Rave America: New School Dancescapes

206 Pages·1999·4.443 MB·English

by  Mireille Silcott

R A VE A M E R I CA
TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk
RAVE AMERICA
New School Dancescapes
Mireille Silcott
ECW PRESS
The publication of Rave America has been generously supported by
the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council,
and the Government of Canada
through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program.
Copyright © ECW Press, 1999
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior
written permission of the copyright owners and ECW PRESS.
CANADIAN CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Silcott, Mireille, 1973-
Rave America: new school dancescapes
ISBN 1-55022-383-6
1. Techno music - Social aspects.
2. Rave culture.
I. Title.
ML.3540.S582 1999 781.64 C99-931994-9
Cover design by Benno Russell.
Interior design by Yolande Martel.
Printed by AGMV rimprimeur, Cap-Saint-Ignace, Quebec.
Distributed in Canada by General Distribution Services,
325 Humber College Blvd., Etobicoke, Ontario M9W 7C3.
Distributed in the United States by LPC Group,
1436 West Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60607. U.S.A.
Distributed in Europe by Turnaround Publisher Services
Unit 3, Olympia Trading Estate,
Coburg Road, Wood Green, London N2Z 6TZ.
Published by ECW Press,
2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200,
Toronto, Ontario M4E 1E2.
www.ecw.ca/press
PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA
To my family, Mike, and Alana
TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the years of preliminary
research I was able to do in my former position as music editor of the
Montreal Mirror. Thank-yous go to the Mirror's senior editors, Alistair
Sutherland and Annarosa Sabbadini, and I'm grateful for the encourage-
ment of editors Chris Yurkiw and Matthew Hays as well. Thanks also to
Streetsound's Chris Torella for the initial training he gave me on the ins and
outs of writing about dance music when I was just a wee pup.
It would also have been impossible for me to write this book without the
hands-on education I was given by the DJS, flyer designers, zine publishers,
promoters, and club kids who have been both my friends and major sources
of raging arguments (breakbeats vs straight beats! knobs vs cross faders!
etc., etc.) over the past dozen years: Benno Russell, Gavin Mclnnes, Luc
Raymond, Christian Pronovost, Tiga Sontag, Double A & Twist, Justin
Dallagret, Nenad Andrasic, Stacey Langbein, and everybody in the Legend-
ary House of Stitch Bitch. Thanks also to Chris Farley for being the first
house DJ I ever heard and to Spike-E for first teaching me about the politics
of ecstasy.
I am greatly indebted to Push in London for bearing with me, and to all
the people back in North America who gave me hours of assistance and
kindly opened up their contact books and clipping/flyer collections for me:
Jason Joyal @ Shock, Kiki Dranias @ Channel, Wade Hampton, Woody
McBride, Malachy O'Brien, Kerry Jaggers, Kurt Eckes, Jackie McLure, Tony
Humphries and Chris @ Yellow Orange, Jose Torrealba and Ian, Sunshine
Jones, Dianna Jacobs, Garth Wynne-Jones, Markie Mark Rowley, Jeno, Bevin
O'Neil, John Marsa, Stace Bass, Beverly May, Kimball Collins, Welcome,
Marco and Mauro Lavilla, Billy Caroll, Gavin Bryan @ Industry, AK1200,
Robert Vezina @ the BBCM, and Patrick Dream. Double thanks to Junior
7
RAVE AMERICA
Vasquez for giving me a tape recorder when mine broke in New York, to
Dantech for supplying me with batteries and blank cassettes when my "tech-
nology" went bonkers in the middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin, and to all the
people who kindly drove me around Orlando, where walking is never an
option. Thanks also to Dawn for putting me up in Toronto, to Moonbeam
Jones for the weird vegan food in San Francisco, and to Keoki and Steven
Cohen @ Moonshine in Los Angeles for allowing me the ridiculous experi-
ence of conducting an interview in a stretch limo accompanied by a leather-
clad dog.
A few of the quotes in this book are taken from interviews conducted for
the Montreal Mirror or for the Much Music and Musique Plus TV stations
between the years 1994 and 1997. Particular thanks go to Frankie Knuckles,
Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Liam Howlett, and Cajmere for providing extra-
long and extrasuper interviews in 1996. But most of the interviews for this
book were granted to me by generous people with nothing much to gain
except a chance to reminisce about faces and places they never get to talk
about anymore. Many, many thanks to Tommie Sunshine. Thanks also to
Gaylen Abbot, Acid Boy Todd P, DJ Anabolic Frolic, John Angus, Alex @
Tribe, Steven Baird, Ashley @ Better Days Promotions, Pete Avila, DJ Buc,
Don Burns, Alan Brown, Andrew C., Dave Canalte, Robbie Clark @ Under-
ground Records, Alex Clive, DJ Daisy, DJ Dominik, Anthony Donnely, Dose,
DJ D-Xtreme, John E, MC E-by-Gum, Craig @ MW Raves, Chris Hand, Robbi
Hardkiss, Scott Hardkiss, Danny Henry, John Howard, Cody Hudson, Andy
Hugues, Tom Hunter, DJ key, Tommy Illfingaz, Joe in Dallas, Jungle PHD,
Steven Keller, Kid Batchelor, Ryan Kruger, Terrence Leung, Steven Levy
@ Moonshine, Rob Lisi @ Syrous/Renegades, DJ Marcus, Matt & Brad @
Massive, Mike & Charlie, Mike @ Salvation, Chad Mindrive, Mr. Bill, Mr. C
@ The End, Mystical Influence, Nick @ Global UK, Nick Nice @ Nice
Musique, Martin O'Brien, Mark Oliver, Peter Primiani @ 83 West, Andrew
Rawnsley @ XLR8R, Rod Roderick, Art Roger, Rich Rosario, DJ Ruffneck,
James St. Bass, Ira Sandier @ 1015, DJ Sandy, DJS Slip n' Slide, DJ Spice, DJ
Spinz, Sniper, Cliff T, Eli Tobias, MC Trigger, Tyler @ Revolutions, Mike
Vance, and Jason Walker. Sincere apologies to anyone I may have forgotten.
I am extremely grateful to Will Straw for his constant support and help,
to Robert Lecker and Holly Potter at ECW for being the most patient people
on earth, and to Alana Klein for her tireless dedication, her tenacity, and her
ears of steel. I have deep gratitude for my family and for Mike Kronish —
they provided moral support and continually slipped long-distance "I Luv
Yous" under the proverbial door.
8
Contents
Preamble 11
Prologue: A Midwest Raver Goes to Storm Rave
— A First-Person Account 13
1 Musical Roots and Reinvention:
From the Disco to Storm Rave 17
2 San Francisco: Peace, Love, Unity,
and Utter Wickedness 47
3 Toronto, Canada: Hardcore Anglophilia
and Jungle's Northern Exposure 75
4 The Midwest: White Chicago, Black Milwaukee,
and the Case of the Raving Satanists 99
5 Orlando: Killer Drugs, "Gangster Ravers,"
and the Florida Funky Breaks Sound 121
6 The Gay Circuit: Sex, Drugs, Hot Bodies,
and Partying in the Era of AIDS 149
Bibliography 183