My first rave was when I was 16 years old, when my brother put on the show at a local fire hall. Both my parents and grandparents attended. My parents showed up probably because they had to…you know, legal reasons and all, and my grandparents and I to show our support.
The music was great, with DJ Deadly Buda headlining. As an invincible teen, I wanted to jump in the mosh pit, flail around running into everyone, and let out some of that pent-up teen aggression. As luck would have it, though, I made it around the pit once and then fell, only to look up from the ground, and see a nice, scruffy pair of combat boots heading my way. The next thing I knew, a multitude of arms were there helping me up and saving me from being crushed by those boots. That ended my mosh pit days, but what remained was the knowledge of that feeling of caring from those faceless helpers.
Enter 2017, where I was given the opportunity to attend Electric Daisy Carnival in Orlando, as a VIP. It’s been 28 years since that first rave, and my how things have changed…or have they? EDM has become so popular that whole football fields are necessary to accommodate all the partygoers. Tinker Field was a huge venue with multiple stages (back in 1989, there’d only been one). There were chill out zones, amusement park rides, and vendors of all kinds. Inflatable furniture anyone? How about some organic jewelry? What amazed me was how the good folks at Insomniac had all these stages outside near each other, each with a DJ playing their own music, yet the sound from one never interfered with the other. You heard each clearly without distortion or distraction from the other, yet there were no walls or buffers of any kind. Amazing acoustic planning!
Ferris Wheel at EDC Orlando 2017
The layout and flow of traffic was also planned out well. For the amount of people at the show, one never felt overcrowded, and liquid refreshment and chill areas were always right there, much different from, say, and other famous Kingdom here in Orlando.
I truly enjoyed all the colorful lights everywhere. The Kinetic stage was my favorite, with its fireworks, water fountains, light show, dancers and video screen imagery, which was planned to the music with the goddess’s heart beating and close-ups of the djs. Kudos to the creative team! Partygoers were also creative in their dress, from furries to kandi kids, butt-cheek models to neon-clad gentlemen, marching bands, stilt walkers, and oversized fish. Those last three might have been Insomniac’s doing, but oh what fun and good vibes they made for. Some of my favorites were the lite-up butterfly wing cape, the lite-up faux fur coat and the lite-up tutu. Notice a trend here? What I didn’t notice were any combat boots or mosh pits. Nor did I miss them, to be honest. What I loved seeing was that EDM has become so popular, that people danced peacefully next to each other all over the field and most of all that raves are still multi-generational.
While waiting for a friend to buy refreshments, I started talking to a young girl with glitter and rhinestones on her face and her blonde hair in braided pigtails. She was 26 and a graduate of Flagler College. She and her Dad had come all the way from Jacksonville for the show. Her mom liked more classically played music and had opted to stay home. However, as the marching band passed by, she exclaimed to her dad how “Mom really would have liked that.”
I bet there was more her mom could have appreciated: the goddess-designed stage, the creative outfits, the more chill VIP area, and most of all, the family bonding. Back at my first rave, my grandparents found the music sounded “quite funny”, but they still polka-danced to it anyway. I’d like to believe that had my grandparents been alive and with me at EDC that they’d have been there in the VIP area drinking, eating, and polka dancing into the night. That’s what’s so great about EDM shows, there is something for everyone to enjoy and a feeling of acceptance for whoever you are.
My niece is only 8 years old at the moment, but I hope one day to take her to a rave as well and continue on the tradition.
Day oneOctober 30, 2017. Contemplating in a graveyard because I find myself being featured on the television show called “Now and Then” as I will write down in log my first day recalling escape 2017.
First foremost I would like to thank insomniac for the opportunity to cover this event and interview DJs. It was really the most profound experience I have had yet to date and I will re-iterate by thanking them because they really are the best party thrower’s in the world.My name is 3MiloE and this is my Escape 2017 experience.
Logged October 30th, 2017
The purpose of this project is to really capture the feeling of both the artist and the party goer. I will be updating this project daily posting photos interviews and my personal experience interviewing partygoers as well updating daily as time goes along so you can track my project and the progress of this project from beginning to end . Readers can thoroughly enjoy themselves and go through my story day by day rather than having to wait to finish the entire project. I hope you will re-live my experience, with me as I put it down in this article and capture my own experience throughout this wild weekend which was a esape 2017.
