The stage is a well established institution of musical enjoyment. Its elevated presence implies that there's something you should really be watching while you're listening. Lights point at it. If you glance away you might miss something very important. The American Music Industry is quite familiar with the institution of the stage. The Standard Stage Format gives you something to look at ("Ooh, look at that wild lead singer!" "Wow, that guitarist can really jump around.") and music to nod your head or mosh to. The stage has helped make this industry successful. It preys on the "I pay $20 to go watch them do their stuff" attitude of fans.
Meanwhile, in our little separate dimension, all of us who rave are familiar the Rave Format: a DJ hunched behind the turntables, a few trainspotters standing around with their mouths hanging open and hundreds or thousands of people laughing, talking to God and each other, rubbing each others backs, sucking their pacifiers, having hand orgies, and, of course, dancing and dancing and dancing. You go to Dance and to communicate with one another through the unified enjoyment of music that resonates within each of us who manage to stay awake all night and limp home smiling with ringing ears. Not too many people stand around watching the DJ because that's not what the DJ is there for. She's been paid to make you Dance. If everyone is standing around as she twiddles and scratches then she's doing something wrong!
We are experiencing a major shift however. There is an increasingly large number of Electronica events which are stage-focused. Some feature a DJ along with some sort of crazy accompanying performer. Others have the actual musicians up on stage, perched behind their synthesizers and sequencers. However, regardless of what's going on up on stage, one thing is certain: When there's something to look at, less people are Dancing. Does this mark the death of raving as we know it or just a split in the road of musical enjoyment?
The American Music Industry relies on our own laziness to support itself. The people who are the easiest to make a buck off of are those who are willing to pay to be entertained. It's the people who say, "Here's my money, now I just want to sit back and it's your job to make me happy," which keep the Standard Stage Format alive and profitable. Now the American Music Industry is starting to wonder if "Electronica is the new Alternative" and they're just not quite sure how to deal with this horrifying musical evolution. (Is disco back? What are these "raves?") One thing is for sure: the Music Industry needs something new and, gosh, thousands of kids can't be wrong, can they? Raves and Electronica provide something charged with youth to fill the hole that Nirvana and Pearl Jam left. Music is a business and The Industry wants your money. So, they use a tool that's always helped make them money before: The Stage.
In August I went to "End Fest '97," a huge Rock music festival thrown by 107.7, Seattle's "Alternative" radio station. It featured bands like Offspring, Folk Implosion and The Dandy Warhols. There was the A Stage, the B Stage and then there was the E Stage. Yes, the E stage, with DJ Nasir, The Crystal Method, Lamb, BT, Cirrus, Gus Gus and local favorite Sky Cries Mary. It was exciting to think that 15,000 people would have the opportunity to be exposed to this amazing music that has touched myself and so many others so deeply. However, the music was presented in the format that The Industry was familiar with on The E Stage. Picture BT making his phenomenal crunchy music: Beats pulsed through the room like we were in the belly of some enormous animal, grooving to its heartbeat...and several thousand people just stood there watching. Just watching. The music was inspiring, but if you stopped dancing (which many never even started doing) and just watched, all you saw was one little guy with stringy blond hair, encapsulated by machines, dripping sweat and hopping over the synthesizers.
The experience was disappointing on many levels. To those who are used to The Rave Format, it was strange to have the music coming from someone so removed from the energy of the room. It was strange to have the speakers behind little gates and security guards. It was strange to be surrounded by people who weren't dancing at all. To those used to The Standard Stage Format, it was strange to have so little to watch. Here was a stage and nothing really to look at! What could have been an opportunity to show many people previously unexposed to raving what it's all about instead felt like it was a disappointment on both levels. It wasn't quite a good rave or a good show. The people who paid money to watch didn't get much to see. Those who wanted to hear the great music had to pay too much to be too removed from the source of the sounds.
