A History of the Edmonton Rave Scene in 3,000 Short Words

Edmonton proves – and works hard to prove – the premise that “a city that works hard, plays hard.”  This blue-collar town is full of people who like to have a good time on the weekend.  Many a bar or taphouse will pour you a drink on Friday after work; there are lots of parties on Saturday nights; the city is a mix of punks, grungers, industrials, and, from the late 80’s on, ravers – a subculture that was identifiable in Edmonton starting in about 1993 when the Journal ran a front-page story about them.

The history of raves and the history of clubs are connected.  The clubs that are significant to this story are Dance Factory, Flashback (which become “Flashback 2,” which became Rebar), and the Bronx (which became the Rev, and later the Starlite Lounge).

Edmonton’s afterhours scene figures into the story too; particularly Therapy (and the noise from the parking lot), and Climaxx (at the time owned by Gary Dewhurst who spoke frequently at city council meetings). 

To old-timers like us, it sounds weird to say, “You would buy techno records at record stores,” but remember – there was no internet back then, so you would.  Back in the day, you would buy records at record stores.  The record stores of note include Sound Connection, A&A, Sam the Record Man, Marquis Records, and even HMV.  Calgary had a techno-only record store first (Feroshus).

Edmonton has a number of choice venues to profile for this project – for a number of reasons.  Some – such as the Strathcona Bus Barns or Orange Hall – are historically significant to Edmonton, not just to the rave scene.  Some, such as Polish Hall and the Sport-Ex, are central to the rave scene’s development, but as party venues, they pre-date raving.  They are an essential reminder that rave in Edmonton is a small part of a bigger picture.  Unobtrusive warehouses and community halls are reminders that raving likes to hide in plain sight. 

DJ’s from the clubs start playing parties, and tada! Edmonton is raving.

Out of the ‘first crop of party promoters,’ there emerges a ‘big three’ who would seek to outdo each other with the size and scope of their events.  First, Nicky Miago – on the front page of the Journal in 1993 when raving first ‘breaks’ as a story.  Among Nicky’s accolades are counted Edmonton’s first ‘big’ party (“Nexus,” 1994), the ‘virgin party’ (ie, “Nexus 5,” 1999) of many multitudes; the party where rave is ‘securitized’ (“Carnival 2,” 2000); the party that is kicked out of the city (“Nexus 6,” 2000); and the party that collapses (“Nexus 7,” 2001).  Next, Gary Dewhurst, whose Happy Bastards Crew produces “FUN-Tazia” on May 14, 1999 as their first event.  “FUN-Tazia 2” (1999) goes down in history as ‘the party with the Roto-Tron.’  Happy Bastards would aim (seemingly) to take the top spot from Nicky in Edmonton, and would live on into 2006 via the afterhours club Climaxx. There is also Def Star, whose Keith Rubuliak has the honour of starting the ‘Beginning of the end’ of this chapter with the party “Ascension” (April 4, 2000). 

Also, Oliver Friedmann, who turns the Salvation Army Citadel into the private club the Bronx, which later becomes the Rev; this becomes the home of many parties.

In 1998 and 1999, rave music, fashion and lifestyle catch the eye of consumer culture in a big way – ‘rave was everywhere.’  Techno music jumps across to pop music and film; ‘the rave look’ is big; even Eaton’s wants in on the action, with their line of designer rave wear.  The nascent internet helps to spread information about techno and rave culture.  On TV, Showcase Television broadcasts rave movies late at night; you can buy techno on CDs; you can watch people dancing to techno DJ’s on Electric Circus on MuchMusic; it is pop culture.

1999 to 2000 is Boom Time.  Edmonton’s ‘Rave Boom’ spawns record stores like DV8, Foosh, Colourblind, and others, as well as new promotion companies, including United.  Under the name United, Viet Nguyen throws his first party “Empathy” in 1999.  At the height of the boom, Edmonton has four afterhours clubs, numerous techno-friendly nightclubs and many record/clothing/lifestyle stores – all worthy of profiling for this story.  The visibility of rave events increases in the local newspapers, the Journal and the Sun. Afterhours clubs in particular come into close contact with police because of their late hours and the generally sketchy nature of downtown at the best of times, and made worse by the zeal of the downtown beat cops.

Raving has always enjoyed an uneasy relationship with “Authority” and at this point in the story, Rave is being scrutinized, moralized upon and securitized in Toronto, following the death of one partier in December of 1999.  The coroner’s inquest there is attracting national attention.  This takes place in the echo of action taken in London, UK to ‘securitize’ (or outlaw) raves there. 