9:23 a.m. Tuesday, Halloween, October 31, 2017, my friends back yard,
Please allow me to get sidetracked for a second because the main focus of this work, is to derive meaning from this entire stream of consciousness that I experienced during Escape. Although it’s hard to describe. People think it’s about that music, people think about the drugs, people think it’s about the lights, people think it’s about dressing up. It’s really about what each individual takes away from it.
The first night I spent the night interviewing the DJs but the second night I interviewed the crowd. It was interesting to find out what really makes everything tick. I’ve been part of the crowd before but I have never been behind stage I wanted to ask the artist questions I wanted to know, not necessarily what people wanted to know or the public. I like to call myself a Renaissance man of EDM, I produce, I spin, I promote, I write articles, I go to festivals and, now I interview famous DJs.
Right now it is 9:20 in the morning Halloween October 31, 2017 I have just woken up at my friends house I am having a coffee before he wakes up. I am logging in my daily time thinking about who really is my audience reading this? Should I really bring the hard data? Which I feel to some extent this festival world needs.
I am going to write the story of Escape down in this text, the feelings of the artists, the feelings of myself, feelings of the crowd. With the prime directive of answering this questions, “what did we all take away from this experience. DJs, medical staff, festival workers, party goers, the producers; all changed in some way by this experience. Did people take home something with them, that had only been discovered at Escape 2017? Do they have the feeling that I have? The feeling that artists cried when they were on stage, was the feeling that was described by general mission, and party goers and that’s the feeling I got when I was experiencing the story doing the interviews, being in the crowd, but most of all I am wondering what feeling the world or the audience will take away from this text…
Nov 2, 2017
Currently stressed about life. I really have to Now prioritize, strategize and work the hardest I’ve ever worked in my entire life. I am going to be real with you all . I am a psychology student, in the midst of his first year in my master’s program.
Now let me set the scene…”
I have recently lost my entire hard drive on my computer only a couple weeks before the festival and half way through my first session at school . And that was a Trumatic experience for me. I lost about two years worth of content on my computer including photos and all the music I have produced up until that point and my homework… Songs I had spent hours working on, lost to nothingness, save a few originals on SoundCloud. Here is my November 2nd reflection.
As my mind grows, so does my ambition and curiosity…
I have a lot of work to do, I am really stressed, but I know what I have to do and nothing can stop me from conquering my dragons! I must ride this dragon of psychology and become a master! As well as pursue my passions as an active EDM enthusiast, I feel it is my duty , to push my intellectual capacities and apply them to both my fields of research and study. One being electronic music and the other being psychology. It is my master plan, to blend the two together for my master’s thesis.
Ok Ok! I realized I have just been posting thoughts, so here is some real deal pics to satisfy you guys before I get to the juiciest part of my experience…. THE DJ INTERVIEWS…My associate and I are Dictating the interviews now!!!
Da Tweekaz love TheHardData! Thanks for reading guys!!!
November 3rd 2017,
It is the evening of November 3rd 2017 and I just witnessed a lecture by Fanny Brewster, a renowned psychologist who has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed Psychoanalyst. Her lecture was on a female Architype. I feel so connected with women, and that may sound strange coming from a man in 2017… but I truly believe, that women are underrepresented in our society.
Selfie, with Fanny Brewster!
I took my mother, as a guest, to this lecture at Pacifica, which is the University I attend for my master’s program in psychology. My time there tonight let me reflect upon how I have been thinking a lot about women lately… and the important role they play in my life. I am reflecting now, upon how important music is to me, and that there are not a lot of females in the industry. For example, I can only name two female headliners at Escape. Rezz, and of course Missk8! I feel that Rezz is channeling female power through anonymity. Rezz captures female form without giving it a physical manifestation of beauty, empowering the ideal of a woman and showing the world that a woman can headline without people acknowledging her physical appearance, the beauty lies underneath the trippy glasses. Thank you Rezz!
Similarly, empowering women is Missk8. Missk8 however, harnesses her power by shocking people with her beauty and applying it to high energy music that expresses emotions like anger and exposes aggression within people. These emotions are not often thought of as beautiful, but when Missk8 blasts her music on stage… you tend to re-evaluate things. Her beauty, and figure, has a shock, or wow factor to it. Because hard style is aggressive and angry in a lot of cases, culturally thought of as negative feelings, misunderstood, misinterpreted or misrepresented feelings, and that is not often thought of as beautiful, but Missk8 embodies the beauty that lies within the music, underneath the surface.