I can't say it was all bad. Gus Gus was outrageous and Cirrus knocked me off my Nikes! The more intense acts like the Crystal Method actually did get a lot of people dancing and if even one person who'd never heard the music was touched by it then I'd say the event was a success.
I talked to Cirrus after their show and asked them how it felt to be making Dance music up on a stage. Stephen, who was in a wheelchair from too much jumping around with his guitar, explained to me that "If people weren't Dancing, we'd get up there and say, 'Fuckin' MOVE! Start Dancing! If you're just here to watch then you're here for the wrong reasons.' We make DANCE MUSIC, it's for Dancing! Nothing slower than 120 beats for minute. Nothing that has less energy than the future. We don't want to play for people standing there watching, nodding their heads." I asked Aaron, the bassist and DJ for the band, if it would bother him if everyone was completely ignoring the stage. He looked outraged and explained that, "as long as they were going off and jumping up and down and having a great time," he wouldn't care at all.
The members of Cirrus are aware that they're in some ways breaking an established Electronica mold. Renee, the vocalist and percussionist, told me that, "In the beginning of this show people weren't moving around too much and that's usually the reaction we get cause Steve breaks out a guitar, I get behind the drums, and they don't know what's going to happen." People seem to be wondering to themselves watch or Dance? "But then as the music goes and picks up momentum then they get into it." Stephen clarified, "We get on stage and people are like, 'What is this? A Rock band? What's up with the guitar and the drums?' and then as soon as we get going people are like, 'Okay, it's all good, it's all good.'"
Renee nodded and concluded, "People have never seen musicians with instruments with this kind of music. It's brand new." So, as I shared a smoke and thanked them for their time, I had to question some of my own assumptions.
These guys had good intentions. They want Dancers to do their thing and Dance. So why were they up on a stage separated from the crowd? Just because they had instruments? The separation of a few feet really knocks the exchange of energy that exists between the dancers and the performers, whether they be DJs or musicians. The stage acts as a dividing line between revelers and musicians.
When The Industry puts people on stage, it instead creates a situation where the talents of a few are provided to the appreciative masses at a cost, payable to The Man. This cost is not only monetary, but also an attitude. When people just stand and watch the performers, they also passively accept the belief that they themselves are not worth being watched. The performers become glorified, but only at the expense of the overall egalitarianism and unity of the event. You know those fans who stand at the base of the stage reaching for their favorite Rock star's ankles? What they're reaching for is that moment of the euphoria you experience every time you catch a hard groove in front of a speaker.
The danger of The Stage doesn't come from the artists performing on it, but rather the audience's reaction to it. Our own devout involvement is the base of our community. Raving is an interactive activity which necessitates engagement and participation. "Vibe" represents the cumulative efforts of each person in the room to add to the experience and create an environment which they enjoy. Ravers focus attention on each other (not a star up on a stage), thus giving everyone a sense of ownership and pride. A party can have all aspects of its production perfect, but if the vibe isn't present, then the event has failed.
Courtney Reimer's intelligently written article "Knob Fiddling and Trainspotting" which appeared in Seattle's The Stranger addressed this issue. In her discussion of the "awkward state" of Electronica, she spoke to Marco Collins, "One of Seattle's most notorious radio personalities." Marco explained that part of the joy of Electronica is that, "the show isn't on the stage, the show is in the audience. Dance music makes the audience the star." Reimer concluded, "This would explain the inversion of the typical concert paradigm, in which the Rock stars are dressed to the nines while their adoring fans adorned in yesterday's T-shirt and jeans. With Dance culture, the crowds are often better dressed than the performers. This shining-star-less structure is not accidental... the anonymity [of the performers] is representative of the philosophy which buttresses the genre."
In this age of mass media, where the convictions of the few are conveyed to the believing many, it is imperative that ravers think for themselves and protect what is ours: Our ability to entertain ourselves and each other. How many times have you been to a party that gets busted, only to find the evening more than salvaged by an impromptu celebration in the parking lot? All you need is one good stereo and the joy and enthusiasm of a few people who truly love the music. Doubtless someone will have glowsticks to do a light show, someone else has their pockets stuffed with candy to provide the condiments, and dancers who get tired have each other to watch and talk to. Marco Collins said it right: We are the stars!
