Episode 31: EL HORNET
We head to Perth, Western Australia to catch up with Paul Harding aka El Hornet, one-third of drum 'n' bass group Pendulum, who met in the metal and punk scene and have since reached huge heights with their hard-driving neurofunk bangers. Paul is a hilarious storyteller and we talk about CB radio, surfing with sharks, trading beer for mixtapes, losing a dead person at a Pendulum show, happy hardcore, his Hornet’s Nest label, being broke in DJ Fresh's London flat making Pendulum's first album and keeping drum 'n' bass punk af.
Episode 30: THE LIBRARIAN
Bass Coast Festival co-founder and Canadian DJ The Librarian on the ins and outs of throwing an indie festival, vibe management and partying in British Columbia.
Episode 29: MOSHE KASHER
In the last 44 years, Moshe Kasher has been a flyering bear, a sober ecstasy dealer, a sign language interpreter, and a gate monitor at Burning Man. He is now a stand-up comedian living in Los Angeles, and he has a new book out called Subculture Vulture, about the six subcultures that have defined his life. Moshe joins on Rave to the Grave for a funny conversation about Bay Area raves of the '90s, Bonny Doon, PLUR, pacifiers, the Thunderdome, what Katamari Damacy has in common with trauma, and finding himself through raves and comedy.
Episode 25: HOUSE OF PRIS
When 1980s electro and freestyle music from Miami, New York, and Los Angeles touched down in Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian cities, it ignited a wildfire in the minds of DJs, soundsystem operators, and dancers. In this episode of Rave to the Grave podcast, we go back to the roots of baile funk with Priscilla “House of Pris” Cavalcante. Priscilla grew up in Fortaleza in Northeast Brazil, where as a pre-teen she became hooked on first-wave baile funk. Priscilla now lives in Miami, Florida, where she throws a party called Proibidae and is in the process of collecting and reissuing the lost anthems of 1990s and early 2000s baile funk. We talk about tamborzao, furaçao, pancadao, and hear some of the samples and records that formed the sound.
Episode 23: McKENZIE WARK
McKenzie Wark is an Australian born writer, critical theory professor, and 61-year-old trans-femme techno raver currently living in NYC. Her latest book, Raving, thinks deeply about dancing, dissociation, drugs, bodies, and identity as McKenzie, recently transitioned, navigates the queer techno spaces of Bushwick, Brooklyn. On the line from Berlin, we talk about experimenting with language and writing, bodies and the beat, smart vs. stupid drugs, cultural theory, rave utopias, and McKenzie's extraordinary journey from growing up in an Australian mining town to dancing on the bleeding edge of the NYC underground.
Episode 22: SEANA GAVIN
Seana Gavin is a London-based visual artist who spent 10 years immersed in the free party culture in the UK and beyond, traveling to week-long parties in the Czech countryside, the mountains above Marseille, or Berlin squats with soundsystems like Spiral Tribe, Bedlam, Desert Storm, and Hekate. Her photos and diary entries of the adventures of these roving cyberpunks are collected in books like Spiral Baby and Spiralling, and we sat down to talk about border crossing, squat raves, politics, drugs, freedom, and just how dirty things can get.
Episode 19: FLAPJACK PART 2
In part 2 of our interview with rave icon Flapjack the Kandi Kid, we talk renegade Burning Man, the business of EDM, the importance of DIY art and culture, haunted weed, and get treated to a steaming handful of wild party stories, including a trilogy of poop-related bad trips. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka @stareyezzz).
Episode 18: FLAPJACK PART 1
In Part 1 of a two-part interview, L.A. DJ, rave archivist, and pied piper fo the underground (happy) hardcore scene, talks about DIY ideals, sacred objects of ’90s rave, EDM festivals, kandi kids, and more. Hosted by @stareyezzz. Follow us at @ravetothe.grave.
Episode 14: ELIJAH BUTTERZ
Elijah of Butterz on UK Grime History, Bad DJ Gigs, and How to Run a Successful Brand
Episode 12: NONCOMPLIANT
Noncompliant (fka DJ Shiva) is an uncompromising queer techno DJ/producer from the conservative state of Indiana. We talk Midwest raves, speaker freaking, phone taps, mixtapes, sci-fi and more.
Episode 11: KURT ECKES PART 2
Kurt Eckes put Milwaukee on the map in the ’90s with his Drop Bass Network parties and Even Furthur festival. In Part Two of this interview, he talks to Rave to the Grave podcast about Satanism and rituals, how to throw a rave, the craziest stories from Furthur, the RAVE Act, the Drop Bass label and Midwest hard acid, plague raves and starting a Kult.
Episode 10: KURT ECKES (DROP BASS) PART 1
Kurt Eckes of Milwaukee’s Drop Bass Network on American hardcore, acid tests, Midwest raves and being a rave outlaw.
Episode 9: Harry DiY
Harry Harrison from Nottingham’s DiY Sound System on the Dawn of UK Rave Culture, Free Parties, and Fusing Anarcho Punk with Acid House
Episode 7: Marke B
Detroit house and techno in the 1980s, underground queer nightlife, raving as resistance, the San Francisco scene: journalist and club veteran Marke B tells all.
Episode 6: MS Easy
Dance, underground performance, costume and clowns: Ms Easy rocks the stage from St. Louis to New Orleans to Shanghai.
Episode 4: JUBILEE
Fast times in Florida raves, floor drugs, Internet message boards & DJ tips with NYC’s beloved bass queen.
Episode 3: MICHELLE LHOOQ
Counterculture journalist & party girl Michelle Lhooq on rave utopias and the future of drugs.