Also at this point in the story (1998-1999) Edmonton Police are endeavoring to control nightclubs in West Edmonton Mall, including the KAOS mega-nightclub notorious for being the site of a riot. The nightclub-gang-drugs story may be beyond the scope of this project, except to provide context for the crackdown on the rave scene, but we can draw attention to the questionable tactics used by the police to shut this nightclub down.

Questions of WHY and of MEANING are beyond the scope of this history project, but nevertheless this project needs a frame.  In a nutshell (my personal feeling): What happened to Rave is about power.  Raves cannot be allowed to exist because they allow a place where the law can not take hold – a place where “narratives of dissensus” can take place.  Raves are a threat.  Raves are also attended by children and Canada, at the time of this story, is in the midst of a ‘war on youth crime’ which is simply becoming a ‘war on youth.’ Toronto Police, led by Julian Fantino, bring raves to heel.  The provincial government is moved to act as well with a ‘Raves Act’ that allowed police to (among other things) enter any suspected rave without a warrant.  Edmonton’s Police (like Calgary, Saskatoon, and other Canadian municipalities) imitate their Toronto counterparts. 

After “FUN-Tazia 2” (1999) promoter Gary Dewhurst uses an online messageboard (‘the etownravepage’) to describe the surprising variety and quantity of drugs found during post-party cleanup.  The etownravepage (founded by King Ron Tupas) was intended to be a place were people could discuss issues surrounding the growth and new-found publicity of the rave scene, and in response to this message, Nigel Fish posts a call out for people who wanted to do something to help the problem.  Later that week, some two dozen volunteers meet to brainstorm solutions; one of them brings samples of material from a group based in California called RaveSafe who espouse a philosophy of ‘harm reduction.’  The core members of this group pool their funds, pay to bring a trainer up from California, and build up an inventory to form a harm reduction booth that travelled to parties: this becomes RaveSafe Edmonton.

In this way, Edmonton follows Toronto, where the principles and techniques of harm reduction were being accommodated and planned for in that city’s rave ‘protocol.’  But harm reduction, in acknowledging the reality of drug use by middle-class youth, is a little ‘too close for comfort’ for Toronto at the time and is definitely too close for comfort in Edmonton.  The Toronto Protocol is kaiboshed at the hands of what the National Post called, "a media-savvy police chief and mayor." Edmonton RaveSafe is brought into contact and often into conflict with the police, as an actor in the negotiations surrounding regulation of raves.

Raves are not in “the good books” at this time.  Canada-wide, and particularly in Toronto, raves suffer at the hands of the mainstream media because of the linguistic devices ‘rave drugs’ and ‘rave clubs.’ Raves become inescapably paired with drugs; and raves and clubs become conflated when in fact they should be treated differently.  Rave drugs and rave clubs come to the forefront of the national media in April 2000 on the cover of MacLean’s magazine; media coverage of raves at this time is overwhelmingly negative.  In Edmonton, the voice demonizing raves is given to two downtown constables, the “Rave Cops,” of dubious distinction and professionalism.

At the party “Ascension” (April 4, 2000) by Def Star, an intense strobe light show triggers seizures in six attendees, requiring them to be taken to hospital by ambulance; newspapers report up to 10 “ecstasy-related” hospitalizations.  

Around this time, Edmonton’s “rave cops” start taking city councillors, including the mayor, on visits to afterhours clubs, accompanied by reporters.  During these tours, they approach patrons of clubs, speak with them, and detain them for reporters to watch.  They visit parties as well: at one, a lawyer affiliated with RaveSafe is there to interject and advise people of their rights.  Relationships sour, and a hostile attitude from police in city council chambers dooms harm reduction in Edmonton.  There would have been no place for it anyways. 

At Edmonton’s next party, “Carnival 2” (May 26, 2000), the police presence is markedly increased and people are turned over to the police for any drug infraction; seventeen people are arrested.  A RaveSafe member reports that the Edmonton Police on duty at that party specifically target their volunteers to catch them in moments of illegality. Police manage to catch two: they bust them and release both their names to the media, along with a press release stating they had been caught with 12 pills of ecstasy, numerous unidentified capsules, and cash.  Each is charged with trafficking, another fact that is communicated to the media.  (The facts of the case would eventually support one charge of possession against one member of the pair.) The next day’s news stories include quotes from members of the rave community denouncing the harm reduction group. 

Driven by noise complaints from the hotel next to the Rev and the seniors’ home across the alley, the issue of raves continues to come before city council into the latter half of 2000, with DJs, promoters, and ravers on one side, and city councillors, police and business owners on the other.  Music festivals proliferate during that summer as raves spread to areas away from city police.  Shambhala, in its second year, is over the mountains in BC; Motion Notion moves outside the city of Calgary for its second year, to escape that city’s rave bylaws.  In September 2000, Nexus 6 is held near Millet, outside the city of Edmonton, because of the difficulty of staging events at this time.