Ravers are unlike music enthusiasts anywhere because our own enthusiasm is an intrinsic piece of the experience. We don't just applaud, we Dance for hours, scream at the tops of our lungs, pile up on speakers, encourage each other, learn from one another and create a whole community of support, creativity, and, yes, entertainment. We should celebrate the evolution of Electronica and understand that the stage allows a crossover, a format of comfort for some to access music that they are unfamiliar with.
But watch out! MTV's "Amp" and the major record labels' sudden interest in Electronica is Uncle Capitalism pointing his finger and saying: "I want YOU, little raver." It is imperative that not a single one of us forget our own power to be the star. If we forget, then we fall into the trap of buying someone else's vision of our own dreams. So turn your back to the stage, close your eyes, and Dance.
]]>After we interviewed Reverend James Conn for our November issue, we were so inspired by him and his ideas that we asked him to write a regular column for us! So, here it is, the first of a series of articles by our own irREVerent reverend, James Conn.
What is something you love to do so much that you get lost in it for hours without getting bored? I don't mean sex, and I'm not talking about being stoned. I mean, what do you do that takes your full attention, that you can spend hours involved with, completely losing the sense of time, without ever running out of interest?
Your answer to that question may tell you a lot about what your gifts are--what you do well that makes you a strong, valuable, and unique human being. Gifts or strengths are your capacities, skills, abilities, and possibilities. A gift is a natural endowment that comes out of a deep interest and enthusiasm inside of you. It's your unique attribute.
Often we get into a rut of self-doubt. We think we can't do anything and there is nothing special about us. We run ourselves down. We think we have no skills or abilities. We think we are worthless. We feel only shame, some deep sense that we are totally inadequate as human beings. We forget that we have some strong gifts that are ours alone.
Sometimes we get together with our friends who think they are worthless too. Instead of affirming each other, we make each other feel equally useless. We build a strong bond with worthlessness, and we confirm it with our friends.
Sometimes we get together with friends to forget we feel so bad. But they feel bad too, and we spiral downwards together.
Sometimes we feel better by making someone else feel wrong or bad or stupid. Sometimes we make others into enemies in order to make ourselves feel ok.
But I believe that every human being has a gift. Sometimes they are gifts like everyone else has: energy, spirit, enthusiasm, curiosity, or powerful emotions. Sometimes they are uniquely ours: our skills with the internet, our ability to make a motor run, our hands on a drum, the bug collection we keep in the closet when our friends come over, our touch in the kitchen, our way of putting words together.
Some of us see other people with amazing clarity. Some of us can describe situations with insight. Some of us write poems on tiny scraps of paper spread all over. Some of us keep them in elaborate order. Some of us clip photos. Some of us make collages from them. These are all our unique gifts.
A few years ago my son and two of his friends decided to pack up everything they own and move it to
Along about half-way across the country, the guys were tired and irritable. One of them spotted a state park on the map, not too far off the Interstate. He guided them there, where they found a lake and went skinny dipping, letting all the stress slide off into the water. That was another gift--finding a place to play!
Gifts come in all sizes and shapes. Here are some other ways to figure out what your gifts might be:
• What two talents or skills do you have that make you a valuable family member or friend?
• What two skills make you especially good at your work--whether it's paid or volunteer?
• What talent do you have that not many people know about?
• What are your favorite hobbies?
• What is it in school that really catches/caught your imagination?
If you are still stuck, try thinking about it this way: gifts can be gifts of the head--how we think, analyze, process, solve problems or know how to teach. My gift is seeing opportunities and figuring out how to use them. Or gifts can also be gifts of the hand--how we do things, our skills and abilities. I can't play a musical instrument, but those same numb fingers can pound out words on a keyboard. And there are gifts of the heart--how we feel, remember, hope, and dream. People often tell me that I listen well. They feel heard when they talk to me. Those are some ways I have found helpful in thinking about my own gifts. These ways of thinking help me value myself and focus on things I really do well.