(LATEST UPDATE) November 15, 2017
Affectionately known as my “Office”
I just established my space at Pacifica Graduate Institute. I even tagged it in my social media! I affectionately call it my office. It’s a small room in the library! It’s so perfect and quiet. I recently have been reading this book called, “Addressing Cultural Complexities in Practice Third Edition Assessment Diagnosis, and Therapy, by Pamela A. Hays. I find myself using it as a tool for self-analysis and a way of recognizing biases, within myself, that would potentially prevent me from connecting empathetically with those I seek to form therapeutic relationships with.
The reason I am bringing up this literature… is because, the literature is telling me a lot about my own self-identity. When I go to a massive rave like Escape, I can see every type of person imaginable; even those previously inconceivable.
Everyone’s inhibitions were lowered, acceptance of others was heightened. This lead to a mass exchange of culture, ideas, empathy and feelings! As a result of these socially perceived barriers, that are perceptively stronger outside of a festival setting, were almost demolished, due to the ambiance of the festival. The magnitude and scale of this social exchange goes unparalleled in modern society. It takes years, sometimes lifetimes to tear down the walls of ego and judgement that lie between us and the “other”. At festivals people differ in age, sex, gender, ethnicity, social class, religious beliefs…
A party goer dresses as the pope and Jesus Christ; a strong and symbolic representation of a cultural Archetype,
economic status, regard for authority, culture, and physical attractiveness. Yet all of us were concentrated in close proximity and feeling some of the most intense feelings that some of us will have had ever experienced in our entire lives.
In life, there is racism, intolerance, prejudice, bias, privilege and misunderstanding. As a psychologist, it is my job to understand these aspects of the human psyche, and therein my own. I must be aware of all these aspects of human life in order to be sensitive and understanding with the people I interact with. And so, with this log I would like to emphasize cultural awareness and sensitivity because we are part of this world. Each culture contributes its unique sounds, adopted by electronic music. The beats, and timing differ from country to country, culture to culture, and person to person… coming from, and spreading to, all over. There are people from all over the world, representing their unique cultures, as individuals, at these festivals. Be aware that we all need to respect and honor each other. That is the premise of the readings I found in Pamela A. Hays’ book, and the theme of this log is to reflect upon your own culture, relative to everyone else’s culture, and bring about a better perspective than the days before that time of great reflection… Happy travels- 3MiloE
I arrived on the scene fashionably early, only getting slightly lost on the way to the venue. Parking was amazing, I parked literally across the street from the venue. Upon entry I was patted down for safety. I then proceeded into the venue, quickly overlooking the outside hang out area. When I entered the venue, it was heavy with smoke from the fog machines and to my surprise there was no music playing. There was a bar at the end of a room which had a doorway adjacent to it, which lead to the main hall, which I had yet to enter. I happened to run into another early bird, one of my friends Hanssel, who has been a long time raver and part of the underground electronic community for a long time. We talked for a minute and caught up, we originally became friends, after I had done a video commentary on RonDCore’s performance at a DJ Tron tribute concert hosted by TechnoBelligerent, Hanssel reached out to me and was able to send me links to all these old school DJ’s whom I had never heard.
Although I arrived slightly early, it was time for the event to start, and yet there was no music… Hanssel and I were commenting on it when all of a sudden the music comes on. I go passed the bar through the doorway and across the room, which was full of only a handful of people at the time, but there spinning was a lord of the underground. The one known as Deadly Buda.
Deadly Buda Tearing it up!
I might add Deadly Buda is a friend of mine and and the prime catalyst of TheHardData magazine. Needless to say, Deadly Buda is a big dog when it comes to the underground. I listened for a good minute, but soon after he started his set on the tables, that another headliner came on and took his place. I was concerned, due to Deadly Buda having such a short set, especially also just as an opening set. After he got off the tables I was able to say whats up to him. He told me that his set would come on later and that he was just spinning until the first DJ arrived, I was stoked to hear this because I did not drive two hours to see Deadly Buda play a 20 minute set. His set brought people inside the main hall, despite the earliness of the night. However by the second hour the room was about filled people.
