Rave to the Grave

Guestlist etiquette, artisanal ketamine, sordid afterhours parties, club sex and trapeze artists are just some of the topics we delve into with Steven Klavier, a house vocalist and nightlife staple who has worked in a bevy of NYC clubs including House of Yes, Verboten, Thompson Hotel, and Public Records. Along the way, he's been a door person, bartender, booker, stage manager, and many other unoff...

In part 2 of our interview with rave icon Flapjack, 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). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow us on Instagram @ravetothe.grave.

Literally a pied piper of the underground (happy) hardcore scene, L.A. DJ, promoter, fashion designer, vinyl collector,  and JNCO enthusiast Flapjack joins us to talk about being a Raveaissance Man. In Part 1, we explore how he got so hardcore, kandi culture, being sober but loving drugs, sacred objects of the '90s, DIY ideals and creativity, plus we workshop party names. Stay tuned for Part 2. Ho...

Italy's Marco Passarani has been DJing and working in record stores since age 10, and releasing records since 1993. A native of Rome, he walks us through the transition from disco to rave, the evolution of city's unique "broken beat" sound and details the scene at some long-forgotten spots like Borgo Sabatino and Piper. We also talk about his Tiger & Woods project, his complex relationship to Ital...

Rave cruises, mermaid outfits, scene hair, nasty hot tubs, Skrillex on the couch! Join American scene queen Lina Abascal (aka @linalovesit) as we revisit the bloghouse era of the early 2000s, the subject of her new book Never Be Alone Again. We talk which DJs were hot (or not), how the internet and technology has transformed culture, wild parties & free booze, bloghouse coming back into style, and...

Germany's Chris Liebing has been a mainstay of the European techno scene since the late '90s, running the CLR and Audio labels and playing music that explores every dark, melancholy, pummeling corner of kickdrum and hi-hat. Upon the release of Liebing's second album for Mute Records, Another Day, we talk about his forays into more chilled realms of electronic music, his formative years at clubs li...

Elijah & Skilliam are a DJ duo and owners of London's Butterz record label, which since 2010 have done more than anyone else to promote underground UK genres like grime, bassline and UK funky to the world. We talk to Elijah about growing up grime and what the music means to young black Londoners of his generation and talk about grime's best MCs, mixtapes, and artifacts. Elijah also recounts some o...

Maria 909 has operated behind the scenes at some of the most famous events on the East Coast, from The Limelight nightclub to Industrial Strength parties, from Def Mix deep house events to Melting Point protest raves. Promotion, record distro, management: she's done it all. She joins us to revisit the dark and light of the 90s NYC rave scene, from growing up near Coney Island and falling in love w...

Noncompliant (fka DJ Shiva) is an uncompromising techno DJ/producer from the conservative state of Indiana, a queer punk skateboarder who would go from playing in barns and VFW halls to headlining in Berlin and Australia. In this interview, recorded as lockdown restrictions were easing in May 2021, we talk Midwest raves, learning to DJ on crazy equipment, speaker freaking, phone taps, buying mixta...

Kurt Eckes put Milwaukee on the map in the '90s with his Drop Bass Network parties and Even Furthur festival. In Part 2 of this interview, we talk 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. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow u...

Kurt Eckes put Milwaukee on the map in the '90s with his Drop Bass Network parties and Even Furthur festival. With an aesthetic that combines heavy metal, Satanism, the acid-fried 1960s and a heavy dose of humor, Drop Bass became legend around the rave scene and beyond, while championing the darker, harder sides of electronic music, from gabber to hard acid to drum 'n' bass. Kurt is a true rave ou...

Nottingham's DiY Collective, formed in 1989, were one of the UK's first house sound systems and played a huge role in rave culture as we know it today. DiY co-founder Harry calls in from Wales to talk about fusing punk ethics to acid house, his best friend Woosh, what it was like at Castlemorton in '92 (the largest illegal rave ever), the Criminal Justice Bill and rejecting capitalist club culture...

NYC scene staple OJ San Felipe of X-Ray Eyeballs, Acetone 4 and Sahd Wyte Guyz on growing up in SF's Mission District, the Filipino party culture that birthed the West Coast scratch DJ scene, the NYC underground past and present, and blood-and-piss-soaked rock exploits, plus how to write a song, perform live and wild out while sober. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.o...

SF mainstay Marke Bieschke on Detroit clubs of the 1980s and '90s, the birth of techno, NYC club kids, legendary looks, VOOM raves, writing about partying, the changing tides of queer nightlife, co-owning The Stud and San Francisco clubbing past, present and future. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow us on Instagram at @ravetothe.grave.  

L.A.-based performer Ms Easy on her extraordinary journey from St. Louis rave fixture to globe-trotting performer to managing clowns, stilt walkers and Fishy Fish as Entertainment Director for Insomniac, who throw massive EDM festivals like EDC and Beyond Wonderland. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow us on Instagram at @ravetothe.grave.

In the late '70s, photographer Bill Bernstein tirelessly documented NYC's freaky and fabulous nightlife, producing some of the most iconic images of the disco era. We talk about the unique conditions that birthed the disco movement, photographing in the dark and the scene at legendary clubs like Studio 54, Paradise Garage, GGs Barnum Room and Xenon, plus his current work shooting Brooklyn's gender...

NYC DJ/producer Jubilee of Magic City revisits the Florida rave scene of the '90s, reveals the secrets of how to party hard (and smart), plus talks about the halcyon days of the Hollerboard, NYC jungle and the wild twists and turns of DJ life. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow us on Instagram at @ravetothe.grave.

Counterculture journalist and party girl Michelle Lhooq on rave utopias (and dystopias), new frontiers in drug culture, the Asian rave scene and the intersection of protest and partying. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow us on Instagram at @ravetothe.grave.

Iconic house music vocalist Barbara Tucker talks about her life in music and dance, NYC nightlife over the years, the making of "Deep Inside" and what house music really means, plus gives us a taste of those legendary vocals. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow us on Instagram at @ravetothe.grave.

L.A.'s bassline king AC Slater talks about epic rave adventures, American cheese, the heyday of happy hardcore and how to build your own EDM empire. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). Visit RavetotheGrave.org or follow us on Instagram at @ravetothe.grave.