When we do not have a clear picture of our gifts and strengths as individuals, we can easily let others carry our confusion and our dislike of ourselves. I believe that much of the hatred and anger and rage we feel about other people is really our own bad feelings about ourselves. What we dislike about ourselves we put onto others.
It's especially easy to rage about people who we think are different from ourselves in some fundamental way. We identify them for their age or their sexuality or their life style or their skin color or their culture or their religion, or because they don't like the kind of music we like. These people we lump together become easy targets. And it's easier to target someone else than examine our own sense of inadequacy and shame. We let them stand in for what we hate about ourselves, or what we fear that we are.
When we know our gifts, we don't need to make others feel inadequate. We do not need to diminish or belittle them. Even your parents who don't talk to you anymore. Or the woman who stole your boyfriend. Or the man who seems scary and intimidating. We can look for their gifts, too. We can look for strengths and abilities that complement our own. We can identify someone else's gift in a way that connects us and builds relationships.
So these questions can help us identify what makes us worthwhile as unique and special people. They are questions that you could ask your friends. How do they see their gifts? And how do they see yours? The answers can help create a sense of identity for ourselves that helps make us feel valuable.
And I believe that everyone is valuable. ]]>
A host of new talent has come through Seattle in the past few months as well. Harvard St. brought us DJ Magic Mike (Orlando), Venom (RI), and Tommie Gunn (NH) from back east for "Ghetto Olympics," while Electronic Bliss presented DJ Irene (LA) and Dutch (SF) from our own coast for "Rx: Vinyl Therapy." And Healthe Productions went all the way to Germany for live PAs from Liquid Child and Nostrum to headline their final events of 1999.
Our best present has been a brand new venue for larger events, which was debuted by Pi Productions on December 30th for their party "It's Reel." I-90 and Funshine Productions celebrated New Year's Eve in a new space as well with "Plurple," a benefit for NW Harvest. Back again this year with their benefit for Toys for Tots, Recess Productions' "Another Dr. Seuss Christmas" was also in a new space. With admission set at one or more new, unwrapped toys, and no money taken at the door, "Another Dr. Seuss Christmas" offered a time to remember that it's better to give than to receive. Also bringing our community together for a good cause were benefit parties on November 26th for DJ Spun, recently diagnosed with cancer, and on November 12th from Abducted Productions to buy DJ Wheelz a new wheelchair.
Finally, what better gift could one hope for than a taste of summer in the middle of the months of gray in Seattle? On December 18th, For Your Butt Productions threw a party at the Greenlake Swimming Pool called "Aqua Element." Though the crowd was small, there was music, dancing, swimming, and a sauna from 9pm until lam. Talk about wishes coming true! Watch out for another one of these sometime soon. -David Center
]]>Confusion and mayhem are part of this Seattle duo’s legacy. Jacob London’s members, known only as Bob and Dave, both profess to drawing inspiration from such artists as LFO, Coil, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Skinny Puppy. With these industrial influences, Bob and Dave’s desire to simultaneously confuse and excite the dancefloor makes a bit more sense. “I like people to dance, but at the same time, I want them to have a hard time figuring out what they are dancing to,” admits Dave. After seven years of making music, however, Jacob London’s first vinyl outing had dancers knowing exactly what to do--go off!
“Hydrogenated Funk” was co-written by Florida DJ Drazil, and featured a remix by San Francisco legend, DJ Garth. However, those looking for similar sounds on future Jacob London releases won’t find the same funky-filtered disco house sound that made “Hydrogenated Funk” a dancefloor success. Bob and Dave assert that “we never go back, I don’t think we have ever done a remix of an old song. We may use an old sample, but we never try to expand on an idea [by remixing].” In keeping with the foundations of electronic music, Jacob London focus on gaining inspiration from the future while utilizing the past.