The crowd going crazy
It should be known that hardcore is a type of music that should be understood like this. There are certain levels of energy one puts out during a hardcore event. The first is the spectator. The spectator goes strictly for appreciation of the music, not dancing, not socializing much, but mainly just listening. These are the people that are usually closest to the stage. I found myself there for sometime. The second type of hardcore raver I like to call the Bobble Heads. This is a mild form of head banging, these types of hardcore party goers nod their heads to whatever time signature they please. Since hardcore has so many levels of percussion and sounds, there are many ways of “riding the beat” as one could say. So the Bobble Heads all vary in timing and motion of the way they nod their heads. However, the third class, the most intense class of them all. The type of hardcore fan that dances to the music. I simply call this, “Going Ham”. These body movements can range from stomping in quick succession, flailing arms and legs as if your almost fighting an invisible man and also appearing as if one was playing dance dance revolution at the same time. The amount of endurance and strength it takes to dance to hardcore is admirable. Ive seen people who make dancing to hardcore look amazing and creative. I took a step back to watch some of the hardcore raver’s moves. Some of the hardcore raver’s dancing was very impressive. Of course, other raver’s who tried hardcore dancing looked like they were having seizures. It was not a pretty sight, but still it was radical that they were dancing to the brutal beats and not caring what people thought.
I was going hard, dancing a lot. It got hot fast, i was pleased to find that water was cheap and cold. There was also a place outside where one could take a breather as well. The night air was perfect for cooling off and socializing.
The talent that played this night was phenomenal, not one DJ disappointed. Shout out to Deadly Buda for slaying his full set that I had been anticipating. The most epic set of the night was when the DJ known as Lenny Dee spun with with Malke. The crowd went wild. Malke was live drumming on pads while Lenny Dee was spinning. I honestly have not seen this done by anyone before. Just as the performance peaked and everyone was losing their minds…. the power went out… the music literally died and all that could be heard was random ramblings and shouting from disgruntled people. Until one loud voice from the crowd shouted, “Is it over?!”. At that point Lenny Dee replied, “WE JUST GETTING STARTED!!!!”.
It seemed after he shouted those words that the power came back on and the party went even harder! After that, I cannot remember much because I was dancing so hard. So after his set I took a breather outside to relax and center myself. It was here where I got to see and converse with some of my friends.
I was happy to capture an epic moment. I managed to ninja snapshot a photo of Deadly Buda talking with Lenny Dee about their sets and music. To myself, it was very important and exciting to catch these two legends conversing about one of the most important aspects of my life; electronic music.
Center frame is Lenny Dee, To the right is Deadly Buda
It was nice to be there surrounded by familiar faces at these events. Shout outs “ DJ Seppuku of Dead Culture Crew” and shout outs “TechnoBelligerent” for representing too. Shout outs to all the other people who went to Hard Electronic. See you at the next event!
It’s kind of weird to interview yourself. But, since my job was to interview as many Hard Electronic artists as possible, and a day went by without one, I figured I should fill the gap, as I’m playing the L.A. show. We basically made a list of stock questions for the artist to answer how they wanted. So, I figured this would be easy. Lo and behold, the strangest thing was that I surprised myself with answers to the questions I wrote! So, if you’ve got a few minutes, let’s hang out…
Where are you from? How does your geographic location influence your music?
A Deadly Buda graphic from 1994, Pittsburgh PA.
I was born in Pittsburgh, PA. There, like most places in the civilized world, the population is force-fed garbage music repeatedly, brainwashing them and compromising their lives. It was there that I decided to fight against the insipid audio enslavers, be they man or otherwise. Eventually forced out of the city, I slowly made my way across the USA and have lived in Los Angeles County for the last 17 years, where I continue to wage my guerrilla campaigns to varying degrees of success.
What’s the story behind your DJ Name?
The original story is that “Buda” was my graffiti tag name, taken from a high school social studies report. I added “Deadly” with my first rave DJ gig in 1991. I wanted my DJ name to sound like a kung-fu movie name, like my DJ heroes growing up, Grandfaster Flash, mainly. But as time went on the meaning changed various times. I read years ago about certain Buddha’s whose job it was too destroy egos in order to set people free from the identity others have forced upon them. I like that idea, so that’s what my name means, now.
Who or what events in your life are responsible for you being the artist you are today?
My neighbor, Phil Schoemer, who first taught me how to DJ, was the biggest influence. I still remember things he taught me today, and still struggle to do them. DJ Controlled Weirdness, who introduced me to so much music in the early 90s and we threw raves together as Hear 2 Go, Christoph Fringeli from Praxis Records after that. I’ve always listened to everything Lenny Dee has to say, because he is more experienced and forward thinking than anyone in the dance music industry, period, and today when I get to work with Rob Gee on videos and stuff, helps me keep my sanity in a world gone mad.
