Friday, October 17, 1997
Rave Reviews
PRODUCTION: Huge ‘backstage’ efforts go into making raves seem
wonderful, spontaneous
By Vanessa VanderZanden
Daily Bruin Staff
Some people may spend the evening lounging on the floor, petting
their friends like giant kittens. Others may opt to dance to the
electronic beats or just stare at the huge screened visuals.
However, promoters of raves and the DJs who spin at them have a
full night of work ahead, having already spent weeks in advance
preparing for the event.
"Playing in the main room, it’s almost like it’s that much more
work, because you want to make sure that everything you put on is
going to be something that the crowd wants to hear," explains Los
Angeles-based DJ Cassandra. "You want to keep everybody dancing and
when you have a feedback from the crowd, with everybody coming up
to you being totally into it, it becomes a beautiful experience
because you’re giving out and you’re getting back. That’s what
makes it all the fun."
In order to achieve this fusion of audience and performer, many
behind the scenes people have to do their part. From light
specialists to security guards, all members of the rave setup are
essential.And, at the center of the chaos, lies the promotional
team.
"It’s way harder than I thought," says the promoter known as
Sabo. "When I first envisioned it, once me and my partner had
enough money to throw one, we just thought we’d go and talk to a
few people and make a few phone calls and everything would be done.
But a lot of people don’t work with contracts for whatever reason.
They’re either not a business or they’re just too small, so it’s
just kind of word of mouth. But then, it’s not a real business with
real business hours, and it’s hard to get a hold of them and you’re
never sure if they’re going to show up or not."
Yet, it seems just this sort of underground maneuvering that
gives raves their subcultural status. Still, in order for a rave to
be successful, locations have to be booked at least two months in
advance with the city permits already drawn up. Otherwise, the
event may be shut down by the police, in which case the DJs fail to
receive payment and the promoters invariably lose money.
"You can rent a warehouse, but if you rent out a club, they
already have all their permits and everything. But, they require an
18 and over ID because most clubs have a bar," explains Sabo, who
just last Saturday held a party at a club in San Francisco. "We
were being pretty strict about IDs, even though we had to turn away
a lot of people at the same time."
Working within a $10,000 budget, Sabo spent a little over one
third of the allotment on securing the location. Other expenses
included drawing up the 10,000 flyers, which were expected to
attract one tenth of the people they came in contact with.
Fortunately, the club already had its own lighting facilities, so
only a visual specialist, well-skilled in the art of projecting
random scenes of colored liquid and the like, had to be called
in.
"We tried to talk to everybody at least a month in advance
because they’re just like everybody else," Sabo continues. "They
work like every weekend, so the sooner you can get them, the sooner
they’ll commit, and hopefully they’re not committing to someone
else."
After hiring the DJs and procuring the location, Sabo had the
flyers made and distributed immediately, roughly four to five
months before the event. However, promoters of the biggest of
affairs may begin handing out flyers as early as six months prior
to a rave.
Circulating these ads at small record stores where ravers hang
out, the background business heads rely on front-person forces to
distribute the word. Often times, these footmen distribute flyers
on a completely voluntary basis at other raves in order to gain
free admission to the upcoming event, while even a good deal of
promoters just barely break even.
"Me and my partner are just two people, so when the profits come
in, if the party did really well, then me and him would make like a
lot of money," Sabo explains. He enjoys the flexible hours of
having his own business while also attending school. "But a lot of
them, I see like six person promo teams splitting the profits. But,
the big promoters definitely support themselves, making up to half
a million dollars a year."
Already planning his second party for mid-December, Sabo enjoyed
his first promotional experience even if he did only break even. DJ
Cassandra continues to spin at clubs in LA, as well as the
occasional one-night rave gig, though she mostly spins in the
ambient wings just off of the main dance floor.
For both, the energy emitted at the overall scene keeps them a
part of the phenomenon, feeding into that friendly aura what skills
they can offer.
"It’s sort of like a family," DJ Cassandra says of
the-behind-the-scenes team. "Everybody that’s going to work
together is going to stick together. Like I know some guys who
started working with a club and pretty soon you start working with
other people because you have history with other people, so you
have to know who you’re dealing with."