The future brings Jacob London fans a new three song EP humorously titled “Chickens Love Trucks.” Currently, the most accurate representation of Jacob London’s sound is the deep and dark roller “Chili Sauce,” on their EP of the same name. You can also find Jacob London remixed by Brian Beck (from Seattle’s 107.7 The End) on the Risk records compilation, The Torchbearers.
It seems that after their many years of making music (with a good portion of those rockin’ local parties with their stunning live PA), Jacob London are ready for some time in the x-ray (ahem, I mean spotlight). As they munched on cold, two-day-old pizza, Bob and Dave rested from their photo shoot (which including pictures of them feeding a candy bar to lawn sculpture), and mused playfully on our questions.
Where do you see
electronic music going in the future?
Dave:
80’s music is
making a huge impact on electronic music right now.
Bob:
That new Richie
Hawtin record on m_nus that is built entirely out of samples from Yello’s “Oh
Yeah.”
Do you hope to
influence the scene?
Bob:
There are small
pockets of the Seattle scene that are really cool…
Dave:
It’s not like
you have a choice of what to do here…there are only a few options.
Bob:
I’m not really
sure where [the Seattle community] is going, but we can sure try to influence
it!
Where do you go to
collect your thoughts?
Dave:
We don’t…
Bob:
We’re too
busy--we just turn the volume up!]]>
Raves Are a Rite of PassageBy James Conn
LA Times, 9/1/99
Raves appear to be Gen Y's version of the '60s love-ins. Several thousand young people gather for an all-night concert of music that has not yet found its way into a mainstream venue. Raves feature loud music spun together in an original way by disc jockeys.
I attended a rave in San Bernadino last year because my son performs this music style. And as a United Methodist minister, I have worked with youth all my life and am intrigued by the culture they create without us--or in spite of us.
The night we attended a rave, 10,000 people were there. We were clearly the only ones over 40. These kids hadn't learned about the rave via the mainstream or even the underground media. They knew about it because they are a part of a musical scene that doesn't even register on the adult public's screen.
No one was selling these kids alcohol. It wasn't a bar or club scene. Yes, like any Rose Bowl event, there were empty beer cans in the parking lot. But the security at this rave was so strict, you couldn't smuggle in a shot, much less a joint. No unopened packs of cigarettes were allowed. Some of the kids appeared to be on some sort of drug high, but I've smelled more marijuana and seen more people out of control at the Hollywood Bowl.
I was reminded of the clergy who shoed up in collars at those '60s events, passing out loaves of bread or reminding the revelers that someone else had taught the message of love centuries earlier. I would caution adults that we cannot eliminate or even contain every avenue of youthful self-expression. Nor should we try. On the contrary, it would make better policy and achieve better social results to participate in helping it evolve.
So why do raves occur in the remote areas? Because more accessible venues are not available to the promoters of these events. A few New Year's ago, a rave near downtown LA was closed down by police, and a mini-riot ensued. Some venue operators won't even talk to promoters. Other venues aren't appropriate for all-night, multi-staged, high volume performance because they are too close to residences. But the more inaccessible the mainstream venues, the more the events are pushed into marginal areas with risky accessibility. The stricter the rules, the farther the drives, and the more likely the tragedy.
Apparently, the road that leads into the ski areas where last Saturday's [9/27/99] rave occurred is a recognized problem whether the event is an all-night concert or an all-weekend ski crowd. At such places and for such events, the California Highway Patrol or the Forest Service could lead a convoy of cars at a safe speed down the narrow road ways. Why not participate in the safety of such events, rather than push them father from where kids live?
At the rave I attended, I was surprised that with 10,000 captive young people, there was not health booth. No one was giving away condoms or talking about safe sex, much less there in case of an overdose. No one was signing up kids to vote. No one was extolling the forest environment where the kids had come to hear music and dance.