Deadly Buda will be appearing at Hard Electronic September 9, 2017
What are you trying to convey with your music? What are you trying to communicate? What are you giving to the crowd that listens to you?
Though I try to make my sound dimension-bending and otherworldly, at the core I guess I am just trying to communicate that they aren’t alone… that we see really see these things and enjoy things together. I feel what they feel, too. Ultimately, life is more psychedelic than any drug you will ever take. So, I think when I play “crazy” hardcore I am just really describing life as it is, without a filter, and I want to just geek out with my friends about it and what we’re doing.
What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ?
Lenny Dee’s Trax from the Darkside album art by Deadly Buda
There are some big ones for sure, Even Further ’95, and of course Even Further ’96. Both were some of my greatest sets for big crowds, and of course legendary parties. But the first one that always comes to my mind when asked is Catastrophic New Years in 92-93, in Washington DC. It was my first ever out-of-town gig, and Catastrophic was one of the biggest, if not the biggest rave crew on the East Coast at the time. My friend Dario Kenning gave them a tape and the next thing you know I’m playing ‘til midnight for the biggest, most illegal party I’d ever seen or maybe will ever see in the USA. They were diplomat’s kids, the Baez brothers, and they literally were pulling electricity right off the telephone poles into the warehouse and all the cops were obviously paid off. Ravers surrounded by Secret Service, it was unreal. I was already playing hard at the time, and I’ll never forget when I asked Mike Battaglia (now known as Mike Bee) what I should play, because I thought I might be too hard for them. He laughed and said, “just play hardcore!” and raised his fist and laughed. So I did and it went through the roof!
But for cherishing, I’ll always cherish the first raves I did in Pittsburgh with Controlled Weirdness: Psychotronic Slackrave, the Beehive parties, and after he moved, the Turbo-Zen and Millennium parties, which are stories for another day.
What specifically are you planning to give to the audience at Hard Electronic?
Original Deadly Buda style with new and improved ingredients. Since it’s Hard Electronic, I am going out-of-my-way to break the mainstream rules, really my old style. So, starting at 133 BPM and in a half hour, crank it up to 200+ BPM. I’m going to start banging some new Dave Delta tracks, and end up with some Mr. Madness at the end. Make sure to get there by 10:00 PM though, because that’s when I start. There are so many great DJs playing that if you blink you’ll miss one of us!
What is something you really want to tell the public that we might not have asked about?
The world today is dangerous, and meant to be confusing and overwhelming. It’s easy to get upset and impatient with everything going on. Just when you think you know the answers, another contradictory layer to the madness is revealed and frustrates. In today’s world we cannot rely only on logic or emotion, but must hone our intuition to navigate through the madness. Mistakes will be made by us and others, but if you proceed knowing you are good, and look for and amplify the good in others, be they friend or foe, we can navigate around the dangers and feel immediate satisfaction in our actions. I have to remind myself of this, so maybe others need to hear it too.
Last summer, Drop Bass Network pulled Even Furthur out of the foggy memory banks of the collective conscious of the Midwest, providing a fresh opportunity for newcomers and old-timers to gather together and let their freak flags fly. It was a mad weekend of fresh discoveries and random reunions, all underscored by the inimitable sound of underground techno pounding the earth hard enough to ripple the waters of Lake Superior.
This year found us back in the same region. That’s right. Much like last year’s festival, this one took place up in the Mellen Mountain Meadows of Northern Wisconsin. It was quite a trek to get there from most of the major centers in the Midwest, but one of the new developments at this year’s installment was a limited number of early entry passes that allowed people to arrive on Thursday afternoon. Early birds were not only able to get on the bus a day earlier, but it also meant that they could set up their camps well ahead of the pack that would cram themselves into the space over the weekend. It was a nice gesture that gave weary travelers a chance to unwind before the party really got going on Friday.
I hitched a ride with select members of The Northern Hardcorps. We rolled down from Canada, and arrived well after sunset on Thursday. As we approached ground zero, we tuned in and turned on to the Free Radio Furthur FM broadcast, and successfully resisted the impulse to race to the main gate.
Photo by Tonya.
