more minimal chill and experimental electronica project.
Also, I’m working with two other producers in a trio called Trilobyte. We’re working on live performances, capturing recordings and related studio production, in addition to all being veteran DJs as well.
Radio Explore is a past project that I was involved in for about 10 years from 2006 to 2016. It was an online radio broadcast we put on every 2 weeks on Thursday nights from 8pm – 12 midnight. I was one of the longest term residents from the show’s tenure in SF, along with the founder Spacelotus who eventually moved to Portland.
Gatos Negros was another previous project that I worked on with another guitarist, singer and one of the producer’s in Trilobyte also (Scott Larson). We did a few covers of downtempo and lounge music as well as an experimental live set that we performed at a local SF tasting room a couple times.
Q: Who or What have been some of your primary influences?
A: Chicago: Carl Cox, DJ Dan, Hyperactive, DJ Funk, Carlos, Donald Glaude
New York: Twilo, Sasha & Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, The Roxy, Junior Vazquez…
My brother & production partner Dave (aka Luminate, @Lumin8)
Burning Man: Opulent Temple, Space Elevator, Deep Playa Renegade Psy Camps, Spacelounge, Garage Mahal
San Francisco: Phoenix Family, Thump Radio, Keyframe Entertainment, Geomagnetic Records, Sunset, Radio Explore (Spacelotus, Hans Grüver, RayRayJones, Freshstep…)
Q: Where are you located now?
A: I am currently living in San Francisco, where I’ve been for the past 20+ years.
Q: Do you play any instruments? If so when did you start playing and what?
A: Yes, I started playing violin when I was 3, playing actively till 10 years old, doing recitals and lessons and such. Trumpet for 1 year in 4th grade band class. Tenor Saxophone for my school years from 5th – 12th grades. Drum set for about 6 years unofficially from home and with a couple of math & blues rock bands throughout middle & high school. I did do percussion for a pit band performance as well as tenor sax for several bands throughout high school including jazz band, marching band, regular band…
Q: What have been some of your favorite performances?
A: Carl Cox – my first show in Chicago that got me inspired and into DJing and music, circa 1994
Underworld – in New York City, Hammerstein Ballroom… the tie-in with visuals from their Tomato group was super inspiring and powerful, circa 2001
Carl Cox – at Burning Man, one of the first years when he’s gone and a few years after also… his shows are epic.
Daft Punk – at the Greek theater in Berkeley – the show was epic, sometime between early 2000-2010 ish…
Squarepusher – at Mezzanine in SF, circa 2015/6
Q: Where would you love to play a set?
A: Boom Festival probably bc it’s one of the peak psychedelic festivals in the world…
Voov…same reason
Ozora… same “
Universo Parallelo – Beach party in Brazil…sounds fun!
Ibiza…maybe a private party? Somewhere outdoors would be fun…
Outdoor parties & festivals…
Moontribe in SoCal?
Q: Formative parties or events?
A: Carl Cox @ Belmont Theater, Voodoo (South Side rave) – CHI
Twilo, VInyl & Roxy – in NYC
Burning Man Festival – (BRC, NV)
Sunset Campouts – (Belden, CA)
Phoenix Fest – (in WA)
Wellspring – (@Mercey Hot Springs)
Noodle Factory – OAK, circa 2000-2003ish
Q: Latest releases?
A: Yeah, my project Mystik Luminate just released our third single with a new label we’ve started working with called Outer Limits Music.
Also, my band Trilobyte is in final preparation for the release of our debut EP and we’re looking for label interest as we prepare the final mixes & masters. If we don’t find a label by the time the songs are done, we’ll probably self-release and see how far we can push that.
Q: Any recent remix projects?
A: The last remix project I did was in 2018 for a band from LA called Solar Theory. They had a track featuring the Buddhist sage Osho called The Being and I got to remix that because our mutual friend Julian, of Keyframe Entertainment introduced us to that idea.
Before then, I’ve remixed several tracks for Jason Knight – White and Deep Forest amongst them…
Another band remix project was with an indie-folk band – also from LA – called The Dylan Trees. One of my friends, Rob, was a bassist for them and I gave them a couple of different remixes for a song of theirs called Perpetual Motion.
Q: Where can people find out more about you?
A: I’ve got lots of online portals including my website which I’ve just recently revamped and to which I’ve added a blog and store along with a bunch of new audio and production examples, too.
Social platforms @mystiksound including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube…not Instagram yet except for my @mystikluminate and @personedesign projects…
Bandcamp, Mixcloud, Soundcloud & Beatport yes, although only my remixes are up there, the other ones are unfortunately some other artist with my same name that has gotten mixed in with my artist profile.
Spotify – Not sure if I’m up there honestly… it has been a while since my last official Mystik release. Mystik Luminate is up there though. Apple Music – Not sure if I’m up there either… Mystik Luminate is up there…
Q: Thanks for all the info and your time
A: Sure thing, thanks for having me and best to all the readers out there! Boom! B-)
Interview from June 2, 2021; San Francisco, CA