Dimitri Farougias: What It Takes To Be a Rock Star in California

Dimitri Farougias is the talented bassist in the fast-rising Venice-based band Faulkner. Over the last three years, he and his bandmates have gone from crafting their first demo to collaborating with top music producers and playing high-profile festivals and concerts all over the USA.

So how did this crazy journey from rock star dreams to music scene realities come about?

To start with, Farougias studied at the University of Southern California, as well as the Musicians Institute, and benefited from the mentoring of Putter Smith, a legendary jazz bassist who performed with Thelonious Monk.

After he and his band uploaded a demo on Soundcloud, Faulkner was noticed by producers Mark Needham and JP Bowersock, who have worked with top bands like The Killers, The Strokes, Imagine Dragons and Fleetwood Mac. This collaboration led to Faulkner releasing their debut album: Street Axioms.

Since then, the band has been booking top events, including the 2015 Riot Fest, where they shared the bill with rock legends Iggy Pop, Pixies, and No Doubt, and had the honor of being named one of the top ten new bands of the festival. Faulkner also performed live on a downtown LA skyscraper helipad, a performance which will be broadcast by MTV in September 2016.

However, these days, rock groups have to be open to more than just traditional concerts and albums; the Internet has changed the way things work, even in music.

That’s why Faulker took part in a Fader Magazine Live Performance, featured on the YouTube Music main page, as well as performing at YouTube HQ. In addition, Faulkner collaborated with RZA in order to produce “NY Anthem”, which is played on ESPN as well as Yankees and Knicks home games.

Part of the new reality of the music scene now involves these collaborations with digital and media giants, as well as close collaborations with other industries, such as the fashion world. Dimitri Farougias and the rest of the Faulkner crew have made strides in rock chic as well, as the band members are now official brand ambassadors for Cult Denim and Artistix Jeans.

Currently, Faulkner is represented by Paradigm Talent Agency, an agency that works with A-list music names such as Coldplay and Sia. Their future in the music industry looks bright, and we will be keeping up with Farougias and the rest of his Faulkner bandmates in the coming years. Even with all the changes in the music industry of today, it’s clear that some things still hold true: talent, hard work, and persistence pay off.