Meet Peter Barnett | Electronic Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Peter Barnett and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Peter, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m originally from Manitou Springs, CO. It’s a little kind of artsy-hippy town next to Colorado Springs, which is famously the opposite. As kids, it felt like there wasn’t much to do, so we hiked around in the woods, smoked weed, and played music. My parents landed in this town because they didn’t really fit the mold, and they employed the attitude (that I think a lot of millennials were raised with) that we should pursue what our hearts called for, and never really pushed us towards college or specific careers or anything. I think living in a town like that and having free-thinking parents was a good catalyst for starting music early and sticking with it. When I was 12, a friend of mine showed me what’s called a Tracker, which was an early DOS-based music programming software, and I quickly became obsessed and never let up since.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been writing electronic music since I was a kid. For a long time, I was a pretty classic bedroom producer, obsessively writing on a cheap laptop. When I went to college, I got into DJing and played some really fun parties. I ran with a few different crews of creatives who would throw shows or DIY festivals in the woods. Because of that, I got to play at Burning Man a few times, and played on some really wonderful stages and sound systems deep in the mountains over the years.

I went through a personal shift in direction about five years ago. I got sober, and refocused my energy on music production. As much as it may be a cliche, getting sober was really huge for diving headfirst back into music and making it the focal point in my life. I started much more disciplined semi-formal learning, and moved to LA to immerse myself in a bigger music scene. Since here, I’ve gotten involved with a lot of other talented producers and got linked into a good local music production school / community. I had my first release on a label in August, and put out my first self-releases in the end of October.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Warehouses after midnight, the city parks, and taco trucks. My favorite things to do in LA are hike around Griffith or Elysian park (or get into the mountains around Altadena if I feel like driving) and go to raves downtown. The music scene here has some amazing gems. When you start to chip past the surface, you wind up finding some really great things in the right places late at night. When I’m in a dark warehouse that’s no more than three quarters full doing squiggly dances with a bunch of strange people to music I’ve never heard before, I know I’ve made the right choices. To cap off the weekend, we’ll get up and go to for a swim at Venice beach the next morning.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I guess the first thing that comes to mind is different organizations in LA that have inspired me or helped me hone my craft. Shout out to IO Music Academy for being on awesome home base / educational center / community for local electronic musicians and DJs. Also to my Refuge park & beach meditation posses, where I stay open and grounded. Also, I’ve learned of lots of great music and made good connections through different crews who’s parties and/or workshops I go to like Into the Woods, Certified Groovers, Midnight Lovers and Desert Hearts.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/petrrabbit

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeterRobotMusic

Other: Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3fRudSsDCtmn7rqRmkuHmN