As far as I can determine, a rave is simply a way for young people to tell their parents one thing and then do another. They must find a time and a place to prove themselves, to get themselves across some mystical barrier that prevents them from feeling fully adult. Sometimes its dancing all night. Sometimes it's drinking oneself sick. Sometimes it's trying drugs.
Every time a young person dies--regardless of the connection to any activity--it's tragic. But it is also tragic for society if the energy, enthusiasm, and visionary exploration of our young people becomes so contained and repressed that it cannot be expressed.
Lotus: Reverend Conn, do you have any suggestions for how the dance community can better work with the civic community?
Rev. James Conn: Great question. The thing that amazed me about my experience [at a rave,] was the absence of a medical team or a booth where people hand out condoms, talk about legal rights, or try to sign people up to vote. I don’t know if that's the social-service political-folks' problem or if it’s the promoters' problem, but that connection hasn’t happened. In the '60s, the whole free clinic movement was just forming, so frequently at events there were couple nurses for people who overdosed, or fell down and broke an arm or something. [Rave promoters should try] going to free clinics and saying, “Can you spare a nurse? Can you see that this would be in your interest to have some public health education like brochures, condoms, whatever, there for kids? Can you see that that would make sense?” Somebody would respond.
Lotus: What event did you attend?
Rev. James Conn: My son Ethan played at a rave a year ago--Narnia? He’s been DJing in New York for the last four years.
Lotus: So, did lot of the problems that exist at raves now exist in the '60s?
Rev. James Conn: Oh yeah.
Lotus: Everybody makes it seem that because of this generation and raves, suddenly people are overdosing.
Rev. James Conn: [interrupting] No, no, no, no. It goes…forever, you know. I know the '60s because that was my own youth. The parallel is so deep and so strong. Not the same music, not the same event, totally different kind of thing and yet, so much the same. Ten thousand kids meeting each other, talking, having a good time, dancing, grooving on the music. It’s like, where have I been? Deja vu all over again.
Lotus: Is there more police harassment now?
Rev. James Conn: Actually, it seems like there's less police harassment now in the sense that once you're [inside the event] there’s security…and it’s only if there’s some problem outside that the police get involved. [When I went to Narnia,] we were there for six hours and I didn’t see anything that looked like people were doing hard drugs, everybody was really mellow. Nobody was looking like they were going to punch anybody out. It was a very nice event for kids to be part of. But people get upset when you have a whole bunch of kids having a good time. That can be scary [to] adults. Love and peace, these aren’t scary ideas. They have been scary ideas to some people for, as far as I can tell, forever…but I really support kids doing whatever it is they've got to do. They’re going to do it somehow, so there needs to be places where it’s OK.
Lotus: Because cities try to push raves away, some dancers are driving to events 2_ or 3 hours away.
Rev. James Conn: Yeah, Ethan played at Narnia this year, and it was in Northern San Diego County? That’s a long drive! [Events are] further and further out because there are no local venues. The further kids have to drive, the more likely it is that something is going to happen, that they're going to fall asleep or whatever. You stay up all night, then drive three hours? Not a good combination.
Lotus: Isn’t there a way that cities could help?
Rev. James Conn: Well, you would think that something like that would be possible, but it’s really hard. There are so many calls on city money, and [elected officials] are going to back away from anything controversial. I spent eight years on the city council in Santa Monica in the '80s, and we were trying to get a skateboard park, right? Oh man, you would a thought that we had asked them to do something obscene in public! The city didn’t want to have anything to do with it because of the liability, the Boys and Girls Club didn’t want to have anything to do with it because of insurance, and so we couldn’t figure out how to do it because it was twenty years before its time. Now the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Monica has a skateboard park, and it’s their hottest item--everybody wants to do it! Why didn’t we do this right in the first place? Anything that is controversial, anything that looks like it’s new and untried, people are very reluctant to participate.
Lotus: What advice do you have for young dancers dealing with their parents' concerns about raving? How can younger members of our community best express their experiences to their parents?
