Small crowd, no problem

Despite low turnout, dedicated “ravers” party until 2.a.m. at Newby’s

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Despite a relatively small crowd at Newby’s Theatre Thursday, late night partiers danced into the early morning hours as Kevin “Spankalicious” Moore, a producer and disc jockey from St. Louis brought his “psychedelic bounce” music to Memphis.

Opening for Spankalicious were locals Kenny “DJ Ikis” Hopper and “Rainbow Gooey” who got the home crowd going with a mix of dubstep.

Kenny

Hopper called his set a “trancy, girl-singing, make you want to cry mix of dubstep, thugstep, and filth.”

“Some of the most fun times have been when we threw a party and hardly anyone showed up,” Hopper said. “Sometimes its fun when it’s just friends and family.”

Moore, who drove to Memphis from Denver said he’s happy to play for any crowd, no matter the number of people.

“Even if there are only four or five new faces out there, just to introduce somebody to something new and different, to turn them on to something they have never heard before, that’s satisfaction enough for me,” Moore said.

After the show, Spankalicious posted on his Facebook page, “Memphis, THANK YOU SO MUCH! That was def in my personal top 3 performances ever! The energy in the room tonight was AMAZING!”

When they left after playing at Newby’s Thursday, Moore and his crew headed to New Orleans for a weekend show. From there they will catch a plane to perform in Chicago.

Memphis does not have an electronic music scene as strong as other major cities in the South, but Hopper is determined to get the “raver” scene back to where it once was.

He helps promote a monthly mash-up of local DJs at The Full Moon Club, and travels regularly to play shows out of town.

“Memphis used to be a Mecca for the rave scene,” Hopper recalled. “But there were a lot of people in it for the wrong reasons and it didn’t survive. My main goal is to get the scene back to the way it was 10 or 15 years ago.”

He cited a bad wrap from local law enforcement as a reason for the scene’s decline in popularity.

Drugs, he said, are what “kill” a scene. Once police began busting clubs and bars that were playing electronic music the once popular “rave” scene died off.

Recently though, with a rise in the popularity of “Dubstep,” a genre marked by wobble bass and dark rhythms, some young residents in Memphis have flocked to the scene, known for its dance parties that sometimes continue through early morning hours.

“It’s not about taking drugs or anything like that,” Hopper insisted. “A rave is a lot more than that. It’s about stepping into a different world and having fun and play. And for the DJs it’s about sharing music and learning new things from each other.”

Because the demand for “rave” music is back up in southern cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn. and Asheville, N.C., many believe that the scene will gain followers and go back to its old ways.

“We have a good start here, but it doesn’t really compare with the parties I’ve been to in places like Nashville, St. Louis and Atlanta. That’s where you need to go to see a real rave.”

In an attempt to expand his music collection, Hopper has lately gotten into producing his own tracks and says fans can expect a new mix on his Soundcloud.com page in about a month or two.

“I just recently got Ableton, so I’ve been spending a lot of time learning how to use that program. Since I learned the basics, I have been glued to my computer trying to make some new stuff. The possibilities are endless.”