Red Bull Thre3Style Knights its East Qualifiers
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Red Bull Thre3Style Knights its East Qualifiers

Trapment, DJ Acro, and OKAY TK took a spare moment from celebrating to tell us their stories.

Red Bull Thre3Style is the DJ competition bringing Canadian DJs to the global stage. In order to qualify, each competitor needs to strut their skills, juggle a rigorous set of rules, and maintain an electrifying party vibe. All of this, in a mere 15 minutes. Regardless of how thrilled the dancefloor gets, each DJ's technical work needs to be on par with the energy because if there's one thing we know about Thre3Style, the judges aren't there to play nice.

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After the six Regional Qualifiers in Halifax went head-to-head (or table-to-table), three have been chosen as the Eastern Finalists. Trapment, DJ Acro, and OKAY TK are all headed to Winnipeg for the National competition on May 9 and took a spare moment from celebrating to tell us their stories.

Trapment

Location: Sudbury, Ontario
Set Up: 2 Technics SL 1210 MK5G's, Rane 62, and the Pioneer DDJ-SP1

Trapment is Trevor Mantysaari, a newcomer to the Red Bull Thre3Style battle. He plunged into DJing at random, buying "two crappy turntables" from his friends. After a bit of experimenting with acapella's on old hip-hop records, he and his turntables decided to take a break and see other people. "Then one random summer day, I was bored at home and I found the turntables at the bottom of the closet. I set them up and haven't stopped since," he tells THUMP. Ah, young love.

His set at the East Qualifiers in Halifax was a melting pot of technical scratching, beat juggling and an element of surprise. "When I dropped Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' and walked off stage, the crowd went bananas."

Trapment's preparation for the Thre3Style Finals in Winnipeg spurs only one answer: "Grinding hard."

Trapment is on Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud

OKAY TK

Location: Halifax
Set Up: Technics 1200s, Rane (57/62), and Serato (Scratch Live 2.4)

DJing first appeared to OKAY TK by way of Funkmaster Flex. "I lost all concentration of the video game I was playing to focus on the music," he tells us. "From that moment forward I was inspired to DJ." His decision to enter Thre3Style, although, was more of a personal vendetta. "I was inspired to compete in this competition to show everyone, including myself, that I wasn't just another one-dimensional DJ. I've always wanted to show my musical awareness."

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OKAY TK took the East Qualifiers set in stride, making for a "pretty dope" night overall. As Winnipeg rears around the corner, OKAY TK is keeping a perfectionist attitude. "My goal is to outperform myself each time I compete," he says. "I'll be channeling my spirit animal, Bill Murray."

OKAY TK is on Instagram // Twitter // SoundCloud

DJ Acro

Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Set Up: Two turntables, Rane 62, Serato DJ on Macbook, and Akai MPD controller

DJ Acro knows how to go with the flow in more ways than one. At one point during his set in Halifax, his controller fell off its stand, causing him to miss a few cues. "It's tough, but in a live and competitive environment, you have to plow through and not let it shake your focus."

Clearly his fumble didn't hinder the result, for Acro recovered with a bone-rattling rendition of a song by everyone's favourite Dad band. "I used Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher', which I've never heard played in a club. It definitely took people by surprise. It's a face-slapper!"

DJ Acro always wanted to be the guy on stage, citing A-Trak, Craze, and Mix Master Mike as muses. As a past Thre3Style competitor, he knows that there is more to this challenge than the neck-and-neck battle. "This is an amazing worldwide competition and the sheer experience of participating in it makes it worthwhile and brings me back every year."

DJ Acro is on Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud

Tickets for the Red Bull Thre3Style Finals in Winnipeg are on sale now, find them here.