Rev. James Conn: I think that it’s very difficult for kids and parents to talk to each other. The hardest thing is that adults forget their own youth. They have kids and it’s like their own youth never happened, and they are appalled by what their kids are doing. You would think that [parents'] experiences would be like a reference point to say, “Oh well, we did this, and they’re doing this, and that’s pretty much the same,” right? But no, that’s not the way many parents look at it, and I think that’s really too bad. Perhaps it says something about how unconscious we are, as people, as adults, we are unconscious about our own experience. It seems to me that as a society we are pretty unconscious. So we forget, we sort of have social amnesia about what we did, and we then don’t support what kids need to do in the next generation.
Lotus: Is there a better way for kids to approach their parents? What seems to happen is that kids want to be open with their parents, but then parents get upset, and so kids are just like, “OK, I won’t tell the truth anymore.”
Rev. James Conn: That’s exactly what happens. Kids learn to dissemble, they learn to flat out lie. That’s too bad…that’s too bad. What kids need to try is talking to their parents about the least controversial aspects of what goes on: people are getting together, playing music, dancing and having a good time, and there’s no violence.
I think that [parents] have to walk through life with kids, we have to walk through the passageways together, and then there are passageways that kids have to go through on their own. That is the only way that any of us get from childhood to adulthood is that we go through those places. If kids have to go through passageways alone, there should be an adult there on the other side to hear what the passage was like.
That’s how we move from childhood to adulthood: there are adults who are mentors, guides, and helpers. If the parents are going to freak out, then there needs to be other people in the society who are going to mentor, like ministers, priests, teachers, and youth workers. In the old days, when we lived in tribes or extended families, the uncle or the aunt were like the surrogate parents, so that when things got too tight, kids had somebody else that they could turn to.
Maybe if kids talk with their parents about the safe things, talking about how they need help and support, [kids could explain that] “We go we have fun, but stuff happens, and I’d like to be able to talk to you about it.” If I had a magic wand, parents would have parenting classes and could figure out how to help their kids channel things and figure life out, but that’s not what we do. That’s really unfortunate.
Lotus: Many dancers find their experiences at rave events very spiritual. As a minister, how do think dancers can best learn from these feelings and grow in their understanding of their own spirituality?
Rev. James Conn: I get the sense from talking with kids that [raving] is a very spiritual experience, that there is some way that the music and the movement gets them into someplace that is deeper inside themselves. There’s also the connection kids have with each other that's really interesting to me. There’s a level at which the kids are connecting that is deeper than just sitting around talking, because of the music and the movement and the whole thing--it’s like the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. This experience that the kids are having with each other is really quite remarkable. Kids have a connection as a group, as a crew, or as a tribe, and they have a bond with each other that's hard to find other places in this society.
I think that’s why people go to church: they’re looking for that kind of experience, they’re looking for community. That’s what people are looking for, but I think that there’s something particularly powerful about the combination of music and movement. It's very spiritual.
NOTE: James Conn went on to become a regular contributor to Lotus, writing a column called irREVerence. I'll be posting those columns in the weeks ahead. ]]>
I wanted to do this interview for Lotus not only to introduce our reader into their lives, but also because I have known both MARS and Mystrë since I was a kid. MARS and Mystrë have grown up together since they were on skateboards. Living through each other's ups and downs, it's interesting to see how these two men relate with one another--it's almost as if they are one entity. Throughout the interview you will notice that either frequently speaks for the both of them.
Lotus:
What is the message behind Frequency 8?
MARS: This is a very complex
network of teachings from the spirit world, the Tao te Ching and true
faith.
To give a small introduction,
part of Frequency 8 is a sound, often times not even audible.
It is an innate sound energy that gathers
people who are tuned in around the world.
To best explain this sound, you would have to imagine yourself out alone
in the desert.
It's nighttime, and the
air is warm and electric.
Suddenly you
look up, and the Mothership is hovering 50 feet above
your head.
The "sound" that
the ship makes is the eighth frequency.