After clearing the checkpoint, we parked and struggled to orient ourselves in the darkness. After a bit of exploration we connected with our crew and pitched our tents within the heavily fortified confines of Camp Blood. And by fortified, I mean our own fence and a front gate fitted with flamethrowers. A good party isn’t just about whiskey and kisses—at Camp Blood security is serious business. We even had a series of safety meetings over the course of the weekend.
Photo by Tonya.
There had been a storm earlier in the evening, so the ground was muddy and soft. The only firmness around was the distant thunder of Gabber Jihad on the main stage, which drifted through the woods and helped us settle in for the night. After a dozen hours on the road, the warm fuzz of distorted kick drums saturated the night with the constant reminder that we have arrived.
The activity slowly ramped up on Friday morning. Camp Blood sat at the top of the ridge overlooking the rig run by Speaker Kreatures /M.E.L.T. /Mobcore. The stage sat in the center of an immense pit, and had been named Land of Sunshine. That stage and a few of the other DIY sound systems had been set up the day before, but the rest of them started coming alive as the day began. Soon the sounds of the countryside were quickly replaced by a wide range of electronic music. As usual, crews had been invited from across the Midwest. They had all programmed their own lineups, and lugged their gear up north to keep people entertained during the daylight hours. There were eight DIY stages strewn across the festival grounds, with each one catering to a slightly different audience.
One of the highlights of the Friday DIYss (Do-It-Yourself sound systems) was an unscheduled hardcore set by Bombardier that closed out the afternoon at the Children of the Corn stage. If you recall, at last year’s event Bombardier had demonstrated his ability to drop a mindblowing set at a moment’s notice by stepping up and filling a headlining slot on the main stage. This year a last minute opening on the Iowa crew’s DIYss presented him with another opportunity to do the same, and he produced a raw and brutal assault on the senses that ripped through many of his hardest offerings. It was one of those surprising Furthur moments that requires being in the right place at the right time, and it left an exhausted crowd begging for more.
Bombardier’s raw and brutal assault on the senses. Photo by Tonya.
Of course, with DJ Dan behind the decks at Déjà Vu, and Decontrol tearing up the Land of Sunshine it seems like just about every stage must have felt like the right place to be. The DIY sound systems all did impressive jobs bringing in headlining talent, but when they shut down at 6 p.m., it was time to freshen up and make the trek down to the main stage.
It’s hard to believe that a gang of miscreants from Wisconsin has now been droppin’ bass across the whole planet for 25 years. It’s even more difficult to figure out how they have managed to constantly reinvent themselves without ever straying from the type of event that they’ve become internationally known for curating. This year’s main-stage lineup contained an exceptionally well-programmed mix of more recent discoveries alongside established legacy acts. Friday night featured an old school vinyl set by TJR sandwiched between captivating performances by Jlin and Black Asteroid. The showstopper, however, came early in the evening via a live PA by Prototype 909.
The trio of Dietrich Schoenemann, Jason Szosteck, and Taylor Deupree laid down a phenomenal set that reached deep into the core of my being and reminded me what electronic music is capable of doing. Sometimes we lose sight of what connects us to this scene, and P909’s masterful offering was exactly what I needed to hear. It simultaneously erased my regret at not having been present for their legendary ’95 appearance, and made me more aware than ever of what I had missed.
It was a relentless and flawless display put on by three skilled performers well versed in the capabilities of their gear and the intricacies of getting the most out of their equipment. Toward the end of the set a problem with the generator interrupted things momentarily. It disturbed the flow, but it also afforded those in the audience a chance to catch their breath.
As the sun came up on Saturday morning it was time for Hardcore Breakfast with Tim Shopp, with a special guest appearance by the original Drop Bass Terror Unit DJ—Mr. Bill. The tireless DBN Support Squad tapped a keg of PBR and made pancakes for the hungry masses. Eventually the plates ran out, and famished partiers resorted to making Canadian Tacos by drenching the food in maple syrup before folding them in half so they could be more easily devoured.
Hardcore Breakfast montage. Photos by Tonya.
At Furthur, there is no rest for the wicked. The night may have been over, but the day was just beginning. Unlike last year, which featured designated quiet times that provided some opportunity to rest, there was no downtime this year. Hot on the heels of Hardcore Breakfast came Mobcore Chicago’s Breakcore Brunch at the Land of Sunshine. Tooth_Eye, Common Dominator, and Sir.Vixx served up Milwaukee’s Best and threw down a few hours’ worth of broken beat brutality to round out the morning.