In January 2001, the issue of raves again comes before city council driven by noise complaints.  Ravers, club owners, promoters, and business owners meet in council chambers with city officials and members of the police.  The first proposal by city legislators is to change very little: a few regulatory adjustments, but nothing more, are enough to address issues of noise, litter and vandalism.  The mayor’s executive committee sends the issue for study, earning ravers a reprieve.

A week prior to the end of this reprieve, the Edmonton Journal puts the mayor and rave cop #1 on the cover of the city section.  Under the tagline “Nothing good happens after 2:00 AM,” the reader is taken with them on a walkabout tour of the neighbourhood of the Rev, with emphasis on drug use, vagrancy and vandalism.  Questionable journalism, questionable policing, questionable governance – it’s all to be found in this front-page feature. 

Raves come back before the mayor’s executive committee a week later, and the new proposal to city council is: a complete closure of any event after 3:00 AM (the ‘curfew’), with all patrons under 18 to leave at midnight (the ‘Cinderella clause’).  In short: it is an unworkable rule, designed to kill raves.

In protest, a coalition is struck: the Edmonton Right to Dance Coalition.  The Coalition is led by Oliver Friedman out of the Rev building and includes Dragan Jargic, Marcus Gurske, and others (including me!).  As had been done in Toronto the year prior, a protest dance is planned.  It is to be held June 24, 2001 on the steps of city hall. 

The etownravepage plays a role in disseminating information during this time and the community is abuzz.

About this time, discourse in the city and the news media starts to turn in favour of ravers’ right to party all night.  Publications such as See and Vue start to express their opinions; the Journal treats the subject more favourably in their articles, including editorials; more letters to the Editor express support.  At the big massive party before the rally, DJ’s are asked at 3:00 to turn the music off as if under curfew: this is excellent marketing for the rally to be held the following weekend.  In this way, Edmonton’s rave community puts (in the estimation of the Journal) 1,500 people into Sir Winston Churchill Square on that Sunday in June; not sure what to expect, the police dispatch (but do not deploy) riot control squads.  City council backs down; ravers win another reprieve.

But the raving landscape is changed.  A “generation” of party promoters has been culled and only a few survive.  What follows is “the era of Polish Hall-sized parties.”  The Asian Chinese Christian Association (ACCA) Centre is another common venue at this time; on the other hand, throwing a party at Red’s can consign a promoter to oblivion and obscurity. 

United Productions manage to get established, with events first at the ACCA centre in 1999,  followed by many events at Polish hall.  Mayhem Events organize the Vinyl Fantasy series of parties, also at Polish hall.  Other promoters try to get a foothold but do not last. 

At this time, there is the “movement into the clubs,” particularly towards the later 2004-2006 era.  Subterranean Sound, whose first party “4:20” is in 2001 at Orange Hall, manage to hold on as late as 2006 throwing events in clubs.  Likewise, United promotes many events in clubs, including some sponsored by Gold Club and some by Smirnoff.  Happy Bastards does events in clubs too. 

At this time in Edmonton, the number of afterhours clubs in Edmonton goes from four to two.  TherapY Afterhours becomes The Y (I think in 2003); the business license of Climaxx Afterhours is suspended in 2004 but the suspension is successfully appealed.  This prompted, though, the city to again look at the issue of regulating raves; UNKNOWN exactly what happened here. 

Also somewhere in here, Edmonton’s techno record stores go under, with the exception of Foosh.  Founder of Foosh Rob Clarke founds Treehouse records: Edmonton’s techno and rave entrepreneurs set up shop anew in Edmonton, this time as producers of techno and dance music (even as restauranteurs).  Other participants in the “rave economy” are affected as boom goes to bust.

Bill Smith, mayor of Edmonton, loses to Steven Mandel in 2005.

United merges with Boodang in Calgary and gains mass in Western Canada.  There are many events going on in clubs, and many new clubs additionally. 

There is also a new rave underground in the form of Grumpy Old Men Productions, who grew out of the people who used to do RaveSafe, and who moved their parties out of the city to escape notice, and then back into the city right under the noses of an RCMP division in a non-descript Rugby Club, an ideal venue.  GOMP hit their stride in 2005 with Sir Thaddeus at the helm.  The Techno Hippy Crew connect with GOMP at one Motion Notion and, with the meeting of these two groups, a critical mass is achieved that sells out every event at the Rugby Hall for years.  This is exemplary of the two directions taken by raves in Edmonton: underground (GOMP), or above ground (Boodang).  GOMP effectively merged with THC whose motto is “intentional dance” events; a further offshoot is Arcatribe.  Out of these groups would come Sushi Crew, Roots Underground, Trancecore, and the ‘next generation’ of party promoters (2009 and after). 