The frequency is the sound, and eight is the number of enlightenment and
the metaphysical, according to the Torah and Eastern philosophies.
F is the first initial and 8 is the last,
this spells F-8.
This is the catalyst of
enlightenment.
These initials were not
planned, it was random, or as we say, fate.
Lotus: How did you guys come
up with the names MARS and Mystrë?
Mystrë: A long time ago we threw a small break-in warehouse
underground.
I wanted to play an old
school techno set for it.
I had never
played at a "rave" type event before, even though I had been going to
them.
I had been DJing
for quite some time, but never playing techno.
I played my first set and didn't care about trying to be "someone."
I also didn't want anybody to know who I was,
so I decided to wear a clear plastic facemask.
I just wanted to be a mystery.
Later on I started working at a pizza restaurant and the main kitchen staff were Cambodians who had strong accents.
They could not pronounce my name, so they
called me Mr. E.
From that point on Mystrë was who I became in life and as a DJ.
MARS:
As long as I've known Eric, he has always
been a person who would rather be unseen, living in the shadows of life and
mysterious in his ways, closest in personality to the octopus.
Originally Mystrë was spelled Mystr-E, but because of the strong drug connotation not
realized when the name first came into use, and because Eric has never used
ecstasy, he changed it.
Lotus: And how about your
name MARS?
MARS:
When I first started DJing
I was playing music that was like the New Age music I had been listening to
since I was a child, except you could dance to it.
It was very meditative and trance-like; it
was "Mars music."
I met someone
at a party and she was into astrology.
She told me that because I was an Aries, Mars is my ruling planet.
At that point I felt as though this was my
name, since I always had a lot of fire in me and I felt so close to this
particular planet.
About one year later
I was driving back from a party and I was randomly thinking about the name
Mars, and my personal connection with it.
I was thinking about the initials of my birth name and putting it all
together, I realized that M-A-R-S were also my initials.
It was pretty crazy when it all
happened.
I feel as though I now truly
understand my name and who I am.
So when
people ask what my "real" name is I say MARS.
This is another example of what we call F-8.
Lotus:
You have recently started Frequency 8
Records.
What was your motivation and
how do you feel it will help the trance movement?
MARS and Mystrë: F-8 is
working hard to bring a European sound to
Lotus:
Any thoughts on the future state of trance?
MARS and Mystrë: It would be
nice if somehow trance could incorporate a more direct message of
awareness.
Sometimes we feel it's hard
to get our message across to people.
Unlike rap or reggae, trance rarely has any spoken words and so
communicating a direct message can be difficult.
We have to do it through sounds, similar to
how whales and dolphins communicate.
Perhaps trance is powerful because there isn't anyone telling you how to
feel and therefore your mind is free to go wherever it wants to.
But we need more music with the right sounds
for communicating this awareness to people.
In terms of the future of the scene, it would be nice if people starting
tuning into their higher selves, using dance events as a meditation.
We feel it is happening and that this
awareness will continue.
Lotus: With all the negative
hoopla that has been going between "raves" and city officials,
especially in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Florida, if the promoters in the
U.S. wanted to better the politics that exist within the culture, what would be
a good way to go about that?
MARS and Mystrë: It's hard to
say.
A few years ago there were lots of
meetings in SF to create some kind of unification between promoters.
In the end, it all seemed to end up the same
way; people in disagreement.
Politics
are politics no matter where you are.
People think perhaps it's different because we
are in the "rave scene," but from the movie industry, to the music
industry and to the rave scene, it's all the same.
Do it yourself, become a good person, try to
stay righteous and set an example.
Lotus:
The community in the
MARS and Mystrë: It's just all
the facets that make up this scene.
Each
dancer helps in their unique way.
We
feel that there is a very strong sense of community, respect, and love for each
other that is predominate in the rave scene.
Lotus:
We need moderation in this community.
Any suggestions?
MARS and Mystrë: Love the
music, not the drugs, and stay tuned into yourself.
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