The nearby Psychosis stage delivered an entirely different sort of breakbeat mayhem, and had a stacked lineup of their own on Saturday afternoon. Hidden away in the woods, their camo tent featured sets by RP Smack, Easyrider, and the Ghetto Safari veteran—3D.
Elsewhere, there was chaos in the air at the Free Beer stage, which boasted Michael Wenz and the inimitable Dan Efex. Niki Kitz, Diva D, Idiom and Mr. Bill made damn sure that things never got quiet in the Land of Sunshine, but most people appeared to be drawn to the Children of the Corn stage where Mark EG held court for an extremely energetic 90 minutes. Bombardier then made an encore performance to wind down the day with a gritty techno set.
Mark EG holding court. Photo by Tonya.
One of the most anticipated main stage performances of the weekend for me was Ancient Methods. The “In the Mouth of the Wolf” collaboration with Cinder (aka Bambule from the Praxis label) is one of my favorite techno records of last year, and this was the one set I was determined not to miss. Ancient Methods administered the required dose of dirty and menacing techno that managed to fill the main tent with a foreboding darkness, despite the fact that the sun was still blazing away in the evening sky.
When it was over, the sun had set and the stage was ready for the oozing, penis-faced depravity of Anklepants. The theatrical and performative nature of his stage show laid waste to the idea of the electronic artist as a laptop jockey as he engaged with the audience in ways that delighted the crowd and made it one of the most talked about sets of the weekend.
The flyers for Even Furthur contained a reminder to be prepared, and it seems that there’s always something unexpected that goes down. This year was no different. A last minute cancellation resulted in an open slot on the main stage, and this time around the void was filled with the impressive stamina of two veteran DJs.
The lineup promoted in advance of the show promised a three-hour set by Josh Wink and an epic five-hour journey hosted by Tommie Sunshine. Instead, this pair stepped up and stretched things out to cover nearly 12 hours! Wink’s set spanned an encyclopedic range of styles over nearly five hours, before Tommie rose to the occasion and kept things going until well after sunrise on Sunday morning. It was exactly the kind of magic that DBN’s faithful followers have come to expect.
Once again, the DIY sound systems began to fire up as the main stage was shutting down. Dan Bell kicked off a stunning Sunday lineup on the Communion stage that also featured Centrific and a jaw-dropping set from Dustin Zahn. Meanwhile, the noisy degenerates were still at it over at the Land of Sunshine. Bits of my afternoon have been blurred by sleep deprivation and the mini-keg of Newcastle that we tapped at Camp Blood, but it certainly seemed like a good time was had by all. The Hermit reared his head and dropped a solid set of hard techno, which offered some respite from the unrelenting hardcore that dominated the crater.
It served as a nice starting point for my own set, which kicked off with vintage tracks from Underground Resistance, Circuit Breaker and AFX—before picking up the pace and racing toward the more extreme forms of speedcore. Dica took over from there and dropped an entertaining set accompanied by MC Spade One.
The Demix closed out the day at the Land of Sunshine, but there wouldn’t be peace in the valley for long; Furthur had other plans for the evening. Adam X and Perc had been slated for a three-hour AX&P performance that was supposed to run out the clock on the main stage, but a delayed flight pushed Perc’s arrival time to well after the main system was scheduled to shut down.
Adam X wound up dropping a mind-bending three-hour set that had the crowd dancing their way through a comprehensive lesson spanning the history of underground techno. At the end of his set he thanked the crowd and announced that the party was going to relocate and continue.
Earlier in the day a contingency plan had been put into place that would allow Perc to perform. Communion moved their sound system and set it up in the Land of Sunshine; Joe from Light Fantastik brought over his lasers; bonfires were lit around the edge of the pit to help people navigate the uneven terrain… and then, Perc took center stage for the kind of magic that surpassed the expectations of even DBN’s most faithful followers.
It was an uncompromising block of hard techno that elevated the energy levels of a group of tired ravers that had been partying for days. People dug deep and found their hidden reserves. No one wanted it to end, and Perc satisfied the crowd with an extended set that stretched well into the wee hours of morning.
By the end of it we were all exhausted. Everyone crashed out late, and woke up early to find that the tireless Tommie Sunshine’s set at Domeland was the perfect soundtrack for loading up the cars and waiting for the eclipse to blot out the August sky.
The tireless Tommie Sunshine. Photo courtesy of The Headspace Collective.
It truly was a techno pagan ritual for the ages.
And if you weren’t there, then you fucked up.
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