Around this time, techno changes into “EDM” and this is a distinction that could be explored musically, or in economic terms (music as art changing into music as a product).

Boodang make the quantum leap by brining Tiesto to the Shaw Conference Centre in 2007; this is the biggest event of its kind and represents a major milestone in the ‘mainstreaming’ of techno in Edmonton.  Climaxx Afterhours closed around this time, leaving Edmonton with one afterhours club only (the Y, at the site of Therapy).

Raving has by now moved right into the mainstream, including events at Fantasyland in West Edmonton Mall.  Huge, expensive parties with elaborate light shows, ‘killer DJs’ and tight security become the norm.  Raving becomes about ‘money’ instead of before when it was about ‘power’ or ‘freedom.’

In 2012, Boodang promotes the three-day “Elements” music festival, Edmonton’s largest electronic music event to date.  The event happens in a context of a 2011 cluster of overdoses and deaths connected to a batch of ecstasy tainted with para-Methoxy-N-methylamphetamine (PMMA).  This seems to have been used as a pretext to question the legitimacy of this event.  At the eleventh hour, Northlands, the venue, threatens to pull the promoter’s license to sell alcohol at the event, citing safety concerns – but also knee-capping the promoter’s business.  Boodang sues and wins to have the terms of their contract enforced.  This represents the next “mainstream milestone” for rave in Edmonton. 

Post-event reports by police note that the mood of the second night of "Elements" changed markedly compared to the first.  “Pre-drinking” and “pre-dosing” are cited as possible reasons, in response to tight event security.  The festival sees 27 people hospitalized despite the fact that the venue had been tightly secured by police including canine units.  The venue has one unguarded entrance, a fact that is widely reported as the ‘way in’ for drugs at this party – and, by implication the ‘cause’ of the overdoses, a dangerous delusion.

“Elements” – or more precisely, the city’s capacity to plan and secure events of this size – is the subject of an evaluation by the EPS, bearing the signature of rave cop #2.  Boodang’s event is nominated for one of the world’s best alongside festivals in the US and Europe.  Viet Nguyen is highlighted as one of Alberta’s top concert promoters. 

GOMP events grow slowly and steadily; for years Thad sells every ticket to every GOMP event out of his house.  The success of GOMP's events allows them to finance an expansion of their rugby hall space, doubling its capacity -- which they then sell out as well.  They are eventually cut off by city officials enforcing fire codes; in short, GOMP gets too big even given its slow, incremental growth. The music festival Astral Harvest grows out of the GOMP/Techno Hippy Crew events; the festival is effectively ‘Alberta’s Shambhala’ if not ‘Alberta’s Burning Man.’

Where to now?  We are at the top of the cycle.   Musically and economically, the ‘Next Big Thing’ is ready to come along.  Culturally, it is ‘troubled times.’  In the civic arena, Edmonton has a new mayor (Don Iveson) and possibly a new attitude towards late-night entertainment.  On the drugs front, the government says we are about to legalize pot – yeah right.  In the meantime, there is an outbreak of fentanyl overdoses in BC, and in Alberta, which shows no signs of abating.  Shambhala is pursuing an interesting experiment at the cutting edge of harm reduction, whereas Edmonton now scans nightclub attendees’ IDs at the door.   And as for Raving and its relationship to Power, remember that ‘the best way to control something is to commodify it.'

The next generation of party-throwers in Edmonton is inheriting the ethos of “A city that works hard, plays hard.” Now, in Alberta in 2016, many people in Alberta have lost their jobs, as it was in the eighties. 

What's next?

“The nineties will make the sixties look like the fifties” – so said Abbie Hoffman.  Carry that forward to the next thirty-year iteration, and we arrive at the ‘twenties of the new millennium.  That’s where we are at now.

Part of the E-town Rave History Project by JPX
3,319 words.... sorry

Corrections

- An earlier version of this article stated that Oliver Friedmann bought the Old Citadel building, which was incorrect.

- An earlier version stated a larger number of attendees at the protest rave (June 24, 2001).  Until photos are available to corroborate, I will use the smaller number as reported in the Journal (knowing that that is likely an under-estimation).
- An earlier version of this article stated that Climaxx "belonged to" Gary Dewhurst which is not accurate.  

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