The journey of a musical artist is a road less traveled. Throughout an artist’s career, chances are they’ll have changed their sound, their image, and their approach more than once. This is no more evident than with Anjunabeats star Jason Ross. Since his emergence in 2014, Jason has amassed quite the catalog of music. From his monster trance hit ‘Atlas’ with Wrechiski to the melodic dubstep stylings of ‘Don’t Give Up On Me’ to the psy-trance floor-rocker ‘The Gorge’, Jason continues to evolve his sound and succeed at every turn.
There is no better form of Jason’s evolution as an artist than his latest concept EP Rooms. The EP consists of six unique tracks, each representing a special time or place in Jason’s life. The EP was released back on January 25th and has since garnered high praise from the likes of Above & Beyond, Seven Lions, and many more.
To commemorate the Rooms EP, Jason embarked on a massive North American tour beginning in Los Angeles and fittingly ending at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State at the end of July. We recently got the opportunity to sit down with Jason to pick his brain about the new EP, past and present inspirations, and what to expect from his tour. Get to know Jason Ross better below.
You’ve mentioned that your new concept EP ‘Rooms’ represents your evolution as a person and artist. How have you evolved both as a person and as an artist over the last few years?
The concept came to me when I was dabbling with other different genres, the spark happened after ABGT 250 playing with Seven Lions at the Gorge. After that performance, I was in the studio asking myself, where am I going, where do I want to go, and it took a lot of time to figure what sound I want to have for the next few years. So that’s kind of when the Rooms concept started, I wanted this to be a showcase of who I am now, and where I’m going.
The ‘Rooms EP’ has been your most diverse and wide-ranging project to date. Talk to us a little bit about the thought process behind the EP. What inspired you to go after a concept EP?
This concept came about when I opened myself up to genres outside of trance. I feel like my b2b set with Jeff at ABGT 250 was the stepping stone for it. Since then, I’ve been constantly thinking about my evolution as an artist. Rooms reflect this, in that each piece is meant to stand alone. Just as every room in a house has its own ambiance but makes a cohesive setting when you combine everything. You can get a sense of it with the way the EP is mixed [continuously].
You’ve touched on the fact that each track on the EP represents its own “room”. With inspirations from your performance at the Gorge and your hometown in Minnesota, what other moments in your life inspired the other tracks on the EP and which hold the most meaning to you?
I can’t pinpoint specific memories for each track, but they reflect certain periods of my life. I discovered electronic music when I was a kid in Minnesota, but loved going to shows when I went to college in San Diego. I never stopped producing during my university days, and continued to hustle when I graduated and moved up to LA. “IOU,” for example, was originally called “Hollywood Way,” the street where I first lived in LA.
The ‘Rooms EP’ shows us where you currently are, while also giving us an enticing idea of where you are going go. With productions in trance, melodic dubstep, and psy-trance, what other genres of dance music interest you and which do you plan on experimenting with in the future?
I’m open to all of those genres and not planning on ditching any genre in favor of another. It’s been cool to have releases on Anjunabeats and Ophelia, which focus on completely different sounds. I’ve been experimenting in all of those genres, but at the end of the day my focus is making quality music regardless of genre. It’s important for me to challenge myself but also stay true to myself and my sound. I’m excited to see where things go!
Your ‘Rooms’ Tour kicked off at Exchange LA and continues through the middle of March. What makes you most excited about this tour and how will it be different from your tours in the past?
This is my first headline tour so it’s been an incredible experience. There’s more room for personal creativity so I’m not only playing trance but dabbling in all sorts of genres. I just came off the bus tour with Seven Lions last December, where I discovered lots of new sounds and went through cool life experiences.
This weekend you can catch Jason in Austin, Texas and then in Orlando, Florida. You can check out the other tour dates and grab tickets here. If you haven’t gotten the chance to listen to Rooms or follow Jason on his socials, check them out below.
