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Street: Ben Weiland and John Zappas

The metaphorical egg containing the idea for electro-hop duo Triceratron hatched while Ben Weiland and John Zappas were bored at school.

Weiland (“The Paleontologist”), 23, had a cheap software sequencer on his computer that he had been toying around with for his German techno project Peanutbutter Maker.

Zappas (“The Verbavore”), 23, knew a thing or two about mythological songwriting, thanks to his fantasy metal band Unicorn vs. Centaur. Claw in claw and bound by their common love for space travel, dinosaurs, modal harmonies, 8-bit soundtracks and God only knows what other boyish whimseys, the two later ditched class to record a track.

Now graphic designers by day, the pair craft lyrics fossilized in pop culture; most refer to yesteryear’s era of adolescence: Erector sets and Lego blocks, moth-eaten holes in your favorite socks / A meaty troll cooking sauerkraut or some three-legged chicken infected with gout / Rogue electrons bombarded its cells / Why would Jesus be made out of felt?

An album is set to be released this year, accompanied by a Triceratron arcade game, of course.

Describe yourselves as musicians in three sentences: “We make electro-dino-boogie-retro-futurist-hip-hop muziks. Paleontologist makes beats. The Verbavore makes words.”

Now, the same story in three words? “Professional music hobbyists.”

How does San Diego inspire you or affect you as musicians? “We really enjoy the atmosphere of a small community, where it isn’t surprising to run into friends at any time. Many of our friends have projects they are working on, whether it is in art or music, which creates opportunities for collaboration and creativity.

Recently, we were very fortunate to work with director Brad Kester on a music video for ‘Iguanodon Automaton.’ It was a great experience, and we’re really excited about how it turned out.”

How has the relationship between hip-hop and electronica changed over the past decade or so? The two seem to be blended more often these days: “Hip-hop has a unique ability to feel at home within other rather diverse musical styles. Sometimes the results are better than others (rap-metal ... yikes). Interesting things have been happening in both hip-hop and electro for a long time and every day people are figuring out new ways for them to interact.

It was just a matter of time before people started experimenting with the two genres. In our case it mostly had to do with what was available to us at the time.”

If you had to choose between electro and hip-hop? “R. Kelly has an interesting thing going with the ‘Trapped in the Closet’ series. ‘Hip-opera’ he calls it, I think.”

Hip-hop, or at least mainstream hip-hop, is often pegged as being violent or raunchy. What kept you from going that route? “Mainstream hip-hop has essentially become a hyperbolic caricature of itself. Each new crop of club tracks has less and less actual lyrical content and more and more absurd sexual references. It’s a downward spiral.

In that sense it’s extremely entertaining, but we were more interested in the dichotomy of past and present and various other themes that manifest themselves in our lyrics through lighthearted metaphors.”

Explain the love affair with dinosaurs. Were you dino freaks as kids? “Dinosaurs capture the imagination of many children, and we were no exception. When you’re young, dinosaurs just seem really, really awesome.

Now, they seem to exist in a place between fiction and reality. There’s the scientific side, but also the aspect that exists in everyone’s psyche that’s farther removed from reality.”

What was the last album/song you bought/downloaded? “ ‘Misled Children,’ People’s Market; ‘D. Lissvik,’ 7 Trx + Intermission; and ‘Siriusmo,'Diskoding”

The perfect San Diego weekend, according to you? “Drink some coffee while listening to some records and reading.”

The perfect 10-song mix tape, according to you?

1. “You’re the Best,” Joe Bean Esposito

2. “Jurassic Park Soundtrack,” John Williams

3. “You Have Come to Mt. Zion,” John Piper

4. “4:33,” John Cage

5. “Bakerman,” Laid Back

6. “More Soup,” Moka Only, featuring MF Doom

7. “New Jack Biddie,” Cool Calm Pete, featuring Jaymanila and Jungle Mic

8. “Westward Ho!,” Moondog

9. “Feeling Good,” WQBC

10. “From 2003 Rio,” Philippe Zdar